Rock melodies where a guitar and a flute are playing the same part

Cafe Society
1

This is bound to be one of my trademark obscure music questions that goes unanswered, but I have to ask it anyway. I should probably join some music forums but I don’t know of any good ones (suggestions anyone?)

I was just listening to Peaches En Regalia by Frank Zappa, and there is a part in the song where a plucked acoustic guitar and a flute play the same part - note-for-note, and in the same octave. It’s a jaunty and rather complicated line in a funky 70’s style. On the chance that someone here has the song on hand, the line I’m talking about is 2:32 into the song.

My friend remarked that it made him think of the opening of a 70s police show, like the one that is parodied in Boogie Nights.

Are there any other songs that use this instrumentation? It’s quite unique.

2

The Derek Trucks Band isn’t exactly a rock band, but they do use flute and guitar. Maybe the best example is in their Sufi medley.

3

I would think there would be at least one in the Jethro Tull catalouge.

4

The riff of ‘Trouble (with a Capital T)’ by Horslips (From the album 'The Book of Invasions) is played on electric guitar and flute.

5

The flute and guitar play the same notes (an octave apart IIRC) in unison in brief sections in the song ‘Teacher’ from Jethro Tull’s Benefit album. The same is true to a lesser extent in “My God” from Aqualung.

Most of JT’s oeuvre includes songs with both guitar and flute, so there may be more.

6

Didn’t Peter Gabriel play flute sometimes in the earlier Genesis stuff? Dunno if I can think of an example matching your question, but might be worth exploring…

7

Thick as a Brick has a flute playing a merry(?) jig-like air, while the guitar doubles with chords.

8

Would Stairway to Heaven qualify?

9

Hocus Pocus by Focus?
*Seasons of Change * by Fraternity Link (AC/DC fans prepare to be shocked!)

10

**Steely Dan’s ** Bodhisattva has a dueling guitar / flute section going at it though it is more in the tradition of “call and response”.
You know how that goes, I play a riff on my instrument and now you match it or better it with your instrument.

11

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I’ll be sure to check some of this stuff out.

12

Are you a flute player that’s trying to work your way into a regular rock group? :smiley:

13

I know Golden Earring have a number of songs with a flute, but off the top of my head I can’t think of them. I’m listening to some now trying to find them for you, but the majority of them are from the 60s and early 70s.

14

Yes, Peter Gabriel played some flute in Genesis, but I can’t think of any specific times where he was playing the same part as the guitar.

15

Perhaps, except that those are recorders. (four of them, overdubbed by Jones) [/geek]

16

OK…so what’s a recorder? Is it a type of flute, or something else?

For that matter, what’s a melody? To my non-musical-talent-having self, melody = song, but that’s not quite right. A melody is really a component of a song???

17

I think the beginning of Witch’s Promise would be another good example.

18

These are recorders. Like flutes, they are wind instruments but instead of blowing across a hole to get a sound you blow straight down through them like you do with a clarinet, although unlike a clarinet they don’t have a reed. I don’t know where the name “recorder” came from.

Young kids are often taught to play recorder, it is one of the easier insturments to learn, although I am sure skilled professional musicians play at a whole other level.

19

The non-guitar part is a keyboard. My guess is that it’s a Hammond B3.

20

I’m sure there are a few songs by The Marshall Tucker Band that feature a flute/guitar passage. I’ll try to dig some more up, but off the top of my head: “Running like The Wind.”