On Wednesday we asked a question that was sure to get the UG crowd fired up: what is the best guitar solo of all time?
It's no surprise that the article got over 700 comments and thousands of votes. As usual, you guys proved to "know your s—t", as they say.We've set the videos to start playing from when the solo kicks in, and added a link to the tab for that song so you can dive right in and start learning. If you're a guitar ninja who's learnt them all already, there's no better time to practice again!
Did you have fun learning the solos? Do you agree with the list voted for by your fellow UG readers, or would you have added something different? Let us know in the comments. Thanks for voting!
Yeah, Nirvana makes it with their little A-shape songs and solos, but EVH gets snubbed. Typical. Also, no Jimi. Do the people who vote even actually play guitar? Not saying that all the other solos on here suck or anything, but better than Hendrix and Eddie? No
how did nirvana make it on here? let me guess, bc SLTS is the anti-solo. PUNK ROCK IS THE ANTI SOLO. Been around before nirvana. How is "Party like a rock star" not on here? just because its not a metal song? give me a break thats a sweet solo and you guys know it
I don't get this anti-solo thing. Playing vocal melodies is a typical thing to do in solos. It's not anti-solo, but for the same reason it is nothing spectacular either.
Metal solos usually suck, because their only shredding and lacks melody pretty much. don't get me wrong, I love metal, but most of these solos really are better than most metal bands can accomplish.
Clearly you don't listen to Iron Maiden, responsible some of the best melodies in all of musicdom. Or Ozzy, or Megadeth despite the perfectly good examples on this list. Or Metallica of old. Probably no Machine Head, Arch Enemy or Pantera either.
Yes they are, but it's the singing melodies, not the guitar. With some exceptions of course, and by that I mean the slower songs like "Afraid to Shoot Strangers" or the slower breakdowns, like the one in "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner"
not megadeth much, but all of the others belong in my favorites, and seriously, I don't find much of melody in panteras solos, not all metallicas either, maiden have some that's pretty much shredding. Solos in my opinion should be done the way Gilmour does them, or like the slower songs by Vai.
Oh, yeah, I forgot that only metal guitarists play "good" solos. Screw rock guitarists! Those guys suck because they don't constantly play 16th and 32nd notes!
I think I made my point.
I just listened to it because you made me curious, but the only 'solo' is the little repetitive lick that is featured in the chorus, with an extra guitar playing the same thing over top of it with a little more vibrato.
...not to mention the fact that that riff is completely unoriginal and was used (not as the main part) in every other classically-influenced hard rock song from the 80s, it had been used in millions of rap songs up to that point (albeit on a synthesizer with a different sounding 'instrument').
hahahahahahahaha yes I WIN! somebody actually went through the trouble of listening to that shitty song the whole way through. tbh i havent heard that song in 5 years nor did i ever endure the song all the way through.
Do we really need to put the same guys in the top ten every single time, though? We all know Jimi Hendrix and the like are awesome and influential, but we need to move on too.
I'm actually not a fan of eruption. Yeah it's a fast tapped solo but there's no emotion and IMO that's what makes a good solo. But there definitely should have been some jimi
Well I think "emotion" is an overrated thing to attribute a solo to. If you take emotion at face value, literally every solo has "emotion" by being written by a human. So if you don't have "emotion", then how have you even written a song?
And what people mean BY emotion is "play slower, rhythmic, and use natural minor scale only" - emotion doesn't matter. Creating the best sound out of a song does. Not every song needs a solo, and those that use solos just need to use them in context. For example, would you honestly expect a Cannibal Corpse solo to have "emotion"? No, because the band focuses on aggression. The reason CC isn't on this list is because their solos, while they fit for the songs, don't stand out, they are just there to serve their purpose, and not do anything more than that. Meanwhile, Buckethead turns every solo into an event, and each event captures a mood wonderfully. Solos are about context, and Eruption lacks the context to make it a good solo. The ending tapping part? That's when the solo first starts to get context, and it ends really shortly after. Not enough build, too much of the good stuff at the end. I think there is no soloist better than Buckethead.
The funny thing is on wednesday I was so quick to comment Comfortably Numb...then I thought of Eruption...then I thought "**** number one is really highway star by deep purple"...and somehow it didn't even make the list
That or "Spanish Fly" which, to make it sound less impressive than what it really is, is basically "Eruption" played on a classical guitar...
