The opening sequence to 2112, all of La Villa Strangiato, the solo to The Camera Eye, The Analog Kid,…blah blah blah…Hemespheres…blah blah Jacob’s Ladder…blah, by Rush
Eruption by Eddie Van Halen.
Most of SRV’s stuff.
Eric Clapton’s lick on Layla.
Ritchie Havens knows how to play guitar, as well as sing, only one way: the right way, as evident in his renditions of “Just Like a Woman” and “Here Comes the Sun”.
I saw this thread and had one thing in mind.
Goboy beat me to it.
The final solo in Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb”. Just can’t hear that without cranking some major decibels.
“Even It Up”, by Heart. Sorry, but Heart and Aerosmith are the only bands that need to be mentioned from the Seventies, and since we’re talking riffs and solos, Seventies hard rock is the only music style that needs to be mentioned (So there! 
)
Beyond that, there was a local punk band in Houston in the Eighties called Really Red. Kelly Green’s solo in “Balance of Terror” off of Teaching You the Fear is possibly the best hard rock solo I’ve heard, perhaps because of how basic it is and how the song leads up to it (and no, I’m not just listing this to be obscure.)
(Ok, maybe I am.)
Thought of another one…
Bring the Noise by Anthrax,especially the version they did with Public Enemy.
The ‘Johny B. Goode’ riff in 'Back to the future.
Brian May - ‘I’m in Love with My Car’
And for blues: Jr. Brown - ‘Stupid Blues’ Ouch!!!
More suggestions here and here.
I would like to state that in this case, there’s no opinion. This has an actual answer, and goboy nailed it.
The greatest guitar solo (OK, they’re 2 solos, actually) of all time is David Gilmour in Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb.
End of story. 
“Magic Man” by Heart.
“South City Midnight Lady” by the Doobie Brothers has three different nice little guitar solos in it.
Clapton in his version of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Allright.” It brilliantly mirrors the mixed emotions of the song and sends a shiver down my spine just thinking about it.
**hardygrrl **said:
Eep.
Hate to interject, but “Bring the Noise” is by Public Enemy, not vice versa. The original can be found on their stellar 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
And all this talk about G’n’R and I can’t believe no one has mentioned “Mr. Brownstone.” That song rules on a plane that has been untouched by man since. 
The riff is so killer.
I’ll nominate “Start Choppin’” by Dinosaur Jr. Oh, and Peter Buck creates some majesty with a few notes on R.E.M.'s “Flowers Of Guatemala.”
Back to Shalla-Bal by Joe Satriani. Technically, it’s cheating, but it’s so goooooooood.
Walk this Way, Aerosmith, is just so sassy. Joe Perry also does great stuff on ‘Cheesecake’ with the slide guitar, ‘Three Mile Smile’ and more great slide on ‘Monkey on my Back’.
I love the lick from ‘Blister in the Sun’ by Violent Femmes, it is just so retardedly cool.
And I will agree on the solos in ‘Comfortably Numb’, but only the version from the live cd ‘Delicate Sound of Thunder’ because that version rocks like no other.
Another one for Mick Ronson. I like his playing on the live version of Sympathy for the Devil (from the Rolling Stones -“Get you Ya Ya out” disk.
Stop Choppin’ was a good vote.
Another one is the guitar lick on Don’t Call me Daughter by Pearl Jam.
Yeah! People can rip on the song all they want, but that solo is one of the best in rock history. I hate that radio stations nearly always play the short version, clipping most of it out.
The Beatles had some great solos in their later work, but a couple that really stand out are George’s work in “Dig A Pony,” “Old Brown Shoe” and “Savoy Truffle.” Good stuff there.
The best riff ever is from Led Zeppelin’s “Livin’ Lovin’ Maid,” so there.
of course.
“Boll Weevil Blues” by Charlie Patton just kills me.
“Please Don’t Tell Her” (is that the name of the song?) by
Poi Dog Pondering has a wonderful, loping solo.
“F Hole” by Squeeze has some amazing stuff. Glenn Tilbrook
has a lot of amazing guitar work that doesn’t call
attention to itself - I guess it’s just not mixed high, or
something.
“And Your Bird Can Sing” - I don’t know if it’s George
Harrison or John Lennon, and I think it was double-tracked,
but WOW.
Eddie Van Halen’s solo from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It”
Joe Satriani - “The Phone Call”
Billy Gibbons - “Apologies To Pearly”
Steve Vai - “Wipeout”
Aerosmith - “Walk This Way”
The list goes on…
I totally agree with hardygrrl about Sweet Child o Mine, one of my all time favourite songs.
Slash is a cool guitarist. I love the riff in Knocking on Heaven’s Door too.
Others I like include:
Don’t Tread on me by Metallica
Sad but true by Metallica
One by Metallica
Orion by Metallica
Evenflow by Pearl Jam
Voodoo Child by Jimmy Hendrix, the opening riff just rocks.
The Memory Remains by Metallica
There are prolly loads of others that I can’t think of right now, but those will do for the moment.
Hmmm, seems to be an abundance of Metallica there
:heading off to put some on now:
Rick
“Funk #49”, Joe Walsh/James Gang. I’ve always dug that.
“Ain’t Superstitious”, Jeff Beck.
And more for sentimental reasons than musical ones, the part of “The End” where John, Paul, and George take turns doing a few bars (or more accurately, Paul-George-John).
And here I thought I was going to be Captain Cool and be the only person on the boards to sing the praises of The Knack. I was just listening to that solo on headphones cranked way the hell up and every single time I listen to it I can’t help but wonder at how much it kicks major boo-tay!!
I also have throw a Hidey-ho out to KISS’s Shock Me on the Love Gun album. As a private in the Kiss Army, that was my personal moment of nirvana when I was a kid. Ace was my god and that solo was the meaning of life.