Bono's Guitar

[ultraviolet92]

please explain?

During the Rattle and Hum tour and Zootv tour bono played the guitar on about half of the songs. Although i dont know his ability on the guitar it seems like he knows the basics.

Then on the previous tours he hardly plays the guitar even on the songs he did play the guitar during the zootv tour.

Personally i think he looks better playing the guitar. I find it annoying that he always holds the guitar on his back when he could be playing it.

My opinion is he should play the guitar more often to experiment with a few of their songs. Then edge will be backed up when playing solos and their songs will sound more complete.

What r ur opinions?

 

[coolian2]

He hasn't done the guitar behind the back thing since the 80s.

He played guitar for a handful - The Fly, One, Stay, Angel and maybe another acoustic song - of songs on Zoo - certainly not near half.

His Vertigo guitar use was probably similar to previous tours since JT.

And i'm a guitar n00b.

 

[DreamOutLoud13]

I think that Bono forgets that he's supposed to be playing the guitar, which is why he so often ends up just wearing it. I've actually noticed this (I think it was during Walk On on the Slane DVD, but I may be mistaken), he has the guitar on, he's meant to be playing it, and even has his hands on it, but he's not actually doing anything. I guess he just gets so into the singing that he forgets he's supposed to be doing anything else.

As an added note, it's quite fun to watch how many picks he drops during the course of a song

 

[ultraviolet92]

He hasn't done the guitar behind the back thing since the 80s.

He played guitar for a handful - The Fly, One, Stay, Angel and maybe another acoustic song - of songs on Zoo - certainly not near half.

His Vertigo guitar use was probably similar to previous tours since JT.

And i'm a guitar n00b.

yeh i play guitar too and i think there songs aren't hard to strum to
over the previous tours he doesnt play guitar on the fly or angel of harlem anymore

also in a lot of the studio versions of songs he plays guitar but not live

example: All because of you, beautiful day, sometimes you cant make it on your own

 

[mysterious_jen]

bonos guitar playing is about as good as mine (the word starts with F ends in d and i dont mean the chords) ... you can't expect him to be HOT and sing and play guitar can you ???

 

[ultraviolet92]

pftttttttt

 

[coolian2]

yeh i play guitar too and i think there songs aren't hard to strum to
over the previous tours he doesnt play guitar on the fly or angel of harlem anymore

also in a lot of the studio versions of songs he plays guitar but not live

example: All because of you, beautiful day, sometimes you cant make it on your own

Did he play guitar on Angel of Harlem during Lovetown?

He did play guitar for The Fly on Vertigo.

Its not necessarily him playing guitar on those studio tracks.

To be honest, Beautiful Day sounds brilliant live without more guitar.

 

[butter7]

I think that Bono forgets that he's supposed to be playing the guitar, which is why he so often ends up just wearing it. I've actually noticed this (I think it was during Walk On on the Slane DVD, but I may be mistaken), he has the guitar on, he's meant to be playing it, and even has his hands on it, but he's not actually doing anything. I guess he just gets so into the singing that he forgets he's supposed to be doing anything else.

As an added note, it's quite fun to watch how many picks he drops during the course of a song

I agree with you. Sometimes I felt he just so into the songs and just forgot about the world. I'd really like to see he singing that way, than paying half attention to the guitar, and half to the song.

 

[ultraviolet92]

not sure about the lovetown tour

 

[Axver]

The Lovetown Tour featured his best guitar playing. Some performances of All Along The Watchtower and All I Want Is You demonstrate that most vividly. It's the only tour where I feel his guitar playing actually contributed something tangibly worthwhile to the quality of the songs.

Nowadays, I think it's more like furniture, a way to look "rock 'n' roll".

 

[ultraviolet92]

true, he uses it for the style and looks

 

[craigp]

bono wears guitar

 

[phillyfan26]

The Lovetown Tour featured his best guitar playing. Some performances of All Along The Watchtower and All I Want Is You demonstrate that most vividly. It's the only tour where I feel his guitar playing actually contributed something tangibly worthwhile to the quality of the songs.

Nowadays, I think it's more like furniture, a way to look "rock 'n' roll".

AIWIY with Bono on the Lovetown Tour was superb.

Most of his playing just isn't heard at all because they always keep his volume so low.

 

[kingofsorrow]

in the R&H movie outtakes, after bono dislocates/screws up his shoulder. Phil did an interview with Paul Mcguinness. he said he had asked edge how this would affect the show since bono obviously can't play his guitar anymore. edge told him it wouldn't.
bono just likes to hold the guitar as something to do.
now there are times when his "strumming" has sounded great, for instance the Dublin/Zoo TV performance of Stay and The Fly. otherwise he's just posing.

 

[kingofsorrow]

The Lovetown Tour featured his best guitar playing. Some performances of All Along The Watchtower and All I Want Is You demonstrate that most vividly. It's the only tour where I feel his guitar playing actually contributed something tangibly worthwhile to the quality of the songs.

Nowadays, I think it's more like furniture, a way to look "rock 'n' roll".

i forgot about Lovetown. his playing did seem to enhance the songs.


p.s. love the "furniture" reference.

 

[Galeongirl]

the end of WOWY on Rattle and Hum sounded nice, subtle but nice...

 

[zoopop]

I think one of his best guitar performances is "Staring At The Sun" live.

 

[junkydog]

surely that last comment is a piss-take..

 

[Blue Room]

Didnt we just have a thread about Bono's guitar work?

Most of the time Bono just strums a few chords. There are exceptions though. I like his guitar on The Fly for Vertigo. At least he is actually playing a riff on it.

 

[mandrake]

I think he should play on All Because of You instead of the tamborine. That would really help boost the sound of that song too

 

[Jeannieco]

I think that Bono forgets that he's supposed to be playing the guitar, which is why he so often ends up just wearing it. I've actually noticed this (I think it was during Walk On on the Slane DVD, but I may be mistaken), he has the guitar on, he's meant to be playing it, and even has his hands on it, but he's not actually doing anything.

He broke a string during Walk On Slane. His guitar tech came out took the guitar and then came back later with it fixed at the end of the song. It was funny too because the poor guy was standing there for a while after he fixed it and brought it back out( don't know his name) and Bono just ignored him because he was really in to the lyrics so he just went to the side of the stage and then Bono finally waved him back over to him and he handed him the guitar. They tried to edit it out, but if you pay attention it's obvious what happened!

 

[rihannsu]

Wearing guitar keeps him from climbing scaffolding. That being said I don't think that Bono's guitar playing is actually bad. When he wants to or needs to actually play he is quite capable. Not lead guitarist material but then not everybody is anyway. Sometimes though in live performance the guitar can be an anchor or a shield so to speak for him. I believe he sometimes needs the prop to keep him focused. On Elevation I felt that his playing during Kite was to keep him from getting too lost in the song. He seemed to need to be holding on to the guitar. I think Larry even mentions in a interview something to that effect as he says that he couldn't stand out in front with nothing but a microphone like Bono does so if Bono wants to wear guitar that's fine with him.

Dana

 

[ultraviolet92]

if you watch exit on rattle and hum during the verse hes singing with guitar behind his back but in the loud thrashing guitar part he goes over to adjust the amp and barely plays the guitar. Its kind of funny to watch him adjust the amp then do a couple of head banging moves on his guitar then adjust the amp again.