Best Roles In Rock Bands
Any musician can be famous with any instrument .But I think these are the best roles in rock bands if someone wants join in a rock band .Backing Vocals hasn't counted as any instrument.
Usually musicians like this become famous from both guitar and vocals side. Plus, they can perform on stage easily. Playing rhythm guitar isn't hard like lead guitar. You could sing greatly along with it.
The one who sings and plays rhythm guitar
Examples:James Hetfield,John Lennon,Paul Stanley
People usually identify a band with only one guitarist as a lead guitarist. But he plays rhythm part too. But when a band has more than one guitarist, they can split between the role.
It's really hard but Kai Hansen nailed it. Also Jeff Waters did vox on some albums. Both play very fast and technical stuff. Moreover, they often switch lead/rhythm to play riffs.
Kai Hansen: Helloween - Ride the Sky, Gamma Ray - Land Of The Free, Rain, Gardens of the Sinner
Jeff Waters: Annihilator - 21, King of the Kill, Fiasco
Very hard but gets my vote because it requires the most skill.
Also Devin Townsend (try: Strapping Young Lad - Wrong Side). He plays rhythm G, too.
Only bass
Examples: John Entwistle,Cliff Burton,Steve Harris,
Drumming with backing vocals is possible. But singing as a lead vocalist with drumming is very very hard. Drumming takes both two hands and two legs works. Most importantly it takes a lot of attention.
Only vocals.Not any major instruments
Examples:Axl Rose,Robert Plant,Ian Gillan.
Haven't added Freddie Mercury cause he used play keyboards and guitars.
I would add Dio, Rob Halford, Bruce Dickinson, Matt Barlow (Iced Earth)
My favorite rhythm guitarist is Jon Schaffer of Iced Earth - a very solid player.
Singing with piano isn't very hard. I won't say its easy, but when keyboardists play multiple keyboards organs, synthesizer, piano at the same time, it becomes too hard to sing.
Example : Freddie Mercury
By the way, musicians record their songs with separate instruments. And then they mix it. So, when recording an album, a musician can record a lot of instruments. But he/she can't perform it on stage alone.
Very rare
The only musician that I can think of is Tom Scholz of boston.And Paul McCartney played some guitar on some songs of Beatles
Can't perform in stage with these two,unless using some amplifiers.