Vocalists who sometimes double on an instrument they aren't so good at

I'll throw this out there, FWIW.
As a teenager in the 70's, I, and most of my friends (many musicians) were huge Jethro Tull fans. One day I'm at a buddy's house listening to Tull, when his father walks in. Now this man, who at this point in time was a flutist with the DSO (Detroit Symphony Orchestra), says "you guys realize that this guy is not very good...".
We kind of look at each other, shrug our shoulders and don't give it a second thought. I am not a flutist, so I don't really know what is good and what's not. Like what was pointed out, what he played did serve the songs quite effectively.
As for guitar, that I know a little about, enough to be very impressed with what he did with an acoustic.

 

I just can't get my head around Mick Jagger with a guitar strapped on...

 

Think symphony dad was wrong

 

At the show I attended he had his own guitar unfortunately (and Ovation acoustic), ugh...

 

Leopard Skin Pill Box Hat.

 

Ian is not a fan of his own flute playing and conceded that his basic technique was poor for many years.

Not that that really mattered, as it was fine in the context of what he was doing.

 

Which is funny, because he apparently composed a lot on guitar, notably the main riff to 'Ogre Battle'. Brian May once said that Mercury often came up with weird chords, usually something that a decent guitar player wouldn't normally come up with, but that his playing was quite frantic.

 

Fela Kuti on saxophone. Sometimes he sounded quite bad.

 

Yeah, I thought that might get a rise out of people. I know he is a legitimate player, but honestly didn't know the history. I knew him to be a drummer in Nirvana, and assumed he may have also been the drummer in Foo Fighters, then switched to stand up front for more limelight, which may be only partly true. My bad. He just came to mind as I thought about drummers moving to the front of the stage.

 

Blaine's comments about Karen Carpenter's drumming were made this century, at a point when Carpenter was dead and he was retired. So a desire to "keep the work coming" had no bearing at all. There is no reason to believe his statements were not sincere. The fact that you disagree with his opinion is not evidence that it wasn't sincere.

It's impossible to proved Karen Carpenter (or anyone) was a "good" drummer, because that is a subjective description that is impossible to quantify. There certainly is evidence that she was a competent drummer. To me if someone is competent that would rule out describing them as "not so good" but I suppose you could choose to disagree with that.

 

A surgery on his spine left Dokken frontman Don Dokken temporarily unable to use his hands.

02/09 Update: Happily, it turns out that this newly-promoted interview took place a month ago, and that Dokken's condition has since improved considerably, with the singer now expecting to "fully recover." Get the full new story here. The original article continues below.



The singer recently appeared on the Classic Metal Show and broke the news. "It's been two and a half months since I had spine surgery, and my hands are dead," he said (audio embedded below). "They don't move. It's very strange. It's an interesting way to live your life. You've gotta learn how to feed yourself, wipe your butt, brush your teeth, dress yourself. [It takes] 20 minutes to put socks on, 'cause one of my hands works a little bit, but not very much.



Read More: UPDATED: Don Dokken's 'Hands Are Dead' After Spine Surgery | UPDATED: Don Dokken's 'Hands Are Dead' After Spine Surgery
UCR

 

how do you figure Dylan isn’t good on piano.
He has probably written a hundred songs on the piano.
He is no Liberace, but come on !!!

 

It's much more common for instrumentalists/songwriters to double on vocals that they aren't very good at

 

Herb Alpert is one of those instrumentalists who doesn't have a great vocal style although This Guy's In Love With You is a classic because of the song being written and arranged to fit within Herb's limitations as a vocalist.

 

I was thinking much bigger vocal names.... Dylan, Young, Springsteen, Petty, Nelson, Cash, etc.

Come to think of it, most of those guys aren't great instrumentalists either.

 

Willie is an excellent guitarist for his style of music but his true talent is songwriting although I do like his singing. The same applies with Kris Kristofferson, Hoyt Axton, Johnny Cash, etc.

 

That's why I said "most of those guys." Willie and young are exceptions.

 

Whereas Herb Alpert is a legendary instrumentalist and producer and excellent at both.

 

Interesting and thanks for sharing but even when his hands worked he was not much of a guitar player IMHO.

 

The guys at the Classic Metal Show love them their Dokken.

Excellent podcast btw... I highly recommend it to anyone who loves hard rock and heavy metal... they're way better and more entertaining than Eddie Trunk.

 

Elvis Presley on acoustic guitar and Buddy Miles on drums .

 

Really?

 

I'd say Lars was capable early on, but got horrifically lazy from mid nineties on.

 

Tenuous it maybe but Chris Cornell of Soundgarden started out as the band’s drummer/singer but picked up the guitar once he decided to stand in the front. He was taught to play by the band’s guitarist, Kim Thayil. Eventually, he became a great guitarist.

 

Simon Le Bon on harmonica. He also plays acoustic guitar on Save a Prayer when Duran play it live.