because of this thread:

http://theskyiscrape.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=47230

I checked out the AOL sessions and noticed Sad (which I hadn't watched) and thought it was SO MUCH better than when I've seen it live, when Ed's playing guitar.

I've also thought about HOW AWESOME Letterman was--Life Wasted, ed with no guitar.

do you think if he isn't playing, it frees him up to perform better?

I'm thinking there's a good chance...

I know that when I play guitar and sing at the same time, I don't/can't pay quite so much attention to every note and enunciation. It usually makes the singing better, in my case, because it's more subconscious. Maybe for Ed it's the reverse.

I really think it does affect the way he sings/performs, just listen/watch the old shows, Ed didn't play the guitar back then and his performance was awesome, he would just concentrate on singing and the audience. I know he is older now but when he's not playing the guitar I think he gets better results.

Absolutely better singing without guitar. Old Porch is a perfect example.

I think it depends on the song. For instance, he puts a lot of punctuation and emphasis on songs when he's playing (ex. Grievance and Insiginificance), which would be missing if he didn't have a guitar.

Corduroy would suck if Eddie didnt play on it.

how would we know?

In general I prefer eddie without the guitar, which is too bad, because I love the songs he writes and he's usually playing on them.

I believe he does sing better on songs without the guitar. But I'll give up a little in the vocal department for his playing on those certain songs. He just gets into it so much when he plays on those songs.

I agree with this. I think it has a lot to do with who wrote them and under what circumstances. Both Grievance and Insignificance are Ed's and most likely the music (guitar) and lyrics were written at the same time and that's how he sings them best, that's how he gets into them. WWS is like this too, he gets caught up in it as it's based around the guitar melody.

I think Corduroy, LBC, and RVM are too great examples of where he isn't needed and it takes away from the song.

I think his singing is slightly affected when hes playing guitar, but we can all relate to that. Except Betterman, but hes been playing that for 25 odd years.

it doesn't sound like he played on the studio version of Corduroy. I prefer that version (and Stone's playing).

anyways, Eddie's a much better performer and singer when he's not playing guitar. But most lead singers are.

Does anyone know if he's on studio corduroy. I always thought I heard three guitars during the breakdown at the end.

statement.

lock it up.

i personally like when he plays in not for you

yeah, i kind of like that too for some reason. it's such a messy, grungy song it kind of works better.

not for you without eddie's guitar would not be the same

Those AOL sessions are really tight, I love them.

I think some songs (In my Tree, Corduroy, Betterman) might be better with Eddie on guitar, but most (almost of all) I prefer to have Eddie just singing...

Some songs must have Eddie on guitar...Thumbing my way

way better w/o guitar

si