‘Free Bird’ – Lynyrd Skynyrd

Are there any guitar solos that pack as much of a punch as the final five minutes that see out the classic ‘Free Bird’? What originally started as a jam is now a feat of guitar majesty that wide-eyed beginners look at as the top of the mountain. When people originally started playing guitar, they listened to that solo and hoped that one day they might be able to play it.

All of ‘Free Bird’ is a great track. That is a dream-like hopelessness that comes embedded within it, as the ongoing licks throughout are heaven-sent, and the lyrics are beautiful, but the song wouldn’t be regarded as the classic that it is without that unbelievable outro.

‘Stairway To Heaven’ – Led Zeppelin

This could be met with some contention, as ‘Stairway To Heaven’ is a layered track that delivers on several fronts and moves people for various reasons. To say that the solo is more famous than the entire song is a bold claim, but it’s not one made lazily—just hear me out.

If you only had the introductory acoustic section of the track, it would still sound good but wouldn’t elevate the song, having it mimic the heaven that it so wonderfully sings about. Equally, if the track was rocky and filled with distortion all the way through, it would blend into the background and become just a standard rock song. The solo is the bridge between these two parts, both of which are necessary for the song to be considered legendary. Without the solo, the song doesn’t work. Plus, it sounds pretty good.

‘November Rain’ – Guns N’ Roses

The Use Your Illusion albums marked a turning point for Guns N’ Roses. Their debut album featured aggressive, rock-heavy songs, and while there are still some tracks like that on the records that followed, they were happy to embrace a new approach to the music they were writing, which saw them churn out eight-minute-long ballads.

‘November Rain’ is one of their stand-out songs from this period. It’s widely referred to as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, and for good reason, as every aspect of the track is outstanding; however, nothing cements it as a work of genius more than Slash’s guitar solos. All three are great, but the first, with its serene and melancholic approach, is out of this world.

‘Hotel California’ – Eagles

“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave…” You’re already imagining it, aren’t you? That’s the power of that guitar solo; just by reading the words that lead into it, you’re imaging that first slide, down to the 11th fret, G string, up to 10, 12 and 15 on the B, before you know it guitars are trading verses, the phrasing of the song has completely changed and like the punters staying in ‘Hotel California’, you too are lost.

Eagles are often praised for their ability to blend rock and country, and while this was a groundbreaking movement in music, they reached new heights when they started embracing their heavier side. This can be heard throughout the album Hotel California, with the titular single being one of the stand-out moments.

‘Crazy Train’

Eddie Van Halen is often considered one of the greatest guitarists ever because of his eccentric tapping technique. While this is very exciting to witness, there is also something to be said about the fact that Randy Rhodes was also championing this style and didn’t receive enough credit for it. His mastery of the technique can be heard wonderfully in his solo to ‘Crazy Train’, which is one of the standout moments of the whole song.

“Eddie would come check out Randy quite a bit, and watch him play, and there seemed to be some sort of competition between Randy and Eddie,” said documentary maker Andre Relis when talking about that unique guitar-playing ability, “I think that Eddie, in my opinion, thought of Randy as a threat.”