"The Ancient Art Of Weaving"- Best Rolling Stones Guitar Duo

Keith Richards has talked a lot over the years about what he calls "the ancient art of weaving"- the trademark Rolling Stones sound of two guitarists playing off of one another.

So who, in yer opinion, has done it best? Give reasons, cite examples!

(One request, though...I do NOT want this discussion to devolve into the usual "Taylor VS Wood" garbage, please and thank you. Start yer own thread or bump up one of the old ones for that kinda talk.)

 

For me it's Keith 'n' Woody...I'm in guitar heaven when those two get going. Take a listen to "Down In The Hole" as a fine example of the Richards/Wood Weave.

 

Ronnie and Keith for weaving. Keith and Mick for the best years live. Brian and Keith for the studio

 

Keith and Keith (Let It Bleed)

 

Yes, there is that too, and if Keith is to believed he did most of the guitar work himself after about 1964 or so...you know, all those times he claimed Brian Jones wasn't in the studio 'cos he was supposedly "sick" or "out of it". I must admit I haven't really listened to the early Stones records closely enough to determine exactly who is playing what guitar wise. I think in the Jones period unless it was slide guitar-based Keith played a lot more of the leads than Brian did, I could be wrong, though...

I mean, in the Keith/Taylor era it was pretty obvious who was doing what most of the time. With Keith and Woody, though the lines get a little more blurred (which is the whole idea behind the 'weaving' bit, after all.) The solo in "Where The Boys Go" -one of my favourites, it's so bad it's good IMO- always comes to mind: sometimes I think it's definitely Keith, sometimes I'm sure it's Ronnie. To this day I've never exactly figured out who's playing it, and I wouldn't be surprised if you asked them they wouldn't be able to tell ya either!

 

Keith and Mick hands down. Keith is a great guitarist but Mick was the man and Keith was jealous of his chops. They were at their edgiest with Mick.

 

What...? This (hoary old question) again....?!

 

Yeah, but this time it's a POLL!

 

Keith & Ry Cooder

 

I want to say I read in some Stones book or another than Keith and Ry were never in the studio at the same together ever. Every Stones session Cooder attended was like Jamming With Edward...

 

I'm really surprised the Richards/Taylor combo is getting more votes than Ronnie - I always thought MT's playing was better on his own, like on Crusade or Blues from Laurel Canyon. I don't think his virtuosity is particularly complimented by another guitar, in other words.

Ronnie and Keith seem a far more sympathetic match to me.

 

I've always thought this was one of Keith's most overrated/overused things that he's continued to push over the decades...

For me, the best at actually doing this weaving was Keef and Brian. As for the best duo, though, I think it's Keef and Mick T...that was when they made their best music and he came up with his most iconic riffs. I know he's said of that period is that it was too much of a "rhythm and lead" demarcation, but it also is what sounded the best, on record and stage, to my ears.

 

Not exactly going out on a limb on that one!

 

I agree, it was pretty much a traditional lead guitar/rhythm guitar relationship with Taylor in the fold. Keith and Ronnie defines weaving.

 

I think Mick Taylor was the most phenomenal guitarists that played along side Keith, but if the question is about weaving, the the Taylor/Richards would be the grouping that least used weaving.

I voted for Brian/Keith over Ronnie/Keith, mainly because they had much better songs to work with in the 60's as opposed to the late 70s and beyon.

 

Methinks some of you are so caught up in the Keef mystique that you're overstating the difference between lead/rhythm and quote-unquote "weaving." Having been a rhythm (and occasional lead) guitarist in various situations, I can definitely say that no matter what, ya still gotta listen to the other guy. I think Keef would agree.

 

What MT did doesn't count as weaving to me, which is why he was my least favorite Rolling Stones guitarist other than some other guy named Mick.

Beast of Burden is the master class in two guitar interplay.

 

'Beast of burden' is my favourite example of keith and Ronnie's weaving...
But the best duo is Keith and Taylor although i don't know how much weaving was going on..

 

Taking on board Keef's words on weaving it has to be Keef and Woody. On the some girls album the interplay is great. Neither overdoing it, and dropping in and out so they are playing together in service of the song.

I love Taylor but it's a different thing and the more time went on the less to me it seemed to suit the Stones sound.

 

That's why I voted for Ronnie.

I put Keith's "weaving" quotes and "it's Charlie's band" quotes in the same basket of magnanimous B.S. that, while sometimes insightful, are really meant to reflect favorably on the speaker (Keith).

Mick Taylor is easy to appreciate with or without the Stones. His Bluesbreakers stuff keeps growing on me. And, of course, he was on fire in a live setting until the partially-coked-up horn section started taking over in '73.

And for the Brian-heads out there, I'd say Brian and Keef did more weaving than Keef and MT. Let's not forget how close and simpatico the two early Stones guitarists were.

 

I think the Stones worked best with the Richards-Taylor configuration. Every other configuration (Richards-Jones or Richards-Richards) has worked better than Richards-Wood IMO.

As for the "weaving" thing, I suspect there is a some degree of "hot air" around the whole notion. I think what Richards is actually saying is that Ron Wood is best suited to fill in for the gaps and holes he leaves here and there. Maybe it has worked better for him than for the overall sound of the band.

 

I totally agree with you on all counts. I think what Keef has liked best about Ronnie all these years is that Ronnie doesn't get in the way and doesn't try to be an alpha-Stone...it's one of the reasons they marginalized & froze out Brian, and one of the things that led to Mick T's demise when he started demanding songwriting credits for big chunks of songs he contributed. Ronnie just does what Keef tells him to do and seems to be happy to go along with it, which is probably the main reason for his longevity.

 

The weaving thing is the Stones' strongest suit to me, as best done by Keith and Ron.

Mick Taylor was a great guitar player who played on some of their best albums, but stuck out like a sore thumb as often as not to my ears. I see his addition sort of like the addition of Preston to the Beatles. Added some great musicianship but sounded like he was coming from another planet.

 

The bolded part nails it, so I don't see how Richards/Taylor can be getting the most votes here, unless we've got Taylorites coming into this discussion and deliberately voting that way, which is what I DIDN'T want...

Keef would definitely agree, because yer absolutely right that that is how it's supposed to be done when you've got two guitar players not locked into a strict rhythm/lead scenario.

I agree, some of Taylor's playing simply doesn't sound "Stonesy" to me and I think he is equally to blame alongside Billy Preston for essentially taking the Stones out of their musical "comfort zone" in the mid-70's. Part of my problem with Goats Head Soup and It's Only Rock And Roll is that some of the songs just don't sound like THE STONES, just this almost generic sounding mid 70's funk/R & B inspired combo. Yes, I know Keith is partly at fault for being so smacked out in those days that some of the material he simply isn't on it (unless he just ended up overdubbing a bass or something), and the "no Keith" factor is enough to take away that quintessential "Stones" sound but at least the band eventually saw the error(s) in their ways and soon got back to doing what they were best at...

 

I'm in the camp that the "ancient art of weaving" business is largely a quotable myth that Keith perpetuates. It just doesn't really happen, apart from Beast of Burden, which is a lovely, lonely example. I can also cite The Singer Not The Song with Brian, which is also very nice, though it seems a bit out of tune. Seems to me that Brian mostly played rhythm to Keith's lead, Taylor either doubled Keith's rhythm or lead riffs and solos, and Ronnie played accents in a higher, tinny register. So the "which duo did it best" is not a good question (sorry OP) because it just didn't happen much at all. (edit: Just listened to Down in the Hole. I'll grant that's another example.)