distinguishing between lee and thurston (and others)
 

sometimes i feel like i can tell which one is playing which part, and sometimes i have no idea. sometimes i see them in a video and i'm right, and sometimes i'm wrong. and then there are the albums with jim, and i don't even think i've tried distinguishing between three guitarists.

so for those who are proficient at distinguishing between lee, thurston, and others, are there any guidelines or tips you can offer?

no real reason why i'm asking . . . i guess i'd just like to think that when i picture them playing in my head there may be a decent shot that i'm somewhat accurate.

as far as i can tell, lee (on the older records at least) plays the less rhythmic, more textural parts, and often the 'solo' bits, as far as sy solos go. thurston on the other hand, often has a slightly more punky, rhythmic style, uses more palm mutes, but is often more responsible for a lot of the REALLY noisy parts (like in silver rocket). A lot of the time, if theres a really distinct riff in the song, thurston will be playing it, and lees part will be more textured and less easy to pick out. having said that, theres a lot of overlap between the two.

the best way to distinguish and hear their individual styles is to listen to dirty. thurstons parts are all (i believe) in the right speaker, and lees are all in the left.

In the early 90s Lee started using delay. And while both use flange, Lee usualy uses the more powerful flangers, like the mu-tron by phase. And the Moog Ring Mod is another synth/filter/modulation pedal used by Lee in the more recent records. Thurston uses the single knob MXR phase 90 and a Mu-Tron Wah/Vol. The rest of the effects are overdrive/fuzz effects. Lee only used Wah on some early 90s recordings. So in the more recent recordings Lee can be picked out by some of the modulating tones while thurston only uses the MXR.

Dirty - Right:Thurston Left: Lee
EJST&NS - Right:Lee Left: Thurston
Washing Machine Right:Thurston Left:Lee
A Thousand Leaves Right: Thurston Left:Lee

What I generally do is try not to be such a fucking idiot and stop caring who is playing what.

It works great!

quite a feasible question Trainyard don't pay attention to the idiots that are just here to start shit

haha, thanks for the input . . . most of it, anyway.