What Is The Exact Number Of Band Members To Make A Great Band?

It was all Billy Preston's fault.

 

Five.

2 guitars, keyboards, bass, drums . . . some versatility in there, too, like the ability to play a horn or horns adequately, maybe a fiddle or flute, etc.

Just to add a touch of additional color to the palette . . .

 

OK, studio pics?

Not a piano in sight:





What do you want next, pics of those bands in a restaurant?

 

2


or 3

 

And he didn't use a piano.

 

Wow, you're slow to this aren't you. Go dig in to their discography/sessions and learn what songs they used piano on.

Using your logic, neither band used guitar, bass or drums in the studio as they aren't shown in the picture.

 

3. A power trio.

 

Uhh, Motorhead and The Ramones are not exactly Elton John, you know.

 

It really depends on the band and what they are playing.

I don't think Jimi Hendrix necessarily needed a rhythm guitarist so three member works well there. Even though he did try other set ups.... and that relates back to - it really depends on the band and what they are playing.

If you have a four piece band, that's fine, but the instrumentalists can focus on their playing and rhythm if there is a separate singer ... it is also much easier to do counter rhythms vocally if not tied to an instrument playing in another rhythm.

So far as no need for keyboards ... well you say the Beatles are the best .... they would have been pretty fu^^ed up without a keyboard ... just think of the great songs they had keyboards in....
Sax is fine. Most bands that have a sax player have a scenario where they play more than one instrument, giving them more variety....

Using the Beatles is a poor example anyhow, because they spent half their career as a non live band, so it is pretty easy to do all that on your own in the studio, which would mean one person, not four. Most of their post 65 stuff they wouldn't have been able to play live without augmentation, so.... there's that.

The premise of the thread is flawed... There is no perfect band member number and the Beatles area terrible example of a four member band for the reasons stated.

 

Ramones and Motorhead were a studio fabrication. Ever hear of The Wrecking Crew? Word on the street is that they were the studio musicians that actually recorded all of The Ramones and Motorhead songs. Johnny and Lemmy were merely Milli Vanillis.

This is a photo of the actual recording session for both "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" and "Ace Of Spades":

 

Wrong band, that's Red Hot Chili Peppers that you are talking about.

 

Im gona say it one more time, cause you seem to keep ignoring it. There are hundreds of examples of rock and roll piano playing. Do you mean to say that the big 2, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, do not "rock" , because they play piano? Please answer this time, instead of deflecting by saying something stupid about Bon Jovi.

 

You post so much like a former member here who went by Rockledge. Is it you under a new name?

 

First off, anything said about Bon Jovi is going to be stupid. Example: Bon Jovi make great music. Example 2: Bon Jovi should be in the rock and roll Hall Of Fame.

Secondly, just because an instrument is on a rock and roll record does not mean that instrument is rock and roll. Example:

 

It’s hilarious how the thread snared a catch;
who willingly wandered into the trap.

By the 3rd post.

 

I am my own person. And if there was another poster, it would be him that posted like me, not the other way around. I lead, others follow.

 

That "trap" was easily dismantled in post 4.
Why overdubs? Beatles recorded on 8 tracks. Were they to leave those empty? What a waste of studio time and money that would be.

 

Is Great Balls of Fire a rock and roll record? Is Tutti Frutti a rock and roll record? Nevermind the sitar picture. We are talking about the piano as a rock and roll instrument.

 

Dude, once again, just because an instrument appears on a rock and roll record, that does not mean that instrument is a rock and roll instrument. A piano is a Mozart instrument. A sitar is an Indian raga instrument. You really think a sitar is a rock and roll instrument just because it was on "Paint It Black"? You really think a piano is a rock and roll instrument just because it appeared on "Tutti Frutti"?

piano = Mozart music
sitar = raga music
Les Paul cranked through a Marshall stack = rock and roll instrument

 

I'll go with 4.5

 

The instrumentation of the ideal Mothers rock and roll band is two piccolos, two flutes, two bass flutes, two oboes, English horn, three bassoons, a contrabassoon, four clarinets (with the fourth player doubling on alto clarinet), bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxophones, four trumpets, four French horns, three trombones, one bass trombone, one tuba, one contrabass tuba, two harps, two keyboard men playing piano, electric piano, electric harpsichord, electric clavichord, Hammond organ, celeste, and piano bass, ten first violins, ten second violins, eight violas, six cellos, four string bass, four percussionists playing twelve timpani, chimes, gongs, field drums, bass drums, snare drums, woodblocks lion's roar, vibes, xylophone and marimba three electric guitars, one electric 12-string guitar, electric bass and electric bass guitar and two drummers at sets, plus vocalists who play tambourines. And I won't be happy until I have it.

Frank Zappa, 1968

 

Multi-tracks and use of overdubbing is another “instrument” or tool in the studio.

It can be used effectively and expertly, with skill and talent, with great results.

Knowing when to hold back, use restraint, and stop is just as critical.

 

3 - The Jam, Cream
4 - The Kinks, the Small Faces
5 - The Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds

3 to 5. Two is too small, six is too many.

 

No, that's not what overdubbing is.
Overdubbing is a sign that the band was incapable of getting what it should have gotten in one take.

 

Depends on the type of music you wanna make.

A power quintet just sounds dumb.