Most of these lists are subjective, no one's ever going to be happy with most of the results. This one for me is... strange. I do like all of the guitar solos in it but there are so many others...
One that I believe that nobody mentioned is Dire Strait's "Private Investigations", a purely genious piece by Mark Knofler, a very underrated solo.
Sorry hombre, but on thw www.ultimate-guitar.com I can clearly see Van Halen picture...you can see it on home-page...so who's there? http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ Check for yourself
Agreed, I wish that they had put that song in this list. It may be regarded by a lot of people as overplayed, but that song is literally what inspired me to play guitar. I worked my ass off just to develop myself to a point where I could play that solo at tempo, and after that, I was free to use my skills to make guitar playing something sonically personal... That is just this one's opinion/anecdote though.
Kind of surprised no DT made the list, but it looked like votes were spread out between quite a few of their songs. Quite a few people mentioned AB's "Blackbird" as well. Regardless, good list.
Yep, reading the comments on where we voted, you could tell the top 3 immediately. Stairway To Heaven and Comfortably Numb was not sure which one would be first, but glad it came out this way.
I was really wondering why that wasn't on there. I've actually seen two people cry when that solo hits. The entire list here, though, is more of a "Hey, that's pretty cool" kind of solo.
"link no1" how old are you? That solo was one of the first that I learned, its a great solo. Not everything has to be a thousand notes played. I still haven't heard a guitar solo like SLTS.
I doesn't have to be hard, but it should at least be well written. the teen spirit solo is NOT well written. it's just the vocal melody played on guitar. thats it. you can literally write that kind of solo on every track that has a chorus, it's not impressive or well written, it's lazy.
some RHCP solos are very easy, but still good solos. same goes for pink floyd, not hard but emotional and REALLY well written.
There are no easy Chili Pepper solos. JFs phrasing and use of subtle nuances are unparalleled, in my opinion. Anyone with a decent ear will have incredible difficulty notating his solos, and I have never seen anyone but him replicate them.
I agree that it isn't top ten all-time, but I would argue that this solo is a powerful one in that it is the perfect solo to fit the song, and it is arguably an iconic solo in an iconic song.
I am also very surprised by this. I like pink floyd but they shouldnt get two spots. Dream theater has way better solos in my opinion. But you would think eruption would at least be on the list.
I think these lists would be better (as well as likely generating more traffic) if they were top 25, instead of top 10.
The lists would [possibly] be more diverse, it [maybe] wouldn't be the same things over and over, it would [potentially] introduce more people to more things they hadn't heard before, and more people [theoretically] would be satisfied with the final outcome.
i think it's kind of lame that you have the Scar Tissue solo, but not a single solo by Bernard Sumner. i mean come on, frusciante pretty much played the same kind of solos he did, just not as good lol
I agree. His solos are boring and have been done before a thousand times but much better. Nothing original in his playing. And live he struggles to play, making mistakes and lacking finesse in his playing especially when trying to do the hendrix type runs but for some reason that is perceived as making him "better". Just watch Gary Moore play a solo and you will see what command of the guitar looks like. As for originality I'd put a Tom Morello solo in place of any john frusciante solo.
wow...just wow. UG people voted on this? I mean, my 2 favorite solos are the top two, and Hotel Califorina finally gets some respect, but still...Nirvana and Pearl Jam on a guitar solo list? No EVH, JH, Clapton, etc? Man, that's terrible...
it was somthing about "it doesnt have to be the most technically skilled, it could be cultural significance or how it fits with the song" im butchering it but that was the gist
"I doubt this will be thumbed up (and might even be thumbed down), but Smells Like Teen Spirit's unbelievably simply solo after the ridiculousness of the late 80s was so refreshing and (in a 'me-reading-too-far-into-things' kind of way) really symbolic of a change in popular music." - notaconotaco
"It was almost the anti-solo, IMO. It was kinda cool, just play the verse vocal line on the guitar and call it a solo. Not the best, I think, but I couldn't imagine SLTS without it and that makes it good." - TombOfHorror
He could actually play the guitar very skillfully, but he didnt like it, mainly because of his hatred of hair metals ridicoulus, and unnecessarily "the faster, the better" attitude, and his love of punk rock simplicity - I saw a some few videos on Youtube, where he actually plays a bit more complex guitar solo quite well - but he never incorperated it to his music, because of the influence from The pixies, Black flag, and R.E.M on him.
