What is your single most favorite guitar solo of all time ?

[Sixbender]

So many solos, so many people so highly skilled at arranging the same ole 12 in a way that can evoke "that thing".
My first choice is a guitar instrumental song called Horizon Dream, on older one (80-ish?) by TJ Helmerich.
I'm not trying to pick an obscure one, but the thread says "single most favorite", so.
Someone gave it to me on an old Shrapnell collection, probably near impossible to find, which is a real shame since everyone should get to hear the choice of notes, phrasing, the tone...I dunno, just does it for me.
If I sounded like that, I'd be all kindsa high. Guys like that don't make me wanna quit, but they do make me wonder what I can possibly offer.  :tard:

 

[-CB-]

Muddy Waters' on the live version of "Can't Get No Grindin' (tell me whats the matter with the mill)"

 

[dmraco]

for pure melody and beauty..gilmore with comf numb...the 1st solo followed by the second...

I still have to give props to Joe Satriani...surfing with the alien...he can make a guitar SING!!

check this dude out....cello is COOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlGBMAgDGUU

 

[Kublai]

Steve Howe in Starship Trooper.

 

[kreig]

Thanks everybody so far . . . This thread is blowing me away . It shows me a piece of your heart ! It's more than I dreamt .

Kreig :hello2:

 

[Shmoopie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfT2Gt11ewg
Gary Rossington is a leg end (for all you brits out there)!

 

[ildar]

Difficult to see how to bypass "All Along the Watchtower", James Marshall Hendrix, "Electric Ladyland". Maybe it's just become part of the landscape? :icon_scratch:

http://www.imeem.com/people/FVCl5a/music/faebXqBn/jimi_hendrix_all_along_the_watchtower/

With the ongoing collapse of our hallucinatory economy (None of them along the line know what any of it is worth), the lyrics have seemed terrifyingly prescient to me also:

"There must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

That would be great and prescient and all...but of course, Hendrix didn't write it.

My favorite doesn't involve any of the usual suspects, goes off the well-worn path of the familiar heroes. Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty has the most concise, lyrical, and emotive solo I've heard on a pop tune. No flash, and doesn't take the guitarist half an hour to get to the point. Much overlooked. Should be worth noting that The Foo Fighters' cover quotes the solo almost exactly.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I could never really narrow it down, but this one has it all.  Alternate tunings, harmonic tapping, strumming, arpegios, etc.  Phil's style is usually low energy, tasteful technique.  He won't beat you over the head with runs and sweeping, but he could.

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[stormbringer]

Wow, THAT is a tough question...  Was able to narrow it down to 3 I think...

Michael Schenker's Rock Bottom solo on Strangers in the Night...
Alex Lifeson on Working Man...
or
Robin Trower on Too Rolling Stoned...

Tough between those (and many mentioned already)...

 

[SlingBass]

I could never really narrow it down, but this one has it all.  Alternate tunings, harmonic tapping, strumming, arpegios, etc.  Phil's style is usually low energy, tasteful technique.  He won't beat you over the head with runs and sweeping, but he could. 

:icon_thumright:  And back in the day......he used to shred with the best.

I don't understand how anyone can narrow their music down to one favorite song, lead break, bassist, guitarist, etc. - unless one is just that limited. It's by me. So much music, so many styles and genres, and so much talent (known & unknown) - it defies logic, IMO. Phil, unfortunately, is one of those unknown to many. Same for many in the Windham Hill catalog. Michael Manring is a bassist that will always inspire, yet frustrate me at the same time. Pick one of anything/anyone? No can do...  :dontknow:

 

[kreig]

Slingbass , I realized that this question would frustrate some , but the responses that I hoped for, is that someone could "resonate" and "zero" in on
what  solo makes them "become one with the Universe" or "grounds them" or "brings back a flood of great memories" or makes them able to become "Spiritually connected". . . so to speak . One solo that speaks to the essence of their soul .

I think some on this thread can relate . . .

We all know that there is a zillion great this' and great thats . . . Ain't Music GREAT? :hello2:

 

[stubhead]

It's de rigueur* that someone say "there is no best"  - as any correctly-trained liberal knows, any ol' hippie with a bongo drum is just as great a composer as Bach, as long as he bongos with soul... Because "it's all good", there are no gradations. Darn it, I may play a better guitar solo than Bach dis moanin', wanna see my tattoo? :cool01:


*(look it up, froggy)

 

[RLW]

For me, "best" and "favorite" can be two VERY different things. I listed my favorite, best would take much more thought.

