Rock + Metal Bands Who Don’t Have a Guitarist

Does a singular instrument define the sound of rock and metal music? If you have to pick one, the guitar is an easy pick. Some people might argue that if you don't have a guitar in your band than you can't, by definition, be a rock band.

Well, there are 10 bands below that will politely (or not) tell those people to f*%k off. These bands have managed to rock out very hard without having a guitarist. Some have devised clever ways to get a guitar sound by using guitar-adjacent instruments. Some bands have even come up with clever ways to sound like they have a guitar without an instrument at all! But most of these bands have enough going on in their music that they, perish the thought, DON'T EVEN NEED GUITAR.

There are a couple trends that emerged when compiling this list. First, two-piece bands with just drummer and bassist seem to function well without a guitarist if they've got the chops to really pound out an energetic show. Second, if you're gonna play metal without having a guitar, doom metal, a subgenre that relies on slower tempos and a "thicker sound" than regular heavy metal, seems to be the choice.

Check out these guitar-less heroes below.

Rock + Metal Bands Who Don’t Have a Guitarist

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