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Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' Voted Best Guitar Solo Ever
GigWise ^ | 3-26-2006

Posted on 03/27/2006 11:20:47 AM PST by Cagey

Led Zeppelin’s classic ‘Stairway to Heaven’ has been voted the best guitar solo of all time.

The rock behemoth fought off competition from Van Hallen’s ‘Eruption’ and Guns n Roses’ ‘Paradise City’ which were number two and three respectively.

The list was based on 2,000 votes in a poll conducted by Total Guitar magazine.

Magazine editor Stephen Lawson said: "Everyone loves to play air guitar when they hear the moment in a song where the guitarist rocks out."

The full Top 10 is as follows:

1. Led Zeppelin – ‘Stairway to Heaven’
2. Van Halen – ‘Eruption’
3. Guns N' Roses – ‘Paradise City’
4. The Eagles – ‘Hotel California‘
5. Metallica – ‘Enter Sandman’
6. Cream – ‘Crossroads’
7. Jimi Hendrix – ‘Voodoo Child’
8. Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Crazy Train’
9. Free – ‘All Right Now’
10. Queen – ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: 70srock; corporaterock; fckinledballoon; music; myopiclist; nope; rockandroll; rockmusic
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To: Yardstick

"Pure and Easy" is from Townshend's solo album from 1972 called "Who Came First".

Here are the songs rated by people on the web:

Pure & Easy - *****
Evolution - **
Forever's No Time At All - ***
Let's See Action - ****
Time Is Passing - *****
Heartache - *****
Sheraton Gibson - *****
Content - ***
Parvardigar - ****

http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/pete_townshend/who_came_first/


121 posted on 03/27/2006 8:38:43 PM PST by Supernatural
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To: Yardstick
Page tears his way through the Since I've Been Loving You solo so gut-wrenchingly because he's well grounded in the blues and knows how to wring every last ounce of juice from the solo,

And his mastery of minor scales helped as well, which isn't exactly common for a blues-based guitarist. (Brian May was another minor key monster).

I'm with ya -- a thorough grounding in the blues is essential for a rock guitarist, from acoustic (delta) blues to electric (Chicago) blues ....Charley Patton, Son House, Skip James, RJ, Elmore James, J.L. Hooker, The Wolf, Muddy, etc.

When I was in high school (in the late 70s) I didn't know a thing about any of these guys, even though I'd been playing guitar for about 4 years by then. One day I was browsing in a used record store in L.A. and an old guy who worked there recommended I get one blues album and one jazz album -- Robert Johnson's King of the Delta Blues and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. ...and that was that -- I was hooked. Never got tired of listening to them, and always discovered new things I hadn't heard before. ....and still do to this day.

122 posted on 03/27/2006 8:43:54 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Mr. Jeeves
I'll add Michael Schenker: "Rock Bottom" (live version on Strangers in the Night ('79)
123 posted on 03/27/2006 8:46:48 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
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To: Cagey

What about that killer guitar lead in "Cover of the Rolling Stones"?


124 posted on 03/27/2006 8:47:07 PM PST by freedomlover (This tagline has been pulled - - - - OK?)
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To: Mr. Mojo

For blues fans, "Rattlesnake Guitar: The Songs of Peter Green" is not to be missed.

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1160205&style=music&cart=323212622&BAB=M


125 posted on 03/27/2006 8:55:57 PM PST by Supernatural
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To: Yardstick

So I checked out the link to Thompson.....and no offense and with all due respect..........NOT impressed. Go to Nashville and in any street corner bar you'll hear kids who'll mop the floor with 'im.

I say this as a blues/rock guitarist since 1968.


126 posted on 03/27/2006 9:46:39 PM PST by RightOnline
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To: Cagey

By the way......"Paradise City" contains pure crap for 'solo' work. Catchy song, but Slash's work on it is A-1 sloppy. Near the end as they try to kick it out at warp speed........he can't even keep up. Awful. How this dreck ever made such a list tells me a lot about the 'ears' of those voting.

Also......never heard anyone make a Les Paul sound so bad as Slash......


127 posted on 03/27/2006 9:49:08 PM PST by RightOnline
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To: Supernatural; bondserv; Mr. Mojo; stainlessbanner; Squantos

David's new CD is quite good.

I would be happy to burn it for anyone who needs it.


it's very Floyd.....Mother to WYWH


* saw Medlocke at the Ryman last month with the lads.....pretty sharp


128 posted on 03/27/2006 11:11:19 PM PST by wardaddy (you get older and you realize "tired" and "sleepy" are way different)
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To: thoughtomator
"St. Etienne" from Jazz From Hell is my favorite Zappa solo of all time, and I've heard all of them (the officially released ones) at least 100 times each.
129 posted on 03/27/2006 11:16:18 PM PST by Chunga (Mock The Left)
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To: wardaddy; Mr. Mojo; Post Toasties; stainlessbanner
Duane Allman on Boz Skaggs early Loan Me a Dime....one of rock's hidden gems


ya'll can kick me but I thought Tull's guitarist did some good work on Benefit, Lung and Brick

Alvin Lee at Woodstock....still wows me.

