Top 20 Greatest Guitar Solos

On New Year’s Day 1980, Rush dropped their seventh studio album entitled Permanent Waves, and with this track about one’s right to choose between pain or pleasure in life, guitarist Alex Lifeson exhibited his free will to thoroughly shred with the spectacular solo. When you’re playing with someone like this, you need to keep your distance, as Geddy Lee can certainly attest to, and Lifeson himself has recognized “Freewill” as one of his favorite solos. In fact, when the band originally threw down in the studio, he was only trying to keep up with the rest of the band, and well, he succeeded.

For the lead single off their 1992 debut album, Rage Against the Machine relied on some repetitive phrasing to drive home their political message of institutional racism. Oh, and they also relied on the impressive guitar talents of one Tom Morello who gave us a “Drop D” riff that channeled the intensity of the lyrics. You gotta love how Morello shows complete control while still giving into the powerful sound. He came up with the riff while teaching guitar lessons and his Whammy-pedal based solo subsequently provided a master class to fellow artists.

It only made sense for the White Stripes to kick it old school for their seventh and final album. For the lead single, the band played off of the British phrase “Ecky Thump,” which actually means “Oh, God.” And when Jack White hits the solo after singing about a cryptic trip to Mexico, well he made us believe in a new religion, and it was called “Icky Thump.” It’s hectic, it’s relentless and it’s that classic White Stripes sound.

With “Smoke on the Water,” the Deep Purple guitarist paved the way for classical music in blues-rock and brought to life one of the best heavy metal riffs in history. But when it comes to solos, it’s hard to overlook “Highway Star.” Machine Head’s fastest track also contains an organ solo by Jon Lord, but it’s Blackmore’s classically-inspired guitar piece that’s the “killing machine, it’s got everything.”

When the Dire Straits hit the music scene in the late 70s, critics often compared their lyrical and vocal styling to Bob Dylan, but with all due respect to Mr. Dylan, he never busted out any guitar solos quite like this. Based on a chilled-out band that frontman Mark Knopfler saw play in South London, “Sultans of Swing” is smooth to the core, and that’s how Knopfler approached his sprawling solo. Showcasing Knopfler’s unique fingerstyle chops, this solo solidified Dire Straits as an influential sound in rock.

By 1997, many rocks fans saw Radiohead as a byword for depression, and while that may be the case for some of their tracks, “Paranoid Android” poked fun at the idea with a reference to a character from “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Recorded at Jane Seymour's ancient English mansion and influenced on a spiritual level by the Beatles' “Happiness is a Warm Gun”, Queen, and the Pixies, this mini-epic sees Jonny Greenwood torture a poor, unsuspecting Telecaster into giving two solos worth of fuzzy, distorted beauty.

As one of the greatest guitarists of all time, it’s no surprise Clapton’s got a number of signature solos to his name. While he and Duane Allman made history with “Layla”’s signature sound, it’s with Cream’s “Crossroads” solo that he really nails it. In fact, this hard-rock arrangement of Robert Johnson’s original blues tune is so good we think Slowhand may have signed a deal with the Devil too.

Guitarists are known to have a special relationship to their instruments but none are more special than that of Brian May and “the Red Special”. Built by May and his father, the homemade guitar has been the fifth member of Queen since day one. With a bond that tight you know Mr May and company are going to find a way to show that baby off. What better way than with a three-minute solo crying, moaning, and screaming out from a wall of Vox amps?

With their remarkable solos and defiant rock ‘n’ roll swagger, Lynyrd Skynyrd became fixtures of the southern rock scene. It’s because of this cut off “Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd” that the band first became household names across America. Due in no small part to its structure – half ballad, half up-tempo guitar solo – “Free Bird” also became their second top 40 hit, keeping crowds pumped for decades.

A monumental monster ballad needs an equally heroic guitar solo. While this song was originally released in 1992, it dates all the way back to the early 80s and even pre-dates the band but when Use Your Illusion hit stores in 1991 the long, slow birth was proved to be worthwhile. GNR fans listened patiently through the first nine tracks, before Slash made it rain with his trilogy of soulful solos in the nine-minute “November Rain.”

