Carl as lead guitarist

[jane]

This is a two part question. 1. Who did the guitar solo in the live version of Let the Wind Blow from In Concert?
2. What kind of guitarist was Carl? It seems he let a lot of the leads go to others in later years.  Clearly he was an awesome vocalist but as far as skill on the guitar goes, how was he? (I'm not a guitar player obviously!)

[endofposts]

I don't know the answer to the first question, but Carl was a good Chuck Berry-style player.  Watch any of the early live clips from YouTube for confirmation of that.  I was surprised at how good he was after watching some of those I hadn't seen before.

[James Hughes-Clarke]

Yes I agree that Carl was an excellent, Chuck Berry-style rock 'n' roll guitarist - at least the equal of, for example, George Harrison in the early years.  The difference is, that Carl never really developed much beyond that style, unlike Harrison who certainly did, particularly with his stunning slide guitar playing in his solo years.  But after the surf era, the Beach Boys were never really a 'guitar solo' band anyway, and Carl was never going to be the 'ego-driven' lead guitarist.  My impression is that he never really took himself that seriously as a guitarist, which is a bit of a shame as he certainly had the ability.

[James Hughes-Clarke]

Btw regarding the live 'Let the Wind Blow' solo - my guess would be Blondie.