10 Greatest Guitar Duos In Hard Rock

The entire world of rock and roll tends to live and die on the guitar performance. For as much as the drums and bass hold up their end of the bargain, no rock song is truly able to come alive until the guitars come storming in. Then again, why stop at one guitar when you can have two?

Over the years, many bands have been able to master the art of having two different guitar gods rounding out their lineup. Instead of just having one guy pull double duty on rhythm and lead, these tandems found ways to play around each other and craft some of the greatest guitar symphonies live onstage. That's before you even get into the idea of harmony work, as some bands manage to make duel lead solos sound absolutely massive across their songs.

On the other side of things, there's also the art of the rhythm-lead player relationship, with one focusing on shredding and the other zeroing in on songwriting and making every riff scream when pumped out of an amplifier. Whereas other bands might only need one guitar player, you'll never get the real thunder until you draft someone else into the mix.

After the year 2000, it felt like the era of the guitar god had started to fall by the wayside. While you still had some veteran acts still making waves on the scene, the influx of garage bands were less focused on trying to melt your face with complex guitar solos. Once Alter Bridge rose to prominence though, fans were given some amazing licks all over again.

For years, it always felt like Mark Tremonti had been kept under wraps under the mantle of Creed, which led to a resurgence of great licks across Alter Bridge's catalog. Even with Tremonti's many different layers of shred, the inclusion of Myles Kennedy behind the mic and the fretboard made for some amazing technical moments. While Tremonti is definitely the better player, the way he and Kennedy interlock for dueling leads and the occasional back and forth solo is much more satisfying than Creed could have hoped for.

With Kennedy also providing vocals, most of these songs sound like just the kind of powerful rock music that was needed amid the nu metal slosh dominating the charts. From a technical standpoint, Tremonti is also one of the more awe-inspiring guitarists of the modern age, coming up with licks that most six-stringers would kill to say they wrote. Even in an age where the guitar itself feels nearly obsolete, Alter Bridge still aren't afraid to fly the flag for the heavier side of the guitar.