The 10 best guitar solos of the 21st century
There’s an art to crafting a perfect guitar solo. Although many people subscribe to the theory that speed equals talent in the guitar community, it usually comes down to how well artists can express themselves whenever they play their instrument, which defines their art. Although many artists have been able to capture their personalities on their instruments, bands like The White Stripes transcended what a guitar could do in their masterpieces.
For all of the great guitar solos on a list like this, none of them have the same distinct character. While there might be a few influences from ages past in the delivery, it usually comes down to how well the solo fits amid the rest of the tracks in the mix, constantly pushing the music a bit further and pushing the rest of the band to push themselves further.
Even though most of the best solos of all time come down to technique, a few phenomenal pieces of music tend to come out of left field, often toying around with what the instrument is capable of and finding the beauty in dissonant noise. Regardless of the technical flash, the goal is to get a noise out of the instrument, and the avant-garde approach to soloing is just as important as the melodic side.
Despite the 2000s not being the most fertile time for rock and roll on the charts, the best bands knew how to go against the status quo in the right way, constantly pushing themselves to see what could happen if they spread their wings. While rock no longer dominated the cultural conversation, these solos proved that the genre was still a force to be reckoned with.
10 best guitar solos of the 21st century:
10. ‘Psychosocial’ – Slipknot
Most of the golden age of nu-metal didn’t have to rely too much on solos. If artists like Korn or Coal Chamber had taught guitarists anything, it was that it was about atmosphere and creating the most guttural-sounding riffs through drop tunings as they could within a four-minute timeframe. While Slipknot initially fit snuggly into the nu-metal category, they earned their metal credentials on the song ‘Psychosocial’.
After spending the first years of their career making some of the most disturbing music ever put to tape, Vol. III paved the way for the nine Iowa metalheads to dream bigger, culminating in reaching for mainstream success on All Hope is Gone. While much of the album would be criticised for being too commercial, ‘Psychosocial’ was everything anyone could have asked for from them, from the massive riff to both Jim Root and Mick Thomson teaching a clinic on writing a classic metal solo.
Considering both guitarists take turns throughout the song, it’s easy to pick out where one of them ends, and the other begins, from Thomson’s clinically precise approach to tremolo picking to Root’s more melodic flourishes, perhaps carried over from his time in the solo outfit, Stone Sour. While Slipknot may have been considered an acquired taste by some rock fans, ‘Psychosocial’ was the kind of metal anthem that could go toe-to-toe with the Metallicas of the world.
9. ‘Slither’ – Velvet Revolver
For a brief moment, it looked like Slash would be considered a has-been of rock and roll. Although he may have dominated the cultural conversation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, his first solo outings outside of Guns N’ Roses led to some questioning whether he was confined to just one sound. Once he hooked up with a few of his old bandmates and Scott Weiland from Stone Temple Pilots, ‘Slither’ introduced Velvet Revolver into the cultural conversation correctly.
Featuring a dirty drop-D riff, the entire song is practically a showcase for what made Slash such a dominant force in rock music: playing difficult guitar passages and somehow making the entire thing look easy. Even though the song tends to feel like a post-grunge belter with Weiland at the helm, the solo is ripped straight out of the vintage Slash playbook.
Containing various string bends and the occasional flashy run, Slash approaches his solo like a lead singer, starting with different phrases before ramping up to a climax before leading into the final verse. Guns N’ Roses may have still been a massive force on the touring circuit, but Slash proved that he could work without his musical brethren just fine.
8. ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ – My Chemical Romance
The driving force in pop-punk and emo music wasn’t supposed to rely on excellent guitar work. For many prospective hopefuls of the genre, most of the guitarists’ arsenals usually consisted of a fistful of power chords to get the job done on any one song. Although My Chemical Romance may have had a few bangers in their emo scene catalogue, they knew their conceptual masterpiece deserved something more than a passable guitar solo.
