Which Coldplay member is the band's lead guitarist?

Jonny Buckland is Coldplay’s lead guitarist and one of the band’s co-founders.

Buckland met Chris Martin at University College London in 1996, and the pair began writing songs together the following year. Guy Berryman joined soon afterward, while Will Champion became the drummer in 1998. Although Martin is the group’s most visible frontman, Buckland’s guitar work is central to Coldplay’s sound.

His style is often atmospheric rather than showy. He has cited bands such as My Bloody Valentine, the Stone Roses and U2 as influences, and his use of delay effects and slide guitar has drawn comparisons with U2’s The Edge. That approach helps explain why many Coldplay guitar parts sound spacious, chiming and textural instead of built around long solos.

Buckland is also a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who contributes keyboards and backing vocals. He wrote “Adventure of a Lifetime,” released as a single from 2015’s A Head Full of Dreams. Phil Harvey is associated with the band as manager and creative director, but he is not its guitarist.