3 peice outfit
 

In most bands that exist today, save for the smaller genres, its usually composed of a guitar, a bass, and a drum kit. With millions people all trying to create new sounds with these three instruments, does any one think its time for a shake up in instrument selection?

For the purposes of this thread discuss any of the following:

1. Why the traditional three peice is fine and shouldn't be messed with
2. What they should replace the traditional three peice with
3. Why it has survived this long
4. Some bands that don't use this set-up that don't get recognized
5. Anything else you can think of (these were just start off ideas)

I'll start with my two cents here: I think for starters, the three peice is just familiar. You're given more of a chance and are taken more seriously than say an accordion, a banjo, and a triangle. Theres a certain amount of fear and a certain amount of respect that people are paying attention to.

Why I think it could and should be shaken up is that, prior to guitars, they were as tame and conservative as any other instrument. Through years of experimentation and guitarist ingenuity, they've become their own syphony on a strap. Why aren't we doing that for other instrument. Thats what im kicking this open with.*

*I realize that not all bands use the three peice setup, and that other people are creating crazy sounds with other instruments, but not at the rate with guitar.

I think the four and five piece set-ups are more widely utilized.

One of these three (keep in mind, other singers can be anybody in the band, I'm just generalizing):
Singer, Guitarist, Guitarist, Bassist, Drummer
Singer/Guitarist, Guitarist, Bassist, Drummer
Singer, Guitarist, Bassist, Drummer

The amount and popularity of trios is declining, mostly because there are just more possibilities when more members are added to the band.

Well I was counting the singer because the idea was to change instruments. Unless we create some crazy as vocal chord replacement, Im not going to count them.

Well Keane have Piano , Bass & Drums and they`re shit , so maybe it`s best not to mess with the formula

How can you not count the singer? A lot of music would become monotonous if there weren't lyrics placed over it. Vocalists are essential parts of most bands, not to count them is just silly.

Sigh, you're missing my point cheif, the idea of the thread is "do we need an instrument shakeup" you can't replace voice with a diffrent voice. Voice is one ginat collective instrument.

So to say hey lets reaplce singing with this new invention [new inventions name] is crazy, because we don't have anything. Its about the instruments in this thread. Thats why im not counting it.

Unless you're counting the bass keys on the piano, then keane doesn't have a bass player to my knowledge.

Hmm could have sworn they did , not that I pay much attention to them

I play piano so I give any band with one a shot, but anyway...

Trumpet, cello, and blueman group. What do you think of that?

Well they do have MIDI keyboards/synths that can go "Bah" or "Ah", so that's halfway to replacing vocals.

I'd say you could get away with bongos, jugs, and an autoharp.