 

[GoDrex]

there is no best - a hippie playing bongos isn't trying to be bach, but someone else might get off on it more than listening to bach. I'm so glad I'm trained to think this way. Ranking music is a stupid hobby.

 

[Ted]

Hangar 18 / Rust in Peace / Mustaine & Freidman. My favourite solo very closely followed by Asthetics of Hate on Machine Head's latest album.  :evil4:

 

[SrDeMaFp]

Hangar 18 / Rust in Peace / Mustaine & Freidman. My favourite solo very closely followed by Asthetics of Hate on Machine Head's latest album.  :evil4:

"Aesthetics Of Hate" fudging PWNZ. (As does the whole "The Blackening" album for that matter). Met those guys a few weeks back, real cool dudes!
I can't really pick a favorite solo but, if I guess I had to I'd have to pick "No More Tears". That just has all the elements of a great solo to me. I still get chills when I hear it. There's plenty more I really love but, that takes the cake for me.

 

[kboman]

This changes constantly depending on mood etc, but some truly fantasic solos are...

King Crimson - Exiles, Robert Fripp's second solo. The best version I've heard is from the live record USA, it regularly makes me cry. The lyrics help with that aspect, hehe. It starts around 5-ish in the video below, where the song is still in development, nb.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4IeMdx8voA[/youtube]

King Crimson - Neal And Jack And Me, Robert Fripp's solo at the end. Sublime in all its simplicity! This song should also make any sane person go down on one knee and propose to Tony Levin.
The '80's King Crimson was a fantastic band - for soloing with more teeth, see "Sartori In Tangiers".
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S19JxEkKIAc[/youtube]

CSNY - Down By the River, mainly Neil's solo. No wonder Stills felt frustrated, here he plays a perfectly good solo and then Neil grinds it to dust with his first note... I've never seen or heard Neil Young play fast before or after this.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v5E27Fp59c[/youtube]

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Cortez the Killer, basically the whole song. Video from Weld, early 90's. Astounding in every way.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnc4-yqB520[/youtube]

U2 - Mysterious Ways, Edge's solo in the live version. It's still lifts me 10cm off the ground after more than 15 years.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ1XIyUCAIw&feature=related[/youtube]

Tom Waits - Hoist That Rag, Marc Ribot's amazing solo. Ribot's guitar sound generally in this song just knocks me out! This song needs to be played LOUDLY for proper impact.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xdMEm9i66g[/youtube]

Bluesey Hendrix/SRV/whatever and metal solos do very little for me.

 

[ildar]

It's de rigueur* that someone say "there is no best"  - as any correctly-trained liberal knows, any ol' hippie with a bongo drum is just as great a composer as Bach, as long as he bongos with soul... Because "it's all good", there are no gradations. Darn it, I may play a better guitar solo than Bach dis moanin', wanna see my tattoo? :cool01:


*(look it up, froggy)

Are politics really necessary in this thread?

 

[ByteFrenzy]

I'm glad Kreig actually asked for the most favorite solo and not the best. For me, most favorite means Stairway to Heaven right now. Tomorrow it could be Eruption, or any one of maybe fifty others. It depends on my mood, on what was the latest one to play on the radio, on a dozen other things.

As for the 'best', that depends completely on your definition of 'best'. Usually these days in music, 'best' means 'awarded most points by a jury of three'. One of them is a female music personality who tells everyone how great they were and then gives them four points out of twenty. Number two is also a music personality but he is male and tells everybody how they suck. He does this so convincingly and with so much sarcasm that most of the female participants break out in tears. Number three is a PR dude from some record company. He'll tell anyone they're great as long as he thinks he or she might wind up in his bed.

If you ask fifty classically schooled musicians, they will choose Bach over the Bongo-Beating hippy. I like Bach, I have heard it stated that he is the grandfather of the modern bassline and I believe that, but for me there is too little emotional attachment. Ask fifty hippies and they'll choose the Bongo player. For me, he would probably be lacking on technical skill. Then again, he could actually be very good. One of the best bongo players I know, across different musical genres, is actually a classically schooled percussionist.

So actually, I really do think that there is no one single 'best' of anything.

 

[stubhead]

My point being, that because of the "best" threads I may end up listening to something I hadn't previously heard... what's the downside? :icon_scratch: