Favourite guitar solos.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Widdly Widdly Weeeeeeeeeah!

Ok, I don't think we've done this one for a while. Which guitar solos do you like the best? Outside of the cliches, three of my personal favourites are the outro solo from Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits-Knopfler's phrasing is exquisite, I love that song generally-Richie Blackmore's solo from Highway Star, and the solo from Maggot Brain by Funkadelic.

[dacdac]

Crazy Train. Ozzy Osbourne. Nothing beats that Van Halen style tapping.

Alive. Pearl Jam. Good and long, plenty of action and easy to learn.

anything by Santana. The guys a beast when it comes to guitars. A spanish beast I should say. Especially Primavera.

[Reverend Joe]

Jimi Hendrix, Jorma Kaukonen and John Fogerty, in roughly that order, do the best solos in my book.

Especially:

"Voodoo Child"
"Machine-Gun"
"Power of Soul"

"The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil", the long version available (only ) on CD.

"Keep On Chooglin'", both the studio and the live versions are some of the best guitar solos I have ever heard.
"Heard It Through the Grapevine"
"Suzy Q"
"I Put a Spell on You"

[JimBob]

Higgins-Umphrey's McGee, especially some live versions, the show I saw replaced guitar with a blazing Sax solo.

Decoration Day-Drive-By Truckers, Cooley, Isbel, and Hood, a guitar trifecta.

Hangover-Umphrey's McGee-Funky Jazz fun!


On the subject of Sax solos, Jungleland Jungleland Take Five Jungleland

[professorspatula]

What a co-incidence, I'd just been watching guitar solos on YouTube. Got bored after seeing one too many amateur attempts at Van Halen's 'Eruption', although Yngwie Malmsteen's insane eighties hair frantically bobbing around was the final straw.

My favourite guitar solos are pretty much obvious ones I suppose.

Allen Collins (Lynyrd Skynyrd) solo on Freebird is an all time classic of course. I seem to remember a live version where it goes on for what feels like forever.

The afforementioned Eruption.

Kirk Hammett and Fade to Black.

Hendrix 'Come On'.

My favourite is probably Angus Young's solo on Whole Lotta Rosie though.

[Zalmoxis]

Dam, I was gonna say "Alive" too.. guess I'll say "Nightrain" by Guns N' Roses.

[AggonyDuck]

Definately the ones in Comfortably Numb and All Along the Watchtower.

[Aenlic]

Just about any of Donny Roeser's solos. Who is he, you say? Well he goes by the name Buck Dharma in Blue Öyster Cult.

Mato Nanji from Indigenous is amazing too, if you haven't seen Indigenous play live then you're missing out on one of the best little-known blues-rock bands in the world, consisting entirely of members of a family from the Nakota tribe of South Dakota. Mato is flat out amazing, and his singing isn't too shabby either. Any of his solos will do.

Jeff Beck's version of Stevie Wonder's "'cause we've ended as lovers" from Blow by Blow.

Robin Trower on Bridge of Sighs.

Martin Barre's guitar work, in any song by Jethro Tull. Especially the solo in "Aqualung" from the album of the same name.

Stevie Ray Vaughan, every song.

Henry Garza, any song by Los Lonely Boys. Amazing Hispanic-blues-rock, or as they call it, Texican.

[Clearchus]

I definitely like Fredrik Thordendal's the best, especially from these songs:

New Millenium Cyanide Christ
Entrapment (I think)
Rational Gaze

and all the rest too.

[Beirut]

Floyd's live version of Fat Old Sun.

Love it.

[Reenk Roink]

"Alive" by Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) is my favorite solo. Plus a lot of other things he plays: "Evenflow", "Black", "Yellow Ledbetter", "Corduroy", "Immortality", "Red Mosquito"...

SRV, Hendrix, Clapton... no particulars about them...

Some of Kim Thayil's (Soundgarden) angular stuff is really good... ("Birth Ritual", "Spoonman", "Pretty Noose")

Oh, and of course Neil Young... "Rockin' in the Free World", "Cortez the Killer", "Like a Hurricane", "Cinnamon Girl"...

[Stig]

Queen - Bohemian rhapsody ... apart from it being the best song ever made
or maybe a better solo
BTO (Bachman Turner Overdrive) - Don't get yourself in trouble

[Moros]

Black napkins -Frank Zappa
November rain - Guns 'n' Roses
My guitar wants to kill your mama - Steve Vai, Eric Johnsson, Joe Stratiani ( from FZ)
I'm going home - Ten years after
Sultans of swing - Mark Knopfler

[IrishArmenian]

My favorite is Hour of Darkness--Social Distortion
Honourable Mention
Pressure Drop--The Specials (the original does not have it)
Greem Onions- Booker T and the MG's
Golden Brown--The Stranglers
Unknown Soldier--The Casualties
Nocturnal--Tiger Army
Psychobilly Freakout--Rev. Horton Heat
Selfish Man-- Flogging Molly
I Want You to Want Me--Cheap Trick
Misirlou--Dick Dale
Malaguena--Anyone, but I think Brian Setzer put a good revved up spin on it.
Jimmy Jazz--The Clash
Search and Destroy--Iggy and the Stooges
Dropkick Murphy's version of Finnegan's Wake. Another good cover. Dropkick does covers quite well, as opposed to most other bands.

