# Gibson Guitar's Top 50 Guitar Solos of All Time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169 "2010-10-05T19:58:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/21 "2010-10-06T10:54:03Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > > > “Free Bird”? You’ve got to be kidding me. > > > > Where is “25 or 6 to 4”? > > This. Terry Kath was a monster. He could play the hell out of a guitar, and he had a great singing voice as well. Kath was such a bad-ass, the testosterone overflow made Peter Cetera seem cool, instead of the ballad-singer sellout he turned out to be. I love their version of, “I’m a Man.” I played “25 or 6 to 4” on 33-1/3 for days on end to learn it note for note. I quit buying Chicago records after they released “Saturday in the Park.” But those first three albums were classics. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/22 "2010-10-06T11:46:52Z")
Folly. The best guitar solo of all time is Television’s “Marquee Moon”. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/23 "2010-10-06T11:53:04Z")
Layla is one of my favorite songs, but there is no way I would call the stoned-out noodling that goes on during the piano segment a guitar solo. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/24 "2010-10-06T13:07:55Z")
It seems like it’s more of a “Most Popular Songs With Guitar Solos” list to me. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/25 "2010-10-06T13:09:46Z")
Aren’t lists fun? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/26 "2010-10-06T13:34:10Z")
> [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > Folly. The best guitar solo of all time is Television’s “Marquee Moon”. Well, there are two solos in that song by two different guitarists and Tom Verlaine’s is at number 40 on the list. That is pretty damn close to number 1, considering all the solos ever recorded. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/27 "2010-10-06T13:38:10Z")
> [@Manwich](#): > > > [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > > > Folly. The best guitar solo of all time is Television’s “Marquee Moon”. > > Well, there are two solos in that song by two different guitarists and Tom Verlaine’s is at number 40 on the list. That is pretty damn close to number 1, considering all the solos ever recorded. Marquee Moon is, indeed, wonderful. I hate that it has the rep of being an insider-guitar-hipster album, so people who know enough about music tend to approach it with an agenda. It’s just a great, listenable, engaging guitar album; like if the Talking Heads went a bit prog… ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/28 "2010-10-06T14:20:09Z")
Mike Stern isn’t on the list at all. Nor is Jan Akkerman. They chose from a very narrow segment of the musical spectrum. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/29 "2010-10-06T15:23:17Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Mike Stern isn’t on the list at all. Nor is Jan Akkerman. > > They chose from a very narrow segment of the musical spectrum. There are non-rock genres that are underrepresented, as was similarly noted in a thread we did on Gibson’s top guitar albums. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/30 "2010-10-06T15:52:48Z")
It’s a little misleading, too - how many brilliant solos have gone unrecorded? The idea that there is only one solo to ‘Stairway to Heaven’, for example - according to Andy Johns, the sound engineer > [@](#): > > I remember Jimmy had a little bit of trouble with the solo on “Stairway to Heaven”… [H]e hadn’t completely figured it out. Nowadays you sometimes spend a whole day doing one thing. Back then, we never did that. We never spent a very long time recording anything. I remember sitting in the control room with Jimmy, he’s standing there next to me and he’d done quite a few passes and it wasn’t going anywhere. I could see he was getting a bit paranoid and so I was getting paranoid. I turned around and said “You’re making me paranoid!” And he said, “No, you’re making me paranoid!” It was a silly circle of paranoia. Then bang! On the next take or two he ripped it out. There are as many solos to Stairway to Heaven as there are times Jimmy Page has played it… That’s one of the things that burns my bottom about the non-inclusion of Frank Zappa in that list. The ‘studio’ recording of ‘Inca Roads’ from ‘One Size Fits All’ to me distills all that was incredible about Zappa’s playing. (Yes, I know that the solo and the rest of the song come from different sources.) And then, there are the solos from 'Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar’ which show how Zappa and the band would take that two chord vamp in totally different directions every time, both sides responding like a vegetable to what each other are doing. One of my personal favourite guitar solo of all time is Andy Summers’ solo from ‘Driven to Tears’. That didn’t get a mention, either. What about ‘Something’ by the Beatles? George Harrison’s finest hour, if you ask me… And put me down as another in the camp that says ‘What about Chet Atkins, Joe Pass, Django, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Bucky Pizzarelli, Les Paul, Lenny Breau,…’ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/31 "2010-10-06T17:10:01Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > That’s one of the things that burns my bottom about the non-inclusion of Frank Zappa in that list. The ‘studio’ recording of ‘Inca Roads’ from ‘One Size Fits All’ to me distills all that was incredible about Zappa’s playing. (Yes, I know that the solo and the rest of the song come from different sources.) And then, there are the solos from 'Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar’ which show how Zappa and the band would take that two chord vamp in totally different directions every time, both sides responding like a vegetable to what each other are doing. Just to be clear, that’s not what is happening on the _Shut Up 'N Play_ albums. AFAIK, none of those tracks was recorded live _as a song_. Frank took various recordings from various shows from various instruments and then edited them together to make the songs on the _Shut Up_ albums. Sometimes more than one track from a recorded performance was used in a song (for instance, the drums and bass and rhythm guitar from one show, flute from another, violin from a third, then Frank would find half an improvised guitar solo he liked, so he’d fit that in, then record the last 15 seconds to overdub the ending of the solo so he could segue it into a bridge or an interlude before the ending, etc. Frank was a genius not just with a guitar or piano, or with writing music, but also at editing. He was my original inspiration for learning to cut and splice tape and then pick up with digital recording and editing. So anyway, what you hear in the _Shut Up_ albums, isn’t necessarily, or even probably, a band responding to it’s members in real time. For that you just have to listen to the actual live recordings of specific concerts, or have them on video. And for that, nothing, but NOTHING, beats the guitar solo from [the live version of _Inca Roads_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cPg7z1pclA) on **The Dub Room Special!** (yes, that’s the one featuring the claymation of Bruce Bickford). ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/32 "2010-10-06T17:57:12Z")