Being a student of artists like Queen and David Bowie, Ray Toro sculpted the perfect solo for ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’, making Gerard Way’s imagery about a parade of death sound oddly comforting. Complete with sweeping solo runs towards the song’s back half, Toro turns in a performance for the ages, making the entire band sound like they are playing the final show they will ever perform before they fade into nothingness.
Fitting somewhere between Brian May and Randy Rhoads, the solo for ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ wasn’t intended to sound off-the-cuff. This was the sound of the band ascending to the big leagues, and if it sounded too much like their heroes, they would wear that influence proudly on their sleeve.
7. ‘Reptilia’ – The Strokes
When The Strokes first started out, they were already labelled as one of the most unprofessional-sounding outfits in the world. Despite being at the centre of the New York City club scene, the band intended to make songs that threw everything back to rock’s glory days, becoming The Velvet Underground for a new generation of artists. While much of the focus went to the band’s stellar debut, Is This It, ‘Reptilia’ announced their intentions of being a band for the long haul.
Then again, any good Strokes song comes from the interplay between Albert Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi. As the driving beat behind the song kicks into high gear, Valensi’s solo is the perfect compliment to Julian Casablancas’s lyrics, sounding like the equivalent of a stressed-out lover falling down the stairs after his old flame.
Even though Hammond usually caters to the rhythmic side of the band, his lead playing over the chorus is arguably more challenging to pull off, featuring different pull-offs and putting one’s hands in the correct position to create a virtual acrobatic exercise for the fretting hand. Although many artists had been able to revive rock for a new generation in the 2000s, ‘Reptilia’ was one of the first songs that made the retro sounds of guitar-based music feel cool.
6. ‘Guilty All the Same’ – Linkin Park
For all of the great anthems that Linkin Park made, none of them were exactly known for sweeping solo work. As much as the band were fantastic at layering their sound to create a sonic landscape whenever they played, Brad Delson’s role was more about subtle movements, like the harmonics on ‘In The End’ or the roaring guitar sounds of ‘Faint’. While the first half of the band’s career was about building sonic sculptures, Delson let himself loose on The Hunting Party.
By far the band’s heaviest affair, the goal was to make an album they would have loved to have made before the days of Hybrid Theory. Embracing the sounds of the guitar heroes he loved growing up, Delson takes the listener on a journey throughout ‘Guilty All the Same’, including massive wah-wah guitar parts reminiscent of Kirk Hammett’s best work while never stepping on the toes of his bandmates.
While the rest of the album would have a similar harsh guitar tone, this is where Delson first proved that he was the greatest of his peers in the age of nu-metal rock and roll guitar. Even with guitar legends like Tom Morello and Daron Malakian on the same album, Delson turned in this solo on ‘Guilty All the Same’ and walked away as one of the best guitarists on the project.
5. ‘Like A Stone’ – Audioslave
It was a sad day for hard rock fans everywhere when Rage Against the Machine decided to call it quits. After spending years fighting against oppression wherever they went, the band’s inability to get on the same page with Zack de la Rocha led to them parting ways for other projects. Even though most of the band wanted to continue making music, they got a shot in the arm by one of the greatest voices ever.
Although Chris Cornell didn’t want to touch on political material when working with Audioslave, the seeds of Rage Against the Machine are accounted for on ‘Like A Stone’. Compared to the other massive Tom Morello guitar solos, the tune starts fairly subdued, as Morello lets the groove set up before breaking out the wah-wah and the octave pedal for his solo.
Considering the warmth of the rest of the song, Morello’s tone in this section is decidedly much harsher, as if he represents the loneliness that Cornell is talking about as he lashes out in pain. While the solo later gives way to an excellent acoustic section from Cornell, ‘Like A Stone’ is a perfect example of taking polar opposite musical ingredients and making an amazing something amazing out of it.
4. ‘Gravity’ – John Mayer
Depending on what kind of guitarist you ask, John Mayer is either one of the greatest players alive or responsible for the death of the guitar. While he may have been able to play his fair share of decent licks across his career, Mayer also got ridiculed relentlessly for his polarising persona, often being seen as one of the biggest douches in the world at the start of his career. When looking past questionable lyrics and behaviour, Mayer’s signature touch on guitar is unmatched by any of his peers.
