I don't know about the "best" solos, but here are some of my favorite guitar solos:


Greg Howe - Crack It Way Open, Tease, Stratovarious, Lucky 7
Steve Vai - For The Love Of God, Shyboy, Erotic Nightmares
Ernie Isley - Ballad Of The Fallen Soldier, Choosy Lover, Voyage To Atlantis, Song For The Muses
Mike Hampton - Maggot Brain (live version)
Eric Gales - Resurrection
Stanley Jordan - Georgia On My Mind, Stairway To Heaven
Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun, VooDoo Chile (Slight Return), All Along The Watchtower
Eric McFadden - Freaks Like Us
Eddie Van Halen - Eruption, Beat It
Jesse Johnson - So Misunderstood, My Life, War Babies
Robert Randolph - I Need More Love

blackguitaristz said:

Cool. Just wanted to make sure.

blackguitaristz said:

Shit, I need my ass kicked for leaving off my boy:
Ace Frehley/KISS
Goin Blind

minneapolisgenius said:

Uh, what about "Comin Round The Mountain"?

A few of my favourites..

Adrian Belew (Nine Inch Nails) - Ruiner

Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) - Achilles Last Stand

Earl Slick (David Bowie) - Station To Station

David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) - Comfortably Numb

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

Prince - The Ride (Crystal Ball/Sacrifice of Victor version)

Brian May (Queen) - Killer Queen

blackguitaristz said:

You tell me. Is that Gary Shider or Hampton on that one?

minneapolisgenius said:

Hampton trying to sound like Hazel.

blackguitaristz said:

Well, now I know at least.

Here are some of my faves:

Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)
Stevie Ray - Tightrope, Life Without You
Eric Gales - Angel of the Night, Sign of the Storm, Writing on the Wall, Bang That Bell
Jesse Johnson - Lovestruck, Cry Like the Skies, Blondie, Bare My Naked Soul, Let Me In, Brand New Day,Can You Help Me, Wanna Get Ta' Know Ya'
Neal Schon (Journey)- Stone in Love
Eddie Van Halen - Ice Cream Man, Eruption
Jake E. Lee (Ozzy)- Bark At the Moon
Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi) - Wanted: Dead or Alive
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (Steely Dan)- My Old School (Steely Dan)
Steve Lukather (Toto) - Rosanna, Running With the Night (Lionel Richie)
Prince - Why U Wanna Treat Me So Bad, Get It Up, The Ride (Crystal Ball),3 Chains 'o Gold, Live 4 Love,
Drac Hicks (Slave) - Slide
Ernie Isley - Hope You Feel Better Love, Summer Breeze, Rising From the Ashes,Love Fever, Need A Little Taste of Love

axlfilth said:

minneapolisgenius said:

You have exquisite taste, as always.

minneapolisgenius said:

What about Mr. William "Bootsy" Collins solo performances?????

I Rather Be With You.....

Munchies For Your Love

What's A Telephone Bill?????

Eddie Hazel's "What About It"


Funkadelic's instrumental version of
"One Nation Under A Groove" with an extended guitar solo.....
[Edited 3/5/05 0:16am]
[Edited 3/6/05 10:02am]

funkpill said:

funkpill said:

Oh how I love that song.

I'm going to go listen to it right now.....

Stax said:

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that, but I do love me some Dave Gilmour, that's for sure.

I forgot to add Prince's solo on "The War". I haven't listened to it for years, but damn. Really great.

Off the top of my head in a rush and leavving out so many great ones:

Little Wings - Jimi Hendrix

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon - Queen

I'll dip into the past and try and dredge up some examples of solos that haven't already been mentioned.
Some that have touched/influenced the way I think a solo should be constructed are...

Jimi Hendrix
Are You Experienced?
(I'm restricting myself to only 1 Hendrix selection in this thread as most of you already know my feelings toward his material)

Greg Howe
Wonderland In The Sky (on Tetsu Sakuri's "Gentle Hearts")

Allan Holdsworth
None Too Soon, Pt. 1/Interlude/None Too Soon, Pt. 2
Tokyo Dream

Jeff Beck
Where Were You
Looking for Another Pure Love (Beck at his restrained best)

and anything from...



...Truth

Buddy Guy
I'm Not The Best
You Were Wrong

"And you know you so wrong woman
And you're just as wrong as 2 left shoes
You know you're more than enough lil girl
To give any fool like me the blues"

This was my main blues idol until he became a "rock star".
Though i'm glad he's getting some recognition (and hopefully making a decent income),
i'll take the sunburst strat over the polka-dot strat Buddy Guy anyday.

