OT: Best Guitar Solos

[weyuo]

I thought Tony Levin's bass work on this live Crimson tune "Elephant Talk" was pretty good

 

[weyuo]

 

[housekeys]

The usual suspects including/plus (not in any order):

Carlton (Steely Dan) - Kid Charlemagne, Don't take Me Alive
Jeff Baxter (Steely Dan) - Rikki Dont Lose that Number
Steve Howe (Yes) your is no disgrace or any song really.
Terry Kath (Chicago) 25 or 6 to 4.
Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult) Burnin for You.
Elliot Easton (Cars) - Shake it Up - It's all I Can Do.
Wayne Perkins (Rolling Stones) - Hand of Fate.
Tommy Shaw (Styx) - Blue Collar Man.
David Gilmore (Floyd) - Comfortably Numb.
Alvin Lee (10 years after) - I'd Love to Change the World.
Gary Rossington, Allan Colins, Steve Gains (Skynyrd) - That Smell and Freebird (of course).
Clapton and D Allman - Layla
Buckethead - Soothsayer
Lindsey Buckingham - Go Your Own Way

 

[pepband99]

2 of my favorites. Eric is a friend, Carlos Santana's Godson. Walter is a friend of a friend who used to play lead for John Mayall, Canned Heat, and John Lee Hooker-I saw him live the other night.
The playing starts at around 4:15.

Walter is a MONSTER on guitar, and he looks great given his medical issues! I'm a big fan.

 

[Madmannsucks]

How did this NOT make the list?

 

[alphasigko]

Check out Vince Gill doing a great Country guitar solo here:

 

[8893]

Although he's not my favorite guitarist, Clapton's solo in "Let it Rain" always makes me happy.

Memorable as my first ever regarded-as-favorite guitar solo, summer 1970.

So I only recently learned that "Let it Rain" was originally recorded with entirely different lyrics, as "She Rides." I've been hearing it on Deep Tracks and on the Loft on Sirius and I heard it twice again this weekend. It is extremely jarring to me to hear it, as it upsets all the synapses I've developed around the "Let it Rain" lyrics with the same exact backing track. Very strange to hear it the other way:

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

So I only recently learned that "Let it Rain" was originally recorded with entirely different lyrics, as "She Rides." I've been hearing it on Deep Tracks and on the Loft on Sirius and I heard it twice again this weekend. It is extremely jarring to me to hear it, as it upsets all the synapses I've developed around the "Let it Rain" lyrics with the same exact backing track. Very strange to hear it the other way:

Thank you/no thank you.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Thank you/no thank you.

Isn't it funny how one sounds like a rock classic and the other a schlocky pop tune.

 

[Guapo]

Most of the “best” have already been mentioned here; if we’ve moved on to the “underrated” portion of this thread, I’ve always really enjoyed the 12 strong solo in the Byrds cover of My Back Pages

Also, I can’t believe no one has mentioned the solo in Let it Be (yknow, in the version that has an actual guitar solo)

 

[superjohn]

Mike Campbell, 3:00 mark and on...
Watch "Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers" on YouTube

 

[ClifSpliffy]

coolaroni.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

as of lunchtime today, my fav is

 

[ClifSpliffy]

uh, oh. forgot about my alltime favorite # 1 song.. good geetar sounds.

 

[alphasigko]

Mike Campbell, 3:00 mark and on...
Watch "Runnin' Down A Dream - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers" on YouTube

IMO he is an underrated lead player. For what it's worth, Rolling Stone ranked him 70th in their Top 100 Guitarists of All Time.

 

[Madmannsucks]

The Master of the Telecaster.
If you look around his feet for any pedals, you won't find any. Oh and Johnny Wadd on keyboards.

 

[Madmannsucks]

Blistering searing solo at around 4 m 18 sec.
Take a little pop tune turn it into a lamenting ballad.

 

[housekeys]

Yea, but can he play Smoke on The Water on the one string?

A lot of good examples. My selections earlier focused on mainstream lead solo's on (mostly) mainstream songs. There are quite a few examples of guitar solo's that I would say are "improvisations", usually live, or otherwise. There are a lot of guitar virtuoso's, but seeing that work on tunes we can all identify is really a special talent. IMHO.

 

[tdrink]

Al D is not my favorite guitar player but man this tune has the chops. Jaco on bass is a huge bonus. This is a three part tune and part three which starts at 2:35 delivers the goods.

 

[tdrink]

I really love unconventional solos. Two that have been mentioned are Magic Man (Roger Fisher= unsung genius) and Yours is No Disgrace. Steve Howe really makes the case by following his crazy solo with one that would make any jazz player jealous.

 

[Deadrody]

Prince's "Purple Rain"
Slash in "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "November Rain"
Duane Allman in "Layla"

Slash's best GnR solo, IMO is in Estranged on Illusion II. So good Axl thanked him in the liner notes.

Can't really add any of Garcia or Mayer's stuff since their best work is live and so ubiquitous you can't pick just one. I mean, the entirety of Scarlet>Fire from 5/8/77 is exquisite.

 

[Deadrody]

Estranged has the best Slash solo for my money.

Ding

 

[Deadrody]

Mostly I'm just sad I found this thread at work where there are no speakers. I'll have to spend some time with this thread just listening to everyone's picks. Of course, also beyond those, because they're already listed.

My personal picks, as opposed to commenting on others, would be David Gilmour on Mother (short and simple, but perfect). As far as my Jerry picks, the ones I personally saw were in the same show - 9/18/93 when I really got on the bus - Loose Lucy and China Doll. It was surreal standing in MSG when Jerry lit off during China Doll. Still gives me goosebumps to this day, thinking of it.



Doesn't appear you can easily link to a specific track on Archive.org. Tracks 8 (3:10) and 18 (2:40) are the ones you want.

 

[Deadrody]

Cliche....but I always have liked Slashes solos on Sweet Child O' Mine, Knocking on Heavens Door, Night Train, Welcome to the Jungle...

Yeah, he's just crazy good.

 

[eastmill]

Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on the live version of "Sweet Jane"