This is another amazing example of what I was talking about in my Anatomy of a Guitar Solo post. Sinister Gates plays a very tasteful, strong, and emotive guitar in this surprisingly not very metal song.
The guitar solo starts at 5:06 and ends at 5:36. Enjoy. Also, special thanks to my brother, Aaron, for bringing this to my attention.
I don’t like everything Yes, but I do enjoy their more progressive/symphonic stuff. And I consider Steve Howe to be one of the greats. This was first released on the Yes “Union” album, which I own. It’s a full-on instrumental guitar solo… no other instruments or singing or anything. It’s a bit more simple than other solos, but I absolutely love it. Years ago I tried learning how to play it, but I wasn’t good enough then, and I haven’t tried again in years. I think I’d have a much easier time picking it up now if I tried… and I think I very well might.
This video is from Steve Howe’s own Youtube channel. It shows both his fingering hand his picking hand, so you can see exactly how he plays it. I find it really nice, simple, and atmospheric. I hope you like it, too.
Many have been doing it already, but now you have a dedicated thread where you can recommend, and link to, guitar solos you consider amazing. They don’t have to be complicated shred fests (hell… I’ll be highlighting Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” in a future post), but they can be if you think they’re incredible.
The one’s I like the best will be highlighted in future posts in the series, and you’ll get credit, with a link to your comment!
Let me know what you listen to and what you love. And don’t worry about the genre… I’m interested in the guitar solo, not the style. You may even see classical and flamenco show up!… if I’m not careful, that is… 😉
(Quick note about this song: one of the lyrics after the guitar solo is “soon the Gypsy queen in a glaze of vaseline…”. “Gypsy” is, of course, a racial slur. And that’s not up for debate in this post, either, so don’t bother. Just do some research [like reading the link I just posted, and maybe also this one and this one] to understand the history and context for why, and leave it at that. Thanks!)
So this is actually part of a full 30 minute suite by ELP called “Karn Evil 9“, released on their album “Brain Salad Surgery”. This part is the most famous because they often played just this cut live, and it was played on the radio all the time. The opening line (“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.”) is somewhat known, as well, often separate from the song (I actually know people who have no clue who ELP are but recognize that line instantly when I say it).
Honestly, if I were to do a “Great Keyboard Solos” series, this would be the first song highlighted, because Keith Emerson was a god of the keys, in my humble opinion. But the guitar solo is amazing, too, which is why I’m highlighting it here. It’s such an amazing solo, another one that’s simple yet powerful. Greg Lake was an underrated guitarist, partly because of how rarely he played it (sticking more to the bass guitar).
This is the studio recording, so no need to actually watch anything… just listen… the guitar solo, BTW, starts at 2:01 and ends at 2:57:
This right here is literally why I play guitar.
Jimmy Page playing his guitar with a violin bow. I don’t know what exactly it was that made me sit up and take notice, but this blew my mind, and made me think of the guitar in ways I had never imagined the guitar before seeing this.
This is live at Earl’s Court on May 24, 1975. Yes, it’s over 30 minutes long. No, that’s not the longest Dazed and Confused has ever gone.
The bow solo starts at 11:33 and ends at 19:00.
Again… this is why I play guitar. This is how I see the guitar.
Sadly, this you can’t watch, because there’s no video footage.
But you can certainly listen to it.
And please do. Eat it up. Enjoy it. Get it. Live it. Love it. The guitar solo starts at 2:07 and ends at 6:50.
I was looking for a solo by Kaki King to showcase, and decided it was impossible to find just one. Her playing is absolutely incredible and she absolutely deserves to be noted as one of the greatest guitarists of the modern age. Her playing is beyond brilliant, and it was very hard for me to narrow down just one.
So, instead, I decided to link to this amazing performance she gives at TED.
Watch the whole thing, because it’s mind-blowingly awesome:
Welcome to post 1 of Great Guitar Solos. It’s a series in which I highlight guitar solos I consider to be incredible. This first one, and the next two, are being moved from my old blog space. Then I’ll be writing new ones to go up every Monday.
I love guitar solos. A lot. I love picking them apart and figuring out what’s being played and what techniques are being used and if it’s sloppy and if that sloppiness is on purpose and so on and so forth. I’m a bit of a snob about guitar solos, in fact.
It doesn’t help that I can’t play them myself. I want to; I want to be a lead guitarist, able to play mind-blowing solos, from slow, emotional, melodic, deliberate melodies to face-melting, mind-bending psychedelic, shredding goodness.
But I’m just not there, sadly. My playing is not that good.
I do, however, have solos that I hold up as pillars of what good soloing is, and what it should be.
And the first one I’m highlighting is the solo I consider to be the greatest guitar solo ever recorded.
The band is Pink Floyd. The album is the live DVD P*U*L*S*E*.
The song?
Listen to that guitar solo. It starts at 4 minutes and 54 seconds in, and ends at 9 minutes and 24 seconds.
Already listened to it?
Listen to it again…
I can wait…
…
…
…
…
(I don’t know if this signals a return of my Great Guitar Solos series or if it’s just a one-off; I haven’t decided, yet.)
So I have a confession to make: I don’t have Prince’s music in my collection. His music was never completely my jam.
I don’t hate his music.
On the contrary…
Prince, IMO, was a monster of guitar, a talent surpassed by very, very few, perhaps almost none, during his time. His ability to play the guitar was phenomenal to watch, and I loved watching him solo. His solos were incredible, up there with Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and David Gilmour, but with a technical know-how above all of them. Each time Prince laid down a solo, it was a master class in how to play the guitar as the leading instrument.
So yes, I respect, immensely, the talent that he wielded. But I was never a big fan of the 80s musically, and Prince was part of that. He was brilliant, however, and I would defend him as a master talent of guitar to anyone who would dare claim otherwise. Even someone who would assume that their musical opinions are objective facts would have to bow to Prince’s mastery of guitar.
And this performance I want to highlight here shows that off incredibly, in my opinion…
This is a post from my old blog, posted back on March 28, 2013. Not the best written post ever, but it’s a nice little insight into my mind when it comes to music and what I listen to. I thought there were a few readers here who might enjoy it. I am removing the references to one of my many abandoned blog series, because I just never continued it. Maybe I’ll reignite some of those old series here… or maybe not. We’ll see…
Of course, what makes a guitar solo good is a subjective question. There are even people out there who don’t like guitar solos!
I know… right? Seems like a mythical concept, like gods! But oh… they exist. They’re out there…
Anyways…
This post explains the kind of guitar that I personally like to hear. This is only my subjective tastes, so…