Jack White names his favourite guitar solos to play live
Jack White is something of a blues historian. He has just about the best working knowledge of the genre in the contemporary music industry, and much of his back catalogue is a homage to one of the most historically vibrant types of music. White’s take on blues is to play an extensive guitar solo over the simple arrangements.
Discussing which of his favourite guitar solos are his favourite to play live, White claimed that there are two in particular that stand out. “I love to play ‘Lazaretto’,” he said. “It possesses a quality where I can stay alive in it, in the guitar part, and it has different modes that can bring out powerful notions. Even in the moments where I play it just like it was recorded, it still feels brand new to me every time”.
He then noted the thing that separates the track from a number of his others. “The cool thing was the ‘Lazaretto’ guitar solo was done live when we recorded the song,” White commented. “That was nice because it doesn’t always happen. But in that moment, something special came out in the room and the solo was done in the very first take. That’s always a nice memory to think back on.”
As for a solo from the White Stripes catalogue, White said: “I’d also say ‘Ball and Biscuit.’ It’s a blues song, so it doesn’t have the same structure. It’s completely different every time I play it. It’s very loose — it can go really quiet and really subtle and really explosive. Both those songs have a lot of life in them in a live setting.”
‘Lazaretto’ is the title track from White’s second studio album, released in 2014, while ‘Ball and Biscuit’ is a White Stripes classic, taken from their fourth studio album, Elephant. Both songs indeed contain excellent guitar solos, so it’s easy to see why White loves playing them so much.
While White felt like he could clearly name two of his favourite guitar solos to play, he stopped short of saying which is his best song. “I can’t, I’m so sorry. I can’t answer that question. I think it’s too dangerous for me to answer that question. I’ll be held to that forever.”
“People will ask me that for the rest of my life,” he added. “I just don’t think of these songs in that way, you know? It’s a little bit too patting-on-the-back kind of a thing.” Indeed, White feels that if he were to name his quintessential track, then he would be obligated to play it for the rest of his life. He is better off withholding the information and being able to craft a setlist as he wishes.
