Worst Guitar Solos of All Time
 

So many "Best" threads on this board, I thought it would be fun (and more challenging) to come up with some of the worst guitar solos in rock history.

Picking stuff from pop music or other non-rock genre's doesn't count. These have to be legit guitar solos that just came out really poorly.

Example: Alice in Chains "Angry Chair". Just awful. No forethought, no melody. Must have been a "heavy heroin" day in the studio.

Others?

Ah hell no. Jerry doesn't play any bad solos...maybe it was Layne though.

Nirvana - Any solo, but Smells like teen spirit comes to mind.

--jaded

Two of them tied for first:
1) Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes" released in 1972. The guitar solo is by Jesse Ed Davis, and it's absolutely horrible and loaded with mistakes and false starts.

2) James Taylor's live "Steamroller" with Danny Kortchmar playing the solo. Yecchhh!

I'll chime back in, and at the risk of starting a flame war:

"Hearthbreaker" - Led Zeppelin. The break down to just Jimmy Page is the most meandering, meaningless, non-musical trip ever. Lay off the Jack Daniels Jimmy!

I love that solo in "Angry Chair" I wish I had that CD with me at work, I haven't listened to that in at least 2 years.

I second the "Teen Spirit" "solo"

guitarists.... ;)

You'll see no complaints from me when someone criticizes Page. There's so many other guitarists from that era that would wipe the floor with his ass.

almost any solo that stays trapped inside a sequence of lame chord changes is itself bound to be lame. this is why i really can't listen to any of the "jam bands"---running scales based on changes is by definition not interesting. i have found myself trying to think of exceptions---sometimes i think garcia live would work off the inner logic of his lines as opposed to off the chords, but more often than not, he wouldnt and the audience was fine with it. if you listen to his playing on ornette coleman's record "virgin beauty" you can hear that, if he was pushed by the situation, he could tear of amazing stuff.

the band that i find most consistently irritating on this count at the moment if phish, when i am forced to sit through any of their music. but there are tons of other examples.

Um...


Anything that came out in the 80's and was played by someone with pink spandenx pants and huge fuckin' hair.

Stupid buttrockers. They gave metal such a bad name.

They said it for me.

As for Page, I dont think his strength came out of his solos so much as his ability to come up a a monstrous riff.

Page influenced me to play,...Whole Lotta Love solo got me going. Many others from blues to jazz to rock, etc,. It's almost all good to me but,.....

Neil Young,.. Great songwriter, piano and acoustic guitar, but his lead guitar, ...brutal. If Jimmy Page didn't know what he was doing and was 1/10 the speed, he would sound like Neil Young.

Good songs though.

Anything by Poison would have to fall into the lamest shit in the world category, however, Original King already said "Anything that came out in the 80's and was played by someone with pink spandenx pants and huge fuckin' hair. " so I am simply being redundant...

I remember a the Who song that had a really sad-bluesy type beginning and end, but the solo just went out and rocked on its own. Forgot the name.

Lars Frederickson - Dead American

Heartbreaker. Jimmy is off in his own world there, it's like he's not even making an effort to fit the song.

I had a friend (well.... acquaintence) in junior high who thought he was the best guitarist alive because he could play that solo. I wanted to stomp his face in.

Yes, thank you. It's lame as all hell. It sounds like he's got a fifth of whiskey down the hatch and about 2 bars into the solo he sounds like he forgot where he was going with it. Eventually the band bails him out.

I heard somewhere that Heartbreaker was recorded without the solo and afterwards Jimmy came up with the solo and just threw it into the already recorded song.

That'd explain why it seems kinda 'out there'.

Any solo by Slayer

Yes! Finally, some people who agree with me about Jimmy Page. Everyone worships him and he's one of the most BORING guitarists.

I can't think of anything he's ever played that was memorable.

That's hilarious! King/Hannemann solos are the best! They're all exactly the same. Regardless of which one of them actually played the solo. They're really a perfect match to each other, stylistically speaking.

