Glenn Tilbrook is primarily known as the lead singer and melody writer of Squeeze, but he is also a great lead guitarist.
I’m not familiar. Do you have a youtube clip of an example?
Lead guitar, to my definition anyway, must be notes picked, and the fretting hand articulating notes. I have never heard that one guitar in a band means that it is a “lead guitar”.
Can’t You Hear me knockin is rhythm guitar at the start. Why wouldn’t it be?
Rythm. It’s not a false distinction it’s just one that is frequently misused by non musicians.
Lead is not about soloing, though the lead often solos. It’s about the instruments role in the music. Is it part of the rhythm section primarily or is it generating harmony and melody. Since you used the stones they are a great and obvious way to view the distinction. Keith played Rythm almost exclusively. Brian Jones, Mick Taylor et all played lead almost exclusively. Sometimes Keith solos. Often he plays riffs rather than chords. But he is always forming the backbone of the song with his guitar while the other guy is playing in the melodic structure.
Except for open strings, every note played on the guitar fits your definition. Other than open strings, or e-bows, or Jimmy Page bowing a guitar, umm, and ok finger tapping; every note is both picked and fretted. Your definition makes every bass part a lead part.
In single guitar bands, if there’s a melodic or semi melodic line that deviates from the chord’s root notes, that’s probably a lead. It may not be a solo, but it’s deviating from being part of the rhythm.
Again, YMMV. Music is a personal thing, but your definition needs some refining.
Well, the first couple notes of the intro are not repeated at all in the rest of the song, and it’s a varied intro each time it’s alluded to. It falls into the rhythm part gloriously, but it’s not really the same part.
Just went and relistened to the song. Yeah, rhythm with Mick Taylor clearly playing harmony on lead guitar. It’s confusing because Jagger sings along with the rhythm at time, but if you stripped the vocals you wouldn’t question it.
Because Keith Richards is the “lead guitar player” in the Rolling Stones? For another thing, it starts out as the only instrument. If a single guitar playing a melody by itself isn’t leading, what is? There are no vocals yet, no drums or bass to play “rhythm” to, it’s basically a guitar solo.
But also, I think it’s an unnecessary distinction. If lead guitar is only single notes picking out a melody between the last verse and chorus, then you’re really highlighting a tiny part of guitar work as deserving an equal place beside the vast majority of the rest of it. Any beginner who knows a minor scale can play a “solo”. I think it’s mostly non-guitarists who think these distinctions matter, and I’m glad to say I don’t see a lot of bands separating their guitarists into “rhythm” and “lead” anymore.
Keith is not the lead guitarist of the Stones. He is a rhythm guitarist and field general. The opening to Can’t You Hear Me is not the rhythm groove - it’s an opening lick that transitions to the main rhythm.
Lead vs rhythm guitar can be a useful distinction. In this case Keith plays rhythm with notable exceptions like the lead in Sympathy.
Chords are not notes. Rhythm players do chords mostly, with single and double string parts too, but they do a lot that doesn’t involve picking a note with an articulating finger.
Single notes articulated with a single finger is basically what a lead guitar solo is. Thereby stands my definition. I thought it was clear. Maybe not. I can’t address your other points. I don’t understand. In a single guitar band I’m sure that the guitar would play rhythm and leads at different times. Don’t matter what the root notes are.
The lead and Rhythm on the Stones was very well defined: Brian played slide lead. Keith played rhythm mostly, but he played the Chuck Berry guitar leads.
You don’t know what lead guitar is? It doesn’t describe a guys place in the family constellation of the band.
It is a certain defined function, like, musically. George was the lead guitarist, and John was the Rhythm guitarist. Either one of them might be picking a chord or arpeggio at any given time depending on the arrangement.
You may think it’s limiting but it comes in handy when the break is coming up and a dude knows it’s him that’s got to play.
Unable to post a link because I’m on my phone, but go to YouTube and look for a video of Warren Zevon’s “Disorder In The House”. Springsteen rips into a couple of great leads on that song, and even Zevon appears to be slack-jawed in amazement.
I stand by my assessment of good not great. He plays lead guitar like a band leader who is used to sketching ideas for someone else to run with. He missed the runs he was going for a few times, lost the rhythm occasionally, didn’t really seem to have a plan after the initial attack, but covered and improvised well. Lots of soul, mediocre technique covered up with overdrive.
Have to agree. While I love what he’s doing on that song, it’s always seemed as though Bruce’s solos are primitive by necessity. 
Thinking of the one time I saw XTC play, way back in the day; I was totally surprised at what a skillful guitarist Andy Partridge turned out to be. I figured Dave Gregory would’ve been the designated hitter, but Andy was knocking it out of the park.
A couple not mentioned yet: the late greats Rory Gallagher and Steve Marriott.
A common transgression for which there is no name. I propose that going forward this phenomenon be known as “boinking.”
Of course, Keith was the one who disparaged the distinction, saying (something along the lines of) “You can’t go out an buy a rhythm guitar, or a lead guitar. They’re all just guitars.”
No love for Dave Matthews in this thread?
Sure - Keith likes a guitar tussle where the two players weave their parts in and amongst each other. He does that with Ronnie but Ronnie still busts out the leads called for by most Stones songs. With Mick Taylor, the division of roles was even more apparent, and Keith acknowledges that to be a golden era.
Yes, it is just one guitar, but yes, when there are two guitarists, one way they can play is for one to play rhythm and one to play lead. So it goes.
John Mace - you mean Dave Matthews can sing? I thought he was growling or something. 
Kidding aside, I think of him like Richard Thompson, etc. - understood to be a great player, not a hidden gem.
His relationship with Ronnie reflects that. But Mick Taylor was hired as a lead guitarist. “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin” is about the best example possible of this divergence. It was the trend, and that’s what they wanted.
The words are supposed to be descriptive of things guitarists do, to be helpful, not limiting, or to describe rules. All guitarists are playing some rhythm and some lead now and then. But many players care to practice and become proficient at one or the other thing. That is why there is the distinction. They can be very different skill sets.