Whats the point of rhythm guitar?

Hello there, You could have one person cut both tracks. Heck, you could even have that same person cut the bass and drums tracks. In the studio anything is possible. The skill set for a good rhythm player is not the same as for a good lead. A good rhythm player can take a mediocre song and make it come alive and inspired. There is a lot more to playing rhythm than strumming some chords. The rhythm player is probably has a greater impact on the overall sound of the song than the lead player. Also, playing with another guitar player is different than playing with a recorded track. You can develop a synergy and feed off each other. You can bring a dynamic to the sound that you cannot do playing against a recorded track. Later, Norm

Look at Metallica... James has an unrivaled right hand, and you want HIM to play those parts. It allows Kirk to focus full attention on lead. As a rhythm guitarist, I consider rhythm guitarists to be the heart of the band. I won't listen to a band without a good rhythm guitarist. Everybody could be mediocre.

How many bands do you know that only play in the studio and not live? Having two guitarist obviously serves a purpose or no band would have two guitarist. This doesn't mean one guy just has to play rhythm and one just lead. Many bands switch off between the two. So back to your question, yeah one guy could do it all in the studio, but how would you feel if you were one of two guitarists in a band but weren't allowed to play on the recordings?

Like H2SO4 said, being good at putting down melodic leads doesn't make you good at rhythm and vice versa, bands usually wrtie songs collectively, one person writes a cool rhythmic chord progression, one person writes melodic leads over it, one person writes all the drum parts, and then they jam together for a while, record a demo, work on the inperfections, re-record, etc. Writing both guitar parts might not be that hard, but them it's difficult to practice the song together and make changes because you're missing a member and one guitarist is doing twice the work, then they either have to play a backing track or use a loop peddle live and it's just a lot more work than having another guy to do all that stuff. Having said that some bands don't struggle with this, like Decapitated, Vogg writes all the guitar parts and uses a loop peddle live.