Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Let's name the solos that get us all excited but don't last for hours. The solo's which are a good solid punch in the face because they are short and effective.

"Nowhere man" The Beatles.
Players: George Harrison and John Lennon.
This one has to be my all time favorite Beatles guitar solo. Lennon and Harrison playing unisolo with a very bright Fender Strat sound, one could easily play this one by himself (as Harrison proved when this song was performed live) but it's just that sound of two very different players playing exactly the same thing that makes this one special and of course it ends with that lovely litle "Ping" flageolette on Harrison's high E string.

"Cinnamon girl" Neil Young.
Just one note, what more do you need?

"In Too Deep" Sum 41
Player: Dave "Brown sound" Baksh
Every once in a while a band shows up who are not afraid to show off chops and Sum 41 was once of those bands. Baksh' solo on this track is a very short one barely lasting two bars but what he plays is good and virtuosic.

"Life on mars' David Bowie
Player: Mick Ronson.
Possibly the shortest one in my list but oh so sweet.

"When it's love" Van Halen
Player: Eddie Van Halen.
This one stands out because EVH did one step backwards and played a very simple Clapton-like solo, no fancy tricks, no two hand tapping, just a real tippping-his-hat to slowhand kind of thing, the solo itself is similar to Clapton's solo on "Sunshine of your love"

Finally one solo that was so great it had to be repeated four times.

"Five To One" The Doors
Player Robby Krieger
"She" Kiss
Player: Ace Frehley
"Alive" Pearl jam
Player: Stone Gossard
"Is there any love in your heart?" Lenny Kravitz
Player: Probably Kravitz himself
Krieger had apparently struck a solo so right that it appeared on songs totally different from the one he wrote it for but it works in all incarnations.

I love the solos on "Taxman" and "Good Morning Good Morning" which I believe are by McCartney. Only the finest British hallucinatory sound.

Hard Day's Night. Definitley more, let me go through iTunes...

That was Paul alright but I think he was just going ape on his guitar.

Another good example of his playing are the lead breaks in "Ticket to ride" where he does some sweet sounding bends.

Okay, one last Beatles: opening lead guitar on "Sgt Pepper's LHB". Slays me.

"Help Me Rhonda", which is definitley on an electric 12 and very possibly a 360/12.

Pete's lead breaks on "I Can't Explain".

Johnny Marr on "Shoplifters Of The World Unite", if you wanna call what happens at 1:42 a "solo". I do.

Jonny Greenwood in "Paranoid Android" (A little long, though), "My Iron Lung", and "Just".

James Honeyman-Scott on "Message of Love" with his 360/12.

The Jam - "The Modern World".

Peter Buck on the Replacements' "I Will Dare", from 1984.

All the other songs listed so far are fine choices!!!!

My Generation

Nowhere Man

My Back Pages (Byrds' cover)

Highway Star.

Ritchie Blackmore or Ron P!

Skunk Baxter's "Reelin' In The Years" intro

Pink Floyd, "Sheep", the guitar duet

Random lead licks in "Sympathy for the Devil"

Frank Zappa's short perfect solo in "Dirty Love"

Elliott Easton in the middle of the Cars' "Shake It Up."

Those tidy little bends on Back In The USSR do it for me every time.

I thought of some more.

"Heart shaped box" - Nirvana
Player: Kurt Cobain
I don't get how people got the idea that it was bands like Nirvana that killed off the guitar solo when all of Nirvana's songs have solos in them. Cobain was no virtuoso and this one was nothing more than him playing along with (Bassplayer) Chris Novoselic's bassline but with a very fuzzed up and cool sound.

The first solo in "whipping boy" - Ben Harper
Player: Ben Harper himself.
The first time I heard this one I did a double take "What was that?" Harper's clear stinging accoustic Lap steel sound really caught my attention. He followes the vocal melody but with so much attitude.

"Bitter fruit" - Little Steven van Zandt
Player: Little Steven Van Zandt
I always loved this song and Van Zandt plays a solo really fitting to the message, quick and painless.

"True men don't kill coyotes" - Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Player: Jack Sherman
From their very first album. Jack Sherman's solo consists of only a couple of bends and two or three riffs but he delivers them vith vigor and nastiness. Of all guitarists that the RHCP had Sherman was the one most obviously Zappa influenced. According to Anthony Kiedis' biography, he totally worked out his solos in advance.

"Fight like a brave" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Player: Hillel Slovak.
If Jack Sherman was the one who thought out his Zappa style solos in advance, Slovak was the one who just went for it full speed and just played what came to mind. This one has him "Hendrix-ing" all over the thing but he doesn't actually play much, just some random riffs and a few stinging bends.

"Suck my kiss" - Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Player: John Frusciante
As was the case with Slovak, Frusciante is the kind of player that plays whatever comes to mind, in this one he plugs his stratocaster streight into the board resulting in a very nasty razor thin tone. He plays a couple of quick riffs and that's all. One of his greatest solos IMHO.