Five guitar solos that prove Ritchie Blackmore is a genius
Ritchie Blackmore turns 81 today, and as the years tick by, he continues to be celebrated as one of the greatest musicians to ever pick up a six-string.
He once said that he thought Jeff Beck was cheating when he played guitar, as he must have had access to other notes which other people didn’t. Well, everyone who has ever tried to learn a Ritchie Blackmore solo will likely accuse him of exactly the same thing. How one man can get so much from one instrument is beyond comprehension, but Blackmore makes it look easy.
It’s not just the way he plays, either… Sure, he’s technically proficient, but there’s a lot more to it than that – Blackmore channels the power of romanticism in music better than a lot of other guitarists, as no matter how complex or simple one of his solos is, the emotions that run through it are undeniable.
Simply put, he’s one of the greatest guitarists to ever play, and these five solos prove it.
Five genius guitar solos by Ritchie Blackmore:
‘Smoke On The Water’
It’s the most famous riff in the world, there’s no getting around it – “It’s so simple, and everybody recognises it,” said John Petrucci. “There’s nothing technical about it, nothing like the modern riffs that are coming out nowadays. But that riff says it all. I wish I would’ve thought of it!”
The riff is so great to listen to that people often overlook the guitar solo. This is Blackmore at his most melodic, with bends and amazing playing technique for every single note. Most guitarists would have churned out a riff like the opening for ‘Smoke On The Water’ and thumbed in the rest, but not Blackmore. Instead, he delivered one of the best solos ever written for the six-string.
‘Shake With Me’
Before Deep Purple, Ritchie Blackmore was playing in The Outlaws and trying to perfect what would become his famous playing style. Written in 1964, the track is often cited as the first heavy metal song ever released, and you can see why, it has a lot more edge than other rock music which was out at the time, and it makes for one hell of a listen.
How perfect, then, that the guitar was played by the man who went on to become one of the most famous guitarists in the world of hard rock. Ritchie Blackmore dominates this guitar solo, truly showing an innovative approach to the instrument as he taps into a sound that didn’t even have a label yet.
‘Burn’
Deep Purple knew that they were onto a winner with this song, as they liked it so much they decided to name their 1974 album after it. Blackmore doesn’t just show his quality with his guitar playing on this song, but he also shows his stamina, as despite the track being six minutes long, his playing never becomes stale or repetitive.
While David Coverdale was called in to help out with writing the song, he admitted that Blackmore was the main brain behind the classic. “I was a complete unknown, but I was involved in writing ‘Burn’ from the start,” he said. “Ritchie was obviously the chief composer, but I was given a cassette tape of the songs-in-progress and sent back to the north of England to work on the lyric with Glenn Hughes.”
‘Stargazer’
Another one of Blackmore’s most famous bands was Rainbow, where he played even more excellent guitar solos that would cement him as a genius. We have a lot of options when it comes to picking a favourite, but one of his top offerings comes on the 1976 track ‘Stargazer’.
As if Ronnie James Dio and Ritchie Blackmore working together isn’t exciting enough, the two bring a classical element to the track as well, as they teamed up with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra on this eight-minute epic. All of those components elevate Blackmore’s guitar work to whole other levels and continue to cement him as one of the best to ever do it.
‘Wasted Sunsets’
When Deep Purple got back together, a lot of people might have thought the band were past their prime, but Blackmore continued to prove that his guitar ability hadn’t gone anywhere. Once again, the band started churning out great music, and in every song was a solo offering by Blackmore that continued to cement him as the greatest.
‘Wasted Sunsets’ is one of his best solos from this period. How do you make a guitar solo sound so raw and emotional? It’s well and truly phenomenal, as with no words, just six strings and 20-something frets, Blackmore plays a combination of notes that could melt the thorniest hearts.
