Bob Dylan, guitar hero

Bob Dylan has surely employed some wonderful lead guitarists over the course of his career, including Bruce Langhorne, Robbie Robertson, Mike Bloomfield, David Bromberg, Norman Blake, Billy Cross, Mick Ronson, Mark Knopfler, Danny Kortchmar, Fred Tackett, Mick Taylor, G.E. Smith, Daniel Lanois, Mike Campbell, Mason Ruffner, Jerry Garcia, John Jackson, Larry Campbell, Charlie Sexton, Cindy Cashdollar, Stu Kimball, Cesar Diaz and Denny Freeman. But what of Bob himself as a lead guitarist?

Don't laugh, Bob played a mess o' lead in the nineties. When I saw him in Philadelphia in 1994, after not seeing him live for eight years, I was surprised by how many solos Bob was taking, often at the same time as his lead player that night, John Jackson. His style, as I saw that night and heard on subsequent live recordings, tended to be a simple one, with a heavy reliance on repeated riffs. In that way it was reminiscent of his harmonica playing.

Even earlier in Dylan's career, some noteworthy guitar playing can be heard, if not really 'lead' in the classic sense. His first album, titled Bob Dylan (1961), is chock-a-block with guitar goodies, including the lipstick-holder slide on "Highway 51" and "In My Time of Dyin'". "Only A Pawn In Their Game," from The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) features some very strange Carter picking (alternating single picked bass notes with strums) and "Don't Think Twice (It's All Right)" from 1963's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is a model of Travis fingerpicking. "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from Blonde on Blonde (1966) starts off with some Tele lead scratching from our man before Robbie Robertson takes over, yet Bob is credited with 'lead guitar' on the album cover.

Dylan seems to have curtailed a lot of his live lead playing recently.  Mostly I hear about him playing keyboards on tour, and not really much guitar at all. There's not much out there that I know of on Bob's lead playing in recent years, but here's an article on Dylan's guitars,