Best Guitar Solos – Top 10

When it comes to Guitar Solos I much prefer the ones that have feeling and emotion to them, every note played with just the right amount of sustain and vibrato to tug at the heart strings rather than the type that blisters up and down the fret board at a million notes a minute, for this reason you can expect not to find any Van Halen or Malmsteen solo’s in my top 10. I do appreciate the talent required to perform this type of solo and I have stood there open mouthed as the fingers blur in front of my very eyes but mostly it is just showing off rather than entertainment Someone once told me that they liked the type of guitar solo that you can sing and this sums it up perfectly to me.
 If you can get the tune in your head then it is more likely to stick with you and usually becomes an integral part of the song rather than an additional minute of music to pad out the album.
1 - Comfortably Numb. As a Pink Floyd fan this has to be number one, it is an epic solo. David Gilmour is my favourite guitar player and this is his finest work.
2 - Hotel California. Easily a contender for the number one spot with it’s shared solo but The Eagles will have to be happy in second place.
3 - Empty Rooms. One of Gary Moore’s finest solos in my opinion, it would have been easy to choose Parisienne Walkways but the mixture of the acoustic and the electric guitar during the musical interlude wins it for me.

4 - Brothers in Arms. An example of the “Heart clenching” music at it’s best here from Mark Knopfler, Sultans of Swing is usually the one that gets mentioned when Dire Straits are discussed but the simple understated melody and the beautiful guitar tone on Brothers in arms wins it for me hands down
5 - Lady Starlight. Possibly a song that very few people are aware of as it is an album track from The Scorpions. Very much a rock guitar solo but it does have that haunting quality that I love. I could have picked “Still Loving You” instead but I thought it would be fun to pick a song that is a little lesser known.
6 - Sweet Child o’ Mine. This is more a Guitar solo with a little bit of a song added for good measure but when you have Slash on the case then why not use him as much as possible.
7 - Dee. Any time you have a list featuring Guitar players you just have to include Randy Rhoads. I found it impossible to pick my favourite solo but this piece of music is worthy of a placement in the top 10.
8 - Blinded by the sun. This is one of those songs that had me hooked from the very first note and I have enjoyed listening to this song for years, for me it is all about the Guitar and it had to be pointed out to me that it was actually not a nice song but I still love it.
9 - Layla. Eric Clapton could have had “While my Guitar Gently Weeps” in this place but the extended version of this tune with the interaction between Guitar and Piano just edged it out of the frame.

10 - Fade to Black. Taken from the Ride the Lighting album this Kirk Hammett solo proves that even though you are used to playing the heavier music you can still be in touch with your emotions.