Five Greatest Guitar SolosMusic 

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Edward Van Halen - "5150" (Live Without A Net VHS)

David Gilmore - "Another Brick In The Wall"

Steve Lukather - "Dirty Laundry"(Don Henley)

Robert Cray - "Smoking Gun"

Joe Satriani - "Satch Boogie"



Honorable Mentions

Edward Van Halen "Jump"
David Gilmore "Young Lust"
Jimi Page "Heartbreaker"
Billy Gibbons "Rough Boy"
Edward Van Halen "I'll Wait"
Vernon Reid "Cult Of Personality"
Steve Vai "For The Love Of God"
Edward Van Halen "Source Of Infection"
Jimi Hendrix "Red House"
 
4 pages of great guitar solos and no mention of Helloween yet? :confused:

The song "Halloween" is 13mins long and has 4 solos in it, all of which are fantastic, so I'll pick all of them and the one from "I'm Alive".
 
I'm not a big fan of guitar solos, with a few exceptions. One of them is J Mascis - almost anything with him on the guitar is good.

[EDIT] Midnight Oil - Used and abused
 
New to the list. I love guitar solos and, as you can probably tell by my handle, believe that Jimi Hendrix is the MAN! Don't get me wrong, there are a bunch of other guitarists that rock, but Jimi was the standard-setter. So I'll submit Jimi's top 5 guitar solos:

1: Hear My Train A Comin' (live verson from "Blues," "Rainbow Bridge," and a couple of other albums.)

2: Machine Gun (live version from "Band of Gypsies," "Live at the Fillmore East," and a couple of other albums.)

3: Catfish Blues (studio version from "Blues.")

4: Star Spangled Banner (live at Woodstock).

5: Red House (live version from "Hendrix in the West.")

Several honorable mention solos from studio albums, including Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), Red House (U.S. version), Spanish Castle Magic, Come On (Part 1), Foxey Lady, etc.
 
Originally posted by Gil
It's a "Heil Talk Box".
It's a "stompbox" that has a hose that is attached to the mic stand and it makes the guitar "talk".
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Another song with one of these pretty prevalent is Alice in Chains--Man in the Box. Check it out.
 
Any guitar player should listen to Frank Zappa's "Shut up and play your guitar". Only electric guitar. Nothing else. Crazy stuff from the 3-note master himself. Six cd box :eek:
 
Impossible! I can't choose 5! Well, I can but there are so many I know and love. But I guess I could choose 5 that I listen to a lot. The first two are obvious choices...
In no order:

Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (not too hard to learn in purely musical terms, just incredibly hard to play)
Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd (always prefered the album version to the live versions)
Blue Jean Blues - Jeff Healey (a blind Canadian guitarist who plays the guitar on his lap)
Cloudburst Flight - Tangerine Dream (German Electro-Rock band, great sound on this track)
Crying to the Sky - Be-Bop Deluxe (who I presume no one here has ever heard of!!)
But really, there are so many.............from Jeff Beck, Clapton, Hendrix, Satriani, Vai, SRV, Walter Trout, Gary Moore..etc....
 
I think many of the compositions of the RATM songs r truly great. whether they sound good or not, they are incredibly difficult to do. I think a sweet guitar solo though would be the one in Hotel California by The Eagles.
 
In no particular order:

Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd - Shine On You Crazy Diamond
Steve Vai - For the love of god
Joe Satriani - Crystal Planet
Joe Satriani - Souls of Distortion

Honourable Mentions:
Living Colour - Cult of Personality
Anything by Joe Satriani
Michael Angelo Batio - Speed Lives
Pink Floyd - Echoes
Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Deep Purple - Contact Lost
Deep Purple - Lazy
Yngwie Malmsteen - Black Star
GnR - November Rain
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood
Kyuss - Demon Cleaner
Symphony X - Inferno
 
Morlow
Sadly, I've never heard any Jimi Hendrix music. Anyone have any MP3's of some of his more impressive guitar playing?
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Go and buy any of his albums (studio or best of). You can't go wrong. Some great songs of his showcasing his godlike guitar skills are Purple Haze, Red House, 3rd Stone From the Sun, Little Wing, Castles Made Of Sand, and Voodoo Child. And that's just a shortlist.

