Top 10 Lead Guitarist Cliches

10. Leather Trousers

Always wear leather. Leather is the world's hardest-rocking material. And leather doesn't have to be washed often, which works great on tour.

9. Sunglasses Everywhere

Whether you're indoors/outside, whether it's day/night or whether it's hot/cold, sunglasses must always be worn.

8. Multi-Neck Guitars

We don't need these most of the time, but we play them because they look cool. People will disagree and say that they are extremely useful, but ask yourself this question: How many songs do I know that require you to shift from a regular 6-string to a 12-string in a second or two? None.

7. Wall Of Marshalls

It doesn't have to be Marshalls, but a wall of amps or at least 5 or 6 is essential. NO COMBO AMPS!

6. Odd Head-Wear

Everyone has had some sort of strange head-wear at one stage or another. Guitarists such as Slash, Angus Young and Jimmy Page are no strangers to odd head-wear.

5. The Trophy Wife

You gotta get a nice beautiful wife to go with your beautiful guitars.

4. Signature/Vandalised Gear

You either got signature gear or you have gear that you've vandalised so much it sort of is signature gear. (Kurt Cobain and his legendary sticker on his strat: Vandalism; beautiful as a rock in a cop's face.)

3. Signature Stage Moves

Chuck Berry and Angus Young's "Duckwalk". Mick Jagger's "Crotch Grab". Pete Townshend's "Windmill", the list goes on. But you need to make your own moves, and do them so often that every time you do it, everyone loves it.

2. Drug/Alcohol Habits

This doesn't apply to everyone but it certainly is very common. Everyone has got to know that you've done some sort of drug or had a lot of alcohol at some stages in your life.

1. Always Smoking

Again, this doesn't apply to everyone, but if you look at people like Slash, they smoke in EVERY music video, concert, CD artwork, etc. And they smoke so often the cigarette becomes a part of their body, and it makes it weird to see them without a cigarette in their mouth.

Comments

[Kueller917]

I guess I should feel glad I don't do, or would consider doing, any of these.

Well, except the wall of Marshalls. How I would love a wall of Marshalls...

[TheNameOfNoone]

And a trophy wife...

[Kueller917]

Surprisingly, I actually do not care for that.

[Jacques-Henri]

Don't worry, there are plenty of gay musicians.

[getawaygman]

no he might care about personality unlike you oh shallow one

[Iommianity]

Way to show him. Humor on the internet?

[Kueller917]

What the other reply said. Still, gave me a good laugh to see that have gotten the gold!

[sonofgkex]

Are you sure you're not a drummer?

[Kueller917]

Nah I suck at drums.

[dakielster]

I don't know how you could possibly suck at drums but ok jk

[BjarnedeGraaf]

I don't do any of these... then again I'm a bass player... can't wait for your list on that, these lists are very funny

[Tumbledryer]

1) laack ANY form of stage presnece
2) Always sticking like glue to the root note of the chord the guitarist is playing
3) Hide behind your hair when playing so to not make eye contact with the audience or other band mates
4) Pay a bass solo when nobody wants one
5)Never say a word in an interview
6) Originally audition to be a guitarist and got told that bass that bass may be "more your instrument" as it has less strings
7) ... run out things to say
I'd like to see a bassist list but they don't really have the same image as other musicians do. (BTW I am a bassist out of choice)

[Zaqq]

I'm a bassist and your list is really funny!

[BjarnedeGraaf]

I laughed, sadly i dont do either of those. except the root note, but i throw in some extra shizzle occasionally xD

and im a bassist by choice too xD

[Tumbledryer]

I'm just pleased I've made some one smile and that no one has picked up on my terrible spelling which must be a first for UG.

[g.k]

Steve Harris, Roger Waters.

[snapplejack]

Funny, but you must not listen to many bands with active bass. There's a lot of great bands with fantastic bass lines that are creative and fun to listen to. Streetlight Manifesto is a good example. (Guitarist here.)

[Miamasa]

Wow.. that was exactly what I was thinking reading this bass discussion snapplejack. xD
In fact I'm listening to SLM right now.

Ska/Skapunk/whateveryouwanttocallthem songs always have sexy basslines.

[Tumbledryer]

I was just playing on the stereotypes of bassists (such as being in the band because it's seen as an simple instrument and bassists being shy) I didn't mean to make it seem like these were my actual thoughts of bassists, it's done with my tongue placed firmly in my cheeks.

I like a variety of music genres, including punk and ska, and know of a number of bassists that don't follow this stereotype (to answer the earlier comment I think Steve Harris's brilliant and I am a fan of Iron Maiden). This said though I'm glad yo mentioned Streetlight Manifesto as I hadn't ever listened to them before but think they sound pretty good from the few songs I've checked out of theirs.
(Sorry for the essay)

[ruletheneck]

obscura, mate Linus Klausenitzer is mental. and he plays fretless! :3

[sonic_777111]

Aren't 2) and 4) mutually exclusive?

[Metalloy]

this list is bad and you should feel bad.

[theogonia777]

You would think that this list would actually be about things that pertain to playing lead guitar, but I guess not.

[MousseMoose]

I think the author is stuck in the 80's. But maybe I'm wrong, I wasn't even alive then.

[lamb of dog]

maybe 30 years ago....but this list is totally irrelevant in this era...

[A7X->&<-BFMV]

This guy must never have seen Buckethead

[Burkz]

John Petrucci doesn't do any of things

[Burkz]

of these things, sorry..

[Swannie]

I don't see the point of this.

[p_a_morgan]

Correction: Leather is NOT the hardest-rocking material.

Flannel is.

[Danjo's Guitar]

Man, I am not a big fan of the lumberjack movement in music.