I dont get these lists at times.Nothing against Nirvana or Pearl Jam as i love both but i dont think they belong on best solo lists.I agree solos dont have to always be guitar wankery but they are better solos than that about.I would have liked to seen one of Dimebags on here.Floods in particular.
Agreed. Kirk Hammett has composed incredible solos. There's so many to name off. "Blackened," "Master of Puppets," "Fade to Black," "Ride the Lightning," list goes on. Anybody could play solos better than Kurt Cobain. R.I.P Kurt. I respect the dead, but still.
This. People always complain that Hammett is a way overrated player but it's a fact that this guy wrote
some of metal's most recognizable solos. He definitely deserves to be on this list.
Honestly this is the first time I can pretty much agree with a UG list, the top three I can certainly agree with though I am blown away that Comfortably Numb came out above Stairway, I almost thought that was a gimme, both are freaking amazing solo's though. One thing I admire about Gilmour is he could get so much emotion and feeling out of so little notes, the solo's in Dog's are some of my favorite.
I've always felt DG doesn't get enough credit. He is one hell of a guitar player that KNOWS what he's doing and how to put his emotions through his guitar. All of his solos are tasteful and are fit the song perfectly.
imo,i dont think great solos can be ranked.it relies on a person's choice.
but,i cant believe u public voted for smells like teen spirit ,when not a single jimi hendrix solo made it to the list
solos like sultans of swing(its a top 3 in my opinion),one,blackbird,november rain,cemetery gates,black magic woman is so much more deserving than the songs mentioned here
Everything is by everyone's own opinion, and the impact that these had are all profound, but come on, this list is trash to almost any one one with any knowledge of music and the guitar
I don't get why people like clapton. He's incredibly overrated, and probably my least favorite stratocaster player. I understand he was in Cream and The Yardbirds and has a great solo career, but I can't stand his music. I've tried to get into him multiple times, and every time I think "I could be listening to Fruciante, Gilmour, Hendrix, or even (go ahead and shoot me for this one if you must) John Mayer right now."
Ok, so I went and checked all the comments. Smells Like Teen Spirit got 1 vote! In Bloom got about 7/8 so I'm just wondering how Smells Like Teen Spirit gets on the list. UG sucks!
I think people might have looked at bohemian rhapsody wrong. This is about solos and I can't help but feel that song may have only gotten on this list because of it's little guitar riff that everyone loves so much.
Very surprised to find that November Rain wasn't on there. Or any Hendrix or Van Halen. I was actually a little embarrassed that Nirvana were on there.
yea, this is list is terrible sorry guys, but hat is my opinion. Any list of greatest guitarists, or best solos that includes Cobain can't be taken seriously.
I don't argue that he shouldn't be on a list of most Influential guitarists, but face it - the man wasn't a very good guitar player, and his solos are boring as **** (normally just follow vocal melody).
... at least Tornado of souls made it.
There should've been at least one Synyster Gates solo, whether Afterlife, Second Heartbeat, Seize the Day, Beast and the Harlot, etc. There's a massive list of exceptional solos that are better than most of these, eg Cobain. Love him and all, but not in the top 10 solos
really? You don't like the afterlife solo? fair enough, everyone's opinion is different. But for me, if it was my list, one of his solos would be on the list.
It didn't really do much for me. Technically impressive, but I never get anything else out of it. I actually like the guitar work from the intro of Critical Acclaim more than some of A7X solos, but I guess that's just my taste. Opinions and all that, you know...
It's nice to see some Queen, but there's probably a better solo in there... I like It's a Hard Life for some reason, it sounds like it should be from a musical or something... It's a good list (although very similar to others, but I guess the best can't be beaten)
Despite being a huge, huge fan of Frusciante's work, I don't think Scar Tissue needed to be in this list. Nor Smells Like Teen Spirit. I wouldn't call either of them The Best Guitar Solo Of All Time. It would have been nice to see Free Bird or Soma though maybe.
