Greatest Guitar Solos Ever?

[Gibbo]

Slash's on Guns N Roses Sweet Child O' Mine is always good. He must have thought so too coz he repeated it on Velvet Revolver's Slither last year, well it must have been inspired by it anyway.

 

[harebear]

Everyone should listen to some Nevermore, Jeff Loomis is teh pro.

http://www.jeffloomis.com/sounds/jeff-16.mp3 - him when he was 16, and remember hes in 30s now and unlike alot of famous guitarists he isnt slacking. ;P

 

[dorfs]

Santana - Europa

 

[Succi]

Can't believe no-one has mentioned Eddie Van Halen yet or are all the old people still in bed?

erm, he was mentioned in the first post

 

[Jjuraa]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Dave Murray from Iron Maiden

...

Phantom of the Opera - Iron Maiden

also the Dave Murray/Yanick Gers solo "battle" almost in Sign of the Cross is absolutely stunning.


in the interests of making this thread a bit more diverse (i agree with a lot of those already posted, but you cant always keep looking at the past)
::

I think sonata arctica know exactly where they are with the more "modern" solos.. Jani Liimatainen has great technical skill and knows what needs to be included in a solo.. and he also performs well live (improvisation, not playing each note off the page as it were)

 

[Kev]

So hard to choose out of the sheer volume of solo artists out there, but my vote goes to BB King and his Lucille for defining the sound of a generation, no one else has managed to capture the raw passion and elegance of a 6 string as he has in his career.

Hendrix was also a genius with the axe, seemed like he was born to rip with a guitar in his hands. Taking the raw essense of rock and roll to new hieghts with his rendition of the American National Anthem at Woodstock, if you havent heard it listen to it. Is not alot better then hendrix at his best.

Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Gunz n' Roses, Rainbow, Bon Jovi, Queen. Hell even room for abit of Sabbath in the list.

Just my 2 cents!

 

[Litmus]

best hmmm

imo: led zepp - stairway to heaven(live 1973 madison sq garden)

::edit:: managed to find it... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2225995857938291379&q=zeppelin




this also got some nice guitar action in http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2003973125694702746&q=zeppelin

 

[Dalilama]

the best one ever "Led zeppelin -stairway to heaven" none is even close to match this , Jimmy Page R0xxxx

and nr two runner up is Eagles- Hotel Carlifornia

1900-centrys two best guitarr solos is in this two songs imo

 

[elbeek]

One track ...comfortably numb by Pink Floyd. Gilmour is a legend.

 

[Vilje]

All of the solos mentioned around this thread are truly great, and made by amazing guitarists. Yet I'm still a bit supprised that noone has mentioned John Peter Petrucci, and Dream Theater. Petrucci is possibly the fastest guitarist ever. Still he is not just fast, but capable of making guitar licks that would make stone cold men cry. He is truly amazing.

The band he plays in, is not very commonly know, yet known by the rock community as the greatest progressiv rock band ever. And very few disagrees. All the members of Dream Theater can ble rated atleast at the top 3 of their instrument. They are celebrating their 20th year as a band this year, and they are doing a world tour to celebrate it. I was at their consert in Oslo (Norway) some weeks ago, and its the most incredible consert I have ever witnessed. ( Dream Theater is well-known in the music community for their amazing live performances )

Petrucci is a fan most of the fantastic guitarist that you have mentioned above, but more than any Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin, which inspired Petrucci and Dream Theater in their young days. Just so you can imagine a bit of Petruccis style, even though he has developed his own.

Here is some songs w/solos you should listen to, if even tempted to hear John P. Petrucci and Dream Theater:

1. Under a Glass Moon (Made top 100 guitar solos)
2. Fatal Tragedy (One of their most popular songs amongst their fans, incl. a very nice guitar solo)
3. As I Am (One of their new songs, incl. amazing riffs + guitar and drum solo)
4. Home (One of my personal favorites, very smooth keyboard play in this song)
5. Beyond This Life (Just a damn nice song all over)
6. The Spirit Carries On (Perhaps their most famous song, ballad)
7. Finally Free ( Damn nice song, INCREDIBLE drum solo at the end)

I would like to name a bunch of more songs, but I'll leave you to explore that for yourself if you become interested.

