He’s credited with playing guitar on the track She is Rising from his final INXS album, but that’s about it. I think he managed to avoid the harmonica, unlike so many other frontmen.
Robin Zander of ‘Cheap Trick’ would often be seen sporting a Gibson Telecaster hanging off askew of his neck, but I’ll be damned if I ever saw ( or heard ) him play it.
Rick Nielson’s raw style had a “wall of sound” sound that seemed to be both lead and rhythm at the same time probablt would’ve made Zander’s guitar superfluous anyway…at least from my impressions of seeing them live.
Dude…not a peep out of you for sixteen years? Well, welcome back!
Once Johnny Rotten changed his name to John Lydon and set up Public Image Ltd the album sleeve notes would give him all sorts of musical credits including piano, violin, saxophone and percussion. Since I’m not a great fan I don’t know whether the credits are serious and I don’t know whether he had any real proficiency or whether he was merely adding to the overall sound.
TCMF-2L
You can see (and hear) him playing the guitar in this video. It’s nothing fancy but he plays a reasonable rhythm guitar. He’s not just playing beginner chords.
Well how about that. But then again, what a sniffle bag of a song.
Malcolm McLaren was primarily a producer. He sang, as in words came out of his mouth, on many tracks but I can’t find any reference that he could play an instrument. All albums were released in his name alongside one of The World Famous Supreme Team, The Mclarenettes, the Ebonettes, and The Bootzilla Orchestra, so I certainly see him as a frontman.
Slightly less sniffley, here he is playing the acoustic guitar on some weird Japanese show.
Lots of opera singers can only just barely read music.
We could probably start a whole other thread about which professional musicians can’t read music
How do they learn their parts?
Well, many of them can at least read well enough to one-finger a piano slowly, and they know enough to understand that the higher the note, the higher the pitch, so they can use a score as an aide-mémoire. And they have teachers and coaches and rehearsal accompanists, and sometimes spouses. And, of course, in actual opera performances, they must work completely from memory, so by that point, it doesn’t matter.
Yes but it was tuned to an open E. In my opinion, that he learned that one bit doesn’t qualify as being able to play guitar.
Maybe Linda Ronstadt. It looks like she was the front of the Stone Poneys.
Before Parkinsons, Rondstadt played guitar and piano.
Here’s an analysis of her guitar playing during a performance.
At least once that I know of she played a passable violin solo live.
Jessie James Dupree (Jackyl) plays chainsaw, but not sure of anything else.
Don’t know if Sally Ellyson plays anything, but she sings so purty, so don’t need to.
Wait, he can sing?
[awww, c’mon, someone had to]
Which, given that Pete himself usually ranks pretty low in the pantheon (and I say that has a fan)…