Yes, I remember reading that was how ‘Rubber Shirt’ had been constructed as well as much of 'Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar’. The original version of the ‘Inca Roads’ solo was released on ‘You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2’, if I’m remembering correctly. I’m specifically thinking ‘Gee, I Like Your Pants’ and 'Shut Up ‘n Play Your Guitar Some More’, ones where the solo and the comping slowly morph their way through different rhythmic figures. According to [this site](http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Shut_Up_'N_Play_Yer_Guitar.html), they’re both based on ‘Inca Roads’ and there are no overdubs listed. I think you’re right that Frank _could_ have done that with editing/overdubs, but also Frank kept himself surrounded by extremely responsive musicians who would follow him through some incredibly complex changes. Certainly, something inspired him to go triplet at 5:10 or so of ‘Shut Up… Some More.’ in the concert the solo came from, and if the band hadn’t followed him, there’d have been Hell to pay the next rehearsal/sound check/concert. (‘Whoa, Chester, what were you doing last night?’) ---
**Author:** ![Sanity\_Challenged](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de053/32.png) [@Sanity\_Challenged](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sanity_Challenged)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/33 "2010-10-06T18:26:57Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > _Maggot Brain_ by **Funkadelic** The first thing I thought when I read the thread title was that maybe Maggot Brain would be there, but most likely this would just be a list of the top 50 song titles shouted drunkenly at local classic rock cover bands by mulleted, sleeveless t-shirt wearing knuckle draggers. To the authors of this list: this Bud’s for you. Fuckin’ A! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/34 "2010-10-06T18:41:43Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Yes, I remember reading that was how ‘Rubber Shirt’ had been constructed as well as much of 'Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar’. The original version of the ‘Inca Roads’ solo was released on ‘You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol. 2’, if I’m remembering correctly. > > I’m specifically thinking ‘Gee, I Like Your Pants’ and 'Shut Up ‘n Play Your Guitar Some More’, ones where the solo and the comping slowly morph their way through different rhythmic figures. According to [this site](http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/lyrics/Shut_Up_'N_Play_Yer_Guitar.html), they’re both based on ‘Inca Roads’ and there are no overdubs listed. > > I think you’re right that Frank _could_ have done that with editing/overdubs, but also Frank kept himself surrounded by extremely responsive musicians who would follow him through some incredibly complex changes. Certainly, something inspired him to go triplet at 5:10 or so of ‘Shut Up… Some More.’ in the concert the solo came from, and if the band hadn’t followed him, there’d have been Hell to pay the next rehearsal/sound check/concert. (‘Whoa, Chester, what were you doing last night?’) Yeah, of course Frank wisely surrounded himself with Talent. I just run into a lot of people who think that all 3 of those albums are un-edited, un-dubbed totally live performances, when the truth is much more complex and compelling. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/35 "2010-10-06T18:52:56Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Just to be clear, that’s not what is happening on the _Shut Up 'N Play_ albums. AFAIK, none of those tracks was recorded live _as a song_. Frank took various recordings from various shows from various instruments and then edited them together to make the songs on the _Shut Up_ albums. Sometimes more than one track from a recorded performance was used in a song (for instance, the drums and bass and rhythm guitar from one show, flute from another, violin from a third, then Frank would find half an improvised guitar solo he liked, so he’d fit that in, then record the last 15 seconds to overdub the ending of the solo so he could segue it into a bridge or an interlude before the ending, etc. I think you must be confusing SUNPYG\* with some other items in the Zappa canon. None of the tracks on SUNPYG were constructed that way. Except for the two studio constructions at the end, they are all live solos (with the original accompaniment) extracted from the context of their original songs but not treated to the “xenochrony” technique. \*“Heeeeere…comes…the suuuuuun piiiiig…” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/36 "2010-10-06T18:54:05Z")
Hmmm - seems like there should be a Frank Zappa appreciation thread. This has become like a RRHoFame thread that devolves into a “What’s up with their Rush hate?” pretty much every time… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/37 "2010-10-06T19:47:49Z")
Surprised the guitar solo from Baby’s on Fire by Brian Eno didn’t get a look in. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/38 "2010-10-06T19:51:36Z")
Yeesh, what a horrid committee list. That this one is top ten… 1. “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen (Brian May) …is a head scratcher. I wouldn’t categorize May’s work here as anything close to “guitar solo”, some short interesting fills sure, but not a solo that I would use to point to him as a great guitarist. And to share my own petty disdain, Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) can sneeze a better solo than most of the songs on this list. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/39 "2010-10-06T20:21:38Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > And to share my own petty disdain, Martin Barre (Jethro Tull) can sneeze a better solo than most of the songs on this list. 🙂 I should say. Even if they admitted that it’s really just a list of great solos in classic/hard rock, the omission of “Aqualung” makes it a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gibson-guitars-top-50-guitar-solos-of-all-time/556169/40 "2010-10-06T22:02:21Z")
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