The topic of the greatest guitar solos of all time has long been debated. Probably because every solo is different. How do you compare, say, “Comfortably Numb” with “Crazy Train,” or “Stairway to Heaven” with “Sultans of Swing”? It’s impossible. Still, here are some of the guitar solos arguably ranked as the greatest of all time.
10. Prince | “Purple Rain”
GUITARIST: Prince (1984)
The epic outro to “Purple Rain” stands out as some of Prince’s finest work on the six-string.
It’s simple and effective, setting things up for the vocal melody that comes in toward the end. It’s not a busy solo by any means. Rather, Prince chose to leave a lot of space in between the lines he played and focus on big hooks instead of monster licks.
Prince would extend the solo for up to 15 minutes in a live performance. While there are many great live renditions of this track, his half-time performance for 2007’s Super Bowl in Miami is the stuff of legend.
9. Guns N’ Roses | “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
GUITARIST: Slash (1988)
Slash’s solo on this Guns N’ Roses breakthrough single is rock guitar at its finest. The first half is laid-back and modal, built around the Eb minor scale with a few major 7ths thrown in for a harmonic-minor flavor. The second half is much more aggressive and bluesy.
Remarkably, although Slash’s riff was responsible for the song’s creation, he wasn’t fond of the song originally. “We were a pretty hard driving band, and that was sort of an uptempo ballad type of a thing,” he said. “So it’s grown on me over the years.”
8. Lynyrd Skynyrd | “Free Bird”
GUITARIST: Allen Collins (1974)
As it happens, the four-minute-and-24- second guitar solo that closes “Free Bird” was originally added to give singer Ronnie Van Zant a chance to rest his vocal cords during Lynyrd Skynyrd’s relentless performance schedule. At 143 bars long, the solo is far and away the most epic offering here (in fact, it’s 286 bars of recorded music because the whole thing is doubled). Surely one of the best guitar solos of all time.
7. Dire Straits | “Sultans Of Swing”
GUITARIST: Mark Knopfler
Knopfler composed this pub-rock classic on a National steel guitar but thought it sounded “dull” – that is, until he picked up a Stratocaster, at which point the song “came alive.” Using nary a hint of grit on a Fender Twin, he fingerpicks not one but two standout solos.
The first features a lyrical section of elegant, Chet Atkins-style single-note and chordal bends that sigh and swoon with dreamy romanticism. In itself, that would be enough, but the outro solo is the real attention-grabber, on which Knopfler builds to a dazzling set of spitfire 16th-note arpeggios – cleanly played, precise and rousing every time you hear it.
6. The Beatles | “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
GUITARIST: Eric Clapton (1968)
By 1968, George Harrison was penning compositions that rivaled bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was one of those songs, but no one was excited for it. That’s when Harrison invited his pal Eric Clapton to play on the session.
Using Harrison’s 1957 “Lucy” Gibson Les Paul through a Fender Deluxe amp, Clapton doesn’t so much mimic the haunting, aching main melody as he creates a harrowing song within a song. His descending bends and release notes, and that inimitable vibrato, are on full display and are appropriately tear-jerking.
5. The Jimi Hendrix Experience | “All Along The Watchtower”
GUITARIST: Jimi Hendrix (1968)
This song tops any list of covers that are better than the original. Guitarists invariably refer to it as a Hendrix cover rather than a Bob Dylan original. Jimi’s rhythm playing is astounding, both in the intro and in the deft chord/ melody work of the verses.
The main solo explodes into a trademark combination of rhythm and lead, plus funky scratching on muted strings. It’s worth playing along with the scratches, trying to keep a loose wrist and consistent down-up strumming. Those few beats alone will teach you a lot about Jimi’s groove and feel.
4. Queen | “Bohemian Rhapsody”
GUITARIST: Brian May (1975)
Is it surprising that this song is on the list for having one of the best guitar solos? “Bohemian Rhapsody” is Queen’s best-known song, and its brief nine-bar solo is a short and sweet musical interlude, bridging the verses to lead into what’s become known as the song’s “operatic section.” Those two words alone should warn you that this song shouldn’t work. There’s no chorus and, aside from two verses, no repetition. But of course it does work, and Brian May’s solo is the perfect melodic break.
His phrasing is loose and natural, moving across the backbeat rather than sticking to a rigidly timed grid. The fastest licks are expressive bursts, rather than repetitive noodling, and his articulate pre-bend and vibrato technique demonstrates his beautiful touch. Somehow, within the confines of the complex structure of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” this solo is made to order.
3. Led Zeppelin | “Stairway To Heaven”
GUITARIST: Jimmy Page (1971)
How could this one not make the list? From the moment Jimmy Page plays the opening run on his ’59 Fender Telecaster, right through to the wailing bend that completes it, this is solo perfection. Rather than wander aimlessly, Page creates a song within a song.
Three takes were recorded (all of them improvised). But while we’re all certainly curious to hear those other two solos, let’s face it: They’re not going to be any better than the one we’ve come to know and love all these years.
2. Van Halen | “Eruption”
GUITARIST: Eddie Van Halen (1978)
With its mix of fast legato hammer‑ons and pull-offs, Van Halen’s mind-blowing solo inspired a generation of guitar heroes. While the tapping gets the attention, his tone, blistering legato and creative note choices are all equally important. Amid all that virtuosity, Eddie still played with joyous rock and roll abandon.
Remarkably, Ed was never completely happy with the released recording. “I didn’t even play it right,” he told Guitar World. “There’s a mistake at the top end of it. Whenever I hear it, I always think, Man, I could’ve played it better.”
His tapping finale is probably one of the least understood solo sections in rock history. Eddie’s taps are not always on the beat, which makes for tricky timing changes as he switches from tapping the first and fourth sextuplet notes to the third and sixth notes. From start to end, “Eruption” is a masterpiece and definitely feature one of the best guitar solos of all time.
1. Pink Floyd | “Comfortably Numb”
GUITARIST: David Gilmour (1979)
It’s easy to see why “Comfortably Numb” is on the list with its not one, but two fantastic guitar solos.
The first, in D major, uses the Strat’s neck and bridge pickups together, permitted by a custom switching arrangement.
For the second, Gilmour shoots up an octave just when it seems he’s wrung every inch of expression from his maple neck.
Both solos share brilliant rhythmic awareness. Gilmour uses triplets, sextuplets, 16th and 32nd notes freely, within the same phrase. And check out the effect at 5:10 when he plays a lick in 16th notes and then immediately repeats and expands in sextuplets. A good solo can have great tone, rhythms, melody or expression, but only a work of rare brilliance features them all to this degree.
