What is greatest guitar solo song of all time, in your opinion?
Ive never had such an intense full body reaction to a song than the time i heard that solo the first time
You feel so at peace, but youre entire body is just buzzing, its sadly nostalgic, but it makes you feel hopefully, when you listen ti that shit, you become comfortably numb
But it's important to point out that we're talking about the live performance, for example, on the Pulse tour. The solo on the studio recording is still great, but way too short.
The solo in the live version is as long as some songs, and everyone should treat themselves to the visuals in the Pulse performance too.
On the PULSE album.
The live one from the Pulse album is pure genius
From the Pulse concert
Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd comfortably numb. That second solo from their pulse concert hits different.
Seriously. Enough to make you weep.
Especially the part when the disco ball drops and David starts making the guitar weep!
Comfortably numb
Jimi Hendrix- All along the Watchtower “
I love the guitar solos in Castles Made of Sand too. I heard it when I was young enough that I didn't know what backmasking was, and legitimately couldn't understand how he got a guitar to sound like that.
Layla
Greatest piano solo as well
👍 Eric Clapton
Majority of the soloing on that song is Duane Allman, and the only lead that Clapton plays is a doubling of a solo with Allman.
People often ask, "Is Clapton the greatest guitar player ever?"
Dude wasn't even the best guitarist in Derek and the Dominoes.
Only correct answer
Comfortably numb
Hotel California
Love this song/solo. I don't care how many times it's been played.
I love the Eagles one of my favourite band and Hotel California is one of my favourite songs
Tornado of Souls - Megadeth
With holy wars a close second imo
This is the guitar player’s answer to this question
I’ve also always loved one by Metallica
Came here to say this one myself. Absolute goat
This is the correct answer.
Love this tune but I'm going with Hangar 18 ... 9 guitar solos!
Think most ppl answering in this thread would curl up in a ball if they heard this solo compared to the ones they are mentioning.
Came here to say this
FREE BIRD YEAH
I’ve heard it without the drums & still pretty good but the drums really drive it
I’d agree with this but that’s also true of most rock songs in general, that’s why drums are there.
Listen to almost all of the other solos listed here without the drums & they hold up much much better on their own. This one is almost a duet in that aspect.
Love Skynyrd and Free Bird. But technically most of the “solo” is really a duet double lead.
Prince, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, at the RNRHOF induction ceremony for George Harrison.
Love watching George's sons' face in total awe at what he and millions watching are witnessing. Prince is a legend and underappreciated as a guitarist. Genius
This
While not as iconic as an individual movement, Prince could seriously fucking play, with style. Link for those who haven't seen it.
I think I'd prefer to nominate Clapton's Original Piece since Prince was just riffing off that.
Just came to make sure this was represented
Jeff Healey did a pretty decent job with it also.
This is the answer.
There it is.
I watch this about once a month. Amazing.
It makes my heart smile.
I still can't get over that solo. It's just perfect.
I've watched this so many times. 👌
Yep this is considered by many to be the best and it is amazing
On a guitar he bought for less than $5 at a gas station.
Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
Sometimes Salvation - Black Crows
I Love Sultans of Swing- but that guitar solo towards the end of Tunnel of Love…. Wow…one of my most favorite of all time.
Yes i totally agree with Tunnel of Love too.
Stairway to Heaven
Voodoo child
One of the most recognizable guitar pieces, ever, this needs to have more upvotes
More than a feeling, by Boston.
Anything from David Gilmour is gold...
Maggot Brain
First song that came to mind.
If you like maggot brain, check out Buckethead. Especially their song Padmansana.
Pink Floyd - Time
That, Comfortably Numb, or Money.
The part of the solo during Money where all the instruments cut out except for the guitar and drums is epic!
Comfortably Numb
The Wynonas big brown beaver solo
Ah, the greatest guitar solo of all time? Oh, man, picking the greatest guitar solo song of all time is like choosing between pizza and tacos - impossible and totally subjective! But if I had to pick a few, I'd say…
The Plan (Live) - Built to Spill
Marquee Moon - Television
Not - Big Theif
Making Everyone Happy/Mechanical Birds - Modest Mouse
Sickroom - Dilute
…But hey, ask me again tomorrow, and I might have a completely different answer!
We may choose different solos or players but we definitely share the same perspective on making such choices. Best?… I’m not qualified to say. My favorites? How much time do you have? And tomorrow I may give a different list. I discover new music to love all the time. Such a joy.
There's always one...
Sounds like you would like The Republic of Wolves. 'Spill', and 'His Old Branches' really hit the mark.
All of Santana's songs.
Toussaint L’Overture is probably the coooest guitar solo of all time. It’s a duel but it’s still amazing.
The cover he did of while my guitar gently weeps has so many just tasty little licks. It’s basically just him soloing between every line of lyrics and it’s great
Cliffs of Dover
Great song! Great album, really.
