Instances Where Members Have Played Instruments Other Than Their Primary One

[WalkAThinLine.]

One of my favorite things to do growing up was going through the liner notes to see which instruments were used on certain albums. While Fleetwood Mac generally does not include a track by track breakdown of who played on each track in their album liner notes, we somewhat have a general idea of who played on each track. As the title suggests, this thread is intended to document instances where members played an insturment that did not align with their primary instrument(s) (ex. instances of Mick Fleetwood playing anything other than drums/percussion). This will also include live performances as well.

Mick Fleetwood
*"Gold Dust Woman" - electric harpsichord and glass - As discussed in Ken Caillat's Making Rumours book, an electric harpsichord with a jet phaser was shipped to the recording studio and played by Mick to accent certain passages. He played the harpsichord more like a percussion instrument rather than a keyboard; these noises can be heard prominently around the 28 second mark. He also produced some additional sound effects by smashing some glass with a hammer; these noises are included on certain mixes of the track, including one found on The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac

*"These Strange Times" - guitar and vocals - Both John Jones and Mick are credited with guitar on the track; I'm assuming that Mick played the acoustic guitar and John Jones handled the solo, but I could be incorrect.

*"In the Back of My Mind" and "Lizard People" - spoken word.

*"World Turning" (live) - does the drum vest count?

John McVie

John mostly stuck with bass guitar with Fleetwood Mac, although he did contribute some harmony vocals on "Cool Water" and hummed on 1997 renditions of "Say You Love Me". Arguably his most intriguing credit comes in the liner notes of Say You Will, where he is listed with "black keys". I'm assuming that this refers to the black keys of a keyboard.

Peter Green
Peter's harmonica playing is featured prominently on the band's debut album, including on "Looking For Somebody" and "No Place to Go". Subsequent albums with Green barely featured the instrument. Peter's six-string bass was used for "Green Manalishi" and the studio version of "Rattlesnake Shake". Peter also occasionally played some percussion instruments such as the timpani on "Closing My Eyes" and "Oh Well Part 2", the latter of which also saw further overdubs of cello and cymbal hits. According to Sandra Elsdon in an interview published in Fleetwood Mac FAQ, Peter was also responsible for most of the recorder passages; she only played the final few notes on the song. Martin Celmins also mentioned in his book that Peter played percussion on live renditions of "Coming Your Way".

Jeremy Spencer
In addition to slide guitar, Jeremy played piano on certain songs throughout his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, with "Hellhound On My Trail" being one of the more notable examples. Infamously, Jeremy's piano parts on "Oh Well Part 2" were one of the only things he offered during the Then Play On sessions, although Christopher Hjort said in his Strange Brew that Jeremy played maracas on the studio version for Part 1. Before Christine McVie, Jeremy was often the person tasked with playing maracas for live performances, which were used on both "Oh Well" and "Rattlesnake Shake". He was also credited with piano on Kiln House.

Danny Kirwan
Danny primarily stuck with guitar during his time with Fleetwood Mac and never really ventured out beyond that instrument with the exception of some percussion playing during live renditions of "Coming Your Way"

Christine McVie
In the liner notes of several Fleetwood Mac albums including The White Album, Rumours, and Tusk, Christine was unusually credited with both keyboards and synthesizers even through synthesizers are keyboards. Similarly, she received a separate credit for an ARP string ensemble on Heroes are Hard to Find. Within the keyboard camp, there's also some aural evidence that she played some accordion on "When the Sun Goes Down" and potentially "Dreamin' the Dream". Most famously, she also played the instrument for live renditions of "Tusk".

Live performances in general saw Christine play a slew of various instruments, primarily percussion. Certain songs in the set, such as "Everywhere" and "World Turning" gave Christine an opportunity to step in front of her keyboard rig and interact with other members of the band. She also used them on "Miles Away" during the Midnight Special and some Peter Green material such as "Oh Well" and "Rattlesnake Shake". She occasionally played tambourine, as found on "Eyes of the World" during the Mirage Tour and "Say You Love Me" for The Dance Tour. More uniquely, she played the snare drum on "Second Hand News" for the 1978 Penguin Safari Tour. For the Tusk Tour, she played a twelve-string acoustic guitar on "Save Me A Place" and "The Ledge", the latter of which never made it beyond the rehearsal stage.

[B]Bob Welch[B]
Bob said in one of the Q&As that he played bass on certain Fleetwood Mac recordings, specifically citing "Revelation" and "Keep on Going". He is also credited with "vibes" on Heroes are Hard to Find, which he likely played on "Born Enchanter" based on aural evidence.

[B]Bob Weston[B]
He played both banjo and harmonica on "The Derelict" and also sang co-lead vocals on the chorus of "Did You Ever Love Me"

[B]Dave Walker[B]
Other than Dave's occasional vocal contributions on Penguin, he also played harmonica on "I'm a Roadrunner".

Lindsey Buckingham
Unlike Christine McVie, whose multi-instrumentalism was primarily confined to live performances, Lindsey played numerous instruments on Fleetwood Mac recordings other than the guitar. This began with Rumours, where he played some tom-tom fills on both "You Make Loving Fun" and "Second Hand News", the latter of which also features chair percussion played by Buckingham with some drum sticks. Buckingham played numbers instruments on Tusk, including bass, piano, synths, drums, and percussion. Most interestingly, he played an Andean string instrument known as the charango on both "Save Me a Place" and "That's All For Everyone"; Buckingham also played a cascading figure on the kalimba for "That's All For Everyone". On Mirage, he is credited with "additional keyboards", although the liner notes do not specify which songs he played these on. I would assume his own material would be likely candidates, although some of the synth tones on "That's Alright" could also be him. The press kit for Mirage also mentioned that he played both a harp and vibraphone. Musician Magazine clarified that he played a lap harp on "Empire State". He played miscellaneous instruments on Tango in the Night, most notably the Fairlight CMI, an early music sampler. On Say You Will, Buckingham is listed with keyboards and percussion in addition to his usual guitar and vocals credit. It's assumed that most if not all keyboard playing on Extended Play was also from him.

For live performances, he almost exclusively stuck with various guitars, although he did use a Fender VI bass on "What Makes You Think You're the One" for the Tusk Tour (which he used more like a conventional guitar) and a banjo on "Say You Love Me" for The Dance Tour (which he also played on the song's studio version).

Stevie Nicks
The liner notes of the 2015 Tusk reissue mentioned that Stevie played one of the piano parts on "Sara", which was panned to one channel to work in tandem with another piano played by Christine. She is also credited with some keyboards on Say You Will, although I don't know which songs she played on.

For live performances, Stevie is the tambourine queen of the band and has occasionally played the instrument with taped jingles. In one infamous instance, she handed a muted tambourine to Bill Clinton during their 1993 performance of "Don't Stop". She has also played cowbell on some earlier tours, with "Second Hand News", "Tusk", and "Sisters of the Moon" being some examples that come to mind. One of the articles included in Fleetwood Mac on Fleetwood Mac: Interviews and Encounters mentioned that Stevie went behind Mick's drum kit to play congas on "Green Manalishi". I recall seeing images of her playing the instrument as well.

Billy Burnette
On the Another Link in the Chain Tour, Billy can be seen playing some maracas during the drum solo section of "World Turning".

Rick Vito
He just stuck with guitar and vocals

Bekka Bramlette
She played tambourine during the Another Link in the Chain Tour extensively and also played the instrument in tandem with some maracas on "Oh Well".

Dave Mason
Despite playing a variety of instruments with Traffic, Dave just stuck with guitar and vocals during his time with Fleetwood Mac.

Let me know if I missed anything.

[HomerMcvie]

Christine played a mean chair on Second Hand News, live.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Christine played a mean chair on Second Hand News, live.

I thought that it was a snare drum.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

I thought that it was a snare drum.

Nope. It was a chair. Think vinyl seated chair in a Chinese restaurant. Drumsticks on that mother.......

[cbBen]

Thank you for this thorough accounting.

I know you already mentioned his drums on Tusk generally, but in the book Songwriters On Songwriting by Paul Zollo Lindsey says he specifically plays the drums on "Walk A Thin Line." Mick was concerned that they were sloppy and people would think it was he who played them. Lindsey said he was going for slop.

[Villavic]

Not about other instruments, but I remember someone sharing an audio file of Christine singing "Gypsy." Very raw quality, but it was fun to hear her sing a different song from her repertoire. I downloaded it, but it was a long time ago; I think I lost that file.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Not about other instruments, but I remember someone sharing an audio file of Christine singing "Gypsy." Very raw quality, but it was fun to hear her sing a different song from her repertoire. I downloaded it, but it was a long time ago; I think I lost that file.

I thought it was Rhiannon? Hell, I don't remember. I've got it somewhere, on an old computer tower.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

I thought it was Rhiannon? Hell, I don't remember. I've got it somewhere, on an old computer tower.

Maybe too, but the one I got was Gypsy, I'm sure. And some ledgie shared it.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Nope. It was a chair. Think vinyl seated chair in a Chinese restaurant. Drumsticks on that mother.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRf4-unZw5o

At the 2:32 mark here, you can see Christine playing the snare drum.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Maybe too, but the one I got was Gypsy, I'm sure. And some ledgie shared it.

Those are from the Mirage rehearsals. Chris also sings Dreams and Gypsy. I suppose Stevie had better things to do that day


Here is Dreams
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LphHNp-gCOs&t=352s

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

I thought it was Rhiannon? Hell, I don't remember. I've got it somewhere, on an old computer tower.

yes I have that one also. at some point found a digital version and put it on my iPod/phone. I never understood why Lindsey didn't just sing it, he's been singing it since the early 70s. I love how at some point Chris can't remember the words and just da-da-da's through it

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

yes I have that one also. at some point found a digital version and put it on my iPod/phone. I never understood why Lindsey didn't just sing it, he's been singing it since the early 70s. I love how at some point Chris can't remember the words and just da-da-da's through it

I miss Christine so much. FM NEVER really worked(for me) without her. It was the geek and the ditz, without her. Stevie fans will never admit it, but Christine was the CENTER of the band. She's what brought it all together, and made it work.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRf4-unZw5o

At the 2:32 mark here, you can see Christine playing the snare drum.

Okay...It was STILL a chair. Isn't it from "the making of Rumours", with Lindsey talking about it being a chair, "borrowing a texture" from the Bee Gees?

I'll go to my grave on this one...

And I'm in the process of selling my place, or I'd find a pic of her playing the chair(all my crap is in a storage unit).

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Okay...It was STILL a chair. Isn't it from "the making of Rumours", with Lindsey talking about it being a chair, "borrowing a texture" from the Bee Gees?

I'll go to my grave on this one...

And I'm in the process of selling my place, or I'd find a pic of her playing the chair(all my crap is in a storage unit).

I vaguely remember Christine mentioning that she played a chair for at least one rendition of "Second Hand News". Ken Caillat attributed the chair percussion part to Lindsey in his Making Rumours and also provided a photograph of Lindsey recording that part within his book. Perhaps she played the chair for some live performances and later switched over to the snare drum.

[jbrownsjr]

That's definitely a snare drum.

She has talked about playing a "chair". And I think I've seen photos of her playing a chair.