Before you go on listening, I want to tell you that some people need some extra time to get used to their songs. This music is all about detail and timing. So if you sit down and listen to this, and your first thought is that you don't like it, take your time and listen the whole song out. If you like musical songs, progressiv music, fast solos, details and timing in your music, I promise you wont regret it.

PS! Extreme - More Than Words (olol) :F

And Hotel California Live (When hell freezes over) by Eagles is one piece of true musical art indeed!


=)

 

[Maeloch]

Jimmy Page pulled some amazing solos out live, check out live recordings of stormers like Rock and Roll or Whole lotta Love.

Dunno why when peeps pick favorite guitar work it's always the 'blooze' or hard rock stuff. I'm a big fan of led zep, but Jimmy Page did alot of pretty sharp session work in the mid-60s for beat bands of the era, some famous, some mostly unknown. There's a 2CD kicking about, 'Jimmy Page - Session man' or something which compliles alot of his pre-led zep material. Worth listening to if u like the Kinks, Who, etc., and if you like twangy 60s guitar and ur solos short and to the point.

 

[Keriwin]

Matthew Bellamy (Muse) - New Born
Nightwish - Beauty and the Beast

 

[Vilje]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2109943381931383238&q=Petrucci

^^ Just a small taste of what Dream Theater is capable of =)

John Peter Petrucci, guitar
Mike Portnoy, drums
Jordan Rudess, keyboards
and guest, Tony Levin on the strange bass instrument ( John Myung is the name on their regular bass player, but he is not there )

Also not present is James Labrie on vocals.

In addition, I found a drum solo by Portnoy:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2104991608610254615&q=Portnoy

 

[chretien]

Alex Lifeson of Rush on Spirit of Radio.
Actually I don't even hear the guitar on that track, I just listen to the amazing interplay between Geddy Lee's bass and Neil Peart's drumming.

 

[cHodAX]

Vilje, whilst I would be the first to admit that John Petrucci is extremely talented I totally have to disagree with the 'possibly the fastest guitarist ever' remark. I would place, Eddie V, Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai all slightly ahead purely on speed. Total Guitar magazine would also agree with me, if I remember rightly Vai was the fastest ever recorded playing a sustained 21 notes per second on 'The Riddle'. That said though it isn't all about speed anyway and I have alot of time for John Petrucci, would definatley be in my top 10 all-round great guitarists of all time.

 

[Vilje]

Vilje, whilst I would be the first to admit that John Petrucci is extremely talented I totally have to disagree with the 'possibly the fastest guitarist ever' remark. I would place, Eddie V, Paul Gilbert and Steve Vai all slightly ahead purely on speed. Total Guitar magazine would also agree with me, if I remember rightly Vai was the fastest ever recorded playing a sustained 21 notes per second on 'The Riddle'. That said though it isn't all about speed anyway and I have alot of time for John Petrucci, would definatley be in my top 10 all-round great guitarists of all time.

Aye you're right, I think Vai did do 21 notes per second there aswell. But Malmsteen holds the 'official' record at 28 notes per second, afaik. And they are both great guitarists.

Nevertheless I'm still a firm believer that Petrucci could be the fastest, and is the fastest on some points. As most people would say, it is very close on the top when it comes to the fastest guitar player in the world. It also depends on what you mean by fastest, the fastest sweeper, the fastest picker etc. J.P can play sixteenth notes at 230 bpm, every single note picked, and with clarity that I have yet to hear from any other guitar player. So thats why I said 'possibly the fastest', as noone could really tell for a fact and because of all the different techniques out there.