Seriously why put a picture of Hendrix if there ISN'T any Hendrix on the list?
And I like Nirvana(always have and more than likely always will)but why in the hell are they on this list? And even better still they have SLTS on here. Hell the solos in Blew, Heart-Shaped Box, About A Girl, and Come As You Are are better than that one....
Im sorry, call me what you will but this is a pathetic list. Smells like teen spirit? can you even call that a solo? I agree with Megadeth but the rest is just crappy.
This is UG, not That Metal Show. Alternative, blues, and Punk are also popular here. I understand a lot of people here listen to Metal, but that doesn't mean that's all people will vote for.
seriously? this list ain't the best. replace scar tissue, time, alive and smells like teen spirit with Floods, All Along the Watchtower (Hendrix!), Eruption, and something else that was voted for multiple times. NOT JUST GIVEN A +. love the SLTS solo, but not among the "best". hell, i think In Bloom has a better solo lol.
All these polls UG post on this are very very unfair. With this one, there are so many good, unheard bands with such amazing solo's, totally needing noticed. And I'm very surprised with the list here. No mention to Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Tosin Abasi or any of the very famous guitarists.
the first UG list, which is actually very very bad...nirvana has no place in a top 10 solos list...i am missing november rain, fade to black, freebird and watchtower
SLTS isnt even a solo in my opinion...its just a two part guitar melody with every part being played multiple times...it would be better with an "iron maiden" twin guitar harmony under it
Crap. If Teen Spirit solo is among the best, then every melody from every rock song ever should be here too, 'cause that's basically what that is. Also RHCP? Pearl Jam? Two spots for Pink Floyd...the f*ck? Where's Powerslave, Floods, Sweet Child O' Mine, Don't Talk to Strangers or anything by Jimi Hendrix? That said, I'm glad Fade to Black didn't make it, being the #1 Metallica song of all time was unfair enough IMO.
SO UG peeps...you think Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit solo is in anyway better than Pantera's Floods solo? The Sleep? Walk solo?Domination solo? I don't think so! Let's do that poll again! I suggest everybody vote 50 of the best...do another poll with posted clips/videos..vote..we cut it down to 20....10...and lets see who wins on top.How bout we do that UG?
I agree with the gilmour, but the rest is pretty shocking for 'best of all time' ... a few personal suggestions of my opinion of a good solo
Blackbird - Alter Bridge, Tremonti - Leave it alone, unforgiven I - Tallica, Nightrain/rocket queen outro - GNR, (probably get hate, but) afterlife - A7X, Machine head - Halo, Floods - Pantera, fall to pieces/slither - Velvet Revolver, and far from home - ffdp
OH MY GOD. Smells Like Teen Spirit solo??? Scar Tissue solo??? Pearl Jam???
You included THAT bullshit, but not Free Bird (or a dozen other Skynyrd solos for that matter), nothing from Blackmore, no Sweet Child O' Mine? A very sad, horrible list that does NOT reflect reality.
Eruption is quite possibly the worst thing that EVH made IMO, it's just pointless scale wanking. I'd rather list some of his other work, like "I'm The One".
but its a classic, they should specify what type of solo, best sounding? or most difficult to play, cause some of those guys who can absolutely shred cant play anything worth listening to, and then there are solos like S2H which arent the MOST difficult to play but sound amazing and are classics
Well, in my opinion this list could be much better. I agree with 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Stairway To Heaven', both should be on the first place, but the rest? Megadeth's 'Hangar 18' should definately have the second place. On the list I would also place Metallica's 'Blackened' or 'Master of Puppets', Black Sabbath 'Paranoid', Red Hot Chili Peppers 'Californication', and some Dream Theater & Iron Maiden stuff...
But seriously, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'? The song is great, but the solo doesn't even deserve to be in top 25...
8 & 7 aren't really full blown guitar solos, they're more like short fills. 9 & 10 are average at best I mean I get how this is very subjective and all but seriously, with the vast abundance of great guitar solos out there why would anyone vote for those 2? they weren't even innovative in any shape or form.
would've liked to see freebird or one on there but hey... the rest of the list is pretty good though
If this was "fan voted" than its PROOF that nearly EVERY UG forum contributor is full of themselves. (Including me, but at least I don't think "smells like teen spirit" has one of the top ten "solos" of all time.)
