Bono's Best Instrument

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Which does Bono play best?

  • Guitar

    Votes: 18 30.0%
  • Harmonica

    Votes: 42 70.0%

  • Total voters
    60

JMScoopy

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Guitar or Harmonica?

Im a big fan of both, but i gotta say guitar.

list of all harp songs studio and live:

running to stand still
trip through your wires
desire
love rescue me
womanfish live
in god's country live
fortunate son cover

i gotta be missing a few :scratch:
 
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Anyone who votes harmonica mustn't have heard Bono's guitar playing in Dancing Barefoot.
 
That's tough he's not an expert at either, but I'll have to lean towards guitar.

He's not a great guitar player when it comes to playing and singing at the same time. But according to Edge and others he does bring a very unique style to guitar playing when in studio...
 
Why arent 'voice' (99% of U2 songs) and 'piano' (The First Time) not in the poll? :confused:

Anyway, I voted harmonica. I can't say anything about how good he is at guitar playing, because when he plays the guitar the volume always seems to be at a constant level of 0. :(
 
I've no idea about The First Time, but Bono DOES play piano on The Sweetest Thing (at least, he does live).
 
"Voice" probably isn't an option because...well, he's the LEAD SINGER of the band. Hmm, I wonder what he's best at. :eyebrow:

Not to mention "voice" isn't really an instrument in the first place.

I voted guitar. The harmonica's just a fancy kazoo anyway. :wink:
 
WalkOn21 said:
Why arent 'voice' (99% of U2 songs) and 'piano' (The First Time) not in the poll? :confused:

Anyway, I voted harmonica. I can't say anything about how good he is at guitar playing, because when he plays the guitar the volume always seems to be at a constant level of 0. :(

I too can never hear him playing. Only on ZooTV: Sydney can I hear a faint scratch.
 
WalkOn21 said:
Why arent 'voice' (99% of U2 songs) and 'piano' (The First Time) not in the poll? :confused:


well a persons voice isnt really a musical instrument now is it. i only put the 2 that he plays consistantly. sure i could put piano, tambourine, bass, and even drums, but thats only on like 1 song throughout U2's catalogue.
 
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WalkOn21 said:


Anyway, I voted harmonica. I can't say anything about how good he is at guitar playing, because when he plays the guitar the volume always seems to be at a constant level of 0. :(

then whats the point of even having a guitar if the volume is 0? i think most of that is due to the audio mixing of those tapes/DVDs. look at the difference between boston and chicago DVDs. i can hear his guitar EVERY time he plays cause i know what to listen for (except on i will follow on boston :wink: )

try the irving plaza concert, his guitar is louder than edges

ALSO, Bono played harmonica on exit at whistle test in 87'
 
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i've been wanting to do this for some time now, so here it goes:

live song-by-song analysis of bono's guitar playing

BOY-OCTOBER-WAR-UF TOURS

i fall down - audible on all bootlegs i've heard
a day without me - yes, angry D and C chord strumming
11 o clock tick tock - yes, plays main riff an octave higher than edge

JT TOUR

ISHFWILF- yes, acoustic is audible on most boots
Exit - yes, stumming heard on most boots during jams
In god's country- yes, D and Am chrord strumming
People get ready - audible in beginning, gets lost in full band
silver and gold - yes
RTSS- yes def.
WOWY - yes, sometimes plays end solo on acoustic before edge does

RATTLE & HUM

exit - yes
AATW - yes
silver and gold - yes
angel of harlem - no way
in god's country- yes
WLCTT - barely
WOWY - yes
RTSS - yes

LOVETOWN TOUR

hawkmoon269 - yes bono plays about 10 different chords, also plays the solo part along with edge
AATW - yes, sometimes solos after edge
desire - depends on which bootleg
ISHFWILF - yes same as JT
All i want is you - yes, strums intro, then audible picking throughout
RTSS - yes as always
WOWY - depends on boot
WLCTT - depends on boot
AOH - depends on boot
Love rescue me - not really

ZOO TV- SYDNEY

the fly- yes, how can you miss it?
one - soft strumming, but it's there
unchained melody - um, yes
Angel of harlem- yes
stay - obvioulsy
dirty day - yes, angry strumming at end

POPMART

gone - yes
LNOE - yes, that noise between LNOE and UTEOTW is bonos guitar on some sort of sustain
desire - yes
SATS - obviously, nice solo at the beginning
one - not really


IRVING PLAZA CONCERT 2000
* on all these songs, bonos guitar is turned up as loud if not louder than edges

desire- bono and edge with acoustic guitars
one - nice solo during intro, very audible strumming througout
all i want is you - very audible strumming
11 0'clock tick tock - yes, like UF tour and he strums chords during edges solo
we dont get fooled again - yes, audible strumming near the end

ELEVATION BOSTON/SLANE

kite - yes, acoustic strumming
i will follow - no way
gone - just barely, he does audible fast picking right before edges solo
one - yes
walk on - on slane yes, on boston he does the intro but the rest, eeeh....

VERTIGO CHICAGO

RTSS- yes, you'd have to be deaf not to
one - same
the fly - same, plays some badass riffs towards the end

and yes, i've read the "in search of bono's guitar playing" article at @U2, and as far as im concerned the person that wrote that is full of shit.
 
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JMScoopy said:


BOY-OCTOBER-WAR-UF TOURS

11 o clock tick tock - yes, plays main riff an octave higher than edge


actually, Bono didn't play guitar on this song for these tours. Edge used a harmonizer on his guitar
 
:lol: I laugh a lot when I saw the harmonica was winning, cos that's the truth, honestly :|
 
The title of this poll should be "Instrument Bono looks better holding while he :blahblah: ," because I think in all the U2 shows I've ever seen, that's what he does far more than play. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing--I find a lot of his stories endearing.

Of the choices, I'd have to say guitar, simply because I've never heard him play harmonica live. I miss the live version of Running to Stand Still that featured him playing harmonica. What other songs feature him on harmonica besides Desire? I'm drawing a blank.
 
:up: to JMScoopy for the list of Bono's guitar playing. I'm kind of tired of people saying Bono's just miming, because I've often been able to audibly hear him play. He may not be particularly talented, but he does play!

gherman said:


It sounds but its pretty easy to play:wink:

Oh, I know that. Everything Bono plays is dead easy. But that solo sounds better than his occasional harmonica efforts.
 
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