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Top Ten Guitar Solos
For 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
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Van Halen: "One Foot Out the Door" from Fair Warning
Great guitarist, great album, but why that song?
I say "Push Comes to Shove" and "So This Is Love" both have better solos (and totally different moods).
The solo in "Shock Me" on Alive II was much better than the one on Love Gun, if you ask me...
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Well, grant me that my list of criteria is inherently, deeply subjective, so there are limits to how well I can really explain myself about any of this:
One Foot Out the Door really clicks for me, simple as that. Part of its appeal is its wide technical range: One Foot Out the Door together with Eruption constitute a virtually comprehensive encyclopedia of post-Hendrix technique in less than five minutes. But I also really like its tune.
And part of what I admire about the studio Shock Me is its succinctness. As well as really liking the tune. :P
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Ah, well, but no sweep picking, economy picking, arpeggios, other elements of neoclassical...
My list of greatest rock solos would have to include Shawn Lane's in "One More Night" starting at about 3:33.
He just has no parallel for that sort of thing. A good guitarist's amp will have headroom; Shawn's technique has headroom.
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