5 members, but using 4
 

Hey. I'm in a band that's pretty ragtag. We're just starting out and finding our sound, how we fit together, and all that. I wrote a song that I feel only needs one guitar for the most part, but the other guitarist is upset about having nothing to play.

What I'm wondering is if there are any examples (preferably live videos, so we can see what's going on) of what five membered bands do when they only need four to play. Perhaps I'm wrong and every song we write needs two guitars at all times. But I don't feel like that's the case, so I'm wondering what the big bands do when something like this happens. It also doesn't have to be five members, more generally it's about what to do if one member doesn't have a part for much of the song.

Any recommended songs/videos? Or ideas on how to ameliorate the situation in general?

Thanks!

Plays the tambourine

It's all about the illusion, so just have him turn down and strum a 'dead' guitar. No one will know the difference. It's either that, or have him grab a cowbell. Triangle is also acceptable.

Single layer the guitars, make one lead and the other rhythm, let the bass bridge the guitars to the drums and do fills in between the two guitar lines. You do lose a little bit of depth with the asymmetrical approach, but it really flushes the sound out a bit more. Obviously, all things will have to get tied together for the chorus and ending sections of the song, creating a sort of tension/release call/response with the progression of the piece and if you go playing with some effects it can make it sound sort of spacey and fun. Just so long as it all ties up at the end, you can break it off and bring it back, and break it off and bring it back, etc. It's just chord progression, that's all. Just make sure everything moves around within the correlating chords and it'll sound strung up together, that's the key to making the sound. Break apart and come back together. Here's a good example of it, it doesn't have to be the same genre, it can be done with any genre, really:

This thread is avoiding the obvious fact that you need to get rid of a guitarist.

Thanks everybody for your thoughts!

Noodles.

I know right?

I have definitely seen bands with an extra member just play along on a guitar that isnt turned up during songs. No shame in that.