guitar solos: our writers reveal their all-time favorites

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• Writers’ standout guitar solos and why they matter
  • Casey Epstein-Gross — art rock to intricate interplay
  • Cassidy Sollazzo — Southern warmth and indie fuzz
  • Ethan Beck — rare soul, grit, and narrative bends
  • Grant Sharples — post-punk edge and studio sorcery
  • Matt Mitchell — pop hooks and global grit
  • Sam Rosenberg — cinematic builds and cathartic bursts

Guitar solos feel rarer these days, especially outside metal. Yet the shard-like moments when a player cuts loose still change a song forever. We asked a group of music writers to name the solos they return to, the ones that stop time and reframe a record. Below are picks from several contributors, each described in their own sonic terms. A playlist collects these tracks for listening, if you want to hear them back-to-back.

Writers’ standout guitar solos and why they matter

Casey Epstein-Gross — art rock to intricate interplay

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• Brian Eno — “Baby’s On Fire” (Robert Fripp)

  Fripp’s entrance turns the track from quirky vignette into a white-hot episode. His lines feel brittle and urgent, a kind of controlled unraveling that dominates the recording. The solo grows from thin, spiky feedback into an intense, teetering monologue. It’s less a showcase and more an invasion, a guitar that takes over the atmosphere.

• Television — “Marquee Moon” (Richard Lloyd & Tom Verlaine)

  This song redefines what a solo can be: extended, conversational, and hypnotic. Two guitars trade phrases like a debating pair, sometimes locked, sometimes drifting. The long closing run becomes trance-like, a patient ascent that pays off in a blinding final surge. It proves restraint can carry enormous drama.

• Wilco — “Impossible Germany” (Nels Cline)

  Cline’s playing arrives after a quiet opening and changes the record’s gravity. His tone is pristine yet elastic, moving from delicate shimmer to knotty intensity. Interwoven with Tweedy’s parts, the solo becomes a multi-headed melody. Live, it transforms the song into a moving revelation.

Cassidy Sollazzo — Southern warmth and indie fuzz

• Allman Brothers Band — “Blue Sky” (Dickey Betts & Duane Allman)

  Two voices harmonize like a sunlit conversation. Duane’s clear bell tone and Dickey’s rounder phrasing dovetail into a joyous, open-road feeling. The duet swings from lyrical bends to cascading runs. It’s a textbook moment of melodic generosity.

Ethan Beck — rare soul, grit, and narrative bends

• Midnight Movers — “Medicated Goo” (Charlie Pitts)

  Pitts turns a cover into a scorch mark. His second solo cuts hard, burning through the track with a raw, shredding intensity. The tone sears and keeps the groove moving. For a player who backed legends, this is a moment where he truly steals the spotlight.

• Neil Young & Crazy Horse — “Powderfinger” (Neil Young)

  Young’s solos carry narrative weight. The first bites and brags; the second mourns. After the song’s violent turning point, the later bends sound like stunned wails. They turn technical moves into emotional punctuation, making the story feel lived-in.

• Pavement — “Fillmore Jive” (Stephen Malkmus)

  Malkmus uses disorder as an instrument. His solos stagger, slur, and lurch in a way that exposes the song’s uneasy undercurrent. The later passages get frenzied and disorienting, like a late-night stumble home.

• The Pastels — “Nothing to Be Done” (John Hogarty)

  A burst of fuzz that surprises a twee tune. The solo keeps a beginner’s charm—simple bends, ringing notes—yet it cuts through with feeling. Its blunt honesty is what makes it unforgettable.

Grant Sharples — post-punk edge and studio sorcery

• Bloc Party — “Positive Tension” (Russell Lissack)

  Lissack’s solo detonates after an anxious build. It’s angular, played in an odd meter, and surrounded by a fog of fluttering noise. The result feels both clever and slightly alien. It asserts personality where a typical solo might simply burn time.

• Rage Against the Machine — “Bulls on Parade” (Tom Morello)

  Morello treats the guitar as a sound design lab. His solo mimics turntable scratches and mechanical cries. Technique and effects collide to create a voice no one else would have thought to craft. It’s ingenuity over showboating.

• Smashing Pumpkins — “Cherub Rock” (Billy Corgan)

  Siamese Dream bristles with soaring lead work. On “Cherub Rock” the solo climbs high and hangs there, razor-sharp and piercing. Corgan stretches notes to extreme registers, pushing the mix to the edge of overload.

• The White Stripes — “Icky Thump” (Jack White)

  White fashions voice-like cries from the guitar. Riffs act as mini-solos and the full solo sequence feels ritualistic. Effects and raw attack make the instrument speak in unexpected phonemes. It’s conversational and confrontational.

Matt Mitchell — pop hooks and global grit

• Carly Simon — “You’re So Vain” (Jimmy Ryan)

  Beyond the celebrity gossip, the solo is a study in tasteful session work. Jimmy Ryan’s lines are succinct, drenched in tasteful reverb and stacked for weight. The result is memorably melodic, adding bite to an already catchy record.

• Pescado Rabioso — “Cementerio Club” (Luis Alberto Spinetta)

  Spinetta’s playing bristles with heat and longing. He bends and sustains phrases so they read like sentences. The tone is raw and sensual, mixing blues grit with jazz-inflected phrasing.

• Thin Lizzy — “Cowboy Song” (Brian Robertson & Scott Gorham)

  Twin-guitar harmony gives this solo an almost cinematic lift. Two players trade leads and weave harmonies that kick like back-to-back punches. The effect is muscular and melodic at once.

• WAR — “Slippin’ into Darkness” (Howard Scott)

  Scott’s solo is a lesson in serving the groove. It never overwhelms. Instead, it slides into the pocket, aligning with percussion and horns. The approach is subtle but deeply effective.

Sam Rosenberg — cinematic builds and cathartic bursts

• Radiohead — “Paranoid Android” (Jonny Greenwood)

  Greenwood’s lead work threads through the song’s shifting sections. When distortion arrives, it ratchets tension into a venomous cry. The solo helps pivot moods and shapes the track’s dystopian arc.

• The National — “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” (Aaron Dessner)

  Dessner’s solo explodes from a restrained pulse into a defiant outburst. Layered backing vocals and urgent drums lift it into something cathartic. It’s fury turned melodic, a shout that keeps the momentum pushing forward.