The best guitar solo?
 

I was wondering if anyone has a favorite guitar solo.

Mine is Free Bird, what is everyone else's?

Comfortably Numb

I have to many favorites to list. I guess I chop them into genre's.

Right now

Rock - Hendrix Voodoo Chile (slight return) solo and seque to Purple Haze from the Woodstock DVD.

Jimmy Page's solos on Stairway to Heaven and Since I've been lovin' you

Jazz solos - John Scofield on Toogs (Enroute) and Kurt Rosenwinkel Zhivago (The Next Step)

I could go on for years but I'll spare obscure solos no one knows about :)

anything that David Gilmour does..........the fuckin' guy can make one note sing.

Seconded. On all 36 parts of "Shine On you Crazy Diamond", pretty much every single note he plays is fucking tasty.

Motion has been made and seconded, I call this to a vote.

All those in favor...

/me raises hand.

Damn, mine was taken already. Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

How about Randy Rhodes on pretty much the entire "Blizzard of Oz" album? Basically Ozzy's voice is the rythem guitar to Randy's lead.

Best solo is too difficult, it really depends on my mood. These albums had killer solos though:

Kirk Hammet, Ride the Lightning (Metallica)
Dave Mustaine/Marty Friedman, Rust in Peace (Megadeth)
Dimebag, Vulgar Display of Power (Pantera)
Andreas Kisser, Arise (Sepultura)
Bill Steer/Mike Amott, Heartwork (Carcass)
Chuck Schuldiner, Symbolic (Death)

the most exciting guitarist i have heard in a long time is kawabata makoto from acid mother's temple. really explosive virtuosity, particularly live. on record, there are many many cool bits--but the acid mothers catalogue is huge--and they are really a live band, so live is the way to experience them.

here is an idea, i think:

www.acidmothers.com

i like robert fripp's playing on "evening star" alot.
also on "lark's tongue in aspc" and "starless and bible black"

john mclaughlin's work on miles davis's "on the corner"....

i like gilmour's playing on "meddle" and "ummaguma" much more than on anything from dark side of the moon onward--the later stuff seems to me little more than nice blues guitar playing. i dont mind it, but for nice blues guitar playing i prefer albert collins

there are SO MANY good to great guitarists....yikes....

I couldn't pick one. There's way too many great guitarists out there.

This just puts me in mind of a survey done though, regarding the greatest guitar licks of all time. And number one was...

...wait for it...

Sweet Child O' Mine.

Slash is a great guitarist, but best lick ever? I don't know about that.

I agree with Gilmore, and Hendrix. The others are good too. The one(s) that really stick out with me were played by Sickie Wife Beater of The Mentors. The things he did with a guitar... He would play with his hands opposite what they should be, and hit every note. The guy was great to watch and listen to.

I'm sure there are plenty of others, he just came to my mind first!

Rather than pick one of the usual guitar gods out there, and for the sake of discussion, I'd like to put my vote in for the solo on Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Going To Go My Way"

It has a soaring quality and compliments the song perfectly. The song has a good riff too.

as usual, :lol: flyman speaks the truth, but I could listen to Dicky Betts play 'Blue Sky' over and over again.

Randy Rhodes- Crazy Train
Eric Clapton- Sunshine of your love
Pete Townshend- Won't get fooled again
David Gilmour- Comfortably Numb
Stevie Ray Vaughan- Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
Alex Lifeson- 2112 Overture

Dave Davies the intro on the KINKS last studio album Phobia.... fuck any Dave Davies guitar solo that Ray wouldn't fuck around with in mixing. Davies took what Link Wray started and made it his sound, a sound that inspired so many.

Eddie Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher" "Panama" and the band's cover of "You Really Got Me" (actually, I like Van Halen's version better thyan the KINKS only because Eddie and David Lee made it harder edged)..... I think I would have to say eddie in his prime was the best guitarist i have ever heard. So any Eddie solo is well......... second to none.

Marcella Levy from Shakespear's Sister on "Turn Your Radio On" she has a great sound to her guitar and was taught by Clapton so she can't be too bad now, can she?

Vinnie Vincent's guitar on the "Top Gun Theme" I still love that solo sounds so simple but yet so complex

I agree Slash's solo on "Sweet Child O' Mine" but also his solo on "November Rain" is just awe inspiring.

Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Good" the grandaddy of them all.

And Keith Richards' "Satisfaction" licks. Started the whole Rolling Stone sound

How about the intro to Sweet Jane on Lou Reed's R n R Animal? Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner. Do you know about the infamous Aerosmith "Get Your Wings" album?

