Best Solo Ever (No Nirvana allowed, Or Dave Grohl)

  • Thread starter Thread starter doogle
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doogle

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Seriously guys, this time it means solo.
Things like teen spirit solo arent counted but im sure it will end up in here.
Solo's like
Time, Pink Floyd
SRV, Tightrope, live at Austin Texas.
Led Zep, Since Ive Been Lovin You, Live, Mad Sqare Garden.
 
Well, there was a really nice melodic solo on a Simply Red album that I just love, but I am sure what you are looking for is guitar wanking (certainly, that is what you have listed), and for that I would have to go with anything Pat Metheny has ever done.

And by the by, what the heck is wrong with playing a solo that just really makes the song better instead of showing off that you can play a bunch of notes? That is exactly what Kurt Cobain did, and it is what Pat Smear did on the Foo Fighters "The Color and the Shape." They may not have had much in the way of chops, but there are only a handfull of albums with more perfect guitars than "The Color and the Shape." Joan Osborne's "Relish" comes to mind.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
The first one that came to mind: Eddie Van Halen in Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
 
It's '80s time: Andy Summers on "Mother", Jeff Beck on "Gets Us All in the End", or Vernon Reid on "Cult of Personality".
 
You mean the best GUITAR solo - ever? Wow. Talk about an impossible challenge. There are just soooo many good ones.

Hmm. Well, O.K., I'll give it a shot. I'd have to go with either Steve Lukather's solo on "I Won't Hold You Back" from the Toto IV album, or the absolutely jaw-dropping solo on Steely Dan's "The Boston Rag," from the Countdown to Ecstasy album. I'm not sure who plays that one. The guitarist is uncredited. But in 1973, Steely Dan was still a proper band. Becker and Fagen hadn't yet turned into a "virtual band" that simply recorded all the songs with various session players. Almost all of the solos in those days were recorded by one of the two "in house" guitarists - either Denny Dias or Jeff Baxter. Whoever did it, it's absolutely spectacular.
 
Lenny Breau - Meanwhile Back In L.A (changed my mind - hence the edit ;) ), for solo guitar and...
Jimi Hendrix - Bold As Love, for guitar solo ;)
 
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John Petrucci Wishful Thinking and, you gotta love Eruption by EVH but man...there are so many other that peg the cool meter.
 
Dragonforce-My Spirit Will Go On

OR

Ten Years After-I'm Going Home
 
Comfortably Numb and the bend in Reelin' In The Years are probably the two most recognizable in pop rock. Never mind the fact that David Gilmour freeze dried a dozen licks in 1970 and re-used them forever. That was the best cup of coffee he ever made :)

I vote for those because of the combo of feel and structure. Most others have an imbalance of one or the other. More so, do you define the solo for its technical prowess or how it fits into the structure of a song?

Very tough to pick...
 
doogle said:
Seriously guys, this time it means solo.
Things like teen spirit solo arent counted but im sure it will end up in here.
Solo's like
Time, Pink Floyd
SRV, Tightrope, live at Austin Texas.
Led Zep, Since Ive Been Lovin You, Live, Mad Sqare Garden.

So...just because a solo doesn't have a gazillion notes it can't be considered a good solo?

I'd rather hear one note held, bent, shaken and played with all the passion a player has than endless scales played with zero feeling just because the player can do it. I mean, the solo in "Cinnamon Girl" is just one note right?

And I agree with the poster who said that it's just too difficult to name the absolute best solo ever. I mean, it's all subjective anyway.

But, that said...here are some songs that contain solos that come to my mind as being some of the best:

First solo in "Comfortably Numb" - Pink Floyd
"Mother" - Pink Floyd
"Voices" - Cheap Trick
"Show Your Love" - Van Halen
"Ice Cream Man" - Van Halen
"In A Simple Rhyme" - Van Halen
"Burn It Black" - Injected
"Mr. Policeman (Live)" - Supafuzz
"I Don't Know (Live)" - Ozzy Ozbourne
"You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison" - My Chemical Romance
"Say It Ain't So" - Weezer
"Drown" - Smashing Pumpkins

There are so many others, but I'd be typing all day.
 
TheRockDoc said:
David Gilmour freeze dried a dozen licks in 1970 and re-used them forever. That was the best cup of coffee he ever made :)

Amen.

(ten character limit)
 
Hayseed dixie - you shook me all night long

Blur - This is a low
 
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