Singers who were (unknown to most) really good at a musical instrument

I knew the radio hits and wasn't aware of his prowess on the guitar until I was watching Letterman one night and was floored by this performance:

 

Uh, no. He can barely play.

 

I saw a video of Yes in 1975 and was surprised to see that Jon Anderson played rhythm guitar in the battle section of "Gates of Delirium." I don't know if he was up very loud in the P.A. mix but it looked like he was keeping up with the tempo/meter changes.

 

Mark E. Smith played the violin. (sort of).

 

He's a long time pro musician and did a lot of the songwritng in Yes, at their best. What do you expect?

 

Steve Winwood, great guitarist (not his main instrument).

 

Wow, I always had assumed it was some studio musician playing that lead/solo. Dadgum, new level of respect for Mr. Fogelberg. Impressive.

 

Willie Nelson is an incredible guitar player who doesn’t seem to get much recognition for his unique style and talent on the instrument- probably because he’s such an amazing singer, songwriter and interpreter of songs as well!

 

Steven Tyler was a drummer before Aerosmith. I recall Joey Kramer saying a good one, too.

 

Being as seemingly every song Willie ever recorded has an acoustic guitar break from him, I question the statement that he doesn't get much recognition for his guitar skills.

Long before Willie there was Hank Snow, who is probably in the all-time top 10 of country artists in terms of the number of chart hits he had. And just like Willie, almost every one of his songs featured him playing an acoustic guitar break. He was quite good as well.

 

Talking Heads fans know that David Byrne is (at least) a great rhythm guitarist...

In the summer of '82 I saw Talking Heads at the SB County Bowl - this was a couple years after seeing the Remain in Light tour with Adrian Belew, but before the Speaking in Tongues record came out and before the Stop Making Sense version of the band (which came to the Bowl the following summer).

I was surprised and impressed with Byrne's guitar playing at that '82 show, somewhat taking over where Belew left off and playing some searing lead guitar.

 

Absolutely.

Witness:

 

Keith Relf was known as much for his harp work as his vocals... however, his guitar playing is overlooked completely... that's his galloping acoustic guitar on the Yardbirds hit, "Heart Full of Soul"... as a four piece during the Page era, Relf occasionally would play rhythm live onstage...

 

Jerry Reed's virtuosity has probably been overshadowed by his distinctive singing voice and even his acting, but he was damn good.

 

Oh and Eddie Van Halen was pretty good on the keyboard.

 

Interesting, I had never heard this. So it begs the question, Where was Chris Dreja when this was recorded?

Of course Relf went on to play guitar in the first version of Renaissance, but when I saw them live, his guitar playing struck me as fairly rudimentary.

 

I've never seen a satisfactory answer as to why Dreja didn't play it... McCarty might know although it's 54 years after the fact... Chris himself wouldn't be able to recall... he's suffered a couple strokes in the last decade...

 

Should have duetted with Ornette Coleman?

 

On the recorded evidence I’ve heard, Bowie was a terrible sax player. I assumed people were posting this as a joke, but it’s come up enough times to make me doubt that!

 

David Clayton Thomas handled the lead forGo Down Gamblin

 

I'm not a fan of Blood Sweat and Tears Mark II (though I like the Al Kooper version a lot), but this is a very good answer to the question posed by this thread. I should have thought of it myself, as I remember this being remarked upon at the time of the single's release.

 

And the above reminds me that, while perhaps he doesn't rise to the "really good" standard, many probably don't know that the iconic guitar intro to The Hollies' "Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)" was played not by their lead guitarist Tony Hicks, but by lead singer Allan Clarke, who only rarely played guitar on stage.

 

Wow. I know him for the crappy Longer and this is much better!