Which is your favorite? Perhaps the best guitar solos that ever appeared in a mainstream pop/rock song, and released the same year!!!

I certainly appreciate/admire/enjoy Eddie's solo in Beat It (awesome) I prefer Dez's solo in LRC, shorter and "easier", yeah, but more anthemic and melodic

discuss...

are you talking Michael Jackson

This will be locked: maybe you should go to the MJ thread.

I like Dez's solo too. Beat it has a very nice solo too. But Dez's is brilliant.

thedance said:

are you talking Michael Jackson

This will be locked: maybe you should go to the MJ thread.

i think he's comparing eddie van halen and dez

thedance said:

are you talking Michael Jackson

This will be locked: maybe you should go to the MJ thread.

I'm talking about Prince/Dez and Eddie Van Halen

both are amazing songs,but I have to go with eddie's hook

Dez Dickerson all the way - that piece of work shows why he is one of the most underrated guitarist in rock history

purplenuts said:

Dez Dickerson all the way - that piece of work shows why he is one of the most underrated guitarist in rock history

True , Dez is more like a 3 instead of a 2

Eddie is a 10

I'm at work now and Little Red Corvette just came on the radio

NO! Little Red Corvette kills, case closed

seriously? Dez better than Eddie? This site is wat too biased. My vite Eddie

well considering this is a PRINCE forum..what do u think?

dandeeland said:

seriously? Dez better than Eddie? This site is wat too biased. My vite Eddie

I honestly think Eddie Van Halen is one of the most overrated guitarists of all time. So he can do a Hammer on (or however the heck you spell it), what guitarist can't? That being said, he's better than Dez

djdaffy1227 said:

I honestly think Eddie Van Halen is one of the most overrated guitarists of all time.

WTH WTF

Prince has played better solos than both of them.

these two solos can't compare

Little red corvette solo is nice singer song writter guitar solo,very simple but on point.

You don't have to have much skill to play that solo.

Beat it solo is maybe the best rock guitar solo EVER.

It represents what rock guitar is really about

,expression attack,dynamics

and you can break your fingers before you can learn to play it.

Even Eddie Van Halen couldn't played it live.

the only person who can play it great is Greg Howe.

I'd pick the Beat It solo, even though I don't like the song.

thebanishedone said:

the only person who can play it great is Greg Howe.

My cousin has played guitar for over 30 years and he can nail it, dead on. But he grew up idolizing the likes of EVH, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, etc....

banished.... go on Utube and type in "Beat It guitar solo"..there's a zillion guys who can play it note for note.

Comparing Eddie to Dez is comparing apples to oranges. 2 totally different players and influences.

Plus if you watch Dez's live solos (from 81-83) Dez sneaks some finger tapping hammer ons in...

I'm sure being on the same label (with VH) Dez saw a lot of free VH shows.

They're 2 great solos played by 2 great players. Both solos fit both songs well.

no one is saying that dez is overall better then eddie. People were just talking about one song. Besides i dont think the Beat It solo is any better then Prince's Lets Go Crazy solo

I say move over baby gimmie the keys. I'm gonna try to tame your little red love machine. lol Beat It's solo is classic, but you can really only play it that one way all the time. I myself love solos and grooves that leave room for interpretation and/or improvistation. And as Prince has shown over the years, you can play LRC a million different ways and make it feel brand new.

[Edited 1/18/11 15:08pm]

Spyfan thanks for the tip but i have seen lot of players "playing " it on youtube.

Most of them either know all the licks but their timing is way off

or they play it very dirty.

Even that girl Orhianti can't play it.her video where she plays

Beat It solo is amateur and

she is nothing special on guitar,i'm surprised Micheal choose her for his band.

Jennifer Batten played it ok ,only Greg Howe nailed it.

thebanishedone said:

Spyfan thanks for the tip but i have seen lot of players "playing " it on youtube.

Most of them either know all the licks but their timing is way off

or they play it very dirty.

Even that girl Orhianti can't play it.her video where she plays

Beat It solo is amateur and

she is nothing special on guitar,i'm surprised Micheal choose her for his band.

Jennifer Batten played it ok ,only Greg Howe nailed it.

i think Prince could play that solo really well if he tried

Militant said:

Prince has played better solos than both of them.

+1

Eddie´s, no doubt about it. One of my fave solos ever.

Dez did a very good job also.

Eddie did two takes of the solo and Quincy took the first one. He plays like he's falling down the stairs and lands on his feet! Awesome solo! His greatest strength, which most people don't realize is his rhytmn playing. He doesn't play rhytmn guitar on "Beat It" though.

Dez's solo has a classic pop rock feel to it. It sounds well thought out and executed! I wish Dez would have been on more Prince recordings so the world could hear more of him. Luckily I've got his double cd he gave away with the purchase of his book a few years ago! It gives great insight into his songwriting skills. He could have had some huge hits back then...

With all due respect, Eddie by a mile.

The Beat It solo has got to be the most overrated rock solo of all time. By EVH standards it's pretty hack. A lot of great things happen, but overall it sounds like a pastiche of Eddie shredding.

It pales in comparison to anything he did on Van Halen I a few years earlier. He didn't do one unsavory thing on that album - it is just perfect.

Little Red Corvette's solo is simplistic, singable, and by far the better solo. It actually suits the song instead of being a showboat "holy shit, we got Eddie Van Halen!" moment.