The 10 Greatest Guitar Solos You’ve Never Heard Clint Wells
I
’ve been hearing for
mandated on all pointy gui-
tar was much needed, and
a long time now that
tars with an additional pen-
I am thankful for it. How-
the guitar solo is dead.
alty fee for double necks.
ever, I am equally thankful that the guitar solo is alive
Apparently, while I was eat-
Yet the question re-
ing a bowl of Cheerios in
mains, Is the solo dead?
1990, the solo lost in a fated
Well, of course it isn’t.
duel against Kurt Cobain
Since the beginning of rock
and the flannel-garbed, an-
and roll, each decade has
A guitar solo is rarely an
ti-solo axmen of Seattle. In
had its own unique expres-
island unto itself. I’m aware
some ways this is true. Had
sion of the guitar solo. Al-
that there are still millions
the eighties continued in its
though there were some
of Asian teenagers and ado-
blubbering, spurting muta-
amazing players thriving in
lescent American rednecks
tion of superfluous and over
the eighties ( Johnny Marr,
getting off to “Eruption” at
the top shredding (I’m re-
Robert Smith, Mike Camp-
this very moment. Some-
minded of John Carpenter’s
bell), the decade was one of
where, someone will always
The Thing), the listening
excess, and the guitar solo
buy a Joe Satriani record or
community may have erad-
suffered as badly from that
wear leather pants solely to
icated all guitars from the
unfortunate malady as span-
emulate Yngwie Malms-
Earth simply out of moral
dex, hairspray, and moonlit
teen.
obligation. At the least a
Camaros. The shift of ex-
Don’t get me wrong—I
shred tax would have been
pression from the lead gui-
currently own and still listen
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and well, even if you have to look a little harder for it these days.
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to every record that Steve Vai has released. I’ve
did their jobs, and they’re that fucking good.
been in cover bands for over 10 years churn-
So get out your records, or spare ten bucks
ing out GNR and Zeppelin solos week after
on the interweb, and enjoy these guitar solos
whiskey-drenched week. Trust me. I get it.
with me. I hope you find them as restful to
But a guitar solo is at its best when it
your ears as I do.
serves something g reater tha n itself, namely a good song. That’s what makes this list so interesting. These ten guitar solos are
1. Norah Jones
only as powerful as the context they live in.
“Be Here To Love Me Today”
I don’t gravitate towards technically profi-
Album: Feels Like Home (2004)
A GUITAR cient guitar playing. Instead, I SOLO IS AT ITS prefer the kind BEST WHEN of guitar playing IT SERVES that feels like an SOMETHING extension of the lyric—to have GREATER THAN sung all you can ITSELF. sing and helplessly look down at your hands for a new avenue of expression. Prince once said that if you want to understand his guitar playing then listen to Aretha Franklin. That is precisely what this list is about. Perhaps you have heard the songs on this list. Although most are back catalogue
Guitarist: Adam R. Levy Time: 1:40 - 2:05
Every time I hear Levy’s solo I can’t help but think, “I could probably learn a lot from this guy.” Not just how to play the guitar like a Jedi, but also how to repair an engine, plow a field, or drink really old Scotch. This solo just feels like it is being played by wise hands.
Every
phrase
tells its own story while simultaneously continuing the story of this wonderful Townes Van Zandt lyric.
tracks, I intentionally avoided super obscure artists. You likely have records by Norah Jones, Emmylou Harris, and Kiss (if not, you should!), but I doubt you remember the guitar solos. It’s okay. I forgive you. Because all that really means is that the guitar players fourwallsdown.com
2. Guster “Ruby Falls”
Album: Ganging Up On the Sun (2006) Guitarist: Joe Pisapia Time: 2:20 – 2:52
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Two words: whammy
choices. I’ve never been in one of the private
pedal. No wait, three words:
backrooms at a gentleman’s club, but I bet
Simultaneous
this song is currently playing in every single
whammy
pedals! The “Ruby Falls”
one of them.
solo comes out of nowhere, like a crack of thunder, and is awesomely re-
4. The Damnwells
lentless. The highest compliment I can pay
“I Will Keep The Bad Things From You”
to Joe Pisapia is that his solo sounds like
Album: Bastards of the Beat (2003)
what The Beatles would have done with a
Guitarist: Alex Denzen [also lead singer]
whammy pedal.
3. U2
“If You Wear That Velvet Dress”
Time: 2:26 - 2:55
When Bastards of the Beat first came out I was having a drink with The
Album: Pop (1997)
Damnwells’s lead guitar
Guitarist: The Edge
player, David Chernis. I
Time: 2:32 - 3:19
specifically asked him about “I Will Keep
U2 spent the eighties
the Bad Things From You” and its solo, be-
completely oblivious to their
cause it blew me away the first time I heard
own sex appeal, which just
it. His first response was humorous to me:
made them that much sexier.
“That song is on the record?” I assured him
In the nineties, though, they
it was, and he said, “Oh yeah, Alex just did
knew they were sexy and
all of that himself,” which makes perfect
well, that just made them
sense. Like several on this list, this solo
sexier still, an evolution
feels like a singer with guitar strings for vo-
that underscores the argu-
cal chords, plugged into an AC-30 and, of
ment that the band spent
course, drenched in reverb.
the eighties fighting excess and the nineties indulging it. Buried in the back half of Pop, U2’s most extravagant record, is this quiet, devastating lounge tune. And buried in this lounge tune
5. Emmylou Harris “Wrecking Ball”
Album: Wrecking Ball (1995)
is this quiet, devastating solo with infinite de-
Guitarist: Daniel Lanois
lay feedback, strange bends, and quirky note
Time: Whole Song
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What, other than greatness, do you expect to get
song slays me, but the solo is easily the most devastating part.
when you mix a Neil Young tune
with
Emmylou’s
7. Ryan Adams
voice and Lanois’s guitar?
“The Shadowlands”
“Wrecking Ball” is a won-
Album: Love Is Hell (2004)
derful example of how the
Guitarist: Johnny McNabb
guitar can actually make you feel like you’re on another
landscape.
There
is not a single misstep in this entire track. Lanois’s touch is perfect, his tone is other worldly, and that melody is
Time: 3:36 – 5:18
For the first three minutes, “The Shadowlands” is simply a haunting piano ballad. Then, as Ryan sadly croons the titular line of the
timeless. Enjoy!
song, a band creeps in, and McNabb fills out
6. Andrew Osenga
guitar solo. It’s clean, thoughtful, lyrical,
“We Were Sure We Would Change The World”
the space of the track with a lovely, warm and such a sweet payoff after trudging with Ryan through his beautiful but brutal story.
Album: Photographs (2002)
If you somehow merged this guitar moment
Guitarist: Andrew Osenga
with any Sade record, you could convince
Time: 3:21 – 4:03
anyone to fall in love with you based solely
“We Were Sure We Would Change the World”
on neuron synapses in the pleasure center of the brain.
features one of the most interesting solos I have ever heard. It’s basically a third verse but digs much deeper into the emotion of the lyric. With
8. Roman Candle “One
More Road”
Album: Oh Tall Tree in the Ear (2009)
the help of a memory man and
Guitarist: Logan Methany
a micro synthesizer, this song
Time: 2:52 – 3:25
finally has its moment of angst
What is the most amazing thing about the
and frustration that the verses and chorus
“One More Road” solo? Is it that every note is
hint at but never quite land on. This whole
perfect? Is it the warm, raw tone? Is it the fact
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that it takes a song that already tests the very limits of rock awesomeness one step further? No. What makes this solo so amazing is that it was played by Logan Methany,
anthropomorphic audio representation of the song’s main character, which is why it sounds so devastating and perfect.
10. Kiss
“Strange Ways” Album: Hotter Than Hell (1974)
the band’s drummer.
Guitarist – Ace Frehley
This kind of infor-
Time: 2:16 – 2:55
mation sends a shiv-
Although Kiss often had
er down the spine of any self-reflective guitar
a futuristic aesthetic, they
player, but it’s a good shiver and one I appreci-
are the only band I can think
ate. “One More Road” will likely always find its
of that has always sounded
way into every rock mix I ever make for anyone
staunchly
I even remotely care about. That’s how much I
when they were making
dig it.
“edgier” music (“I Was
seventies.
Even
Made for Loving You
9. Pedro the Lion
Babe” doesn’t count!) their
“Keep Swinging”
tones were still wrapped
Album: Achilles’ Heel (2004)
in the fabric of that brown
Guitarist: David Bazan
sound decade. “Strange
Time: 1:34 – 2:02
There are many things I love about “Keep Swinging”: the groove, the lyric, the unusual harmonies. The solo, though, has always stood out to me as the most interesting moment by far. There’s so much space to breathe and it feels so raw and spontaneous, like the guitar is lurching along and all Bazan could do to
Ways” is the last track from the second (and my favorite) Kiss record, Hotter than Hell. Megadeth’s Marty Friedman once remarked that after 20 years of being a professional metal guitarist, he was still mystified by this solo. It is the only moment where Kiss sounds like the future to me, and the only thing more badass than the solo is Peter Criss’s vocal performance.
control it was squeak out these few precious and immaculately placed notes. The solo is an fourwallsdown.com
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