Every guitarist is entitled to their own opinion of whos great. But NOT including A SINGLE solo by Jimi OR Eddie Van Halen on a "top 10 solos list" IS BLASPHEMY.
PS: "stairway to heaven" and "comfortably numb" grab the numbers 1 and 2 AGAIN?! Always glad to see UG "playing it safe" with the dinosaur rock, how much longer do younger generations have to ass-kiss? ...Who were your main contributors to this list? The Editors of Rolling Stone magazine???
Obviously the list isn't perfect, but I'm glad to see 'time' in there. Personally I think it's gilmour at his best but I've never met anyone who agrees!
I love David Gilmour's solos, they're very well crafted and always capture the essence of the song. That's the difference between a real guitar solo and mindless wanking, IMO.
So many solos missing from this list, Joe Bonamassa has written a better solo than all of them, and Smells like teen spirit solo shouldnt be in the top 500, let alone the top 10, it's dull, boring and I could write a solo 3 times as good as it
Not a single Metallica solo, not a single AC/DC solo, not a single Rainbow solo, not single Joe Bonamassa solo, not a single Joe Satriani solo...says a lot about this community.
this is such a bad list haha there are 100 solos just as good and better than these, anything by hendrix springs to mind.. and i think 'something' by beatles couldve been there, especially before teen spirit.. buut oh well its just a meaningless list
I think this can't be a regular poll with a standard list. Some are yelling to Hendrix not here, some don't see why Nirvana is here. Our favorite soli are really personnal, I mean a solo which really touch your heart and makes you high like...hem. My personnal list :
Necrophagist - Fermented Offal Discharge
Eagles - Hotel California (u got it)
Megadeth - Holy Wars (last solo)
The Smashing Pumpkins - Tarantula (whole 2nd part )
Dimmu Borgir - Grotesquery Conceiled (2nd solo)
Ozzy - M. Crowley (u got it)
Iron Maiden - Afraid to shoot strangers
Anterior - Human Hive
Metallica - Blackened
Pantera - Domination
Honor places :
Pink Floyd - Time (u got it)
Rhapsody of Fire - Gargoyles
Check it out if u don't know, these soli just rule
Geez, it makes me so mad that theres no DT solo in there! Through Her Eyes, Goodnight Kiss, The Best Of TImes, Lines in the Sand, Hollow Years (live at budokan). No Hendrix, no Zakk Wylde, no Angus Young... THIS LIST IS A JOKE
Ok you gotta be joking right? I mean Holy Wars and Hangar 18 are much better solo songs than Tornado of Souls and Metallica is not even on the list I mean "One"? Come on now
What is this? There is not best solo of all time. A virtuoso solo doesn't means that it is good, the only thing to evaluate from a solo its the context that the author made to it in relationship with the entire song. What about this one?:
They are actually news articles that end in a question mark. A recent one, for example, was something like, "What is the best Metallica song of all time?" And answers are drawn from the comments.
i dont see why everyone is hating on smts and the other first 5 you see..... very recognizable solo and i didnt know that every solo on earth was the vocal melody and thats why his solo is unoriginal it annoys me that the reason everyone is complaining is that the solos are not some 500 bpm 16th note solo were every note is a blur..... simple makes just as great if not better solos.... jimi should be on here for that i mean hes solos are amazing but not some technically difficult solo that takes months to master
Shitty list. Tornado of Souls and Time, I understand. But seriously? No Sails of Charon? Altitudes? Hangar 18? Crushing Day? Anything by Ritchie Blackmore?
Everyone's going to argue about this. Honestly though, there are more interesting solos out there than the ones listed, minus Randy's solo on Mr. Crowley.
If Smells Like Teen Spirit can qualify, then The Carpenter's - Goodbye To Love should be in here. Not my kind of music, but the solos are brilliant (if you can stand to listen to the song that long!).
Even as a huge Nirvana-fan, I would like to point out to UG that he made much more worthy solos than "Smells like teen spirit", like "School" "Heart-shaped box", and my personal favorite "Blew". And I find it a bit moronic to put Nirvana here, since they were never big guitarsolo fans anyway. But if they just HAD to be here, then those I mentioned are much more worthy of a entry.