Jimi Hendrix, Star Spangled Banner from WoodStock...

Hmmm, lots of mention of David Gilmore, I need to get some of his songs.

First off, it's Gilmour, not Gilmore.

Secondly, most of his solo material is a steaming pile. His best work is on Pink Floyd records, roughly Atom Heart Mother through The Wall.

'nother great player........



:thumbsup:

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but David Gilmour is a guitar god. In his prime, he was the definition of best guitar solo.

As a second, Mark Knopfler can make "a guitar cry and sing".

Seize The Day by Avenged Sevenfold has a killer guitar solo. I don't know the guitarists name, but he rocks. Kinda short, though.

BTW Avenged Sevenfold is great. Check 'em out. Still the same singer but on the older songs he was killing his throat. He had some kind of surgery and now sounds different.

I've been listening to Joe Satriani lately and enjoying his guitar playing.

As for how he compares to others, I am not sure, but to me he seems damn talented.

Pretty much all of the above....plus:-

anything by Phil Lynott
anything by George Thorogood.

:thumbsup:

Well my 'classic' all time favorite is probably Comfortably Numb.

My personal favorite is probably the second solo in Opeth - Windowpane... it sounds kind of like something Gilmour would have done, but a little bluesier.

Since we're talking about David Gilmour....my favourite solo by him is the Time solo, but that's followed very closely by the intro to Wish You Were Here.

As for others...

Duane Allman doing Statesboro Blues live at Fillmore East...also Whipping Post
Ritchie Blackmore doing Highway Star
Hendrix - Little Wing, Castles Made of Sand, and Red House
Jimmy Page - Hearbreaker and When the Levee Breaks and Bron Y Aur Stomp
BB King - The Thrill Is Gone
Eddie Hazel - Maggot Brain

I'd say he's still in his prime. Go watch his live DVD from a couple years back. He plays Shine On You Crazy Diamond pts. 1-5 on just an acoustic guitar.

Anything by George Thorogood?!?!?!? Wow.

Probably the one in the middle of "Lines in the Sand" by Dream Theater's John Petrucci.

Opeth is a band I want to like but mr. screamy vocalist ruins it for me

you guys are killing me. it's quite obvious that

Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel the Noise

has the best guitar solo of all time. Seriously though, it's a great solo. You don't see many solos that match a song so perfectly. too bad they had pretty much one hit single. that solo is great.


also, this isn't really a solo (maybe it's a long solo :) ) but you should check out

Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson

good stuff. Very "solo." It's an instrumental.

They aren't bad. Kind of a nostalgic band, not all that original but they put out descent music.

edit
I went back and checked that song you referenced, it's a pretty solo and it's holds its own against mainstream music these days but the fact that it's one of the better recent solos shows how pathetic the current state of guitar solos is. I think back on solos from softer songs and things like Fade to Black (one of my favorite ever), Sweet Child of Mine, November Rain, Unforgiven, Cemetary Gates, etc. and they just shred that.

Break down all of the techniques, who can do it all and who does it best? In my first post, I mentioned Kirk Hammet. I think he's the best of at least the last 30 years. His solo on Ride the Lightning is probably his best work it starts with great tapping, moves to the slow 'with feeling' type of solo, works in effective slides and goes from one end of the guitar and back, throws in some whammy bar work, varies in speed from a mellow pace to blistering speed, and is pretty damn intricate at times.

I can't think of anyone else who has displayed the range he has and the mastery with all forms of rock soloing.

Eddie Hazel on "Maggot Brain" deserves a shout-out.

For Hendrix, I'd go with "All Along The Watchtower" or "Pali Gap" or the live version of "Johnny B. Goode" or "Room Full Of Mirrors" or "Freedom" or "Dolly Dagger." That is, if I wasn't allowed to list another half dozen.

Finally, a nod to a tasteful solo by Jeff Beck on "'Cause We've Ended As Lovers" on BLOW BY BLOW. Stunning, just stunning.

Well if you just can't get past the extreme vocals but still like the music, I'd recommend their Damnation album, which is pretty much all mellow prog type stuff with only clean singing.

I had the exact same opinion about Opeth as you do now about 2 years ago, but somehow it grew on me after a while.

It was funny, I actually bought Damnation expecting some death vocals and loud metal; imagine my surprise. :lol: But yeah it's really good, not only the music but the production strikes me too..

Yes the production is excellent on Damnation... except for the short solo at the beginning of Hope Leaves, sounds like someone forgot to cut out the amp hiss :(.