Niglett

A few months ago, I got really addicted to guitar solos. So I went on an internet hunt trying to get other websites' opinions on which ones are the greatest. Websites like digitaldreamdoor.com and the Guitar World website really helped a lot, but in the end, it was my own opinion that sealed the deal. Now of course, this isn't a "definitive" list, just my opinion, and I felt that I should post this somewhere to get exposure. It's a good list that includes solos that are great (duh), but also popular. The songs themselves are popular, I'm sure. I mean yeah, I could've put a bunch of 10 minutes solos up here that nobody's ever heard of, but what's the point in that?

Anyways, without further ado:

Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin
Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Maggot Brain – Funkadelic
Eruption – Van Halen
Crossroads – Cream
All Along the Watchtower – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Hotel California – Eagles
Texas Flood – Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
November Rain – Guns N’ Roses
Highway Star – Deep Purple
Layla – Derek & the Dominos
Voodoo Child (Slight Return) – The Jimi Hendrix Experience
One – Metallica
Cliffs of Dover – Eric Johnson
Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
Time – Pink Floyd
For the Love of God – Steve Vai
Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen
Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers – Jeff Beck
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses
Mr. Crowley – Ozzy Osbourne
Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits
Heartbreaker – Led Zeppelin
Surfing With the Alien – Joe Satriani
Beat It – Michael Jackson
Since I’ve Been Loving You – Led Zeppelin
Aqualung – Jethro Tull
Alive – Pearl Jam
Blue Sky – The Allman Brothers Band
Satch Boogie – Joe Satriani
No More Tears – Ozzy Osbourne
Lazy – Deep Purple
Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Fade to Black – Metallica
Stranglehold – Ted Nugent
Money – Pink Floyd
Let’s Go Crazy – Prince
Brighton Rock – Queen
Whole Lotta Love – Led Zeppelin
Master of Puppets – Metallica
Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac
War Pigs – Black Sabbath
Tornado of Souls – Megadeth
The Star Spangled Banner – Jimi Hendrix
Black Star – Yngwie Malmsteen
Jessica – The Allman Brothers Band
Mean Street – Van Halen
Purple Rain – Prince
While My Guitar Gently Weeps – The Beatles
Working Man – Rush
Green Grass and High Tides – Outlaws
Europa (Earth’s Cry Heaven’s Smile) – Santana
Walk This Way – Aerosmith
Machine Gun – Jimi Hendrix
Man in the Box – Alice in Chains
Killer Queen – Queen
Paranoid – Black Sabbath
Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones
Hot for Teacher – Van Halen
2 Minutes to Midnight – Iron Maiden
Sharp Dressed Man – ZZ Top
Cult of Personality – Living Colour
Dazed and Confused – Led Zeppelin
Whipping Post – The Allman Brothers Band
Love Removal Machine – The Cult
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) – Metallica
Reelin’ in the Years – Steely Dan
Cocaine – Eric Clapton
Black Hole Sun – Soundgarden
Enter Sandman – Metallica
Ramblin’ Man – The Allman Brothers Band
Love in an Elevator – Aerosmith
White Room – Cream
25 or 6 to 4 – Chicago
(Don’t Fear) the Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
Hangar 18 – Megadeth
Rock You Like a Hurricane – Scorpions
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
All Right Now – Free
Painkiller – Judas Priest
Black Magic Woman – Santana
Sunshine of Your Love – Cream
Round and Round – Ratt
Any Way You Want It – Journey
Carry On Wayward Son – Kansas
Achilles Last Stand – Led Zeppelin
Let It Rain – Eric Clapton
YYZ – Rush
Heartbreaker – Pat Benatar
Paradise City – Guns N’ Roses
The Final Countdown – Europe
21st Century Schizoid Man – King Crimson
Shock Me – KISS
Won’t Get Fooled Again – The Who
Light My Fire – The Doors
Talk Dirty to Me – Poison
Play With Me – Extreme
We Will Rock You – Queen
Scuttle Buttin’ – Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

Please let me know what you think!

Niglett

'Sup guys. I'm kinda new here, but I joined so I could get a list that I compiled myself exposed up here. It actually deals with (in my opinion) the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. So if you guys would be kind enough to offer your input on it, by all means, please do.

As for my input on this thread, the best to me is Stairway. Not only is the solo, by itself, really good, but the song is so good that it can build perfectly INTO the solo, which makes the solo even better.

Insane Guest

Absolutly not!!! Did you simply copy & paste the ****ing Guitar Hero songs?
I admit there are fantastic solos in that list, but none by far the best.
Time, Play With Me, Light My Fire, Black Hole Sun, The Final Countdown, and others, they are decent, but nothing special. These days you play any metal or rock song, and you get a cool sounding guitar solo. I can sit here listing thousands of songs with guitar solos. Just because they are fast and melt your face off, doesn't mean they are the greatest. Rock You Like A Hurricane? REALLY?

ThePhanastasio

I think that any list with "best" in the title if listed by individuals is naturally going to be completely subjective. Everyone has different taste in music, and what might be a splendid, technically sound solo in most respects may still not sound all that great to everyone. Likewise, some solos may not be the most dynamic, but they may evoke a stronger emotional response from some people than others. Ah, music.

Here is my entirely subjective list of guitar solos:

(In no particular order)
Phish - Run Like an Antelope
Richard Thompson - Gethsemane
Queen - Innuendo
Jimi Hendrix Experience - Manic Depression
Trey Anastasio - 18 Steps
Gov't Mule - Thorazine Shuffle
The Allman Brothers Band - Jessica
The Grateful Dead - Terrapin Station, Pt. 1

fooruky

It might be because I heard Time on mushrooms but that solo evoked a huge emotional response from me, Gilmour really did a great job on that one. Oh and I think that dude Niglett copied the Rolling Stone top 100 solos, and you can't really count on that magazine to compile a good list of anything.

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jackhammer

Poison? Poison? on a best guitar solo list? Doesn't anybody at least try and step out of their comfort zone and listen to something less known once in a while. That list is atrocious.

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Insane Guest

My point exactly. I wouldn't be close to listing The best guitar solos, I could list my favorite, but not the best because I simply haven't listened to them yet. You can tell when a guitar solo is truly amazing, not just cause it's hard to play, but it was perfectly written, and performed by a true player, and not Matt Smith.

@fooruky

Same here, except I heard Comfortably Numb, which I had heard before, but when on mushrooms it became one of MY all time favorites.

The Bullet

A lot of those are good, but a lot of those have me scratching my head. ("We Will Rock You", one of the greatest guitar solos of all time? WHAT?)

Stairway to Heaven, November Rain, One, Layla, Fade to Black, Paradise City... I'm totally with you there. But, out of the one's I've heard, at least a third of them... sometimes I wonder about you...

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Unknown Soldier

Hahahaha Sure the list has some very well known classic solos, but any list that includes stuff by Europe, Kiss and Poison is not going to be taken seriously. As said above it looks like a cut and paste job from something like Guitar Hero.

Zaqarbal

Ehmm... to know more music and enjoy it, perhaps? For instance, it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a look outside the Anglosphere. I haven't heard enough Swedish, German, Japanese or French rock music, so maybe I'm wrong about this, but I think many of the best bands and guitarists outside the Anglosphere are from Argentina and Spain. Have you listened to the two amazing Argies I mentioned here? And also, for example, Obús, Leño or Ilegales (Spain):

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