Scar Symmetry - Deviate From The Form
Wintersun - Winter Madness
Runic - Ambush
Jason Becker - End Of the Beginning
Dream Theater - Octavarium, Bombay Vindaloo
Shawn Lane - The Way it Has To Be
Between The Buried and Me - Selkies
Marty Friedman - Tornado Of Souls
Moon Safari - A Kid Called Panic
Roine Stolt - Dissonata
Best Guitar Solos Of All Time ?!!!!!
Are you ****ing serious ?
why is everyone so stuck in the past ?!!
those can never be in any way the best solos of all time...
This list is tragically flawed, and I'm tired of people not knowing the difference between Kurt Cobain being a great MUSICIAN and Kurt Cobain being a great GUITARIST. He wasn't particularly gifted on the guitar, at all. He was adequate, and one can combine adequate skill with an excellent sense of creativity to achieve fantastic results. That being said, the SMTS solo is just a note-for-note transcription of the vocal melody and I really don't see what's particularly astonishing about that.
Missing: God is in the Radio by QOTSA, Buckingham Green by Ween, and many others.
Countdown to militant Kurt Cobain fans freaking out on me.. 3...2...1..
A joke of a list. It's like it was made by people who don't know anything about guitar playing, only know a handful of popular bands, only about 2 songs by each band, and choose those solos just because they're in the few songs they know. The solos in Stairway to Heaven, Bohemian Rhapsody and Comfortably Numb, while not bad, aren't even the best their respective artists have to offer. Not to mention, most of these solos are made of simple pentatonic licks—really nothing special in the grand scheme of guitar playing. These top-# list will never be valid until the voters are actually qualified to vote.
I have to agree. Always the same bands in every list on UG. But you're right, I'd take Pink Floyd's On the Turning Away over Comfortably Numb, personally.
Where is Ritchie Blackmore? Highway Star or When a blind man cries? c'mon man. And Floods? Dimebag´s solo is beatifull. Evolutinary Sleeper by Cynic? ****, Gordian Knot? Into the arena by Michael Schenker, and and and Rock botton? great solo...
You're right ! Ritchie Blackmore (on Highway Star or Gates Of Babylon) and Michael Schenker (on Rock Bottom or Lights Out) have been forgotten. Great players !
GET QUEEN OUT OF THERE!!!!
They were a ****ing shit band with a couple alright tunes (Another One Bites The Dust being their best)
I'm so sick of all this bullshit.
No Doors or Neil Young to be seen anywhere in the list.
Fools need ****in' schools.
Schools and bullets.
Glad to see tornado of souls on here, thats a stunning bit of guitar work by marty friedman, but how the hell can they not have maiden, metallica or pantera on here ?!? I think we all agree that daves solo from the clairvoyant, kirks solo from creeping death and dimes solo from floods should all be on this list.
Weird list, but accurate with some solos like Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles, RHCP, etc. Hendrix and shreds like EVH, Satriani, Vai, Gilbert, Petrucci, Yngwie should be on there. Also, Scar Tissue guitar solo on the studio version is great, but live solos are even better. Check this out.
If you understand a bit of Spanish then pay close attention to the first few lines of "Tornado of Souls". You'll hear the sentence "la estada del metal, la muerte vencerá "
...which translates to "the sword of metal, death it will defeat". I guarantee that song will never sound the same again
Well it sure doesn't sound like a properly articulated English sentence and it just so happens that a friend of mine told me about the line without being able to remember which song or band it was from
Then a while later I heard it and instantly went "yup, that's the one!". Look up the Youtube comments on the song and I bet you'll see several eses mentioning the alternate lyrics
own both the remastered CD version AND a vinyl version of RIP, checked for the lawlz, and neither of them have any Spanish for the first few lines broski.
