Favorite Solo by Guitarist!!

yeppers...it's all subjective and we dig what we dig. Mars, DeVille and Sambora wouldn't even my make my personal top 50 list. More than likely, half of that Top 50 wouldn't even be metal players.

How many can you have in a list before it stops being 'top'?  

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

How many can you have in a list before it stops being 'top'?  

That was kinda/sorta my point regarding those three mentioned.

For a poll of various persons, I'd say Top 100 is adequate

For an individual, I'd go with Top 25 (stretching it)

Anyone gonna give Bed of Roses a shout out? Or is it just criminally underrated? 4:05 mark:



Also the most epic helicopter shot in a music video.

Silent Night is Richie's best and I Am comes to mind too.

James B. wrote:

yeppers...it's all subjective and we dig what we dig.   Mars, DeVille and Sambora wouldn't even my make my personal top 50 list.  More than likely, half of that Top 50 wouldn't even be metal players.

I wouldn't put Sambora in my top 50 prolly either but the guys tone and tasteful solos make for a good choice for this thread..

Moving on to hopefully a guitar player that's gets more ppl to comment... EDDIE VAN HALEN!!!!

'Humans Being'

I have way too much to write. This is my boy. More at 11...

EVERY SINGLE EVH SOLO.

2 that come to mind are "love walks in," since it fits the song so well, and "Spanish fly," since it's even more impressive than eruption.

I will post some of my favs...

Ice Cream Man
Push Comes to Shove
Jump
Top Jimmy
Feelin'
Beat It
Cant Stop Loving You

I have a tie hahah!!! Can't Stop Loving You and Jump would be tied...

As I said, Eddie's my boy. Greatest and most innovative guitarist in the history of rock 'n roll, and that's counting Hendrix and Gilmour and Les Paul and whoever else. I'll never forget the first time I heard Eruption at 13. Damn near wet my pants. I didn't think there was anyone who could play faster, although there was, but so what. Being forbidden from attending rock concerts in general, I would seek out anyone that had seen him in concert and listen intently, as though they were telling me a story of some ancient warrior of the gods, digesting each detail of what and how he played. I did a stripe job on the pickguard of my Washburn Lyon (first guitar). Stickers everywhere. Hand-drawn logos coating my notebooks. Tab books decked out with notes. I even had a shrine set up in the corner of my room. I would have gladly offered up an animal sacrifice in his name.

All that said, it wasn't really his solo work that made me a worshiper. As innovative and fast as he was, and no matter how much his Holdsworth influence showed, we all know that he was limited as well in a technical sense, and terribly repetitive (once you've heard a live EVH solo, you've heard them all). As a rhythm player, though, Eddie was a force to be reckoned with. The riffs--and what he did with those riffs--and what he did to those riffs--I call it all shit that never gets old. It was an ideal approach to hard rock with a metal twist, loud and punchy passages peppered with flourishes and lightning runs. And of course his innovation extended to his tone. Out of any rock and metal guitarist, his tone outweighs any of them.

If I had to pick a favorite riff, it would be between Women in Love and Romeo's Delight, but anything off the debut--#1 rock album in my world--is just as good. However, I'm here to pick a solo, and of course I'd have to say Eruption, but let's say that Eruption never was. Ice Cream Man is an excellent pick; he just gets wild on that one. Panama is pretty memorable, albeit short with nothing much there (and overly familiar at that point). Somebody Get Me a Doctor is intense.

I think I'd have to go with Ice Cream Man. Congratulations to anyone who read this all the way to the end.

I agree about Eddie's rhythm playing. I think one factor that contributed to making it unique is that he would be off-the-cuff as well as more rigid, in a repeated line. Randy Rhoads and Manni Schmidt had the same style of rhythm playing. These players could be spontaneous in a riff while staying completely true to it and the song and often gave their riff lines an exciting, combustible feel as a result.

