Great Guitarists who Can't Solo
 

Guitar solos are overrated. I love them, but many people judge guitarists only on their solos. Who do you think are great at the rhythm sections but terrible at solos.

Some rules are:
1) No mentioning rhythm guitarists of a band with a lead guitarist (for example, no mentioning Malcolm Young, but it's alright to mention Kurt Cobain as he played both rhythm and lead).
2) No mentioning of lead guitarists. If they are lead guitarists and can't solo, then they aren't very good guitarists are they? Your choice has to have some contribution to the rhythm section.

I'll biff Jack White in the mix

I like his solo in Ball and Biscuit though. My choice is Pete Townshend, I've heard a lot of his solos live but they pale compared to his rhythm guitar.

Keith Richards comes to mind

The Edge.

Andy Gill of Gang of Four
Roger Miller of Mission of Burma
John Cummings (aka Johnny Ramone) of the Ramones

Ron Asheton (The Stooges)

Is Johnny Ramone now considered a great guitarist? I mean, he's very influential but great?

Keith could so too solo. I guess most people think he can't for some reason. He did most of the leads when Brian Jones was in the band, check out The Rolling Stones - Rock and Roll Circus for instance.

One of the best guitar solos I,ve heard is Eddie Van Halen on Michael Jackson's hit Beat It.

This thread isn't about the best solos.

Agreed....Keith Richards is a fantastic lead guitarist. Even when master blues guitarist Mick Taylor was in the Stones, Keith still played all of the lead guitar with the band.

I think quite a few people think Keith is a rhythm guitarist because he incorporates quite a few Chuck Berry riffs into his guitar style. Nearly all of Berry's playing was based on chord riffs, even when he was playing lead guitar.

I always found Slash's solos to be over-long, self involved and boring...there...I said it

Maybe not known for being a great guitarist but, to me, some of Neil Youngs solo's are like a cheese grater to the ear.

Cortez the Killer is one of the best solos I've heard.

Well Chuck Berry playing can be broken basically two parts. He does a shuffle on lower strings of Root-5th, Root-6th, & Root-7th, and 2 he does leads and licks like a horn section on the top strings. T-Bone Walker and Louis Jordan were major influences for Chuck Berry. Besides borrowing from Chuck Berry bag of tricks, Keith Richards learn every song by Robert Johnson on guitar. So imo Keith had pretty good foundation for Blues guitar.

I think Bo Diddley would be a good example of a great guitarist who didn't solo much at all. The opposite of Bo would be B.B. King who rather solo and not play rhythm at all.


I think if you could mellow out Neils solos out with delay and reverb and you would have shoegaze.

I understand the significance of some of his work, and the emotion behind it, but I can't listen to his soloing without cringing. A good example would be "Southern Man".

Had to look that one up. You're probably right.

Musicbanter fail.

What? I don't have the need to categorize everything to the nth freakin degree, so I've never heard that term.

So shut up.

Absolutely!
Let's add "Like a Hurricane" while we're on the subject:)

Southern Man is one of his worst solos.

Somebody should totally cover Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) with a shoegaze twist. Maybe I will myself, after I get my electric and improve a bit.

Neil is one of the best soloist ever.

Johnny Ramone could not really play solos but he was great.

Didn't read the rules so I edited cos I can't mention John Lennon.

Kurt, I love his music, but he was not goo guitarist at all. Although maybe he faked a little care