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What's yours?

There's no bonus points for obscurity here. I don't give a crap if your favorite is Stairway or JoeBob's Cult-Followed Indie Band.

For me, it's without a doubt Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd, the Delicate Sound of Thunder version.

Is this even a debate? By far my favorite solo to play.

I also love Angus Young live solos

Phil Keaggy does some of the most amazing guitar work I've heard, but sadly nothing I've found on YouTube matches what I've seen live. When I saw him in 2002 he did live sampling off of an acoustic guitar, and the accompanied himself, which was pretty cool, especially when he used the guitar mike to record him shouting into the guitar body as part of the music. It was crazy awesome.

It really doesn't count as a solo, but I rather tune out the rest of the instruments when I listen to the last half of Neil Young's Change Your Mind.

Watch at the end when Prince just throws his guitar up in the air and it disappears. Until I saw this video, I didn't know that little guy could shred like that.

One of my favorite performances of a guitar solo of all time was off the Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock DVD during the song Message To Love:



Starting around 3:38 onwards is one of the gnarliest things I have ever had penetrate my ears. First time I heard/saw that shit, you could have knocked my ass down with a feather. Hendrix was a fucking beast. He made that shit bellow, made it talk.

Eddie Hazel and Mike Hampton also had some of my all-time favorite solos, notable amongst them Eddie Hazel's masterpiece Maggot Brain:



And Michael Hampton (who also appeared alongside Eddie in that live clip) had some great stuff, too (check out 7:02):



It was amazing how many talented guitarists George Clinton surrounded himself with. Another solo to which I'm partial takes place in a clip in which Hampton met a technical malfunction and Gary 'Diaperman' Shider had to jump in with a laidback, funky piece of improvisation to carry the song the rest of the way. Even Funkadelic's supporting guitarists could play that shit (4:47):



Speaking of Cosmic Slop, this is clearly the greatest hat ever worn during a guitar solo:

Stupid video, great song.

I'll dig into my favorites bag for a few.

Andy McKee:


SRV: (Honestly, how is he not in this thread yet?)

(the glory stuff starts around the 2:40 mark)

--Patrick

SRV was definitely another beast of a guitarist:

My favorite solo would have to be Eruption. I also really dig me some Satch:



Also? Here's some "Captain" Kirk Douglas. Skip the first minute.

Alternately, if you want actual video to go with it,

So many to choose from. I can't really link a video, since it was at a concert I went to, but Foo Fighters slapped a big old solo chain into Stacked Actors that was amazing.

As for recorded albums, there's the always popular Stairway, obviously. It's timeless. I also enjoy the solos in The Darkness' first album, Permission To Land. It's hard to choose one, but I'd go with I Believe In A Thing Called Love. Also, it's not a solo but the main riffs in Justin Hawkins' new band Hot Leg's song I Met Jesus are tasty.

These are all great but do they have motherfucking nun-chucks?

I didn't put a video up for mine. Go to about 5:00 here:

I totally agree. That's what makes metal solos a bit boring. Half the time they're just pick-swept or finger-tapped arpeggios.

Oh yeah, and then there's this guy.



First time I discovered that video, I was amazed.
I'm still amazed, it's just not as surprising any more.

--Patrick

My favorite of all time is the studio version of Pearl Jam's "Alive". For me, it first the song perfectly. I love it every time I listen to it.

Re: the kid in the post or two above mine, I used to go to a church where this kid played these amazing guitar pieces...things I can never dream of doing. He could play the song perfectly, but couldn't "play" the guitar, if you know what I mean. He knew the patterns, his fingers could move gracefully, but he couldn't play anything else. And, praise & worship music is simple. There was no improvisation...no ability to take the things he knew and apply to anything else other than the patterns he learned and would eventually get. I'd much rather have someone who can do something with the musical knowledge they've learned over some twit who can only recreate something else because they've memorized how to do it. The funny/ironic thing about he and I? I yearned to be able to play the runs that he played while he wished that he could do the simple things that I do.

/rant

Holy crap. That was incredible.

You should check out , too.

--Patrick

STP- Lady Picture Show. Just uber relaxing.

Brad Dharma, Veteran of the Psychic Wars

Pretty much anything by these two:

Jim Bonham in Moby Dick

Steely Dan "Kid Charlemagne"

Judas Priest "Painkiller"