Funkadelic – ‘Maggot Brain’

This Funkadelic offering may well be one of the best solos ever written. This is the guitar at its absolute best, as Eddie Hazel dances over the same chord sequence for nine minutes and plays himself into corners only to try and manoeuvre his way out of them. However, embedded within this beauty is an innate sadness, which comes down to the direction Hazel was given when he started playing.

When George Clinton was telling Hazel how he should be playing on the improvised guitar solo, his instructions were pretty clear: he needed to play the first half like he had just heard his mother had died, and then play the second half like he found out she was still alive. You can hear the sadness in his style when he’s catering to the former, and it makes this solo even more impressive, not just because of the technical ability but the emotion as well.

The Beatles – ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’

The solo on this song is sad for a number of reasons. On the face of it, it’s just played in a way that conveys the melancholic nature of the track. However, there’s another layer to things, as George Harrison wrote the song to surround untapped potential, and then needed to bring in another musician to play the guitar solo because his bandmates wouldn’t take him as a songwriter or the song itself seriously enough.

“I pulled in Billy Preston on Let It Be… it helped,” said Harrison when explaining his justification for bringing in Eric Clapton later down the line, “Because the others would have to control themselves a bit more. John and Paul mainly because they had to, you know, act more handsomely.” The sadness of the sound of the solo, paired with the fact that Clapton is playing it, is the theme of the song in real time, and makes for a pretty sad listen.

Pink Floyd – ‘Comfortably Numb’

Whenever you have any kind of conversation about guitar solos, ‘Comfortably Numb’ is going to make an appearance at some point, as there is no one better at mastering melody, pacing, rhythm and tone than David Gilmour, and this may be the song where he shows off his talents the most effectively. From the first to the last note, every second of this solo gives the listener goosebumps while simultaneously ripping their heart in two.

“I banged out five or six solos,” said Gilmour when discussing the solo, “From there, I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and make a chart, noting which bits are good. Then, by following the chart, I create one great composite solo by whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase until everything flows together. That’s the way we did it on ‘Comfortably Numb’.”

Jeff Beck – ‘Where Were You’

Jeff Beck was able to inject emotion into every single piece of music he put together, bringing the guitarist into a new light by moving from the side of the stage to the very front, and playing in a way that people felt connected to the music. ‘Where Were You’ is probably one of his most emotional pieces of music, as throughout the entire song, you can hear his sadness pinging off the back of every note.

Brian May articulates the essence of this song pretty well, as he highlighted just how emotional it is. “If you wanna hear his depth of emotion, sound and phrasing, and the way he could touch your soul, listen to ‘Where Were You’ of the Guitar Shop album,” he said, “Sit down and listen to it for four minutes.”

Steve Vai – ‘For The Love Of God’

There are very few guitarists as committed to the art of the solo as Steve Vai. He went on a ten-day fast in a bid to achieve a new state of consciousness, and on the fourth day of this fast, he recorded the quintessential ‘For the Love of God’. Apart from a spoken word section at the end of the track, it’s entirely instrumental, and Vai really manages to tug at your heartstrings throughout.

“The guy that sticks out at the moment is Steve Vai,” said Ritchie Blackmore when making his adoration for the guitarist known, “He’s really shit-hot. Not only can he play every style there is, he can write and transpose the whole thing as well. He can play the very fast licks, or he’ll just play it another way. Amazing.”