Good thread to revive btw. It was interesting reading everyone else's opinions on this. My top 5 in no particular order...

Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) - Eruption
Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) - Mean Street
David Gilmore (Pink Floyd) - Time
Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) - Little Wing
Alex Lifeson (Rush) - La Villa Stangiato

Honorable Mentions (And a hell of a lot of them...)

Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) - Cathedral
Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen) - Panama
David Gilmore (Pink Floyd) - Comfortably Numb
Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) - Voodoo Child
Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) - 3rd Stone From The Sun
Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) - Castles Made Of Sand
Alex Lifeson (Rush) - Freewill
Alex Lifeson (Rush) - Xanadu
Alex Lifeson (Rush) - 2112
Alex Lifeson (Rush) - The Trees
Angus Young (AC/DC) - Thunderstruck
Mick Taylor (The Rolling Stones) - Can't You Hear Me Knocking
Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) - The Immigrant Song (Live)
Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) - Whole Lotta Love
Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) - In The Evening
Carlos Santana (Santana) - Jingo
Carlos Santana (Santana) - Europa
Carlos Santana (Santana) - Samba Pa Ti
Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien
Joe Satriani - Ice 9
Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) - Iron Man
Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) - Fairies Wear Boots
Stevie Ray Vaughn - The Sky Is Crying
Stevie Ray Vaughn - Little Wing

And I'm sure I left out some honorable mentions.
 
  1. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird
    Gary Rossington
  2. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
    David Gilmour
  3. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
    Slash
  4. Van Halen - Eruption
    Eddie Van Halen
  5. Black Sabbath - Wheels of Confusion/The Straightener
    Tony Iommi
 
An Updated list from 2 years agao, and Ive chose 4 out of 5 from what I had last time :)


In no particular order:

1 Dreamtheater - In the name of god (around the 9 minute mark)
John Petrucci

2 Guns N' Roses - Sweet child O' mine
Slash

3 ManOWar - My spirit lives on
Karl Logan

4 Van Halen - Eruption
Eddie Van Halen

5 Jimi Hendrix - Star spangled banner
Jimi Hendrix

Honorable Mentions:

Jimi Hendrix (The Jimi Hendrix Experience) - Voodoo Child
Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) Dry County
Joe Satriani - The Extremist
Joe Satriani - Ice 9
Yngwie Malmsteen (G3) - Acoustic guitar solo (Live In Denver)
Yngwie Malmsteen - Black Star
Steve Vai - The Audience is listening
Steve Vai - For the love of god
John Petrucci (Dreamtheater) - Stream of Consciousness
Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple) - Smoke on the water
Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne) - Suicide Solution
Jimi Hendrix - Little Wing
Angus Young (ACDC) - Thunderstruck
Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) - Whole Lotta Love
Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin) Stairway to heaven
 
Ev0
Go and buy any of his albums (studio or best of). You can't go wrong. Some great songs of his showcasing his godlike guitar skills are Purple Haze, Red House, 3rd Stone From the Sun, Little Wing, Castles Made Of Sand, and Voodoo Child. And that's just a shortlist.
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Thanks for the infos. 👍
 
Thanks for that link, Ceiling. This actually looks like the first, at least decent Top 100 list, although I've only browsed the first 20. I can't believe Floods made it to the Top 20, out of all the Pantera songs, though.
 
In no particular order :

Steve Vai - For The Love of God
David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) - Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Pt. I - IV)
John Petrucci (Dream Theater) - In The Name of God
Joe Satriani - Searching
Slash (Guns N' Roses) - Civil War

Honourable mentions :

Yngwie Malmsteen - Acoustic guitar solo (Live in Denver)
Joe Walsh (?) (The Eagles) - Hotel California
Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) - Stairway to Heaven
Adam Jones (Tool) - No Quarter (Led Zeppelin cover)
Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Jimmy Page - Jimi Hendrix Blues Tribute (Live Rush Boston Bootleg)
 
I've read that list before, and although there were some questionable entries, I thought it was well done. And besides, it's vastly better than any sort of tripe that Rolling Stone would put out.

