What's the best guitar solo you've ever heard?

[Omega Centauri 317]

One of my favorite things about Rock and Heavy Metal songs is the occasional guitar solo, where we can truly see how skilled and creative the guitarist is.

 

Taking both aesthetic appeal, and the sheer amount of skill it takes to play it into account, what do you think is the best guitar solo you've ever heard, and why?

 

There's no right or wrong answer, this is completely opinion based, but at least give some reason why, even if it's something like "It just sounds awesome to me"

 

My pick is the guitar solo from Tornado of Souls by Megadeth. It fits perfectly with the rest of the song, it takes an impressvie amount of endurance and skill to play a guitar that fast and for that long, and general it just kicks ass.

 

http://youtu.be/Ujga-3p21xY

 

If you want to skip to the solo, it starts at about 3:05, but I think you'd need to listen to the whole song to really appreciate it.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

I'd have to go with "Smooth" by Santana. It may sound like a simple solo, BUT, the beauty is within the expression. It's the way that Santana "personifies" his guitar by making it "cry", "wail" and even "howl". Solo starts at 2:50. 

 

Edited July 8, 2014 by C. Thunder Dash

[Hyper Tumble 1,483]

really cliche, but the 5 minute solo in Freebird is one of the most fucking electrifying performances of Lynyrd Skynyrd's time

 

Edited July 21, 2014 by Hyper Tumble

[Ezio Auditore 702]

Solo from "Transdermal Celebration" by Ween

 

[Zygen 6,066]

really cliche, but the 5 minute solo in Freebird is fucking electrifying performances of Lynyrd Skynyrd's time

 

I can't even manage to play this thing on freaking Rockband.

 

How the heck is someone suppose to play this on an actual guitar? O_o

 

I was gonna come and say that one anyways lol. Maybe I'm exaggerating the difficulty, especially since the only guitar experience I have is like a couple weeks I've been trying to teach myself guitar.

 

But still.. 5 minute solo? Dang lol. Certainly takes a lot of skill. Or atleast endurance.

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

 

here you go and this 

 

 

this is all enjoy the eargasm

[Discordian 6,015]

The guitar is always amazing in Skeletonwitch songs but the solo at the end of this song, while repetitive, keeps the blood pumping. Though I also love the solo in this song.

The buildup beforehand really makes the last part of the solo stand out.

There's also this song which has more amazing guitar throughout, not even counting the ZZ Top referencing riff, but that solo at the end just makes you wanna run as fast as possible.
---

I got another one here.

Normally Dragonforce's guitar gets really samey and dumb in like...all of their songs but this particular solo was amazing. The buildup right before it accentuates the speed. Edited July 8, 2014 by Discordian

[Jaref 344]

 

At 4:39

Can think of a LOT of amazing guitar solos, but that one's the first that came to mind. John Petrucci  

Edited July 10, 2014 by Jaref

[Envy 6,202]

I am certainly no guitar aficionado, but I know I can't go wrong with Terry Kath of Chicago!

 

I particularly like the solo in Introduction around 4:07

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imwk_Mu0btE

 

I like its context in the song - transitioning from a slow big band style section, to a faster (and very awesome!) winds section. It starts out tame, but gets much more technical and intense in the end.

[Cimarronboy 248]

There are too many mind blowing solos out there but my fave is avenged sevenfolds "seize the day"s first solo. I love it because the notes convey such a sense of how much pain and sorrow one feels in those situations (losing a loved one, the vid puts the lyrics into a more physical being) that I can't help but suffer heartbreak and tear up, but it's hard not to want to shred the notes. Powerful doesn`t even do the description justice.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Cimarronboy

[crisahys 149]

I tend to like the solo in Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. Always my favorite. 

[Metrofy 11]

Where are tons of solos I love, November Rain, Eric Clapton's Crossroads, Floods from Dimebag Darrel, Hendrix's Little Wing, but as a personal preference I have to go with Yngwie Malmsteen's Black Star.

[Guest]

The guitar solo at the end of Earth, Wind and Fire's live performance in Tokyo. I mean.. the guy plays guitar.. with his mouth!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VedMQAEIzI

 

The epic solo is at 4:25!

[Shadowking58 1,137]

Hands! The! Fuck! Down! Seriously!

2:38 for the solo.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxEmqxHKCY

Edited July 21, 2014 by Shadowking58

[Zygen 6,066]

The guitar solo at the end of Earth, Wind and Fire's live performance in Tokyo. I mean.. the guy plays guitar.. with his mouth!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VedMQAEIzI

 

The epic solo is at 4:25!

WUT, How does he even play with his mouth wut...

 

He plays better with his mouth than I do at all xD. I guess i've only played guitar a little over a month, but still xD.

 

Also that looks hilarious too. lol.

 

Hands! The! Fuck! Down! Seriously!

2:38 for the solo.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoxEmqxHKCY

Sonic always has pretty good soundtracks from what i've heard, I hadn't heard the solo from this song though, but it's pretty darn good.

 

I can't learn it unfortunately myself, I'll have to come back when I've been playing much longer than like a month xD. 

[Guest]

@@Zygen,

 

Yeah, it's genius, isn't it? The man is a master! 

[BassBrony 33]

what?! No love for Hendrix?

[Avatar tag: shipping 299]

Oh this is hard. So many great guitarists but I can only choose one solo. I guess I'll have to go with the final solo on Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac from their 1980 Live album.

 

 

Lindsay Buckingham is one of my favorite guitarists. Partly because he can shred but partly because he fingerpicks like me. The studio version of this song has great solos in it too, but the live version really brings it to life. It's not perfect though. In the studio he used a Les Paul and used its sustain a lot in the solos. He doesn't use one on this version so he constantly has to pluck the stings to keep a note. He makes up for it by giving a performance that needs to be heard at max volume.

[Rainbowcrash420 109]

This is one of my favorites songs and has one of the best solos i can think of. The whole song is like a solo. The second song has a great breakdown.

 

Edited July 21, 2014 by PONY SPIKE