But then again I agree with you, it is not all about speed - Its just that I personally think Petrucci and DT has it all In other words, I'm a big fan

Here is some more Petrucci stuff (clips):

As I am solo, no other intruments, like in the original:

http://www.johnpetrucci.com/mp3s/John_Petrucci_Dream_Theater_AsIAm.mp3

And the solo from "The curve", a song from J.P's solo album Suspended Animation:

http://www.johnpetrucci.com/mp3s/Curve.mp3



PS! There is some guy nicknamed Andy van Hatcher, who claims he can play 75 notes per second.

"Andy van Hatcher" quote:

"Well I have been plaing for too long, and have studied the science and motion of guitar speed for 20 years, better knows as shred. I perfected my speed to the point where you litterally can't see my hands move, and I be playing from the 1st to the 24th fret in less than a second. Within each stroke and pace I regulary melt my plectrum (*guitar pick*) due to the friction, and I go beyond the termonology of shred, as the shredder seems to be replicative to each other. ALAS I have created some new beyond speed and I call it sonic motion".

This of course I'm 99,99% sure is a scam, and he also claims he have applied to The Guinnies World Records 05. He has never given any video or any other proof to the world that he can do this. You can encounter this guy all over guitar forums on the net, spamming them about how fast he is.

 

[cHodAX]

Total Guitar only has Malmsteen at 17 iirc, no idea where that number 28 comes from have you? Having seen Malmsteen twice I must admit he is damn fast but having seen Vai over a half dozen times I have to say that his speed is simply sensational. My younger brother is a guitarist and has travelled alot to the states in the last 4-5 years to see people like Al Dimeloa, Petrucci, Nuno with Mourning Widows, Vai, Satriani, Malmsteen, Slash with Velvet Revolver, Paul Gilbert and a few others yet he firmly belives that Vai is technically the best and quite probably the fastest shredder in the west as well

Personally Nuno Bettencourt is my all time favourite but for sheer technique Steve Vai is just mind blowing. Malmsteen is a bit too much of a rock cliche even if he is ultra talented and I find his set a bit hard going at times, I am sure people who love rock guitar versions of classical music will be in heaven though. Satriani just leaves me feeling cold, undoubtbly a brilliant player but his song writing and composition is seriously borked. Slash has some great licks but is seriously sloppy when playing live sadly, that said I still think he has written some of the most memorable solos of the last 30 years. Petrucci and Dimeola are just awesome, nuff said

 

[cHodAX]

Hatcher can barely break 18 legit notes according to a friend of mine, he those claims come from double taps not straight picks and he not really playing anything just randomly hitting notes. Vai's 21 on 'The Riddler' were all legit and that is why Total Guitar have him ranked as the #1 fastest shredder but I have to admit there may be people out there who can go faster, the question is can they play a technical peice like 'The Riddler' at speeds faster than 21 notes per sec. If they can then mucho respect to them to be honest, speed isn't the be all and end all but it can be breathtaking when done right.

Just found this post on google in relation to the Total Guitar article

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/al...b/16ef68beea5339ca?q=fastest+guitarist&hl=en&

Sadly it seems to be from 2001 so it ain't exactly up to date. I sold all my old guitar mags last year so I can't give more up to date info sadly.

 

[Vilje]

Total Guitar only has Malmsteen at 17 iirc, no idea where that number 28 comes from have you?<snip>

Tbh I read it out of a forum some time ago which had an image on it showing the top 10 fastest guitarists in the world, but now I've just read someplace else that it was Vai instead Oo Here is a link:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/junkyard/best_guitarist_the_criteria.html

Here they say Vai is statistically the fastest with 28 n/s, and some people whining further down because Petrucci is'nt on this guys top 3 fasters guitar players list

Tbh, there is too many exaggerations and rumours to drag the real facts out of the net. But here is one thing I know for sure:

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine showed me a video of a 17 year old Norwegian ( same place as I'm from btw ), and he was going amazingly fast. He has now grown to be 20 years old, and it is the word around that he is the fastest guitar player in the world. Now I can't say this for a fact, but I can give you his name and a link to something he made. I think the same thing I saw on video 3 years ago. Remember this was 3 years ago at the age of 17, and that he is now 3 years older with 3 years more of playing on his hands (litterally).
Remember, this is a poor quality recording made by a couple of 17 yr olds in garage on a low budget.
The song is quite insane at the end there.

