The Top 100 Rock Guitar Solos of All Time--Introduction

Yes, it is time for another list, and this time a good, solid top 100 ranked list, the way we like them. Just going through all of these makes me long to start playing guitar again. If only there was more time in the day. For a brief period in high school I took guitar lessons from the same teacher as Greg, but I never stuck with it. One day I would like to again, but all in time.

For this list I am counting only the studio versions of the songs released (unless it is a song which has only been released in live form, which does happen a few times on here). So please no bitching about how this live version is totally kick-ass. In fact, if you want to bitch too much (I expect a healthy amount of bitching), please make your own list. And once you do, you are allowed to bitch as much as you want.

This list is totally subjective. Not only because of the inherent (inter?)subjectivity of making lists in general, but because it's incredibly hard to be objective in rating something like a guitar solo, which is only a snippet out of a song, which is in itself usually only a piece of a greater artistic whole, like an album. There are guitar solos that have stood the test of time and become classics in their own right, and most of these you will find on here. I will admit up front my bias towards Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, who are my favorite guitarists. I have no regrets about including their solos on here, and in all honesty I could've made a list entirely of their stuff and not felt bad.

Guitar solos can serve multiple purposes. They can add to the flavor and tone of a song and add an accent point on a particular emotional moment in the narrative's progress. Or they can be just pure masturbation. I don't try to differentiate between one style being better than another. They both can be great. Please keep in mind that the latter does appear on this list, and oftentimes in the midst of a bad song. This was especially prevalent in the '80s, when everyone wanted to be Eddie Van Halen and busted out finger-tapping, shredding solos at the first possible opportunity. Many of these guys were great guitar players, in their own right. But even if the song is bad, please give the guitar solo a chance. And, no, I'm not going to just put a bunch of classic rock, FM-friendly songs on this list. That isn't all that guitar is. However, I'm aware that my expertise of guitar music is pretty elementary, and that's why I put "rock" in the title there to show that I don't know a huge amount about jazz guitar or certainly classical guitar.

Anyways, please enjoy.

PS--Here is one honorable mention that serves as a good warm-up for the list proper:

"The Blood and Tears" (Steve Vai)



Though it didn't quite crack the top 100, this is a frigging great solo--let's all be honest and sit around and have a fireside chat here. It has three distinct sections to it, one of them focusing heavily on a trippy-sounding effect (which builds on the Indian theme of the song), and feels like an updated version of the "All Along the Watchtower" solo by Hendrix. Sectional solos have a compositional elegance that I would compare to classical music in their sense of harmony and balance (you owe me $43.50 for this lesson). Great song!

--Edward