And am I alone in feeling that the solo in Stairway To Heaven is overrated, or am I turning into a Van Halen fanboy? I think Eruption should have topped that list.
 
Ev0
I've read that list before, and although there were some questionable entries, I thought it was well done. And besides, it's vastly better than any sort of tripe that Rolling Stone would put out.

And am I alone in feeling that the solo in Stairway To Heaven is overrated, or am I turning into a Van Halen fanboy? I think Eruption should have topped that list.
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No, Stairway To Heaven isn't all that great. It probably gets extra browny points for being one of the "greatest rock songs of all time". That's not to say I don't like, I still listen to Stairway quite reguarly, I just think there's more solos worthier of the #1 spot.
 
1. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
2. Sultans of Swing - Dire Straits
3. Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd
4. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
5. Master of Puppets - Metallica

EDIT:
Runner ups:
1. November Rain - Guns N' Roses
2. Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Guns N' Roses (I know it was first composed by Bob Dylan, but I like the Guns N' Roses' version better)
3. High Hopes - Pink Floyd

And yes, as a sidenote, I know I am biased towards Pink Floyd, but in my book they are the greatest band ever existed/ever to exist. Period. Plus, opinions are meant to be opinions, not to be taken as facts. And this thread asks for just that - opinions.

The Wizard.
 
Comfortably Numb and several songs by Jimi Hendrix stick in my mind as having great guitar solos.
 
Ev0
I've read that list before, and although there were some questionable entries, I thought it was well done. And besides, it's vastly better than any sort of tripe that Rolling Stone would put out.
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My first thought was that it was much better than any Rolling Stone list. I think it was decently done. I'm not going to argue with Guitar.com, as they know what they're talking about.
Ev0
And am I alone in feeling that the solo in Stairway To Heaven is overrated, or am I turning into a Van Halen fanboy?
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I think the solo in Stairway to Heaven is overrated, and I don't think it should be Number 1, but I do think it's a great song.

I take back my statement about Floods before. But I don't think Walk's solo is overly good. The solo in Domination is a great solo, and should be at least in-place of Walk.
 
my top 5 solos go in this order
1. Superjoint ritual - Sickness
2. Superjoint ritual - Deaththreat
3. Superjoint ritual - All Of Our Lives Will Get Tried
4. Superjoint ritual - Dress Like A Target
5. Superjoint ritual - Everyone Hates Everyone
 
The 100 Greatest Guitar Solos was in Guitar World magazine back in 1998, I believe, and was later reprinted in a special issue of Guitar Legends. I have both issues floating around somewhere. Anyway, the reason Stairway is no. 1 is that the list was voted on by readers. There was a postcard in an earlier issue and you were to write down your 5 favorite solos and that's how they compiled the list.

I am sure my 5 have changed since then, I don't really remember what I put down, but I copied my list from a thread from a couple months ago.

EVH - Push Comes to Shove
Randy Rhoads - Revelation Mother Earth
Dimebag Darrell - Cemetary Gates
Carlos Santana - Europa
Dickie Betts - Jessica
 
No-one has mentioned John Squire yet!

His solos on

The Stone Roses - I Am The Resurrection
& The Seahorses - Love Is The Law

are pretty incredible. I don't think he stops solo-ing throughout the whole Seahorses album, there's the singers guitar to play the chords, Squire just jams over top, pretty much like he did with the Roses.
I was luck enough to see the Roses in Leicester, and caught the Seahorses twice, in Manchester and Warrington. He played both solos live pretty much note-perfect.
Probably not your cup-of-tea if you're a metalhead but impressive nonetheless.

I have to agree with most of the Jimi Hendrix, Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd stuff that's been mentioned. I'm not at all keen on anything Metal, so I can't comment on the likes of Metallica and Pantera etc, etc.
 

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