His name is Marcus Paus, and he played in a band called Mr. Cucumber:

http://fabienm.club.fr/paus/secret.mp3

Also another Norwegian, called Øystein Sunde, was also assumed to be fastest for a while.

So many rumours, I'm getting a headache here, hehe =) Decide for yourselves ^^

Ah, and I found yet another pic showing the top 10 fastest (this time) shredders, showing Michael Angelo as 1, Malmsteen as 3 and Petrucci as 9. Like the discription says, Petrucci is the only one of those on the top list who is'nt a shredder by "trade".

Tbh, I'm getting a bit comfused myself here. But by comparing this pic, and the link that you posted from 2001, kind of shows how close they all would have to be in "shred-speed" -Since they appear to switch places all the time.

But I have yet to hear someone who plays as technically, musically, clear and fast picking as Petrucci.

(I hope I have translated the "guitar-words" right in my head, since I know their Norwegian equivalents the best)

 

[cHodAX]

That article doesn't even list Vai in the top 10 Seriously that is insane, how anyone can put people like The Great Kat or Buckethead (sloppy as fuck)in the top 10 is beyond me. Also you probably noticed that it is all opinion based unlike the Total Guitar which actually slowed down the recordings and measured, I will stick with the total guitar list but Petrucci really does deserve to be on that list too, I guess none of those lists are totally comprehensive.

 

[Vilje]

That article doesn't even list Vai in the top 10 Seriously that is insane, how anyone can put people like The Great Kat or Buckethead (sloppy as fuck)in the top 10 is beyond me. Also you probably noticed that it is all opinion based unlike the Total Guitar which actually slowed down the recordings and measured, I will stick with the total guitar list but Petrucci really does deserve to be on that list too, I guess none of those lists are totally comprehensive.

Aye, I thought I wrote in my post that Vai was'nt there and should be in it, but I must have forgot. Vai should deffinatly be in there. And I accually thought they had measured it aswell Oo. I wish someone would do an official measuring, where the guitarists themselves decided what to be measured, so that they could prepare to do their 'fastest'.

I agree with you on all of the above basically.

 

[Aoln]

They need to have a guitar duelling competition televised across the world, put it in the olympics or something

 

[Ezteq]

all pantaz0ids tbh, me on my squash raquet>>> all

 

[MKJ]

Bet you can't keep it up for long though - not with all the smoking you do :touch: .

Damn been ages since I thought of something witty. How you spell 'witty' like wot I spelled it?

 

[Aoln]

Bet you can't keep it up for long though - not with all the smoking you do :touch: .

Damn been ages since I thought of something witty. How you spell 'witty' like wot I spelled it?

I dont get it

Who was that even aimed at ?

 

[MKJ]

Well the one above me innit - Ezteq. Smokes like a trouper and has emotional problems. I feels sorry for her. I feels sorry forra number of people come to think of it - including you. Sad lot of bastards for sure.

 

[Ezteq]

Well the one above me innit - Ezteq. Smokes like a trouper and has emotional problems. I feels sorry for her. I feels sorry forra number of people come to think of it - including you. Sad lot of bastards for sure.

loller i smoke 3 a day!


:touch:





pwnd

 

[Yshynsin]

Well the one above me innit - Ezteq. Smokes like a trouper and has emotional problems. I feels sorry for her. I feels sorry forra number of people come to think of it - including you. Sad lot of bastards for sure.

strange child.

 

[septic]

I like base....

Speed Base Battle

Has this already been posted btw? Oh well /Shrug :touch: