The best guitar solo in history?

[guitarkatana]

John Petrucci-"Finally Free" very heart felt.
Meshuggah-"Straws Pulled At Random" very simple but majestic.
Kamelot-"The Spell" dark and powerful.
Steve Vai-"For The Love Of God" probably the most well written solo I've ever heard.

[jem7vwh]

Hmm... I can't even narrow it down to best per artist

Eric Johnson "Cliffs of Dover", "Manhattan", "Lonely in the Night"
Steve Vai "Big Trouble", "Juice", "Ladies Night in Buffalo", "Tender Surrender", "Windows to the Soul"
Van Halen "Hot for Teacher", "Push Comes to Shove", "Little Dreamer"
Vito Bratta "Wait", "Little Fighter", "Radar Love"

and the list goes on...

[ultra zone]

Tender Surrender- emotional fury contained within balladesque beauty
Speed Metal Symphony- written for us......the guitarists who aspire to be technically magical
Warm Regards- Sweep picking heartfelt melodies
The end solo of November Rain- Wicked

[mike777]

"Still of the Night"-Whitesnake

[mange]

The solo Ritchie blackmore did in "Child in Time" on "Made in Japan" is f***ing great!

[bammbamm]

I've been listening to Mullmuzzler today and I must say that one of the kewlest solos is on Guardian Angel with Mike Keneally's fingers doing the work... MAN, that guy just amazes me, he's all over the place, but it is SO in context of the song it is one of my personal faves. It makes you wonder if he planned the solo or if it was an improv thing. Either way, theres another reason to love M.K. The guy rules.


Bamm

[Wblyheaded]

Paul Gilbert's cover of Hendrix's Hey Joe.

[guitarkatana]

John Petrucci and Steve Vai play a lot of great, emotional solos. I can't even narrow all their solos down to a few!

[mecca777]

Wow, I love so many of the solos people have already mentioned. So, since this is a guitar-intensive forum and many people might not have heard 'em, I'm going to go for two solos from songs by the new-wave band XTC; "Reel By Reel", from their 1979 album Drums and Wires, and "That's Really Super, Supergirl" from the mid-80s classic Skylarking.

"Reel By Reel" is a weird little Knopfler-meets-Albert Lee thing, with a fast little minor-to-major run and some nice chicken-picking; "Supergirl" is more of a clean, fusionesque arpeggio idea that reminds me of Steely Dan. Both are short, sweet and seem to pop out of nowhere before vanishing back into the song, leaving you with your jaw hanging open.

[Jeff]

New favorite guitar solo - The long one in Junkie by Steve Vai.

[Predator]

I've got a few faves... My #1 is "Love Thing" by Satch. And there I am actually talking about the whole song and not just the climax/solo part. But some of my other faves include Petrucci's "Fatal Tragedy" solo, Timmons' "Cry For You" and Vai's "Tender Surrender" and "Windows To The Soul". Other than that, there's a lot of Satch in the rest of my list!

[Reaper]

a few new ones (to me at least):

-outro of "Goodnight Kiss"
-Clapton's intro solo in the acoustic version of "Layla"
-Who's Crying Now (Journey)
-and while we're on Skolnick, his live improv/scat routine with TSO is usually amazing...

[btweensunandmoon]

my top 5.....

1) for the love of god solo break---steve vai
2) Since i've been loving you-jimmy page
3) Ride the lightning--kirk hammet
4) Achillies last stand--jimmy page
5)white lightning--phil collen

[trajectory fish]

Wes Montgomery - Full House, live in belguim, 1965.
Charlie Christian - Flying Home
Nigel Tuffnel's solo spot in the Spinal Tap Rocumentary
Barney Kessel & Herb Ellis - The Flintstones Theme
Dimebag Darrel - Floods

[Anton]

Originally Posted by Predator

I've got a few faves... My #1 is "Love Thing" by Satch. And there I am actually talking about the whole song and not just the climax/solo part. But some of my other faves include Petrucci's "Fatal Tragedy" solo, Timmons' "Cry For You" and Vai's "Tender Surrender" and "Windows To The Soul". Other than that, there's a lot of Satch in the rest of my list!

Yeah man! , timmons's cry for you is amazing , definitely one of my favourites.