Agreed.... same really with any other member of that band. They simply were not the immortal instrumental gods everyone takes them for (especially Bonham, but that's another thread).

There is some new Van Halen song I have been hearing on the radio. Man, does it suck, but the guitar solo especially! Those guys should give it up already!

"Yes! Finally, some people who agree with me about Jimmy Page. Everyone worships him and he's one of the most BORING guitarists.

I can't think of anything he's ever played that was memorable."


the rain song, bron-yr-aur, achilles last stand, tea for one, hots on for nowhere, black mountainside, thats the way.

there's far more to his playing than what is heard on the 'classic rock' radio stations. a brilliant composer, and a true studio pioneer.

"Agreed.... same really with any other member of that band. They simply were not the immortal instrumental gods everyone takes them for (especially Bonham, but that's another thread)."

similarly for the rest of the band. bonham, while not as speedy as keith, or punchy as mitch, or straight out groovy like billy bruford, really brought the noise. a powerful, powerful right foot, and a flare for knowing when not to play.

similarly, jonesy is a very talented arranger, and talented in many other instruments, bass, mandolin, guitar, harp, keyboard, piano, vocals. how many more times, ramble on and the crunge all show off his skill with the old 4 string.

percy. well.. like him or don't. he shot his voice out in (74?) and then was in a car wreck. he was however at the head of his game around 70-71.


and i like that new van halen song, the solo isi iffy, but i like the groove. it reminds me of unchained.

Ive been trying to figure out how to respond to what you said here. Instead of saying you are contradicting yourself I'll just attribute it to not being read the same way as if you were verbally saying it.

Their solos are the best because they are all the same. OK. I'll agree they are all the same- no argument there; truly reguardless which one of them play it.

regardless of what you think or say, slayer's solos kick major ass.. have you actually heard / watched them play it? have you actually tried doin' their solos? i bet not..

I'll agree with that particular solo Derwood, however, I have to disagree that Page was overrated. C'mon people, I've heard of armchair quarterbacks, but armchair guitar players! There's a reason that Zep sold a gazillion albums, and it was mostly because of Jimmy's great guitar playing.

Like I said I think some of their rhythms are excellent. Ive never seen them live (never desired to), but the some friends that are heavy Slayer fans have seen them many times; and yes its been explained that the solos are played the same as on the recordings.

Whether or not done intentionally they are out of key and have the sloppiest technique I've heard anywhere- EVERY time. If done for a couple of songs, sure it may have been something different; but the problem is it appears they lack the ability to do otherwise. Jeff stated 4 years ago he was into Yngwie. That he couldn’t stop listening to his music because his solos had mesmerized him. It motivated him to start practicing scales and sweep picking arps and other precise playing techniques. Kerry on the other hand maintained that all non aggressive music should be nuked from the earth mindset. I haven’t heard them since Seasons in the Abyss. Have their solos improved? And hey its only my opinion.

When I was 100% into guitar I was practicing 6 hours a day on lead alone; so it may have just kind of displaced me from hearing what some of my really good friends heard.

But you probably hate some of the guitarists I think are kick ass- if you've even heard of them: Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Al Dimeola, and Yngwie.

There’s alot of Slayer songs I love due to the dark intense note composition and broken rhythms. I just have to fast forward past those solo attempts.

I have to disagree about Slayer's solos being out of key or sloppy. Watch the "War at the Warfield" DVD and you'll see the true talent, at least in King.

hehehe Angry Chair - sounds like someone just tapped him on the shoulder and he coasted through it...good song though - Crappy solo.

hey, i've played slayer songs. the crowd really dug it, as stated rhythms were the hardest part. even with practicing the wrist starts to burn, but the solos? just some minor key and aharmonic wakery with lots of diving on the trem. boooring.

So all we've come up with are Heartbreaker and Angry Chair? I came up with both of those! And the generic "Slayer" solo? There have to be plenty of other bad solos.

Whaaaooo....there is no van halen solo that sucks. For a bad solo check Joan Jet , I love rock and roll