Mike Rutherford – Bass

Michael John Cloete Crawford Rutherford (born 2 October 1950) is an English guitarist, bassist and songwriter, best known as co-founder, lead guitarist and bassist of the rock band Genesis. He and keyboardist Tony Banks are the group’s two continuous members.

Initially serving as Genesis’s bass guitarist and backing vocalist, Rutherford also performed most of the band’s rhythm guitar parts—frequently on twelve-string guitar — in collaboration with successive Genesis lead guitarists Anthony Phillips and Steve Hackett. Following Hackett’s departure from Genesis in 1977, Rutherford assumed the additional role of lead guitarist on the band’s studio albums (beginning with .. And Then There Were Three  in 1978). Rutherford was one of the main Genesis songwriters throughout their career and wrote the lyrics for some of the band’s biggest international hits, such as “Follow You Follow Me”, ” Turn It On Again”, “Lqand Of COnfusion” and “Throwing It All Away”.

In addition to his work with Genesis, Rutherford released two solo albums in the early 1980s. In 1985, he formed Mike + The Mechanics, which became a chart-topping act and significant live draw in its own right. The group earned Rutherford an Ivor Novello for the 1988 single “The Living Years” as well as two Grammys.

I put this chart up because it is almost impossible to not be able to read it – there are only five notes in it! It shows that, with only the most modest of skills, you can play great music ‘cold’ without being an advanced player or reader.