Artists equally skilled on lead guitar and on keyboards

Most musicians dabble, but I mean people like Steve Winwood and Warren Zevon who were technically proficient on both and could come up with inspired leads and runs too (I don't care for Winwood but you get the idea).

Sufjan Stevens immediately springs to mind -- compare the guitar solo on Impossible Soul and the keytar (?) solo on The Child with the Star on His Head -- unless the latter is processed guitar...? But if my memory of live videos watched in my days of peak Sufjan adoration, he played lots of stuff on keys.

"Equally skilled" does some heavy lifting, but if you take that to mean "could probably perform an entire concert on either instrument," first to mind are:

Bruce Springsteen
Neil Young
Paul McCartney
Neil Finn

Jon Brion for sure, but that's sort of his thing.

Prince

Jim O'Rourke
David Grubbs

Eddie Van Halen

Michael Hurley

Thom Yorke

Macca

I'd written "Prince" and hit submit too soon.

McCartney's an example of a capable lead guitarist who doesn't much care anymore. Doesn't he reserve his lead segments at shows these days for "Purple Haze" and "Let Me Roll It"?

Dylan

Hmm. It's tough to say because for decades he's barely touched (or literally just touched) either.

Macca, like Brion, is one of those total musicians that can pretty much play everything at least competently, sometimes more than that. But inspiration is a different matter.

I'm sticking with my standard of "can play a set on either instrument." So Prince: yes. But EVH? Nah. Thom Yorke? Maybe not. But Jonny Greenwood? Probably.

Dylan

― Ward Fowler,

I don't think so. He plays both, I'm not sure he's interesting in either, though I like his piano a lot.

EVH was a classically trained pianist. Probably why jumping onto the syth wasn't such a leap.

Pat Sansone of Wilco is highly skilled at both. Does a fair amount of shredding onstage, even with Nels Cline to his right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK8PWsEfrIc

Both EVH *and* Alex played piano as kids, before moving onto their future instruments. You can find clips of EVH playing piano at a 1993 Bridge School benefit. But is EVH equally good at guitar and piano? High bar!

He played piano with his teeth

Mike Keneally, I think he used to play both at the same time occasionally when he was in Zappa's touring band.

I'm sticking with my standard of "can play a set on either instrument."

By this standard I think EVH certainly qualifies, since about half of Van Hagar is Eddie on keys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWviFuyE08A

feel like there are a lot of singer-songwriters who can capably play both (or even play both well), but the list of players who are among the best in the world at both is incredibly short

Yeah, lots of singer-songwriters can play both well. Joni Mitchell, for example. Jackson Browne. If someone told me James Taylor could play guitar and piano equally well I would believe them.

bass, not guitar, but john paul jones probably fits

prince, absolutely

Lot of good drummer/pianists as well (although they're better drummers for the most part).

I think JPJ is a pretty good guitarist!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qoWcIl53ac

i assume most bass players can play guitar haha

that is very impressive tho

Peter Hammill. Not particularly technically proficient on either instrument, but could certainly do a whole set on one of them (and has done, from time to time)

xxpost I don't know about that, all those extra strings and notes and chords and stuff! There's a reason why they're bassists.

#bassjoke

One guy who is seriously, and I mean seriously, skilled on both instruments is Ralph Towner.

John Cale is one of those all-arounders like Macca or Prince for sure, though constitutionally not flashy, he could probably go there.

Can Cale play drums?

Kerry Livgren of Kansas, almost certainly a bunch of other prog people. Peter Hammill is a terrible musician! Equally bad on both piano and guitar but I think guitar edges it, he sounds like he's playing with boxing gloves on.

His keyboard playing is fine.

pete townshend can certainly hack it on both instruments

another renaissance guy who is great at basically every instrument: stephen stills

Not counting the keytar or those one-person bands that show up at public plazas and subway stations, has anybody ever (adequately) played both simultaneously? Like, finger picking with one hand whilst ivory tinkling with the other?

Todd Rundgren is really good at both

You can see Tony Banks playing guitar behind his bank of keyboards in this 1972 performance of "The Musical Box:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W35wtfcByIY

But generally speaking you need a couple of hands to play guitar.

I always assumed Hans Zimmer was just a keyboard guy, but I recently saw some footage of him playing guitar.

Joni Mitchell absolutely qualifies. Rundgren too.

There's some great footage of Nigel Tufnel simultaneously playing two guitars *and* a violin here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzmU5yFgCDE

Prince again. There's late 80s concert footage with him at a small keyboard/organ doing runs while playing the lead on guitar. But he didn't do that often.

^^ yeah, it was in 1990

The closest I can think of is Tony Levin on bass and synth:

https://cdn.basschat.co.uk/monthly_2023_06/20230619_203917.thumb.jpg.038b187eab6d86926c9da9762b6e7dd3.jpg

But generally speaking you need a couple of hands to play guitar.

Nate Wood begs to differ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xx5t0K0UTY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH7ENoEG1Do

EVH "could come up with inspired leads and runs too" - yea
"equally skilled" - HELL NO

geddy lee might be closer to some kind of equilibrium on bass/keys but still idk if he's as bad a monster on keys

johnny greenwood is a good answer

john vanderslice had a guy in his band who played bass with his left hand keys with his right the entire set when i saw him in like 2004, thats the only thing i remember about it actually. can't find a name

I don't know about Cale's percussion skills, but I've heard Tucker wasn't even the best drummer in the Velvet Underground

i assumed that it was jonny greenwood playing piano on phantom thread but it turns out he hired a ringer for the busier tunes

"lead guitar" in the thread title is sending me haha..

