# Too many guitarists on stage? (Springsteen on SNL) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918 "2015-12-20T13:59:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/21 "2015-12-21T21:57:22Z")
You’ve never seen him live then. It’s easy to pick out each guitarist on most songs, assuming they aren’t all playing the same riff. Not to mention that they alternate solos quite often. If you can pick out a single instrument, then the wall of sound has failed. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/22 "2015-12-21T22:47:48Z")
Nils not needed?! Don’t you go spreading them white lies! 🆒 Yeah, I prefer it pared down myself. Amazing what a tight trio or quartet can do. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/23 "2015-12-21T23:36:57Z")
6 guitarists and only 1 mic stand that they all crowd around? That’s what I usually see when I see Springsteen on TV. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/24 "2015-12-22T00:02:22Z")
5 mike stands. Although Steven and Nils share Bruce’s on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/25 "2015-12-22T16:01:16Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Me too. Question, for those like us: Do you listen to classical music? Do you also prefer string quartets, small concertos, and other chamber music to big symphonies and orchestras? I do. > > A wall of violins sounds sappy and boring. A violin by itself has a beautiful, emotional, scratchy, almost haunting sound. Same goes for most orchestral instruments, too. I like hearing the details of what each player is doing, and a large orchestra ruins it for me. String quartets are ideal. I am ambivalent on classical. I like it if someone else is playing it, but it just doesn’t scratch my musical itch so to speak. If I do listen to classical I like a big powerful deep sound. A wall of strings really grates on my nerves. Same with the 60s/70s pop and country songs like “Rhinestone Cowboy.” They ruined a lot of perfectly good songs with the crescendo of strings. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/26 "2015-12-22T16:11:53Z")
Blue Man Group’s [“The Complex”](http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Man-Group-Complex-Rock/dp/B0000DBJ9P) tour featured a massive stage band with lots of guitarists, several drummmers, vocalists, and the Blue Men doing their percussion thing. Definitely a wall of sound. It was one of the best shows I ever attended and I still listen to the album pretty often. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/27 "2015-12-22T16:37:49Z")
He’s not selling a wall of sound, he’s selling a band of brothers and sisters / extended family thing: all-for-one, you too can be part of the E Street family. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/28 "2015-12-22T16:54:54Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > He’s not selling a wall of sound, he’s selling a band of brothers and sisters / extended family thing: all-for-one, you too can be part of the E Street family. You are welcome to your POV about “selling the Family” but to be clear: he is _absolutely_ selling a Wall of Sound approach. Ready ANY bio of Springsteen, or making of Born to Run think piece and you can’t spit without hitting a reference to him going for a Wall of Sound approach. He gets that live with his band. Totally works for him, too - much respect. ETA: what frosts my cheerios is when a lean band puffs out. Say what you will about Green Day, but in their prime they made a big, great sound with their three pieces. Adding a full time guitarist or two, some piano and synths - meh, meh and more meh. Meh. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/29 "2015-12-22T17:02:11Z")
Born to Run and the Spector thing was 1975. Maybe it survived into Darkness. He didn’t put the band back together to relive that. He’s way smarter than that. This is family. At least imo. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/30 "2015-12-22T17:59:31Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I have the same feeling about charity concerts and so on…every one in a while someone steps up (like that one Prince solo that’s been relentlessly overplayed), but generally it’s just a bunch of noise, in tune. The point of having all those people playing together for charity concerts, Hall of Fame jams, etc. isn’t because it _sounds_ so good but because it’s fun to _watch_. Which I think was true about these Springsteen performances. Case in point: the “extra bass player” that **NotherYinzer** mentioned: he didn’t add anything significant to the sound, but it was fun to see him there. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/31 "2015-12-23T11:48:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The point of having all those people playing together for charity concerts, Hall of Fame jams, etc. isn’t because it _sounds_ so good but because it’s fun to _watch_. Which I think was true about these Springsteen performances. Case in point: the “extra bass player” that **NotherYinzer** mentioned: he didn’t add anything significant to the sound, but it was fun to see him there. Reasonable people can differ, but this is the purpose of my OP. Agreed, it does not add anything significant to the sound. It is for this reason I find it awkward to watch. Knowing that many of the players are there only for the epic-ness of the event and contribute nothing to the performance lessens my enjoyment. To put it another way, my gut reaction is usually ‘who do they think they’re fooling?’. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/32 "2015-12-23T12:49:29Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > You’ve never seen him live then. It’s easy to pick out each guitarist on most songs, assuming they aren’t all playing the same riff. Not to mention that they alternate solos quite often. > > If you can pick out a single instrument, then the wall of sound has failed. This seems to be two different views. Is Bruce’s band “wall of sound” or not? I say that one _must_ be able to discern each instrument–each “brick”–if listening for it, or it is no wall. Those sloppy all-star jams are like piles of mud. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2015, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/33 "2015-12-23T13:18:30Z")
Meh. I watched the SNL broadcast on DVR yesterday. Typical Bruce Wall of Sound, but unfortunately (and I have heard this on other SNL broadcasts) his vocals weren’t quite forward enough. As for the guitars, there were three electrics and two acoustics and Gary T on bass. When Bruce, Steve or Nils did something to stand out, I hear them. Bruce was most conspicuous because, during the long outros to each song, building to a finish, he was doing a lot of sharp upstrokes on his Tele. Pretty easy to pick out. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918/34 "2015-12-24T02:05:05Z")
Not necessarily relevant but… I’ve heard several famous singers (Graham Nash, for one) say they often play an unnecessary guitar on stage (Nash says he sometimes doesn’t bother to plug his in) just because they feel awkward and don’t know what to do with their hands when they don’t have one! So, for the sake of argument, if Tom Petty were to join the Eagles on stage during a show, he might well strap on his guitar, even though it adds little or nothing to the song, because he feels naked without it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/too-many-guitarists-on-stage-springsteen-on-snl/740918.md?page=1)