Forums > Electric Guitar > The Best Guitar Solo
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Original message:352 days 8 hours 50 minutes ago
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Member: Simon Turner
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What do you all think is the best guitar solo of all time and why?

I would have to go with Slash's Sweet Child O Mine....melodic and inspiring!
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Reply:352 days 7 hours 20 minutes ago
Member: MicroCuts
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I could never give an answer to that question that I would be happy with if that makes sense :-)

My favorite at the moment though is the solo in Priceless by incubus. Just unexpected, technically quite nice and converse to Mike's usual playing style and I can always remember the first time I heard it and how baked I was! It was and still is out of this world imo.
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Reply:352 days 7 hours 3 minutes ago
Member: jobabrinks
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This question is more loaded than the 'best guitarist' question. That said, 'Sweet Child' is also one of my favorites. It was one of the first solos I tried to learn but it took me years before I could play it even halfway decent. The quality at which I have been able to play that solo has helped me track my guitar progress over the years.
Reply:351 days 9 hours 59 minutes ago
Member: Johnny Frusciante
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I don`t get it, I learned the solo after 8 months of palying.
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Reply:352 days 4 hours 59 minutes ago
Member: Simon Turner
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Always handy to have a benchmark to measure progress and improvement.
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Reply:352 days 2 hours 27 minutes ago
Member: jobabrinks
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On the other side of the coin, the outro to Paradise City is one of the worst wankfests ever...
Reply:352 days 3 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002
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I like insane speed, wicked technique, and general face-meltiness. That being said, my favorite solo of all time is the first one in "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. It's everything a guitar solo should be, IMO.
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Reply:351 days 21 hours ago
Member: sallan
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Word!

;)
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I hate your music and/or band
Reply:352 days 3 hours 32 minutes ago
Member: Johnny
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there are so many great ones, i could not possibly pick one as the "best", and my favorite changes about once a week.

freebird
stairway to heaven
sweet child o mine
la grange
sweet home alabama
im bad im nationwide
voodoo chile
statesborough blues
enter sandman
honky tonk women

the list goes on and on and on ............

and for me the "best" solo/lead work doesnt always have to be super fast or highly technical. somtimes something simple can sound perfect. john fogerty, among others, comes to mind when i think of stuff like that.
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Reply:352 days 3 hours 17 minutes ago
Member: Danno
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Blackbird by Alter bridge.
It's not my only favorite but it's the one that comes to mind right now.
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Cold silence has a tendency to atrophy any sense of compassion--- TooL
Reply:352 days 2 hours 35 minutes ago
Member: Steve Aguilar
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Like Johnny said there are too many great solos to pick just one
Iam not saying these are the best guitar solos ever or anything but some of my favorites
EVH-eruption
Steve Vai-Tender Surrender (is it a solo or a song lol)
Metallica- The Unforgiven and One
Pantera-Walk
Pink Floyd- Another Brick in the Wall(simple but awesome)
Jimi Hendrix- Pick one!
Stevie Ray Vaughn & Carlos Santana - Traffic Jam (its all insurtmental buts its awesome)
BB King-Three O Clock Blues
Zakk Wylde-Farewall Ballad(R I P dime)
Alice in Chains- Man in the Box
Bucket head-he does crazy stuff like the theme to halloween and Jordan is insane

Oh yeah check this out too its just sic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iLIhLv8LuY
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Reply:351 days 22 hours 3 minutes ago
Member: Oatmeal123
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I like Avenged Sevenfold, the stuff doesn't sound that complicated but it can get really technical. For example the main theme to "The wicked end" which goes:

(quick version)

e:--13--10---------------------/17--16--|
B:------------10--9------------------------|
G:---------------------10--9---------------|
D:-------------------------------------------|
A:-------------------------------------------|
E:-------------------------------------------|

Which isn't too hard except for the speed.

That isn't a solo, just an example of the guitar, there are solo's and all around kick a** playing in most all of their songs, some of which are:
"Afterlife", "Crossroads" and "Lost" all of which can be found on their new CD named Avenged Sevenfold.
The names of their guitarists are Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates.

The second example is Megadeth. They are one of the most recognizable bands to anyone who has dabbled in metal. guitar wise the can usually be compared to metallica, and singing wise.. i dunno.
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Reply:351 days 19 hours 45 minutes ago
Member: Steve Aguilar
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Yeah its always Megadeath vs Metallica(people make a big deal about him gettin kicked out and what not) I like them both in thier own way but I prefer James voice over Daves
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Balance is Key "None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Reply:351 days 21 hours 40 minutes ago
Member: Desmond
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As you'all say -- there are many great solos, very genre dependent. Two that particularly come to mind right-now are based on pop-music.

Joe Walsh does a very melodic, well phrased solo on 'One Of These Nights' that just FLOWS. Very nice.

And what was that Eddie Van Halen solo on one of Michael (yes, I am black!) Jackson's tunes? I remember that totally making the tune. Anybody remember ?

Reply:351 days 20 hours 11 minutes ago
Member: Danno
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That was just recently in another post, but I forget the song.
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Reply:351 days 19 hours 39 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002
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Beat It
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Reply:351 days 20 hours 43 minutes ago
Member: Jason Jones
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Comfortably Numb- Yeah, Loads and Loads of solos to choose from but one of my favourites for a good while now is The Spirit Carries On by John Petrucci of Dream Theater. In my opinion this is a great solo that fits the song perfectly. Well done John.
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Reply:351 days 19 hours 38 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002
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That one takes a close second to Comfortably Numb in my book.
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Reply:351 days 19 hours 47 minutes ago
Member: The Rocker
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Frank Zappa Montana, and I'm the slime, All Zappa
Zepplin Stairway All Zep
VH Eruption All Eddie
Hendrix All along the watchtower All hendrix
Rainbow Long Live Rock and Roll, all Blackmore

These are the people I really admire
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Reply:351 days 10 hours 1 minutes ago
Member: Johnny Frusciante
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Hotel California, sounds so warm and somehow Californiastic.It really fits the song,and is beautiful. Tangerine is one of the most beautiful solos I heard,the only flaw is that it lasts to short.When it gets to the high frets it should stay longer there,for maybe 10s and it would make you cry,if it didn`t already.
Zajdi Zajdi by Smak,a band from Former Yugoslav Republic who had by me one of the best guitarisits in the world, made me cry last night,so beautiful.It is actually a Macedonian song.
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Reply:351 days 6 hours 6 minutes ago
Member: Desmond
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Thanks Shane. I am guitar-ted.
Reply:351 days 4 hours 55 minutes ago
Member: shanejohnson2002
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lol no problem...I mean, it's *only* one of the king pedophile's biggest hits... ;)

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Reply:351 days 5 hours 25 minutes ago
Member: RuiOlasBrandon 's
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Metallica - Nothing Else Matters
Muse - Exo-Politics
SOAD - Metro
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Hey, I'm stupid!
Reply:351 days 4 hours 56 minutes ago
Member: MicroCuts
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Exo Politics over Invincible and Citizen Erased! :)

Sweet song though.
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Reply:350 days 10 hours 8 minutes ago
Member: ibzRG
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Fires at Midnight - Blackmore's Night.

It's the first and only solo that didn't simply amaze me, but left me in an emotional overflow!
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Reply:350 days 5 hours 14 minutes ago
Member: G_Barber
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It's damn near impossible for me to pick just one...but the solos that immediately come to mind are Murray and Smith's back to back leads from "Caught Somewhere In Time" or "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner".
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Reply:348 days 11 hours 51 minutes ago
Member: MicroCuts
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Scratch my initial choice.

I am now going for Incubus - Sick Sad Little World

Sweet!
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Reply:348 days 8 hours 15 minutes ago
Member: Metal_Health
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Wow greatest solo looong list can be made just off the top of ur head Eric Claptons Layla, or Johnny B Goode by Chuck Berry or Clut of personality by living colour. Sorry i was just trying to throw some ideas out there that maybe some of you missed. hope u like the ideas
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Hail to the King Baby
Reply:348 days 29 minutes ago
Member: frumsapap
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Geez, this is a hard one to pick just one, so here it goes.
Jerry Cantrell- On This Settling Down. If you haven't heard it go and listen.
Tayied-311 Tim Mahoney's greatest to date.
Edward Van Halen- The instrumental on Twister soundtrack. Bad movie, great song.
David Gilmour- Never could just pick one, but Learning to Fly is cool, and Sorrow.
Santana- just about any instrumental he's done.
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Time is a death-lock of the mind, a corporeal, linear insurrection of the spirit.
Reply:347 days 23 hours 14 minutes ago
Member: NoKindOfAMankind
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IRON MAIDEN - HALLOWED BE THY NAME
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You understand what im saying? ...Testify!
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