Great guitarists who are terrible singers

I don’t recall Robin Trower singing on any of his albums, probably a reason for that.

BTW, I saw Kenny Wayne Sheppard play last summer and he sang a couple songs. He wasn’t as good as the regular singer but not horrible either.

J Mascis is quite the acquired taste, vocally.

I haven’t seen him live since the '70s (when the vocals were handled by the late, great, whiskey-throated James Dewar), but I gather he does a lot of his own vocals nowadays. He did the occasional lead vocal in his Procol Harum days, such as “Wish Me Well,” “Poor Mohammed,” and a few others.

There’s a reason Eddie Van Halen put up with David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar.

I wouldn’t charcterize The Edge’s singing as “nothing special.” Edge has a great voice, and an even better falsetto. He’s been the singer during my favrorite part of my favorite song on each of the last U2 albums. (“Miracle Drug” and “Stuck in a Moment”) And Van Diemen’s Land is a great song in spite of its uninspired lyrics because Edge sings it so beautifully.

Maybe this is just me defending U2 against all affronts, real or imaginary, but I think that Edge is one of the best singers in rock and roll today. But hey, to each his/her own.

Happy Orthodox Jewish man! ;j

I came in here to mention Dick Dale too! He’s one of my top two or three favorite guitarists of all time, but MAN does that guy sing badly! My brother and I have an inside joke, that whenever we hear any kind of inept singing, we’ll sing to each other, “Mister Peppermint Maaaaan!”

I’ll also second Eric Johnson, and add Joe Satriani.

The last time I saw Jeff, I don’t think he said 2 words to the crowd, and the closest he came to “singing” was using the Talk Box (aka: mouth bag :smiley: ).

Andy Summers. Well, it depends. There’s a Police B-side called “Someone To Talk To” that actually is quite good, but “Mother” is dire.

I liked Andy Taylor’s work with Duran Duran and Power Station, but he can’t sing. PS did a cover of “Harvest For The World” which was decent, only because Robert Palmer balanced out his screeching.

Fripp’s latest CD, Love Cannot Bear, has him “singing” through a vocoder on one track.

Just curious, if you are not a great or even passable singer and you use a vocoder, would it make a difference?

Robbie Robertson

Hi Biffy!

Yikes. … I haven’t picked this up yet, although I plan on it.

No, he sounds like geese farting on a muggy day. :wink:

Roger Waters, though a bass player rather than a guitarist, and not even a good bass player really, definitely not a good singer.

Well, you don’t have to worry about singing in tune, as the keyboard controls the pitch of the output signal. And of course it doesn’t matter if you’re Smokey Robinson or Johnny Rotten to start with; anybody singing through a vocoder ends up sounding like Mister Machine.

Carlos Santana doesn’t usually have a mic, just the PRS and a Mesa Boogie amp. I think in a few concert videos I’ve actually seen him singing some backup, but I can’t recall his voice alone in anything.

This is herasy to some, I nominate Bob Dylan.

I thought we were going for great guitarists. Bob holds one, but is he great?

That was my first thought, but then I remembered “Lay Lady Lay.”

Say what you will about either his guitar or singing talents, the man can write a song.

In terms of technical prowess, no. In terms of songwriting and inspiring wannabe bards to pick up a guitar, he’s probably second only to the Beatles. Or maybe the Beatles are second to him. Neil Young is in the same vein.