I actually play the bass myself so dont get out much amongst the crowd that clamour for attention amongst the lead guitar folk. My favourite guitar solo though comes from a band who I have already posted elsewhere as being among the best cover version acts. The guitar solo on the Stiff Little Fingers Johnny Was is brilliant…
I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years and I still don’t know what my favorite guitar solo is.
I’ll have to meditate on this for awhile.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
I’ve been playing guitar for over 20 years and I still don’t know what my favorite guitar solo is.
I’ll have to meditate on this for awhile.[/quote]
SteelyD that isnt you in your avatar is it??
Yes it is (for better or worse)
Band: www.CoyoteDrifters.com
My favourite guitarist is Carlos Santana. Dude’s amazing!
Always been a huge fan of John Petrucci from Dream Theater.
[quote]Flow wrote:
Always been a huge fan of John Petrucci from Dream Theater. [/quote]
I became a fan of his after I saw him in a G3 concert alongside Satriani and Gilbert.
Now, I’m waiting for a chance to go see Vai.
Can’t have this conversation without Eruption from Eddie Van Halen:
What style of music?
The more I think about this, the more I can’t answer it because it’s so subjective and solos can’t be compared one-for-one across genres or context-- for example, a shredding rock solo vs. a phenomenal jazz solo, or an instrumental rock solo vs. a country solo within a song.
Is the solo measured by speed? By technical difficulty? By popularity? By influence?
It’s like asking who is the best guitarist ever-- can’t really be answered without context.
Now “favorite” solo is highly personal and can’t be debated-- for example “I like chocolate more than vanilla” type.
My first album was Van Halen I. I was 6. Every solo on that album is dear to me and I’ve learned, at one time or another, every song note for note. However, I didn’t really pick up a guitar until about 5 years later when Stevie Ray Vaughan debuted.
In terms of emotion, there are a few solos that have actually brought tears to my eyes. Technically great or lightening fast? Nope. Emotionally charged enough to grab me? Absolutely.
I’ve heard that Ace Frehley is responsible for influencing more people to go out and pick up a guitar than any other (even Hendrix). Why? Because he was selling millions of albums in a time when people had some money to buy cheap guitars. Is he great technically?
Not by anyone’s measurement. Right place, right time, right 3 chords? Absolutely. That makes him and his solos iconic.
Still thinking… 
For some reason I can’t just copy and paste the damn video from that thread into this one, but here’s a portion of Eddie’s solo from VH’s show at Madison Square Garden last Friday that I filmed. It’s got some improv, the first part of Eruption, some more improv, then the rest of Eruption.
(Scroll about halfway down the first page – it’s the only video embedded on Page 1).
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=2201307&pageNo=0
Also, I don’t know if there’s a video of it anywhere, but the solos (I think there are two of them) on the longer (album) version of Humans Being that Eddie does are just silly-good.
I have to agree with Steely D. It is definitely a “What is your favorite food” or “Blondes or Brunettes” type of question. Simply way too many good guitarists to choose from.
That said, I pulled out a Gary Moore cd last night and reconfirmed that I can listen to “Still got the blues for you” over and over. Gary Moore was and still is, one of my favorite guitarists. That cat has some serious soul.
SRV’s cover of Little Wing makes me stop and drop what I am doing every time I hear it.
Incidentally, we’re you aware of this thread that’s been going on for awhile?
Joscho Stephan plays so fast (and clean) the camera can’t keep up. Here he is giving props to the man, Django Reinhardt. There’s a cool bass solo in there for the OP:
oh, and I can’t forget this one:
EvH can lick this guy’s nut sack…
The Edge, the solo in the song Until The End Of The World.
Joe Satriani, Surfing With The Alien.
Kirk Hammett, the solo in Jump In The Fire.
Robby Krieger, the solo in Light My Fire.
Eric Clapton, Tales Of Brave Ulysses.
Jimmy Page, the solo at the end of Fool In The Rain.
Hell, many many others.
D
David Gilmour’s outro solo for “Comfortably Numb”, live on the Pulse tour. Great tone and emotion.
[quote]SteelyD wrote:
The more I think about this, the more I can’t answer it because it’s so subjective and solos can’t be compared one-for-one across genres or context-- for example, a shredding rock solo vs. a phenomenal jazz solo, or an instrumental rock solo vs. a country solo within a song.
Is the solo measured by speed? By technical difficulty? By popularity? By influence?
It’s like asking who is the best guitarist ever-- can’t really be answered without context.
Now “favorite” solo is highly personal and can’t be debated-- for example “I like chocolate more than vanilla” type.
My first album was Van Halen I. I was 6. Every solo on that album is dear to me and I’ve learned, at one time or another, every song note for note. However, I didn’t really pick up a guitar until about 5 years later when Stevie Ray Vaughan debuted.
In terms of emotion, there are a few solos that have actually brought tears to my eyes. Technically great or lightening fast? Nope. Emotionally charged enough to grab me? Absolutely.
[/quote]
Great post. Guitar and guitar solos generally hit me on two levels. One would be the hard, get me fired up, Testosterone fueled, blaze from a Kirk Hammett or Kerry King. The other and probably my favorite is the emotionally charged sometimes bluesy dark and deep solos that hit you on a deeper level. The solo at the end of Fool In The Rain is like that for me and a lot of The Edge’s work hits me in this way.
One of my biggest regrets is that I wasn’t musically blessed with talent. However, I do appreciate music deeply and hearing great music is one of the true pleasures in life. It accompanies me everywhere (maybe except hunting time). I truly envy you musicians as I have always thought being able to make music is likely one of the greatest highs one can experience.
Cheers
I agree with SteelyD.
BUT -
It would be almost impossible to have any serious discussion on the greatest guitar soloists - regardless of genre - without a major nod to Billy Gibbons’ mastery.
One that always stuck out in my mind was “Floods” by Pantera. You have a lot of solos out there that just dont flow with the song, but Dimebag does a great fucking job keeping it in range in this song…the part in the end was awesome as well.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
I agree with SteelyD.
BUT -
It would be almost impossible to have any serious discussion on the greatest guitar soloists - regardless of genre - without a major nod to Billy Gibbons’ mastery.
[/quote]
2nd that. Gibbons is my favorite guitarist by far. He does a slide and a tab combined solo in the song Just Got Paid that is phenomonal. The main lick in that song is really awsome as well. Much more difficult than it sounds.
Don Ross is really something as well check this out. “PROBABLY THE BEST GUITAR PLAYER ALIVE!!”
This thread also needs this
