If you can have only 2 band members...

Delvin Morgan · From: Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA

If for whatever reason you could only have 2 members in your band, what would the instruments be?

Terry Kinnear · From: Erie ,Pennsylvania

Guitar player/singer, and bass, but they have to be good.
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Terry Kinnear [ steel wondering]

Delvin Morgan · From: Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA

My thoughts exactly. A good rhythem guitar player and bass, either or both could sing.

David Mason · From: Cambridge, MD, USA

Pedal steel and bass. I really like the recordings of steel with no piano or rhythm guitar, but they're rare. Pedal steel is a great rhythm instrument.

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

I wouldn't call that a "band", but a duo.

For me, it would depend entirely on what kind of musical effect I wanted to create and the musicians. I can imagine many, many different but good duo configurations. For styles which typically have drums, I'd want to try to cover both melody and bass together, and have the drums for the second instrument. One can use the Charlie Hunter approach if one has the chops, or just use bass pedals. For styles less reliant on drums, I would take a different approach.

For folk - acoustic guitar plus either bass or perhaps pedal steel.

For country, acoustic guitar with bass pedals plus either drums, pedal steel, or banjo depending on the type of country music.

For acoustic blues, acoustic guitar plus bass. For more modern electric blues - amplified acoustic or electric guitar with bass pedals plus drums.

For jazz or jazzy blues - archtop guitar plus B3 organ with bass pedals, but B3 with bass pedals plus drums could be great too.

For rock - well, to me it isn't really rock without some type of bass/percussion rhythm section, so it would have to be an instrument that can double lead/rhythm and bass, plus a drummer.

For steel guitar instrumentals - pedal steel plus bass, or perhaps drums for the second instrument.

I generally prefer bands, but play in duos sometimes. It can be very cool with a lead/rhythm instrument that can double bass.

chris ivey · From: california (deceased)

me and a really hot sexy chick singer who would do anything i ask.

Charles Davidson · From: Phenix City Alabama, USA

If you mean TWO other than myself,Drums and bass,[just my opinion] the two MOST important members of a band,You can have the hottest pickers or singers around,but if these TWO can't lock in the groove together,it will SUCK. YOU BETCHA,DYK?BC.
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David Doggett · Posted 30 Aug 2009 11:18 am

I don't think a duo needs a bass. A singer playing rhythm guitar, either flat-picking or finger-picking can generate all the bass they need. Likewise a singer accompanying themselves on keyboards. This kind of solo performance is very common and very effective.

Adding a lead instrument to that creates a great duo, and makes things much easier for the singer. In the '70s I played many a night at the now defunct Broadway Club in Nashville with a young singer/rhythm guitar player from Texas named Rick Dyson. At first I accompanied him him on Dobro. Later I also used an S10 Maverick pedal steel. We played country and bluegrass standards - even did some instrumentals like Foggy Mountain Breakdown. I think the Dobro and pedal steel added way more than a bass would have.

Around the same time, I occasionally saw several other similar duos, usually singer/rhythm guitar and pedal steel. It was very effective, and you really got to hear the steel player workout. However, there was one duo where the singer played bass, and the pedal steel carried everything else. They managed to pull it of really well. But I think most duos are better off with the singer playing rhythm guitar rather than bass.

Delvin Morgan · From: Lindstrom, Minnesota, USA

Yes, I meant a duo. There is a Johnny Cash impersonator, Bill Dewey,who travels with just himself on guitar and a bass player. And they are very good together.

Billy Tonnesen · From: R.I.P., Buena Park, California

IMHO a Duo is not a Band. It is a Duo with a cetain style. A Band is when you have a Rythm section with at least Drums and Bass and a couple of lead instruments. A Band is usually for playing Dance music with a good continueing beat for the Dancers.

Bo Borland · From: South Jersey -

First off, it would not be the 2 guys that were in the last band.. a couple of whining complainers. Laughing

But seriously, there is a great difference between a guitar player the plays by himself... with all the little picky embellishments that guitar "spankers" do while trying to fill space that a bass or percussion would, and a serious rhythem player that keeps it simple, in time and stays out of the way of the other players in the ensemble.
I like straight ahead rhythm players for bands and for a duo I would want someone who can play with his fingers to fill out both chords and simple bass lines that goes for a steel/ bass duo or steel & 6 string duo.

John Steele · From: Renfrew, Ontario, Canada

It seems everyone is looking for a smaller band, whether it's due to budget, or the fact that alot of places were not designed for live music.
I work alot as a piano player, often in duo formats in a jazz context. It works ok, but alot of people don't understand how you have to alter your playing in order to accomodate the missing bass line. The horn player's job never changes. Even they don't understand. Anyway, I've done enough of this that I'm comfortable with it. However...
This week I was called to do a bass-less gig, and the other two musicians were a (loud) drummer and a saxophonist. Never again. No matter which way I spun it, it just didn't work.
Frankly, I'm crazy about good bass players, and they always seem to become my musical soulmate on stage. Whether I had to play steel or piano, if it were up to me, and I could only take one musician, it would be a bass player.
- John

Todd Weger · From: Safety Harbor, FLAUSA

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Two keyboard players....They could sequence all the other instruments and nobody would really know as is evidenced by the legions of keyboard players doing this live and on records.

Ken Lang · From: Simi Valley, Ca

In Los Vegas, in the New York casino, they have a piano duo that is great. They play well together and the act is great, funny and so entertaining.

Years ago we had a duo where I played keyboards and key bass, the other guy played guitar and we had an electric drummer. We had all the work we could handle.
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James Cann · From: Phoenix, AZ

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Banjo and bagpipes.
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Leslie Ehrlich · From: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

Rock band: guitar and drums. I've heard it, and it works. Smile

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Andy Greatrix · From: Edmonton Alberta

All you need is a guy(or girl)who can play like Lenny Breau.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA