9. Who Says A Band Can't Have Three Lead Guitarists?
EMIMost bands stick with a two-guitar set up, one man on rhythm and the other on lead. Sometimes you see a rock band add an acoustic guitar, the player usually strumming chords in the open position or up the neck with a capo. The rhythm guitarist might be good enough to throw in a solo now and again, but having two full-time lead guitarists sharing the spotlight is rare. Which is why Iron Maiden decided it was better to have three. The blend of playing styles brought by Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Janick Gers is musically genius, and the way these three play live shows without tripping over each over is a work of art. None of them simply play the role of lead or rhythm; they're all leads. The rhythm guitarist, as the band has often stated, is Steve Harris with his galloping bass. First is Murray on his Fender stratocaster, switching back and forth from beautiful melodies to wailing riffs. Smith backs him up on his Jackson guitar. His work is most often heard as the second solo in songs such as The Duelists where he cuts into the song with screaming precision, delivering pinched harmonics that singe the air and leave what little we had left of our faces melted like candle wax in an inferno. Which leaves us with Janick Gers. In a band that already had two powerful leads, they must have figured what's one more to spice things up? That's exactly what Janick does; he is Maiden's wild card. His effect is most visible in live shows where everyone else is playing the songs they recorded before he joined the band. While the rest of band is playing the same way they have a million times before, Janick gets off the beaten path to fill in the gaps. In Flight 666, the band manager, Rod Smallwood, admitted there are times when the rest of the band has no idea what he is playing. No one cares, it all sounds fantastic, and the way Janick can swing his guitar around his shoulders and toss it fifteen feet high into the air is pretty cool too.