Naw dude, it's more of a "misheard lyrics" thing -> the way he sings "this morning I made the call" kinda sounds like "la espada del metal" in Spanish. Kinda (I admit, it's a lot easier to hear certain things if people tell you which lines to look out for in advance)
A lot of people who aren't native English speakers have trouble making out the lyrics to many songs, so instead they'll just make up their own words. If you were actually familiar with the correct lyrics beforehand and people tell you about their interpretation you're bound to go "tf you talkin' bout Willis"
But sometimes the similarities are kinda there (E.G. "Could You Be Loved" by Bob Marley ends with him chanting "say something", which a lot of Dutch people tend to mistake for "theezakje" which means teabag). It really helps when the singer pronounces the words in a rather untypical way, as Dave does in this song
I grew up speaking Spanish and thought it was pretty hilarious. But hey, what do I know
Cementary gates-Pantera
Master of Puppets-Metallica
Bulls on Parade-Rage Against the Machine
Free Bird-Lynyrd Skynyrd
Just pick a song by Jimi Hendrix
Just pick a song by Stevie Ray Vaughn
The top 6 are OK... the bottom four seem like sorta odd choices. Pearl Jam? Really? And don't get me wrong, I love RHCP, Queen, and Nirvana, but those songs don't belong in a "top 10 best solos" list. I mean, where's Stevie Ray? Hendrix? Zappa, even?
THE TITLE SHOULD BE "WROST Guitar Solos LIST Of All Time!!!" EVEN THE SOLOS THAT MADE IT ARE ARRANGED IN A FACKED UP WAY.. SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT 7TH PLACE?!?!?!? HOT THE F DID THAT HAPPEND?
listen to some real guitar soloing, and then remove most of these wanna be players from your half ass list, Warren Haynes first solo, and then Dickey Betts starts at about 6 minutes into the song, two different 3 plus minutes solos,... very few others even come close
Wow, this list is surprisingly.. well, bad. I'm glad to see some awesome classic solos made the list, but I could've sworn "Stairway to Heaven" had the most thumbs up and had gold (honestly I love Pink Floyd and Comfortably Numb, but the Stairway solo is way better than the Comfortably Numb solo IMO), and where the hell is Jimi Hendrix?
Love Nirvana, but I find it just plain weird; did all of you people seriously vote for Nirvana and Pearl Jam more than ****ing Hendrix in a guitar solo poll?
After reading the comments, it appears that nearly everyone is saying the same shit I am, so I will conclude that this list doesn't make sense, since it is supposed to be based on users' votes and all the users' think Jimi should have been on the list.
Smells Like Teen Spirit? Seriously? That's a joke of a solo. "Hey, let's give it a solo and copy the exact melody of the verse!" A true virtuoso. *rolls eyes*
I think more time just needed to be put into this list. like find the top 30 posted comments, then another week of voting which ones would make the top 10.
This is the worst list. The solo for Smells like Teen Spirit is great, but what the ****? How could you not include anything from AC/DC, Kiss, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,Yngwie Malmsteen, Aerosmith, Michael Schenker, old school Metallica, Van Halen, Y&T, etc. This generation sucks. "Hey gotta put up Zeppelin and Queen and Nirvana" Basically anything that's repetitive and popular. Makes people like AC/DC and Kiss and whomever I afore mentioned underated. Again, this generation sucks.
This is what gets me about this site. Pink Floyd has been on every list unless specified that it's metal. If you like Pink Floyd, that cool, but saying that they still do the best anything is simply living in the past.
This list is seriously horrible. C'mon, no Dimebag, no Satriani, no Kirk Hammet(Blackened is way better than any of this crap, with the execption of Tornado of Souls), no PETRUCCI!!!, no Yngwie, no EVH!!!, no Zakk Wylde, no Tremonti... I could go on with at least another 10 lead guitarists who didn't make the cut, but especially disappointed that there's no DIMEBAG solos and junkie lowlifes like frusciante(RHCP)who don't know how to properly hold a guitar let alone play brainwashing solo make the list... it makes me wonder what is wrong with everyone??
10. Dream Theater - Under a Glass Moon
9 Rainbow - Stargazer
8 Paul Gilbert - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (it's a great cover, look it up)
7 Testament - Disciples of the Watch
6 Metallica - The Four Horsemen
5 Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
4 Between the Buried and Me - Selkies: The Endless Obsession
3 Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
2 Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand
1 Megadeth - Tornado of Souls
I just love how UG compiles a list from forum comments and a bunch of little maggots STILL complain that a particular song didn't make the top ten. Is it that hard to figure out that your particular song isn't on the list because it didn't get enough votes?
No Stevie Ray Vaughan? Jimi Hendrix? Metallica? Maiden? EVH? Pantera?
Seeing Stairway to Heaven on there was an unsuprising let down... but nirvana? RHCP? Pearl Jam? Don't get me wrong all great bands and have written some absolute anthems down the years, but they aren't exactly known for their amazing guitar prowess.
While anything in the list deserves hefty criticsm (except perhaps for Tornado of Souls), anyone who suggests Metallica or Kirk Hammett needs to die a a slow and painful death. Metallica, as good as some of their songs can be, have just about the poorest lead work for a metal band this popular, second only to Slayer. Metal has far more intricate, versatile and melodic guitar soloing out there, if you'd just bothered to broaden your horizons a bit.
Highway Star and/or Burn. Whatever Richie Blackmore stuff to be honest.
Nightrain anyone? I'm not looking for any slamming about Slash the man has made some good solos.
No Whitesnake solos? No Axel Rudi Pell? No Frank Marino? No Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?
No Gary Moore/B.B. King/Clapton etc. Blues?
I'm not complaining because after all it was a honest vote but it's sad how people often forget a lot of good stuff when they are suddenly asked who/what is the best .
No surprise here. The list here is completely off of my charts. These are actually voted in by us, here on UG, or by the people behind the site? Everytime I see one of these best of things here on UG it seems it is always way off base.
#1 is my #1, so cool there. But, other than Tornado of Souls and Hotel California, every solo was just like, what really, why? Smells Like Teen Spirit for example...or Scar Tissue. That's off my favorite RHCP CD, and I know this board has a big hard on for RHCP, but there are solos from, I dunno, Dream Theater, or Pantera, that should be superseding them..
ok so...what the hell?...how does smells like teen spirit have a good solo? and by which criterea would it be one of the best solos of all time?..
bad list...although i agree with time and comfortably numb...although the slide solo in high hopes imho think is more emotional..also..another point...you cant make a list of solos and have floyd, megadeth on the same thing...there's just NO comparison...the list should have at least similar genres together...say...best rock solo's...best metal...
where is jimi?...where is gary moore?...where is vai? clapton? freaking satch? sultans of swing solo anyone? what the hell....
who the **** made this list? helen keller? as soon as i saw pearl jam i knew something was wrong. alive isnt a bad song i actually like the solo, but it does not crack the top 100 solos list
This list sucks. These might be the "favorite" solos by UG members. Fine, but there's a difference between "favorite" and the "greatest" ones. Any solo by AC/DC is better than anything on here. Anything by Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, and Eric Johnson is better than anything on here. And "Eruption" sure as hell kicks the shit out of anything on here.
Strange list...but I agree with some of it, at least that they're included if not necessarily the placement.
"Comfortably Numb" is one of very few solos I really sat down and learned note-for-note. I'm all about improvising, but I try to stay close to the spirit of the original works. That said, I really love that 1st solo in "CN" and it stands as a testimony that a ton of fast notes doesn't mean a better lead.+
smells like teen spirit? really?i like that song but to be listed on a top 10 solos? pearl jam and rhcp shouldnt be on the list either.. I don't know why there's a picture of hendrix at the header but he's not on the list. Machinegun by Hendrix is 10 times the solo smells like teen spirit, scar tissue, and alive are combined. This list is bullshit, but most of the top 10 lists on this site usually are so I shouldn't be surprised
As much as I absolutely love Nirvana, the fact that Smells Like Teen Spirit is on this list makes me call shenanigans.
Any moron can play that solo, there is nothing about it that makes it special or great. Teen Spirit is just a great song, but by no means does it have a great guitar solo.
I really like the list. i think it shows solos from different all genres but there are some many more brilliant solos that should be up there. i think it should be at least out of 25 to really cover a big list of music Genre. and everyone that is complaining that there should be this song bla bla bla. its a matter of opinion and it was voted if you think one solo is better then another then make a video and put it youtube of what you think is the best solos stop complaining and enjoy the music while its still around.
5 
it annoys me that the reason everyone is complaining is that the solos are not some 500 bpm 16th note solo were every note is a blur..... simple makes just as great if not better solos.... jimi should be on here for that i mean hes solos are amazing but not some technically difficult solo that takes months to master
. However Tornado of Souls made it here so I'm partly satisfied xD.
