Style
After the departure of guitarist Steve Hackett, Rutherford took over all guitarist roles for the band in the recording studio. On live shows, he would alternate between guitar and bass with touring-only guitarist/bassist Daryl Stuermer. Stuermer would typically play all of Hackett's guitar parts and play bass on most songs from the post-Hackett era. Rutherford often used long, melodic tones, bending the notes into plaintive, almost vocal lines. This results in "singable" solos or the creation of sonic atmospheres rather than showy displays of technical prowess.
As a rhythm guitar player and writer, Rutherford favours melodic, minimalist chords or progressions of single notes, as in Genesis songs "Follow You, Follow Me", "Turn It On Again", and "Invisible Touch", or the Mike + the Mechanics song "The Living Years".
Though his work with bass and guitar has been praised by some critics, Rutherford has described his playing as average and said that he considers himself a songwriter first and foremost.
Rutherford played at the Strat Pack Concert in 2004 along with Brian May, David Gilmour and Joe Walsh.
Read more about this topic: Mike Rutherford
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