Not talked about enough in this regard
Eruption
Bohemian Rhapsody or Killer Queen
For how short it is, bohemian rhapsody’s guitar solo ist just absolutely perfect
There is an officially licensed version with the muppets.
Stairway to Heaven
Maggot Brain
Sweet child o’ mine
GNR November Rain is definitely at the top of the list.
Love the photo!
I personally hate GNR but the ending to November Rain is undeniably peak music
While My Guitar Gently Weeps!
That or Comfortably Numb.
We Will Rock You
Sultans of Swing
I just rediscovered Lenny Kravitz’s Believe. I don’t love the lyrics or first half of the song, but the guitar solo at the end with the rest of the instrumentation….beautiful.
As for the original question, I would say the Prince live version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
the one in mr. crowley :*
Kid Charlemagne
Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter
John Butler - Oceans
Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
Guns and Roses - Estranged
Zakk Wylde - Still Born
Pantera - Cemetery Gates
Grateful Dead - Athela
Dave Matthews - The Stone
Alice N Chains - Nutshell
NOLA - Jail
Pink Floyd - Wish You were Here
I don't know. I could keep going and going, but for me, these are songs I remember the first time I heard them. I stopped and felt the music to my core.
Just Like Suicide. Soundgarden
I dont want it by ween hits just right
The whipping post - Allman Brothers Band
Duane Allman at the peak of his powers.
Cult of Personality
Bodhisattva-Steely Dan
Reelin’ In The Years-Steely Dan (Jimmy Page agrees with this assessment, rating it a “12 out of 10.”)
Whole Lotta Rosie by AC/DC
Eruption-Van Halen
It’s a bass solo but Cliff Burtons “ Anesthesia Pulling Teeth
All metal fans rise!
Megadeth - Tornado of Souls
The whole Rust in Peace album is fire ngl
surprise no one has mentioned sails of charon - scorpions
Steve Vai - For the Love of God
Eruption, comfortably numb, and the end of Sultans of Swing
It’s easy to list instrumentals (Jeff Beck take it) but I’m thinking this is what guitar solo or part made the song, and that’s Layla. From the riff to the outro, the guitar solos make that. And it’s a great song. Good playing and soloing isn’t pyrotechnics and scales.
For funny it's Slash's for I'm just Ken at the Oscars
Seriously though. CRAAAAaaaAzYY TrAAAaaaAAIIIiINN
Watermelon in Easter Hay - Frank Zappa
The big names have already been named so I'm going with a less known one. Check out "Con il nastro rosa" by Lucio Battisti, one of the greatest italian songwriters of all time. If I'm not mistaken, the final solo was played by Phil Palmer and I guarantee it'll blow your mind!
SRV voodoo child
I'm seeing a dearth of SRV on here. His rendition of Hendrix's Little Wing is probably my top guitar performance of all time.
Comfortably Numb-watched a video (can’t remember where it was), the 2nd solo just makes you want to bow down .. and David Gilmour was dressed in a tshirt and jeans .. like so simple , but yet so fuckin classy. The man is a one man show to say the least !!
For me I would say Jimmy Page and Slash are tied for second..for different playing styles . 🎵🎵🎸😎
It was this one https://youtu.be/vi7cuAjArRs?si=miKg6viFVkdU5KiP
I was instantly going for Comfortably numb (major one) but it’s been commented lots already so how about Grendel - Marillion ? . If you’re not familiar I dont know how to link but it’s easy to pull up on YouTube ,the end solo by Steven Rothery is honestly amazing .
Guthrie Govan’s solo on Drive Home by Steven Wilson.
Regret #9 is phenomenal too
Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone" guitar solo makes Jimi, Eddie, and Eric sound like amateurs.
I feel like comfortably numb is the answer but to preach my favorite guitarist, cosmic, by avenged sevenfold has such a transcendent solo
Flirtin With Disaster by Molly Hatchet.
Going home (Woodstock) - Ten years after.
Layla, by Derek and the Dominoes (Eric Clapton)
Ancestral by Steven Wilson, solo by Guthrie Govan.
Xanadu by Rush
Live version on Exit…Stage Left
November Rain - final solo
Paradigm Shift - middle solo. Check it out, thank me later.
Blue Sky - Allman Bros
Not sure I'd put it in the top 10, but a masterpiece nonetheless.
Crossroads, Cream (Clapton) is probably top 10
Actually, Sherman, you and Mr. Peabody are going to jump into the Way Back Machine to the United Kingdom c. 1965. There was a very good but under appreciated rock/R&B band called the Yardbirds. They were so good that at one time or another the best guitarists of their day (Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) were members. However, to me, the single best (albeit short) guitar solo was by Jeff Beck towards the end of the also short, "Shapes of Things". What he did was earth shattering. Nothing like it had ever been heard before. His riff arguably set the stage for the about-to-emerge psychedelic/ acid rock of the latter 60s.
Purple Rain, also pretty much any Stevie Ray Vaughan song lol
Cheating a little bit since it's an instrumental, but Europa by Santana.
Freebird
Hotel California
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Beat It - Michael Jackson (The solo is done by Eddie Van Halen)
Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne (Randy Rhoad)
Fade to Black - Metallica
Tornado of Souls - Megadeth
(These one below may not popular when we talk about the solo but I really love it.)
A tout le monde - Megadeth
Don't Cry - Guns N' Roses
Nothing Else Matters - Metallica (James Hetfield solo, the last part)
Oops I Did It Again - Children of Bodom cover
Killing Floor - Jimi Hendrix
Echoes part 2 solo with hm to Comfortably Numb.
Love both the album version and the live at Pompeii as well.
I was looking for this answer echoes is probably the greatest song of all the time and that solo Gilmour lays down is divine I wish it lasted longer
Either November rain or Free bird.
John Petrucci or Guthrie Goven I mean take your pick
December Flower by In Flames
Dire straits - tunnel of love. The last 2 minutes or so of the song just keeps getting better and better. The phrases slowly stretch out, the empty spaces start to get filled in as the guitar lines start to get longer and more complex, the call and repeat with the piano, the arching soaring silky smooth guitar lines. Just amazing.
Sultans Of Swing-Dire Straits.
Cream-Prince.
Gett Off-Prince.
Comfortably Numb-Pink Floyd.
By no way the best guitar solo ever, but I feel I should mention Lou Reed's solo in "I Heard Her Call My Name" by the Velvet Underground.
Practically inventing noise-rock, right there.
Hotel California - The Eagles
The entirety of classical gas covered by Tommy Emanuel
Eruption by Van Halen
Older song but “Johnny B Goode” is a classic
Comet Song by Dethklok. That guitar solo gives me goosebumps, mists my eyes, and launches me straight into the heavens.
Still got the Blues- Gary Moore
Jonny Greenwood - Paranoid Android
Jeff Beck we ended as lovers, Michael Sembello on Stevie Wonders Instrumental Contusion, Eddie Hazel on Funkadelic's Maggot Brain
My personal favorite is Crossroads by Cream. Prince Guitar Gently Weeps is next level though. Jeff Beck in Mahler's adagietto is a howling wolf.
Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Chicago - 25 or 6 to 4 - live in Tanglewood 1970. Terry Kath. Absolutely insane! This is the solo where Hendrix claims Kath is a better guitarist than him.
Came here to say this! Terry Kath was an absolute MONSTER.
The lamia (live) - Genesis
Outro of The Fountain Of Salmacis. I also love the outro of Fly On A Windshield but it’s too short ;(
Anyway is also amazing, but than again so are many (if not all) of Steve's solo's
Absolutely right
Firth of Fifth and The Musical Box rip, too. Steve Hackett is the most underrated Great One that's ever played.
Jane's Addiction - Three Days
Great call.
Buckethead - Nottingham Lace
“Sweet Child” is DEFINITELY a contender!
But there’s some tough competition from Mr Crowley, Comfortably Numb, Beat It, When Doves Cry, and Bohemian Rhapsody!
Floods - Pantera
Gotta be freebird right? Maybe not technically, but in its impact, catchiness, and all around bad ass contribution to the song as a whole.
Serve The Servants
Bohemian rhapsody
november rain makes me levitate
Machine Gun - Jimi Hendrix Live at Fillmore East
Voodoo child
Guys, op didn’t ask for favorite guitar solos, but favorite guitar solo songs.
I’ve Been Waiting For You - Neil Young
Most caution jams😂
Steve Hackett’s solo in “Firth Of Fifth”.
Only those who get it, get it. But my pick is Dime's solo from "We'll Meet Again" off the 1988 album "Power Metal."
The one that serves the song.
Hank Marvin: Apache.
When it requires a top notch guitar solo, I always say Eruption and the beginning of You really got me.
Voodoo Child - Jimi Hendrix
She's a Big Boy - McBaise
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones
Floods
More Than A Feeling
I can't think of any specific ones off the top of my head, but anything by Richie Blackmore, Dimebag Darrel, or Jimi Hendrix
Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold
Buzzcocks Boredom
As in, the solo is the most of the song? Probs Eruption- Van Halen or She’s Gone- Steelheart
Parisienne Walkways is in the mix
No more tears.
Check out I need you tonight by ZZ Top. The blues guitar on it is awesome.
Nobody - Avenged Sevenfold
Opeth - The Wild Flowers
Mastodon - The Last Baron
Won't you flyyyyyyy higghhhhhh freeeeee bird yeahhh (cue the guitar solo)
Rude Mood
Rude Mood
Flirtin With Disaster by Molly Hatchet
There are tons of good guitar solos, but these are probably my favorite:
Tornado Of Souls - Megadeth
La Leyenda Del Hada Y El Mago - Rata Blanca
Cheer Down - George Harrison
I Own A Building - Paul Gilbert
Flying In A Blue Dream - Joe Satriani
*edited for spelling
Comfortably numb - the second solo