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Top Ten Guitar Solos
Mar. 4th, 2009 02:35 pmFor some reason, I was in the car and suddenly thought "What is the greatest guitar solo of all time?" I immediately realized that the idea was probably crazy, but then I thought "Maybe the Top Ten guitar solos of all time?" Somewhere on the net you can find a list of the Top 100 Guitar Solos of All Time, but I forget who decided on it or what makes theirs official, but anyway screw them. So I started working on My list, and before I knew it I was over 50. Anyhoo, I had some rough rules:
- limiting it to rock cuz there's too many amazing jazz solos and jazz soloists have an unfair advantage [there's probably 100 ultimo Lenny Breau solos alone]
- a great solo has to be recognizable and memorable and distinctive. Some guitarists always play good solos but their solos sound interchangeable.
- a great solo doesn't have to be complex, but recognizable skill and technique probably do play some part in it
- a great solo has to fit the song, ideally sounding like the best possible solo to go with that song
- it should almost be like its own song, but that doesn't mean it has to sound written ahead of time -- some loose sloppy improv is definitely allowable
- I limited myself to one entry per guitarist
Anyway, after I got over 50, I realized that I could keep going and build up my own Top 100 list... but I also thought that, if I was cruel, I could chop my list down to the best 10. So: here is my painfully cut-down list of the Ten Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time [limited to one per guitarist]. I don't think I can put them in any kind of order, so I wimped out and put them in alphabetical order by artist. Here is my list:
Be Bop Deluxe: Mill Street Junction (live) from Live! in the Air Age
Black Sabbath: Never Say Die from Never Say Die
Blue Öyster Cult: Dominance & Submission from Secret Treaties
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (live) from One Nation Under a Groove
Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (Slight Return) from Electric Ladyland
Jethro Tull: Aqualung from Aqualung
King's X: Over My Head from Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Kiss: Shock Me from Love Gun
Scorpions: Polar Nights (live) from Tokyo Tapes
Van Halen: One Foot Out the Door from Fair Warning
- limiting it to rock cuz there's too many amazing jazz solos and jazz soloists have an unfair advantage [there's probably 100 ultimo Lenny Breau solos alone]
- a great solo has to be recognizable and memorable and distinctive. Some guitarists always play good solos but their solos sound interchangeable.
- a great solo doesn't have to be complex, but recognizable skill and technique probably do play some part in it
- a great solo has to fit the song, ideally sounding like the best possible solo to go with that song
- it should almost be like its own song, but that doesn't mean it has to sound written ahead of time -- some loose sloppy improv is definitely allowable
- I limited myself to one entry per guitarist
Anyway, after I got over 50, I realized that I could keep going and build up my own Top 100 list... but I also thought that, if I was cruel, I could chop my list down to the best 10. So: here is my painfully cut-down list of the Ten Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time [limited to one per guitarist]. I don't think I can put them in any kind of order, so I wimped out and put them in alphabetical order by artist. Here is my list:
Be Bop Deluxe: Mill Street Junction (live) from Live! in the Air Age
Black Sabbath: Never Say Die from Never Say Die
Blue Öyster Cult: Dominance & Submission from Secret Treaties
Funkadelic: Maggot Brain (live) from One Nation Under a Groove
Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child (Slight Return) from Electric Ladyland
Jethro Tull: Aqualung from Aqualung
King's X: Over My Head from Gretchen Goes to Nebraska
Kiss: Shock Me from Love Gun
Scorpions: Polar Nights (live) from Tokyo Tapes
Van Halen: One Foot Out the Door from Fair Warning