[naut]

Maggot Brain - Funkadelic.
Super Stupid - Funkadelic
Machine-Gun - Hendrix

[ezrider]

In no particular order and just off the top of my head

Thin Lizzy: still in love with you (Gorham & Robertson are amazing)
Thin Lizzy: Jailbreak ++
Show me the way - Peter Frampton - sounds funny but its catchy
Page : communication breakdown, Heartbreaker, Since I've been loving you, Ten years gone , Achillies Last stand.... I could go on.
Tony Iommi - NIB
Sultans of swing
Frank Zappa - Peaches in Regalia, short,acoustic and fantastic(Hot Rats)
Pink Floyd: Time - Brilliant piece of Soloing
obligatory Hendrix, Iron maiden(solo harmonies), metallica solos that rock

groovy solo
Waiting in Vain - bob marley and the wailers

I don't like some of those shredders when they preform by themselves. Their solos don't make any sense.

[Masy]

Kirk Hammett in Master of Puppets, playing with the San Fransisco Symphony orchestra.

[doc_bean]

Definately the ones in Comfortably Numb and All Along the Watchtower.

You read my mind !

[lancelot]

Crazy Train. Ozzy Osbourne. Nothing beats that Van Halen style tapping.

That would be Randy Rhodes for the recorded version IIRC, or Zakk Wylde in later incarnations- now that guy can bust a solo!

Bark at the Moon had a great solo too.

Any of you guys listened to Dragonforce?...serious dual guitarist solos at warp speed...its scary...

[Pannonian]

Ending jam of "I Am The Resurrection" (The Stone Roses), 6 minutes of dance heaven considerably longer than the 3 minutes of vocals that preceded it.

Greem Onions- Booker T and the MG's

Soul Limbo is better.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

Any of you guys listened to Dragonforce?...serious dual guitarist solos at warp speed...its scary...

Of course! They probably take up more space on my hard drive then The Beatles. They're amazing.

[IrishArmenian]

Ending jam of "I Am The Resurrection" (The Stone Roses), 6 minutes of dance heaven considerably longer than the 3 minutes of vocals that preceded it.


Soul Limbo is better.

My favorite is Slim Jenkins Joint but there is no real Guitar Solo in them. Steve Cropper has some great chops, can't go wrong with him. I was honestly surprised when I found out he was white. He plays such bluesy material. Cool thing about Booker T and the MG's: most of their songs are just jams.

[SCRIBE]

anything by Santana. The guys a beast when it comes to guitars. A spanish beast I should say. Especially Primavera.

Yes...yes indeed.
He is the man when it comes to guitars.
Carlos Santana is a Julius Caesar on guitars!
Has he released anything recent?

[Quietus]

Limited to guitars? (I prefer horns....)

If I were to pick just one, then that's Al Anderson's solo on
"Concrete Jungle" - Bob Marley & the Wailers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDxgE7fS-S0

Then:
"Hurricane Blues" - Linton Kwesi Johnson. Solo by John Kpiaye. More soul than Carlos Santana can muster. He's even more beast on rhythm. Kpiaye solo on another song, "Sonny's Lettah" by LKJ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY_S3D1iX9E

"Stir It " - The (original) Wailers. Great solo by Peter Tosh. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlk9Sj4Ns2k

"The Heathen" - Bob Marley & the Wailers. Cosmic. A rather scratchy bootleg:
http://mp3.tyedye.com/bob_marley/bmw...0-01-05t06.mp3

"Rebel Music" - Bob Marley & the Wailers. Great solo version on the Babylon by Bus disc.

Some rock/r&b:
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - The Beatles/George Harrison. It's so much better if an instrumental cover.

"Hound Dog" cover - Jimi Hendrix. I don't know how to put it into words, the guy goes into 'jet mode'. I like "Machine Gun" but for the whole package with the tighter rhythm section . Hendrix would have been better with a full band rather than in a trio.

"Yo Love" - Dennis Bovell Dub Band.

There's a lot of great Jazz instrumentals too....

groovy solo
Waiting in Vain - bob marley and the wailers

Hehe. 'Tis a sweet solo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLkWVVi0kJg

[The_Mark]

Here you go: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird, the solo. Oh, and the first 5 and a half minuts are here.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Definately the ones in Comfortably Numb and All Along the Watchtower.

Comfortably Numb is by far my all time favorite. Clapton with Cream has a lot of good ones and Along the Watchtower is my favorite Hendrix song, nuff said.

Nice to see theres other Zappa fans here. Maybe the most underratted guitarist around. Personally I love the solo in Muffinman. Stevies spankin rocks as well.