[wilburforce3k]

old but great comment, well delivered.

[6-String_Madman]

Titanium Studs FTW!!!

[CalumCanavan]

I play guitar and the only ones I would want to have are the wall of Marshalls and the signature stage moves.

[Danjo's Guitar]

I plead guilty to the sunglasses thing, but I've since reconsidered and decided I like being able to see on stage. I am also looking to get some leather pants, and I don't care what anyone says.

[Beamguitar10]

Finally, the onslaught of the English language is over. Also, these are all basically irrelevant to modern guitarists.

[supersac]

i got a leather jacket
and my signature move is playing amazingly

[xmlcooktop]

Bryan May had Wall of AC30 Combos

[vandella]

anyone who owns a pair of leather trousers or a doulbe neck guitar in this day and age is an utter wanker in my book.

[Malchius]

I'm trying to work out when Mick Jagger became a Lead Guitarist?

[smand4ks]

I would have to be some sort of nut to do any of these things...except the wall of Marshals.

[cobhc909094zach]

I can say a custom signature guitar a wall of marshalls, a hot trophy wife are all pretty nice. Who doesn't want there own custom guitar. The leather is okay if you play black metal or hair metal. I think that this is list is kinda close to things that I have seen a lot of lead guitarists do.

[xonty]

When did Jimmy Page wear "odd headwear"?? Also, Slash and Angus Young just wore hats

[Davbassdude]

I remember seeing posters of Led Zep 1973 tour, with Jimmy Page wearing a bandana/headband. Also, there are plenty of pictures of our Guitar God Jimmie Hendrix wearing the head bandana. Another who often wore a hat is the most excellent Johnny Winter, who you may want to check out if you are not familiar.

[Dempsey68]

Jimi

[VikingBradlev]

Karl Sanders in Nile uses a double necked guitar and I don't think its cheesy. One neck is Baritone scale for playing in dropped tuning and the other is a regular six string, for using the whole range for soloing.

[PowerStruggle]

"beautiful as a rock in a cop's face."

wtf? when did that become an expression?

[Matt Chavie]

What is this shit?

[A7X->&<-BFMV]

Dave Mustaine the center of all guitar cliches

[jhymadesh]

didn't know stupidity was a guitar cliché

[Aays]

Yeah he would otherwise strike me as more of a drummer...

Ba dum tss?

[thkoby]

Shit you're right. I was thinking I needed to lose the trophy wife.

[Jamie_W]

Have you ever heard a song called 'Stairway to Heaven'?

I can only assume this is a troll article.

[Alpha_Wolf]

Nothing gets past you.

[N7Crazy]

I think what the author was trying to do, was to make some ironic/satiric joke on guitarists in the 80's á la "Spinal Tap"-style

Did he succeced?

That's a no in my book, since that even though he has my respect for knowing about Kurt Cobains sticker (Big Nirvana fan here), then if he was trying to take his joke in "Spinal Tap"-style, he should not had mentioned Cobain, since I've experienced that most glam-metal fans are still butthurt over that Cobain supposedly "killed" glam (fact is it was allready dying, and SLTS was just the tap on the wall that knocked over the rotten cabin).

Anyways, point is that not only did he fail to make a Spinal Tap-esque spin on these clichés, but he also is ridicolously unoriginal, since these clichés about 80's lead guitarists have allready been ridiculed to death before...

[BuckinFuffalo]

Hey wasn't this written by the guy who was freaking out at people because they were disliking his covers on Youtube? The guy who lashed out on the people of The Pit and then deleted every single one of his uploads to Youtube?

On a related note, none of those things on the list apply to me. Guess I must not be a lead player!

[almudjk]

This article is great

[TheSlyFooX]

Stickers on guitars are frickin' awesome!

[eatfresh1736]

Mick Jagger isn't a guitarist

[INSULIN]

MICK JAGGER DOES PLAY GUITAR

[JelloCrust]

Fun fact: Woody Guthrie actually started the guitar vandalism thing with writing "this machine kills fascists on all his guitars.

[TuningGamer]

No combo amps? Brian May tends to disagree.

[KerNeL_KLuTcH]

pentatonics should have been one

[swany51]

Wow ! sounds like a lot of people taking offense over nothing. it's hilarious ! i have sa double neck. love signiture moves. had 3 trophy wives (none as good lookng as the guitars). too old to duck walk any more. and love the wall of Marshalls. i've just gotta find a hat. don't take urself too seriously, we r just guitar players.

[Clarkinator]

I'd add:

Eventually fighting like crazy with the lead singer which leads to breakup

Constantly tuning/checking tuning via tuner on pedal board after every freaking song (I'm totally guilty of this, even when my guitar is staying in tune)

Stomping like mad on pedals like you just saw the nastiest spider on the ground (especially when kicking on distortion)

Riffing and doing flashy stuff during your bands soundcheck before a show

And my favorite - being the guy who goes "shopping" at a guitar store then sits there shredding on a guitar for three hours straight to show off your chops.

[Wolfscar]

I came here expecting overused effects like wah wah pedals and techniques and what not, it was just a fashion statement.

[gunsnroses#1]

I'm guilty of most of these haha

[mickmarz]

what a waste of space- dumbest article ever

[andersstruve]

guys you have to keep in mind; this was not an advice column; the purpose of this article was NOT to enforce guitarist stereotypes,just outline the most common and recognizable traits of one.

[BradIon1995]

Yep, this is pretty much my dream right here Don't take yourselves so seriously guys, you know it's true.

[parrot2645]

read this one again. best part of UG is the comments trying to explain the article to the other commentors. priceless.

[CyclonicDoom]

RIP COBAIN