Hendrix ...Pali Gap trippy Hawaii stuff

Jorma on the Hot Tuna yellow album....I know...keep laughing

Dickie Betts (and Allen Collins) stuff they never got proper credit for

Mick Ronson on either Ziggy or Dudes

Townsend simply for distinction

Gilmour for understatedness with big punch....we've all been over him before and I'm listening to One of These Days right now on MSN radio...the monster song as my kids say

Unlike some here....I like Slash...last guitar band of note

Beck was best on Orange

Page...IV or HOTH

Clapton....Cream...Badge

Doors guitarist underrated

Stevie ray Vaughan.....anything

Tommy Bolin....Post Toastie...James Gang...with Cobham

Walsh....early Gang.




oh well......I think Zappa and Prince could both play too ...and one of the Isleys....and that new preppie kid john something..

Carlos Sanatana.....Trower-Mahogony Rush-Mclaughlin

130 posted on 03/27/2006 11:28:55 PM PST by wardaddy (you get older and you realize "tired" and "sleepy" are way different)
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To: Cagey

Read the sign - No Stairway


131 posted on 03/27/2006 11:33:09 PM PST by BlueNgold (Feed the Tree .....)
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To: wardaddy

Boy, you and me like a lot of the same stuff.

I haven't heard anyone mention Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush in years. I'm familiar with his stuff.

I thought Besk's Orange album was his best.

Stevie Ray is killer.

Tommy Bolin's "Teaser" is fine.

I had Trower's album "Twice Removed From Yesterday" before anyone around here knew who he was.

Etc.


132 posted on 03/28/2006 4:26:56 AM PST by Supernatural
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To: Supernatural

Great minds think alike!..lol


btw..nice Sten and most importantly


lovely niece....with all due respect.


I was born in 57....nice timing to grow up with music that utterly overwhelms most of the dribble today.

Regards


133 posted on 03/28/2006 7:14:21 AM PST by wardaddy (you get older and you realize "tired" and "sleepy" are way different)
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To: wardaddy
Dickie Betts, Allen Collins, Duane........and Rossington!

Good choices

134 posted on 03/28/2006 8:04:32 AM PST by stainlessbanner
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To: Mr. Mojo
And his mastery of minor scales helped as well, which isn't exactly common for a blues-based guitarist. (Brian May was another minor key monster).

Good point -- and David Gilmour could go on that list too.

a thorough grounding in the blues is essential for a rock guitarist, from acoustic (delta) blues to electric (Chicago) blues ....Charley Patton, Son House, Skip James, RJ, Elmore James, J.L. Hooker, The Wolf, Muddy, etc.

Yep. Blues is where you learn the vocabulary to play rock. I've always thought Freddy King was a great source for cool blues licks that can be reused for rock playing. You mention Howlin Wolf -- Hubert Sumlin was another one with a lot of rock-ready blues licks.

I started playing guitar in 1990 when I was in highschool. I began with Zeppelin, Hendrix, and Clapton, then worked backwards into the blues. I've always liked that reverse deja vu experience you get when you listen to a blues album and hear a lick that Page or Clapton or whoever lifted almost verbatim (Sumlin's Killing Floor riff comes to mind). You really get a sense of where it all came from.

135 posted on 03/28/2006 10:49:30 AM PST by Yardstick
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To: Poser
Good list. I agree with some and here's my Top 10 pre-80's choices:

Red House...Hendrix
Crossroads...Clapton
Since I've Been Loving You...Page
Fast Life Rider...J.Winter
I'm Going Home...A.Lee
Repent Walpurgis...Trower(ProcolHarum)
One Way Out...Allman/Betts
Heartbreaker...Page
Come On Part I...Hendrix
The Clap...Howe(Yes)

136 posted on 03/28/2006 8:40:21 PM PST by NewLand (Posting against liberalism since the 20th century!)
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To: Yardstick; wardaddy; Mr. Mojo
You deserve a Gold Star for your observation:

Later generations of rock guitarists, on the other hand, learned to play not by listening to the original blues players, but by listening to the guys *who listened* to the original blues players.

The Faith isn't dead, just temporarily suppressed by modern trends. Cleaning carwarshes I witness truck-driving cowpokes, urbanite hippies and seemingly respectable young people listening to...(C)Rap. Thank you so much, MTV, for polluting our culture while turning your back on all of the great artists mentioned on this thread for an easy buck.

One other point: almost all of those musicians possess an understanding of classical music that is reflected in their work. I've yet to find anything of musical value in the bad poetry my ears have endured and do not understand why people subject themselves to a constant unmelodious assault of misogyny, misanthropy and worship of materialism when there's so much great music to listen to. The Democrats must be behind this! (Joking and half-seriously).

BTW: a few of my favorites are Zappa's "Pojama People", future Michigan Governor Ted's "Stranglehold", and the awesome work Randy Rhoads put into "Mr. Crowley" - a song with silly lyrics praising a totally evil reprobate. It was as if that young man knew his time here was limited and made his mark when the moons aligned.

137 posted on 03/29/2006 6:33:01 AM PST by NewRomeTacitus (I'm a lone wolf screaming in the night, I'm a bloodstain on the stage...)
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To: Cagey

Interesting list, but I would have rated "The Millionaire Waltz" as Brian May's best, and "Dogs" well above "Atom Heart Mother." At least some of these selections are interesting (a la "Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad").


138 posted on 03/29/2006 8:07:17 PM PST by MikeD (We live in a world where babies are like velveteen rabbits that only become real if they are loved.)
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To: Cagey

Some honorable mentions that no one else will list:

"Rolling Down the Hill" -- Phil Solem (the rembrandts)
"Another Nail in My Heart" -- Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze)
"Girlfriend" -- Richard Lloyd (Matthew Sweet)


139 posted on 03/29/2006 8:21:51 PM PST by MikeD (We live in a world where babies are like velveteen rabbits that only become real if they are loved.)
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