John Williams playing the second movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekznnxaGzNU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekznnxaGzNU
Guitar Solos
As a serious music listener and a musician,(although I am a drummer) nothing makes me shiver like a good guitar solo. It's seems to be a dying art,at least in popular music. Still lots of good guitar in blues and jazz. Some of my favs : Dear John by Jack Semple ,La Grange By Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Aqualung By Martin Barre with Jethro Tull and Bluest Blues by Alvin Lee. I'd love to check out some other peoples favs, a couple old and maybe a couple new??
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Apron Strings - John Entwistle, Whistle Rhymes: solo by Peter Frampton Musical Box - Genesis, Nursery Cryme: solo by Steve Hackett Dazed and Confused - Led Zeppelin I: solo by Jimmy Page Nevermore - UK: solo by Allan Holdsworth Aqualung - Jethro Tull, Aqualung: solo by Martin Barre While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Beatles, White Album: solo by Eric Clapton Crossroads - Cream, Wheels of Fire: solo by Eric Clapton Something - Beatles, Abbey Road: solo by George Harrison Dogs - Pink Floyd, Animals: solo by David Gilmour Money - Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon: solo by David Gilmour |
Mick Box on "Salisbury" - simply the best wah-wah sound Buck Dharma on "Then Came the Last Days of May" both studio and live ´cos the sounds are way different, both brilliant anyway Mick Box on "The Magician´s Birthday" terrific wah-wah and so many Buck Dharma on "Dominance and Submission" the best clean and "The Reaper" and so many Clem Clempson on "Skelington" live terrific wah-wah work Jimi Hendrix on "All Along the Watchtower" his finest David Gilmour on "One of the Days" Martin Barre on "Aqualung" Steve Hackett on "Firth of Fifth" + all early Genesis all sublime work really, and he´s still performing old Genesis stuff (have seen and heard) Steve Howe on "America" Jimmy Page on "Since I've Been Loving You" and "Stairway to Heaven" Leslie West especially when with other guitarist as heard on "Twin Peaks" Carlos Santana so many say "Europa" Ritchie Blackmore on "Made in Japan" Frank Marino on "It´s Begun to Rain" Albert Järvinen on "Roadrunner" and "High" Bill Nelson of Be-Bop Deluxe so many just sublime work Alex Lifeson on "La Villa Strangiato" Michael Schenker on "Into the Arena" Andrew Latimer on "Ice" Joe Satriani on "Surfing with Alien" + so many Django Reinhardt Bela Fleck (actually his playing mandolin ; ) Al di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia on "Friday Night in San Francisco" the Masters at work Rodolfo Maltese on "Moby Dick live " RIP |
A recent addition for blues-rock types is the CD called "Todd Rundgren's Johnson". It's a disc of Robert Johnson covers and Todd simply smokes on this one. He hasn't been doing this kind of stuff since The Nazz and the long lay off seems to have really stoked the intensity. He plays it reasonably straight (other than a very modern lead tone) but makes the familiar material entirely his own. Marty |
Jay Farrar on Chickamauga - the mountain crumbling, earth shattering solo starts at 02:05 The greatest singer/songwriter/guitar "strangler" to ever live |
There are so many fantastic solos out there that I tend to slowly cycle thru a list of (I think) hundreds. Of late, these have been the "Go To" electric guitar solos for me: George Harrison - "Something" Billy Gibbons - "Sharp Dressed Man " SRV - "Pride and Joy" Todd Rundgren - "Unloved Children" (also possible that it's Jesse Gress who takes the solo on recent versions. Both are great.) Richard Thompson - "Calvary Cross" David Hidalgo (Los Lobos) - "Bertha" Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac) - "Man of the World" Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac) - "Come" Rusty Anderson (Paul MacCartney's lead guitarist, in this case performing on a record by P. Hux) - "Mile High Fan" All of the above players have numerous other solos that I love - I just picked the one that I seem to be going back to most often these days. Many of the above solos are available in multiple live variations. A few probably make the list because I'm learning to play them at the moment. |
Eric Gale's solo on Grover Washington Jr.'s "Mr, Magic" George Benson's solo on "Take Five" from "Bad Benson". Stevie Ray Vaughn's solo on "Tight Rope" from "In Step" Carlos Santana's solo on "Oye Como Va" from "Abraxas" Grant Green's solo on "Idle Moments" from "Idle Moments" Johnny Winter's solo on "Mojo Boogie" from "Third Degree" ...where to stop??? |
TVAD, No heat at all. I like the "beat it" solo from EVH also. I think the 80's had the best guitar solos. The 90's got a little out of control with virtuosity (if that's a word?). I prefer music for music's sake rather than hearing "look how fast I can play this practice etude" in the middle of a song. As talented as SRV was and I think he was amazing. His solos just sounded redundant to me after awhile. Rob |
Good thread, solos are much harder to come by these days. I agree with the EVH, Vai, and Satriani comments above. They have so many great ones that it would be hard to pick a favorite. One of my favorite albums for rock guitar solos is by (yes, a hair band)Dokken on Back for the Attack. George Lynch has an incredible guitar tone on this album and the album contains his sig. piece, "Mr Scary", an instrumental. |
Paul Rodgers - Muddy Waters Blues There's some exceptional performances by some serious shredmasters on this album. Check out Jeff Beck's work on 'Rollin' Stone', his sound totally sets the mood for the entire song. Also, David Gilmour on 'Standing Around Crying' - I never would have known it was him. Great stuff. |
Eddie Hazel on "Maggot Brain" (on Funkadelic's Maggot Brain and Live Albums NOT the version on One Nation...) Good (and sad) enough to make you cry! The studio version, the legend has it, was one long impro that George Clinton coaxed out of Eddie by asking him to imaging his mother died and just play what comes naturally. Ten minutes later one of the best rock guitar solos was in the can! They just don't make'em like that anymore! |
