The No.1 website for musicians
Guitarist magazine, Tue 22 Mar 2011, 5:05 pm UTC
What is the greatest guitar solo of all time?
The 20 Greatest DJs of all time
What Is The Greatest Guitar Solo Of All Time? Vote Now!
Our Greatest Guitar Solo Of All Time poll certainly caused some fierce debate amongst guitarists… and that was just in our office.
Choosing the 'greatest' guitar solo is obviously subjective in the extreme. But Guitarist had other motivations too – we were eager to see how many modern solos have impressed you all in the thirteen years since our last solo poll. The results were suprising.
After asking for your nominations, we took the 20 most popular and asked for you vote on which your though was most deserving here and at MusicRadar. You voted in your thousands, fanbases were motivated and old favourites suffered.
Click onwards to see and hear the full rundown. First up, at number 20, with 0.57% of your votes, is Martin Barre's solo on Aqualung by Jethro Tull.
The title track of the 1971 album that sold over 7,000,000 copies worldwide features a stunning melodic solo from Barre, who completed the take despite the considerable distraction of Jimmy Page wandering in from a Led Zeppelin session in the next studio and waving at him from the control room.
What is the greatest guitar solo of all time?
The 20 Greatest DJs of all time
What Is The Greatest Guitar Solo Of All Time? Vote Now!
dimebag is probably one of the lesser REALLY technical guitarists (if you compare with the likes of friedman and vai) but the guy blended technique with feel like no one else did!! i'm no metal head (i still stick to soundgarden, nirvana and beatles) but seriously, listen to the solo on "floods".....makes me cry.......my God this list is screaming out for dimebag !
i understand the list has been determined by not just variables such as guitar techniques and skills, but also the solos' feel, appropriateness and acceptability.....so my questions is, where's dimebag in the list?? and seriously tremonti as number 1? i acknowledge that blackbird is a masterpiece (coming from very unbiased terms) and tremonti is amazing but the solo is far from being a number-1 SURPASSING the others in the list !!!! it introduces itself in a most typed fashion, remains on a predictable scale and has no awe factor at all....some may argue it sticks to the song's feel but slash did much more in this regard (not saying slash should've been number 1). all i'll say is that it's a very courageous move to put this solo at number 1 (maybe 20 years later when this song becomes a classic, people will sneer and defend it) but i'll still say this DOES NOT DESERVE to be a number 1 !! and once again, where's dimebag????
Wow, how old were the people that voted?
There's a few great solos here but the top 12 - gilmour and page aside - really don't cut it.
Here's some great solos:
Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures, Black Napkins
Jeff Beck - Where Were You, Goodbye Porkpie Hat
Roy Buchanan - The Messiah Will Come Again, Roy's Bluz
All have brilliant teachnique and genuine emotion. Listen to them and then tell me I'm wrong
Let’s have a shot at Pantera (formed 1981)???? It’s like Alter Bridge (formed 2004)???????? It is funny how rock (and art in general) chronologies and influences get turned upside down and inside-out by newbies on the scene (whatever art scene it is) who reference their own (much) later times as (erroneously) original, especially here, when this solo came over thirty years earlier than Alter Bridge... incredible how dense we can be as newbies… but it is interesting how ‘tame’ the earlier works seem, after they’ve been embellished upon by following artists; what is lost is the context and impact the original had… I hear the same thing about many electrifying works (for their time), the context and impact is lost amid myriads of imitations and copycats and technical (rather than artistic) improvements… it is what academia does with art – technically takes an original concept to it’s ultimate commercial end, which is what Pantera and Alter Bridge did with this solo, one a decade later, the other over three decades later… incredible how as newbies we have our chronologies so out of whack…
Ted Nugent’s ‘Stranglehold’? Four years later. Frampton’s – two years later. Even two years in the 60’s was like two centuries, rock music speaking. That newbies can’t differentiate between 1971 and later years is a tribute to 1971, and not, for example, 2004…
Bark at the Moon and Dio? 12 years later…
What I think is going on is whatever a guy hears when he’s 14 constitute his greatest moments in rock… for me it was Jimmy Page’s Dazed and Confused, which was like something from outer space at the time, and technically light-years beyond anything else (barring King Crimson); it was the first time I thought 'true virtuoso' in rock guitar (barring Hendrix)…
Yowsa a guitar solo list without Mick Ronson or Rory Gallagher or even Frank Zappa c'mon..
Are you kidding me??? ever heard of Ted Nugent and Stranglehold? or how bout Peter Framptons Live "Do you Feel Like We Do" to name two. What eva.
Blackbird is great, my only problem with the solos on ABs albums (I'm still callin' 'em albums and I always will dammit!), is that I can't hear them, push up those faders come solo time Mark! Seriously though I am a big fan and they'll be playing my home town in less than two weeks so I'll be hearing it live! I missed the voting so here are my votes: #1 tie Jake E. Lee's solo(s) on Ozzy's "Bark at the Moon", and Vivian Campbell's on Dio's "Rainbow in the Dark", these two solo's still set my heart on fire every time I hear them. Oh, and Adrian Smith pulled out a couple of stunners on "Isle of Avalon", and "Coming Home" on The Final Frontier, and check out Davey on "Coming Home" there's some Hendrix possession going on there!!! Thanks for keeping the solo alive boys!
I've never heard of the winning song either, and I didn't know Hollow Years even had a solo!
That is one damn lame solo! Even given that I dont like maybe half of the songs or solos in the shortlist, that one doesnt compare in comparison to everything else on the list. Average metal solo and thats if I'm feeling kind
And the song? Its like Alter Bridge very cynically combed through the structure and feel of Pantera's Cemetery Gates and said "lets have a shot at that". Just as cheesy but without the flair or any kind of energy whatsoever
Pile o crap
What a load of over-wrought, widdly knob-waving. Couldn't hold a candle to Gilmour, Hendrix, Page et al...
You need to be logged in to post a comment. Login or Register to post a comment.
heneverwrote
6 weeks ago.