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

[RLW]

Just to beat the dead horse until it's tender, this is not my favorite. It's the same song as my favorite, just a later version. Having said that, if you can find fault with this solo, I really don't know what else you could want. And I understand all the Clapton haters out there. Believe me, I spent good money on the "There's One In Every Crowd" LP back in the day. It got sailed into the Gulf Of Mexico the same day. Snort all the drugs you want, dude, just don't expect me to pay to listen to it. But I stuck with him, simply because hearing Cream's "Dance The Night Away" at the age of 12 is what lit the guitar fuse for me. That, and Johnny Winter's version of "Miss Ann" from Second Winter. Full disclosure, I am a total and complete Cream whore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVNMB0hpdQc

"Best" solo? I have love/hate relationship with Jeff Beck. In '66, with "Over, Under, Sideways, Down", I heard my first fuzzbox, and I've had the "1000 yard stare" ever since. Problem is, my first Beck album was the horrific, abysmal, "Beck, Bogert, and Appice" album. To this day I have nightmares. I didn't throw it into the Gulf, I took it to the end of Galveston Island, and buried it. If I was among the faithful, I would have had a priest pour holy water on the grave, just to make sure it never rose again. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Sooner or later, someone will dig it up, and the curse will continue. Having said that, this is my vote for "best" guitar solo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uwvBizKAwc

If anyone starts a "Favorite Sax Solo" thread, my brain will probably explode. Once again, full disclosure, I'm a Sonny Rollins man.

 

[dogman]

Lounge Lizards - 'Big Heart' from 'Live in Tokyo - Big Heart' - Marc Ribot. Monster anti-guitar hero brilliance

 

[JamesL]

I think I have three...

1. The guillotine... Solo around 2:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm0hG1Afe_A

2. Seize the Day... Solo around 2:50. Amazing video by the way, very touching...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZqxl57PeL8

3. I won't see you tonight Part duex... Solo around 2:28
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYNe5nG60iE

 

[TexxasJam]

The solo from Boston's "Hitch a Ride" and the solo from Ratt's "Round and Round" are a couple of all time favorites for me.  Robbin Crosby's and Warren DeMartini's (Ratt) twin guitar leads kick @$$!  And Tom Scholz's weeping solo in "Hitch a Ride" always inspired me. Enjoy the vids.

Solo at 2:31
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPqy2_Sux6g[/youtube]

Solo at 2:26.  Milton Berle makes a hilarious cameo in this video.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5gMeXz2YMw[/youtube]

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Good choices.  I'm a sucker for a harmonized guitar solo like Iron Maiden or Thin Lizzy does.  Any truth to the rumor that Milton Berle was related to one of the band members?

 

[Superlizard]

Have many... but here's two ->

Old school:

Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan (Larry Carlton)

Obscure 80's Hair Metal:

Bad Attitude - Hellion (Chet Thompson)

No, make it three (LOL) ->

Old school:

Highway Star - Deep Purple (Ritchie)

 

[Nauset]

So many choices....but my all time favorite is "Freebird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. followed closly by Eric Clapton doing the Beatles "While my guitar gently weaps"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mioGewkWVdo#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1guu5ra_y0&feature=related#

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Sheesh, favorites huh?  OK I have always liked Sweet Child of Mine by G'n R, and at the time it was a bit of dirt back into a hairspray dominated machine.  Dire Straights' Sultans of Swing has always had a special place in my heart.  I can't stop giggling about how the solo in I Wanna be Sedated by the Ramones is only one note.  And Rich Brotherton's solos in Robert Earl Keen's the Road Goes on Forever on No. 2 Live Dinner is one of those songs that is way to long but still sounds like it should be done that way. 
Patrick

 

[TexxasJam]

Good choices.  I'm a sucker for a harmonized guitar solo like Iron Maiden or Thin Lizzy does.  Any truth to the rumor that Milton Berle was related to one of the band members?

After some digging I found the following: Milton's nephew Marshall was Ratt's manager. Click the links below. He's had an impressive career.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_and_Round_(Ratt_song)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Berle

 

[OzziePete]

Geez, where does one start???

I suppose the solo that has been a favourite of mine since about the time I first started playing guitar, and still find something in it when I play it over again is the solo in Money by Pink Floyd off The Dark Side of The Moon album. The timing of the song mainly is 5/4 and a bitch to get your head around, but Gilmour's solo is in 4/4 for his sake, and a hell of a sound. I have heard this solo on numerous car radios, sound systems etc. and it always cuts through, quiet or loud.

There are a lot of other songs that contain guitar parts that blow my mind, and quite frankly, if I start rattling them off here, I will still probably forget a few that shake me up.

 

[UTSC]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcwr1nbmWLI i always liked hotel california
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUwB28n_46c zz top rough boy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeEFgVCC1w8&feature=related and bucket head's nottingham lace starting at about 2:30 into it

 

[TexxasJam]

Buckethead is a very talented guitarist but I can't get past that stupid bucket.  :doh:

 

[guitlouie]

OK, I mulled this over for a long time.  I can't narrow it down to one, but I have three here that are disparate, and have not been mentioned, and they truly are three of my all time faves. 

Sympathy For the Devil-  Come on all you Keef bashers, now is the time.  But seriously, I LOVE this solo, the tone, the phrasing, the fit with the song.

Maggot Brain- By Funkadelic,  Eddie Hazel was an all out bad-ass.

Elmira St. Boogie- By Danny Gatton.  I hope it counts if the whole song is a solo. 

 

[Creepies]

This is NOT my favorite solo, because I like listing those that others may have overlooked. The "legendary" guitar solos are all too obvious . It is, however, one of my favorites.

Pearl Jam - Alive. So bitchin'.

 

[smsuryan]

steve vai-rescue me or bury me

 

[Justinginn]

Desert Rose by Eric Johnson... Wow.

 

[GearBoxTy]

This is an impossible question since there are so many great solos out there by so many artists and so many styles.  That being said, I'd thought I'd still say:

Jeff Beck, "Where Were You" from Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989)

Just listen to it...

 

[NeilStryker]

Divided Sky by Phish (Junta album). Close runner up... Maggot Brain played by Mike Hampton on Funkadelic's One Nation Under a Groove album.

 

[Nick Ellingworth]

My personal favourite guitar solo is probably Steven Wilson's solo in The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 2, it blows me away every time. Others I particularly like are any of David Gilmour's solos either with Pink Floyd or as a solo artist, I also really like some of Steve Hackett's solos on his recent solo albums although I would struggle to pick a favourite.