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Favorite guitar solo?

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steelcurtain55.

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A few weeks back someone mentioned the solo in "Comfortably Numb"... It got me thinking..

Not the "best". Anytime we do a "best" it turns into a pissing match of subjectivity....

What are your top 5 favorite solos?

Me?

Not in any order

  • Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd. Such a simple and beautiful tone. I didn't realize how much I liked that solo until someone mentioned it on here.
  • Cult of Personality - Living Color - It has always been a favorite of mine and seems to be very underappreciated when I've seen lists..
  • Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin - Probably my favorite by Zep, but I loved their rendition of "In my time of dying" as well.
  • No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne - Fairly sure this Zak Wylde performing. Really thought it was clean and the base line behind it makes it more powerful.
  • No One Like You - Scorpions - these guys were masterful musicians in a genre that didn't always produce that type of quality.
Hon Mention
  • The Day that Never Comes - Metallica - there are probably 4 solos in that song. Each are great.
  • Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits - Finger picking at it's finest.
  • Flying High Again - Ozzy - Randy Rhoades
  • Train Kept A Rollin - Aerosmith
  • Jambi - Tool
 
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steelcurtain55. said:
A few weeks back someone mentioned the solo in "Comfortably Numb"... It got me thinking..

Not the "best". Anytime we do a "best" it turns into a pissing match of subjectivity....

What are your top 5 favorite solos?

Me?

Not in any order

  • Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd. Such a simple and beautiful tone. I didn't realize how much I liked that solo until someone mentioned it on here.
  • Cult of Personality - Living Color - It has always been a favorite of mine and seems to be very underappreciated when I've seen lists..
  • Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin - Probably my favorite by Zep, but I loved their rendition of "In my time of dying" as well.
  • No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne - Fairly sure this Zak Wylde performing. Really thought it was clean and the base line behind it makes it more powerful.
  • No One Like You - Scorpions - these guys were masterful musicians in a genre that didn't always produce that type of quality.
Hon Mention
  • The Day that Never Comes - Metallica - there are probably 4 solos in that song. Each are great.
  • Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits - Finger picking at it's finest.
  • Flying High Again - Ozzy - Randy Rhoades
  • Train Kept A Rollin - Aerosmith
  • Jambi - Tool
Click to expand...

Sultans of Swing might be in my top 5. I'll have to think about the rest. As a rule, I really don't like guitar "solos" though, as I think they tend to be someone trite. I do have many, many favorite "guitar parts" though.

Again, I want to think about it. Great topic though.
 
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Star Spangled Banner. Jimi Hendricks
Pinball Wizard. Who. Pete Townsend.
Layla. Eric Clapton
I’ll think of a couple more. First 3 to jump in my head.
 
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Comfortably Numb would be my favorite along with any other Gilmour solo.

Another favorite is the solo at the end of Starship Trooper by Yes.
 
ABB - Blue Sky
Prince - Lets Go Crazy
Ozzy/Randy - Mr. Crowley
Metallica - One
Prince and Co - Guitar gently weeps cover 2004

I also agree with the guitar riff mention above, like Love Reign O’Me, Whippin Post, No one left to run With, Can’t stop loving you (Van Halen), etc.
 
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Interesting topic. Off the top of my head:

Echoing what many of you have said, Comfortably Numb.
11 O'Clock Tick Tock by U2.
yes as trite as it is, Stairway to Heaven, especially the version on the John Peel Sessions.
Man.....Allen Collins and Gary Rossington just going off crazy on Free Bird on those extended live versions.
Big Love by Fleetwood Mac/Lindsay Buckingham
 
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The legendary guitar player Jimi Hendrix was blown away by Terry Kath's guitar playing. When first hearing Terry Kath play, Jimi Hendrix was quoted as saying that he thought Terry Kath played guitar better than he did. It was later on reported that Jimi Hendrix also called Terry Kath the “Best Guitarist in the Universe.”

 
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I'm not really into guitar-heavy music with extended wailing solos and 8-minute track lengths, etc. But I do enjoy the November Rain solo very much. Oh, and although I'm not a fan of the band as a whole, I like the solo at the end of Journey's "Who's Crying Now?".
 
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This category really needs to have a subcategory simply devoted to Tom Morello as in "Top 5 Tom Morello riffs/shredding "
 
Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers

The one above in “25 or 6 to 4” is also up there. I always thought that was borrowed from Zeppelin’s “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You”. But if it was I don’t think there was any legal stuff over it.
 
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HOF Coach said:
The legendary guitar player Jimi Hendrix was blown away by Terry Kath's guitar playing. When first hearing Terry Kath play, Jimi Hendrix was quoted as saying that he thought Terry Kath played guitar better than he did. It was later on reported that Jimi Hendrix also called Terry Kath the “Best Guitarist in the Universe.”

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Click to expand...
Thank you. That was the other solo I was thinking of and it slipped my mind. Absolutely.
 
Frosty26 said:
It's brief but I love the low-key intro solo to Wish You Were Here.

My all-time favorite: Allen Collins going nuts on Freebird. I got sick of that song for awhile due to it being played so frequently. But in the last few years I've gained a deeper appreciation for the song, and Allen Collins in particular.
Click to expand...
Me too. And Skynyrd in general. In high school, I was never a fan, because the kids who liked this were well.....mostly rural chain wearing, boots wearing, skip out of gym class type of long haired punks. But as I got older and no longer cared who likes what, I just like what I like, I have really grown to appreciate them and especially Collins and Rossington.

 
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PharMorNightStocker said:
I'm not really into guitar-heavy music with extended wailing solos and 8-minute track lengths, etc. But I do enjoy the November Rain solo very much. Oh, and although I'm not a fan of the band as a whole, I like the solo at the end of Journey's "Who's Crying Now?".
Click to expand...

A few Slash solos came to mind for me too. I was thinking Paradise City and I always likes Used to Love Her too.
 
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Pitt2006 said:
My favorite is Prove it all night extended intro, was rare for a solo to open a song...just so good.
Click to expand...
Yeah, the '78 version of Prove it All Night from the the Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour is a good one. I got to see that version of it at Hershey Park in 2014. Most of his solos are added in concert, as opposed to being on the studio versions of the songs. I think Nils also did a really good job on the Purple Rain solo when they covered it in 2016.
 
steelcurtain55. said:
A few weeks back someone mentioned the solo in "Comfortably Numb"... It got me thinking..

Not the "best". Anytime we do a "best" it turns into a pissing match of subjectivity....

What are your top 5 favorite solos?

Me?

Not in any order

  • Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd. Such a simple and beautiful tone. I didn't realize how much I liked that solo until someone mentioned it on here.
  • Cult of Personality - Living Color - It has always been a favorite of mine and seems to be very underappreciated when I've seen lists..
  • Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin - Probably my favorite by Zep, but I loved their rendition of "In my time of dying" as well.
  • No More Tears - Ozzy Osbourne - Fairly sure this Zak Wylde performing. Really thought it was clean and the base line behind it makes it more powerful.
  • No One Like You - Scorpions - these guys were masterful musicians in a genre that didn't always produce that type of quality.
Hon Mention
  • The Day that Never Comes - Metallica - there are probably 4 solos in that song. Each are great.
  • Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits - Finger picking at it's finest.
  • Flying High Again - Ozzy - Randy Rhoades
  • Train Kept A Rollin - Aerosmith
  • Jambi - Tool
Click to expand...
Old School

1. I want you/ she’s so heavy Beatles
2. Can’t you hear me knocking/ Stones
3. Runnin down a dream T Petty & Heartbreakers
4. Layla. Clapton
5. Jimmy Hendrix Star Spangled Banner
 
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DT_PITT said:
Sultans of Swing might be in my top 5. I'll have to think about the rest. As a rule, I really don't like guitar "solos" though, as I think they tend to be someone trite. I do have many, many favorite "guitar parts" though.

Again, I want to think about it. Great topic though.
Click to expand...
Echo this DT. But without thinking about it, I don't see how the guitar work in "Voodoo Child-Slight Return", in either the Jimi or SRV versions, doesn't make a top 5.
 
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I used to work with a local musician, Jim Hilton.

He told me he truly appreciated players that were content to ”merely” play great. He hated showboaters.
 
Maybe should be another thread.....but are there many bands where the guys playing the instruments have a particular mastery over them than the RHCP's did when Frusciente was with them?

 
Frusciente has rejoined the band. They kicked Josh out.

As an aside the chili peppers are the best musical band with a very limited singer/song writer. Don't mistake my criticism though as I love the chili peppers.
 
It's not a particularly flashy solo, and there's tons of live solos that are better. But Trey's solo in Wading in the Velvet Sea gets me every time. When that first note hits around 2:36 I get chills every time.

 
Crossroads - Cream (Clapton)

I Gotta Try You Girl - Buddy Guy

Dear Mr Fantasy - Steve Winwood and Dave Mason (live version on Welcome To The Canteen album. Actually Traffic, but just names the musicians)

Go Back Home - Stephen Stills (with Eric Clapton)

Don't Take Me Alive - Steely Dan (Larry Carlton)

Song for Sonny Liston - Mark Knopfler

Just about anything by Carlos Santana or Duane Allman.
 
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Megadeth - Hangar 18
Dokken - In my Dreams
Jefferson Starship - Ride the Tiger
Ted Nugent - Little Miss Dangerous
Joe Satriani - Big Bad Moon

- Most annoying solo: Coney Hatch - Monkey Bars
 
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