Britt Walford was a youth piano prodigy and switched to drums around age 13 around the time Squirrel Bait needed a new drummer.

But he also played guitar and arranged most of the guitar parts on Spiderland showing Brian and David his ideas, then letting them adopt them.

There's a scene in Breadcrumb Trail that describes Britt in his dorm cuing and replaying a phrase in a Rachmaninoff symphonic poem to transcribe to guitar which became a Spiderland song.

On record/live, Britt plays guitar on and vox of "Don, Aman" as well as vox on the verses of "Nosferatu Man".

I think Sly Stone would be considered one of these artists. He did play both instruments on all of his classic albums.

johnny "guitar" watson, who coulda equally been billed as johnny "piano" watson

mack rebennack

I’d never sought out Dr John’s pre-piano life, and wow…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcJ0nDRTbKc

johnny "guitar" watson, who coulda equally been billed as johnny "piano" watson

mack rebennack

Also played bass and drums on most of his albums.

This thread is very Steve Hoffman Forums coded imo

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/well-known-guitarists-who-also-play-keyboards.1134230/

This thread is very Steve Hoffman Forums coded imo

― neu! romancer (flamboyant goon tie included),

and I've never visited those forums!

Joni Mitchell absolutely qualifies

Did we drop "lead guitar" from the qualifications? She's a brilliant guitarist, but I've never heard any indication she ever played single-note leads (maybe on "Lead Balloon" or some obscurity). With all the unusual tunings she uses, I'd be surprised if she ever could even play a scale across multiple strings.

As said above, there are thousands of singer-songwriter types who can accompany themselves with greater or lesser ability on both, and rock, prog or jazz musicians who excel on one and are adequate on the other. The best answer I can come up with that hasn't been named so far is Mike Oldfield.

steve hoffman thread mentions xtc's dave gregory, which is a great example imo

If lead guitar skills is the standard, the pickings quickly get slim.

Howe Gelb has many solo piano records and mostly plays guitar in Giant Sand.

on the other hand, I am equally skilled in all instruments.

(xp) guitar pickings?

lol

Did we drop "lead guitar" from the qualifications?

I suggest we do. Every guitarist acknowledges her original tunings.

Yes, she's obviously a very accomplished guitarist!

Like, Johnny Marr is a spectacular guitarist, but has he ever taken a solo? "Shoplifters" might be the closest he's come.

I'm sure Joni Mitchell'd be the first to say that she and Larry Carlton or Pat Metheny fulfill different functions in her music that she has never even pursued as a player.

Like, Johnny Marr is a spectacular guitarist, but has he ever taken a solo? "Shoplifters" might be the closest he's come.

― Josh in Chicago,

"Stop Me If You Think.." and "The Queen is Dead" come to mind.

There's a solo in "Stop Me"? Hmm. "Queen is Dead" is just a bunch of goofing around making a racket with a wah.

There is for sure a solo in "Stop Me" -- relisten to the last 40 minutes.

The racket with a wah -- otm description -- is a solo too.

Wait the outro to "Stop Me", right? Regardless, Marr (like Townshend) is pretty economical with the solos.

Agreed. He plays solos like a rhythm guitarist, aka Keith Richards

"Great guitar playing" for Marr probably also includes all the fiddling around with effects and overdubs to create something like "How Soon is Now".

same with Phil Manzanera.

Though Phil does solo plenty.

"Lead rhythm guitarist" is kind of a category itself.

does being a "lead guitarist" necessitate playing lots of solos? the intro to "this charming man," for example, is a lead part, but not a solo

The intent, which I didn't clarify in the first post, was to distinguish mere songwriter piano and guitar parts or rhythm strumming on stage from complex parts.

Elliott Smith, it might be easy to dismiss his skills as “mere songwriter parts” but his compositions for both were often rhythmically and melodically complex

Jeff Buckley, and you can add vocals to the list for him too.

did he play piano? I think of him as a mostly guitar dude

Elliott Smith is a great example!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vvgx0lwio0

Though he's also one of those total musicians (guitar, drums, bass, keys)

I'd add David Sylvian, but then you might wonder where to draw the line between inventive playing and inventive composition.

Sylvian came to mind but iirc he's mostly worked with others playing lead on both instruments.

OK I didn't know Elliott Smith could do that

Sylvian came to mind but iirc he's mostly worked with others playing lead on both instruments.

True, I thought we'd just relaxed the "playing lead" criterion.

wasn't he Japan's only guitarist after Rob Dean?

Yes, on Tin Drum, but they brought in a lead guitarist for touring.

Joanna Sternberg

I think of Sylvian's solo in "The Art of Parties," a not-bad Fripp-Belew-esque screech.

I knew there was an answer to this that my brain was trying to pull up, and that person is Kurt Rosenwinkel. Famed jazz guitarist, but started on piano, also is known for moving to piano for a couple tunes during his band's sets, made a solo piano record, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eXJhGbjV94

Like, Johnny Marr is a spectacular guitarist, but has he ever taken a solo?

Nowhere Fast has a nice one.