Across his third album, Continuum, Mayer makes the case for being one of the best guitarists of all time, even daring to take on Jimi Hendrix and actually pulling it off on his cover of ‘Bold As Love’. In terms of his original work, though, ‘Gravity’ is the ultimate example of making a profound musical statement while only using a handful of notes.
While there’s nothing technically sophisticated going on with the harmony behind this song, hearing Mayer hit every single note at the right time is immaculate, practically sounding like a slide guitar even when he’s using his fingers. Rock and roll in the 2000s may have been known as aggressive, but ‘Gravity’ is the closest that anyone has come to making the guitar cry in decades.
3. ‘Ball and Biscuit’ – The White Stripes
By the time the 2000s kicked in, rock and roll started becoming known as a retro genre. As much as the fans may have been OK with hearing the same kinds of post-grunge songs whenever they played on the radio, people were starting to get stuck in a rut creatively, with every band playing the same drop-tuned songs with angsty lyrics. While Jack White may have been indebted to the classics throughout his career, ‘Ball and Biscuit’ was the first time retro sounded new in a long time.
While many of the best White Stripes songs come down to tracks like ‘Seven Nation Army’, White approaches this elongated blues jam like a man possessed, engaging in a massive battle with his guitar. Spanning seven minutes, most of the song is modelled after the typical one-verse blues form, as White proceeds to work his magic across one guitar as Meg White anchors him in the background.
This song would also become a precursor to where White would take his guitar in the following years, including using various effects to create cascading musical pieces on tracks like ‘Icky Thump’. While White would bend his guitar to his every will on future projects, this song is the sound of him getting into a physical altercation with his instrument and barely making it out alive.
2. ‘No One Knows’ – Queens of the Stone Age
By the time the 2000s began, Josh Homme was looking to start anew once again. After becoming one of the founding members of the stoner rock movement with the band Kyuss, Homme wanted to use Queens of the Stone Age as his unique entity, including bringing in any of his musical friends he wanted to collaborate with on any track. Although albums like Rated R pointed the way forward for the band, ‘No One Knows’ announced the band as one of the most talented ensembles in the world.
Bringing in Dave Grohl to play drums on the album Songs for the Deaf, much of the guitar work on this song involves Homme playing off of Grohl’s energy, playing in lockstep with him during the push-and-pull pieces of the chorus. Once everything drops to Nick Oliveri’s bass line, Homme explodes into the solo section, catching the listener off guard before putting the most lyrical lead lines to tape.
Considering the entire album is meant to be one long drive through the desert, this is the musical equivalent of the listener being thrown onto the highway before the rest of the band concaves in on itself with Homme’s furious licks towards the end of the solo. While many musicians were putting rock and roll through different filters at the time, Homme reminded everyone that even without any bells and whistles, straight-ahead rock and roll could still sound amazing.
1. ‘Dani California’ – Red Hot Chili Peppers
The start of the 2000s was cause for celebration for any Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. After years away from the fold and now newly sober, John Frusciante had rejoined the band for 1999’s Californication, where he started to hone his craft and learn his guitar chops all over again. Although many of the greatest Chili Peppers songs came from this era of the band, ‘Dani California’ is both a progression of rock’s roots and a love letter to the days of old.
Throughout the music video for the song, the band are clad in different styles from rock and roll’s past, from the massive hair metal garb to the flannel shirts of the grunge era. Much like the eclectic mix of influences, Frusciante puts every piece of himself into the final solo, quoting Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’ at the beginning of the track before going off on a tangent, constantly blurring the lines between punk rock reckless abandon and hard rock precision.
Even Flea couldn’t get enough of Frusciante’s solo on the final track, going so far as to double one of the lead lines on bass before going into the song’s final stretch. While the Red Hot Chili Peppers had been going strong for the better part of two decades, ‘Dani California’ was the sound of a band having crawled through the fire and rising like a phoenix from the ashes.
