JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum Greatest Guitar Solo's

In the end, probably the greatest of them all would be Jimmy Page's famous "Stairway to Heaven" solo. Most of us could sing it note for note, that's how ingrained it is in our brains.

There is a great arrangement that Frank Zappa did of "Stairway to Heaven"...he has a full horn section play that solo letter perfect...lots of fun.

David Gilmour on Comfortably Numb, Money, and Another Brick in the Wall (Pt.2?). Perfect in every way.

The solo at the end of Can't You Hear Me Knockin' has always been one of my favorites, too.

Darn!
I practice Pink Floyd covers every now and again and should have added Comfortably Numb.
Bet there will be more like that I neglected to mention.
I could imagine those solos ringing in my ears as I read the title. Both the middle and end one.

Can't You Hear Me Knockin"..Mick Taylor doing his best Carlos impression! GREAT SOLO. On one of the greatest albums EVER!

The original recording of EMH (it's an 'extra' track on the CD version I have of 5D) is even wilder - McGuinn is a superb guitar player.

I love Mick Taylor. By the way, there's a good interview with him in the lastest Vintage Guitar.

I also love SRV's solo in "Life Without You." Very memorable and singable.

there's this guitar player out of austin...monte montgomery... stops me dead in my tracks every time...if you haven't heard him..check it out..you'll see what i mean

Stevie Ray Vaughn's version of "Little Wing" and anything that David Lindley plays....

I still say that Yo La Tengo- "Pablo and Andrea" gives me chills every time I hear it.

Not only is the song beautiful, but the way the solo just sort of emerges, organically from the main riff of the song, is haunting. It does everything that a great guitar solo SHOULD do -- brings the song someplace else; someplace higher.

And I really need to find a stream of this song so y'all can hear it.

It's not a shredding solo. Ira Kaplan is not Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhodes, or Stevie Ray Vaughn. But the guy has an amazing musicality and incredible instincts. I love this band.

Didn't Trevor Rabin play the solo on "Owner..."? He was Steve's replacement on 90125.

Steve did a nice job on "Yours is No Disgrace" though.

No one has mentioned one almost as famous as "Stairway..."

Free Bird - Allen Collins w/Lynyrd Skynyrd

Aqualung - Martin Barre w/Jethro Tull

Reelin' in the Years - Eliott Randall w/Steely Dan

Just about anything by Larry Carlton with Steely Dan...so many (Kid Charlemagne and Josie come to mind).

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - most people think George Harrison did this, but it was really Eric Clapton.

Blue Sky - Duane Alman/Dicky Betts

Beat It - Eddie Van Halen

'Cause We've Ended as Lovers - Jeff Beck


...WAY back there: Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode (the original)

Ted Nugent "Hibernation" and "Stranglehold"
Skynyrd "Needle and the Spoon" and "That Smell"
ZZTop "Cheap Sunglasses" and "Blue Jean Blues"
Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs"
Outlaws "Green Grass and High Tides" and "Ghost Riders in the Sky"

In reading the posts here, I'm seeing a serious disconnect here between what I see as a great guitar solo and what many of you see as a great guitar solo.

Most of the posts are about solos with dazzling technique. But it is about something entirely different to me.

In my eyes, the solo first and foremost has to take the song higher. It does not have to be technically challenging or impressive in any way. It just has to grab me. Make me shudder. Make me well up. Even make me laugh.

That's not to say that a technically magnificent solo can't grab me ("Cause We've Ended As Lovers" is a perfect example -- I love that performance) but there is so much more than that.

And that's also not to say that I'm any "deeper" than any of you all. But I've had a couple of folks slagging on my picks. And, I just wanted to state clearly that we're coming from completely different perspectives on this. I guess that I'm a songwriter first and foremost... so the solo has to work for me in that context.

Oh, and something else: SRV is one of the only guitar players that I can listen to play forever and ever. IF he never stopped playing, I would be very happy. That is in complete contrast to my usual feelings on extended solos.

And I FINALLY was able to get a streaming version of my all-time favorite guitar solo for y'all. Just click on the name "Pablo and Andrea" here:
www.poptodd.muxtape.com

It's NOT the first (slide) solo; it's the one toward the end. You know it when you hear it. It may not blow you away, technically. But it blows me away, emotionally. Every time. Chills.

Hey Pop

Interesting spin here. Ok folks without starting all over... what solo's grab you emotionaly? Here are some that really throw me against a wall not all technical though some are.