George Benson
Full Compass

Johnny Smith
Wait Till You See Her
Un Poco Loco

Adrian Belew
Adidas In Heat

Steve Kahn
Glamour Profession

Ronnie Montrose
Town Without Pity

Leslie West
Theme For An Imaginary Western
For Yasgur's Farm

Joe Walsh
the Cast Your Fate To The Wind section of The Bomber / James Gang

Jan Akkerman
Hocus Pocus

Howard "Buzzy" Feiten
Where Did My Baby Go (Keep On Moving / Paul Butterfield Blues Band)

Pat Metheny
Jaco

Jim McCarty
Train (Expressway To Your Skull - Buddy Miles Express)
Song for Aries (One Way Or Another - Cactus)

Albert Collins
Frosty
Deep Freeze


And finally, The King Triumverate...

B.B. King
The Thrill Is Gone (economy personified)
So Excited (dealing with the funk)


Albert King
IMO, Albert King, with the release of...



...Born Under a Bad Sign

contributed more to the sound of modern blues/rock guitar playing than B.B. King himself. (All SRV devotees take note)
While some of B.B.'s tunes tended to sound Vegasy, backed by the STAX based solid and soulful rhythm section of Booker T. & the MGs (you may have heard of them) and The Memphis Horns (with an occasional Isaac Hayes on piano), Albert was given a more gritty foundation which allowed him to rip some of the most influential blues guitar solos on record.

Born Under a Bad Sign
Crosscut Saw
Oh, Pretty Woman

Freddy King
Hideaway


As I age, i'm leaning more towards "less notes, more feeling" style solos.
Or solos that are not based on a "chops-fest" but are constructed as a compliment to the composition.
(which I feel give a truer feel for the soloist's maturity and discipline)


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm
[Edited 3/6/05 13:17pm]

theAudience said:

Hey tA, do you have this? Why do I even ask. Of COURSE you have it. You have everything. Anyway, I love this one.

minneapolisgenius said:

Sorry to disappoint you but I don't have it. But I have heard it.
Although i'm not an SRV fan, I was impressed with the reverence displayed in his performance.
This could have been a disaster if he'd attempted to out-do the master.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

Why aren't you a SRV fan? Too much of a Hendrix copy? Just curious. I like the little conversations between the two that are interspersed between the tracks on this album. King seems very genuine in his praise of Stevie IMO. And Stevie seems very humbled to just be there.
[Edited 3/6/05 13:47pm]

Joe Satranti *sp

Carlos Santana

all of them

minneapolisgenius said:

Since you've pushed me, yes.
If you remove the Jimi/Albert influences, although talented, there's not a whole lot left that would separate him from many other players. Let me say that I don't blame him for the attention he's gotten. He seem's very sincere. It's more a media issue.

Kenny Wayne Shepard and Jonny Lang seem to get this type of attention today for no good reason.

There, i've said it.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

pippet said:

SRV is the man. His playing isn't like Jimi's. If it is I don't hair it. One thing I've noticed recently is that a lot of his solo's sound pretty similar but he still was the man.

kdj997 said:

Oh yeah... ...Stevie

theAudience said:

See? That wasn't so hard was it?

I think he's (or was I should say) an awesome player. I can sort of hear the Hendrix influence, but I guess it doesn't bother me really. I personally wouldn't even put him in the same category as Kenny Wayne or Jonny Lang. But then, I don't think I've heard much of Kenny Wayne Shepard's playing, and I haven't been following what Jonny's doing lately. DO Kenny Wayne and Jonny still get a lot of media attention today? I guess I hadn't noticed them much lately. I think with Jonny it was mostly because he was considered a "prodigy" because he was so young and playing gigs already.

BTW, I have a picture of me laying on a hotel bed with Jonny Lang. (not what you may be thinking though)
[Edited 3/6/05 14:29pm]

minneapolisgenius said:

I don't put them in the same category as players, just in terms of media attention. Whether Lang/Sheperd get get a LOT of attention I dont know. It just seems that their names come up whenever current day blues guitarists are mentioned.



You know you can't get away with that. Lead me!

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

I guess I haven't been involved in discussions about current day blues guitarists lately. If at all actually. As you know, I'm not really "living in the present".

I could scan that pic actually. It's from '96 I believe. He was just 16 I think. Oh the SCANDAL!!!!!

minneapolisgenius said:

Post it or i'm callin' the cops.



tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

Dammit, I have a much cooler one, that I CANNOT find for the life of me! We're sitting on the bed together, and I'm actually IN the whole thing!

So THIS particular pic is just lame because I'm only half in it and it's one of those put-the-camera-up-in-front-of-yourself things....

PIC REMOVED BY MINNEAPOLISGENIUS

So, that's me on the right (well, half of me) looking really stoned. I don't think I actually was though. I don't remember. Oh, and my friend, and Jonny of course.

I am counting down the minutes until this pic gets deleted from this thread. 10, 9, 8, 7,.....
[Edited 3/6/05 15:12pm]
[Edited 3/6/05 15:17pm]