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

I agree about Eddie's rhythm playing. I think one factor that contributed to making it unique is that he would be off-the-cuff as well as more rigid, in a repeated line. Randy Rhoads and Manni Schmidt had the same style of rhythm playing. These players could be spontaneous in a riff while staying completely true to it and the song and often gave their riff lines an exciting, combustible feel as a result.

Bullseye.

Im not a HUGE EVH fan, but a guy that I really dig that has his similar approach at times is Nuno Bettencourt..

EVH can do amazing things with his guitar and his theatrics to just play wtf ever he wants made him a mad scientist on the guitar in my eyes. I agree about his solos, it was more just whammy bar wankery and tapping.. But man was it so BADASS LOL!!

As far as his rhythm playing, I need to listen again cuz maybe im dissecting his playing too much. His leads IMO are far more impressive than his riffs...

Eddie is a miles better rhythm player than most any of the guys he influenced. Most people pay so much attention to his solos that they forget what an amazing rhythm guitarist he is.

S.D. wrote:

Eddie is a miles better rhythm player than most any of the guys he influenced.  Most people pay so much attention to his solos that they forget what an amazing rhythm guitarist he is.  

What makes you a good to great rhythm guitar player? I consider myself a solid rhythm guitar player and can keep up with any Hetfield type riffing and he's considered one of the best in the business. When I think of rhythm I think of the ability to write riffs and play within the riffs.. That's why I prefer Eddie's soloing to his rhythm playing. His solo's stand out, his riffing doesn't...

Why are we comparing Eddie Van Halen to James Hetfield? Talk about Apples and Oranges. If you want to compare Eddie to Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck or Jimi Hendrix I could get behind that. But Hetfield?

That's like comparing Aerosmith to Slayer, which nobody with any clue would ever do. That's not even the same ballpark...hell, not even the same sport.

S.D. wrote:

Why are we comparing Eddie Van Halen to James Hetfield?  Talk about Apples and Oranges.  If you want to compare Eddie to Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck or Jimi Hendrix I could get behind that.  But Hetfield?

That's like comparing Aerosmith to Slayer, which nobody with any clue would ever do.  That's not even the same ballpark...hell, not even the same sport.

I wasn't comparing, I was saying I consider James to be a great rhythm player, so I was using him as an example  

My question still hasn't been answered, what makes a great rhythm guitar player?

Unchained followed by Ain't Talkin' Bout Love.

When I listen to those early VH albums I hear what guys like Satriani were building on.

The thread title reads FAVORITE SOLO IS BY GUITARIST. I agree with that statement. Never liked drum solos as much.

Lari wrote:

The thread title reads FAVORITE SOLO IS BY GUITARIST. I agree with that statement. Never liked drum solos as much.

 


Except solos by Neil Peart.

To answer the question as to what makes a good rythym player ? Has nothing to do with just speed, it's all about "feel" and how it flows with the vocal melody or how it flows in and out of the vocal melody. A good rhythm will build a foundation for other aspects/instruments in the arrangement to play off of or again flow in and out. (IMHDO)

I gravitite more towards EVH's solos on side two of the debut, as well as the "Fair Warning"and "Woman And Children First" albums. I agree that EVH has some excelent rhythm abilities. A good example is "Hear Aboout It Later" and "Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love"

James B. wrote:

To answer the question as to what makes a good rythym player ?  Has nothing to do with just speed, it's all about "feel" and how it flows with the vocal melody or how it flows in and out of the vocal melody.  A good rhythm will build a foundation for other aspects/instruments in the arrangement to play off of or again flow in and out.  (IMHDO)  

I can agree with that, I also think a great rhythm guitar part can stand completely on it's own apart from the other instruments and still have a swing to it, some groove. It also depends on how the guitar line works with the bass line, they should complement each other not just mirror each other.

Think of a riff like The Doobie Brothers "Long Train Runnin'", that riff is funky as hell all by itself and you can feel where the groove is going to go before the rest of the band kicks in.

I'm not really a VH fan....but I guess I would pick Jump.