Randy Rhoads exploded into the heavy metal universe after giving Ozzy Osbourne’s music a new lease on life. And while “Crazy Train” off Blizzard of Ozz features one of the genre’s most iconic riffs, it’s actually that album’s second single that captures Rhoads’ guitar skills best. “Mr. Crowley” contains not one, not two, but three standout guitar moments; but the masterpiece’s climax is the outro solo.

At 17 minutes lengths, this isn’t your typical rock song, but then again, Pink Floyd isn't your typical rock band. Originally titled “You've Got to Be Crazy,” the song took on another form within the structural framework of the 1977 album Animals. Serving as a warning about the effects of business on personal lives, David Gilmour channelled the joys and pains of humanity into mournful, saturated, and harmonically textured guitar solo. Although sonically quite different Gilmour's playing reached a level of emotion rivaled only by the band's earlier epic, “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”

With Freddie Mercury’s theatrical vocals and lively stage presence and May’s virtuoso guitar abilities, Queen scored big overseas thanks to “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Featuring elements of hard rock, balladry, and opera, its unconventional style initially baffled critics. But today, it’s one of the Brits’ most popular songs. It’s in this melodic, chorus-less tune that May played one of the most incredible axe solos ever – and the song wouldn’t be the same without it.

When folk-rocker Jackson Browne caught a show at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival, he discovered a Texas guitarist by the name of Stevie Ray Vaughan and soon invited the guitar slinger to record in his personal studio. From those sessions sprang “Texas Flood”, an old blues song given the Stevie Ray progressive blues treatment. The song, and it's hot-as-Texas guitar solos remained a Stevie Ray Vaughn concert staple for the duration of this legend’s tragically short career.

You can’t talk guitar solos without mentioning “Eruption”. But it’s also hard to ignore this solo from a Billboard number one song. By 1983, Michael Jackson had already transcended racial barriers within the music industry, but with his hit “Beat It,” he grabbed attention from people of all races and ages courtesy of a killer solo from special guest Eddie Van Halen. While the guitarist wasn’t allowed to appear in the iconic music video thanks to his label, he still lent his rock and roll gifts for free, thus providing the perfect grit to Michael Jackson’s crossover hit.

After “One of These Nights” set these country and folk-influenced rockers on pace to live “life in the fast lane,” the Eagles produced another number one with Hotel California. That record spawned the smooth and soulful title track that classic rock radio stations won’t let us forget: aside from its surrealist lyrics, “Hotel California” showcases some of the most memorable electric guitar chemistry ever between Felder and Walsh.

While Slash stood out on a wide array of G N’ R songs – from “Nightrain” to the aforementioned “November Rain,” just to name a few – it’s “Sweet Child o’ Mine” that really set the stage for the band’s later work. Though it's brilliant intro riff was conceived as a joke, the track’s chart-topping success and incredible solo were anything but. Its parent album, Appetite for Destruction, also became the best-selling debut in American history.

Though “Little Wing” or “Voodoo Child” could’ve easily made this list, it’s the Seattle rocker’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower” that lands here. The Jimi Hendrix Experience gave Bob Dylan’s folk rock original a psychedelic rock spin, which included a killer guitar solo that helped Hendrix earn his only top 20 American hit. Even Dylan was inspired: his later performances of the track were influenced by Jimi’s version.

Though “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” is sometimes cited, it’s with The Wall’s third single that Pink Floyd ensured fans weren’t “comfortably numb” to their music. They may’ve been known for introspective lyrics and effects-heavy, extravagant shows, but their sound wouldn’t be the same without Gilmour. His evocative, blues-inspired guitar on “Comfortably Numb”’s two solos, especially the final one, helped solidify the band’s popularity and success.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Carlos Santana from Santana
“Black Magic Woman”

Duane Allman & Dickey Betts from The Allman Brothers Band
“Blue Sky”

Synyster Gates & Zacky Vengeance from Avenged Sevenfold
“Bat Country”

Eric Johnson
“Cliffs of Dover”

Tosin Abasi from Animals As Leaders
“CAFO”

It's quite fashionable to knock and hate Led Zeppelin's radio staple, “Stairway to Heaven,” but no list of the top guitar solos would be complete without it. With Plant’s bluesy vocals, and Bonham’s thunderous bass drum, you’ve got an unmatched sound blending blues, hard rock and folk. However, it’s Page’s complex guitar work during the song’s climax that’s truly left an immeasurable and all-encompassing influence on later artists.