"As long as you follow" Fleetwood Mac, Lindsay Buckingham I think
"Whenever you come around" Vince Gil
"The wind Cries Mary" Jimi Hendrix (never heard a guitar cry like that.
"I am the highway" Audioslave, Tom Morello
"Shooting Star" Bad Company (not sure who played it)
There are tons more I will think of later
Derek

Hi Larry you could be right about the original Owner solo however I have heard Steve Howe play Owner live and also as part of an acoustic set both solos are 100% Check out the acoustic set if you get the chance Roundabout is unbelievable in a diff time sig played acoustic.

I love a good Neil Young guitar solo. Even his riffs, like the beginning of "Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" grab me right from the get-go.

Pop Todd, I agree about what makes a good solo...spectacular pyrotechnics are just one way to go about it, but they can be really boring. It's not a matter of how hard is it to play, but how great it sounds. Sometimes the easy ones are sheer perfection (Neil Young's "Southern Man"...pretty easy, pretty perfect).

But when it comes to extremely difficult ones, Frank Zappa is my favorite. Lightning speed, explosive feel, amazing scales and tone...and the whole time he looks relaxed and bored.

Here's one that gives me chills---Carlos Santanna "Europa"

Has anyone mentioned Jan Ackerman "Sylvia" Goosebumps when I hear it.

One that Always makes me smile when I hear it.

Santana's "I'm Winning" Carlos Santana knows how to make a guitar talk!!
Derek

Edit

Oh and in that Same Vein "Smooth" by Matchbox 20 (Featuring Carlos Santana)

Some of these solos are really sticking out to me now.
Especially since the members mentioned some of them.

Santana is full of those memorable solos now that I think of them.
But some of Slade's stuff springs to mind too.
And Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper".
The solo in the album version of that song has the effect of thunder and lightning bursting from the sky.

Also Sweet.
Not too many solos I remember (Exception being "Lost Angels". Sweet was an early glam band that thought the New York Dolls, Mott The Hoople Image was too femmy, and would'nt show themselves on front of album covers in the late seventies).
But their brand of rock(hooks a plenty) was a pre-curser to eighties metal, if there ever was one.
Also Thin Lizzy's layered guitar prototechnics.

If you want to hear my favorite guitar solo, go here:
www.poptodd.muxtape.com
and look for "Pablo and Andrea" by Yo La Tengo
(it's the last song)

Listen all the way through and, the second (distorted) solo is the one. It just brings the song to a higher place, without any sort of pyrotechnics. It's a dreamy kinda feel to begin with, and then, when the solo starts, it's just... something else.

Everything that a solo should be.

Man, you guys have managed to mention eight of ten of my favorite guitarists. Sweet!!!

Speaking of Mick Taylor, my all-time favorite guitar solo is his slide solo on the live version of "Love in Vain" on the Get Yer Ya Ya's Out album. I also like Gregg Lake's solo on Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's "Lucky Man." And finally, for the acoustic lover in me, "Anji" by Davey Graham.

Ooo, "Lucky Man"...yes, that is a stunning solo. Easy to play? Sure. Easy to forget? No way!

On Asia's new reunion album of their original lineup called Phoenix, Steve Howe plays a healthy dose of electric, acoustic, and steel string guitars. Much soloing. Loved it all. Much more ensemble playing on that cd then is normally heard from that band.
It is interesting to hear a steel string in that setting.

Wow

It's great to see this ole thread still alive and kicking. Those who read from the beginning will know this thread has been around for a little over six months. Thanks to all for those contributions and for sharing your love of music.

Now to add another solo to the mix...

The artist is Leblanc and Carr
The song is Falling
Somewhere in the middle is this beautiful little melodic wah pedal expressed solo that I can hear playing in my head during my more romantic escapades lol. It just touches you in a wild and wonderful way! It's not fever pitched or overly technical, but it has some very raw emotion evoking power!

Thanks again everyone for keeping this one going!
Derek

Someone mentioned "chills" - the one that get's me every time is on Jackson Browne's song, "Missing Persons" (a tribute to the late Lowell George), David Lindley plays the most mournful and mesmerizing lap steel solo ever.

I think it's one of his best and works so well with the theme of the song.

Maybe not a greatest of all-time, but (speaking of wah solos) I've always dug the solo on Edie Brickell's "What I Am". Never heard another one that's quite like it.

That tone and that feel are unique.