Guitar and bass solos - who/what are your favorites?

[Jonesie]

Nels Cline's 2nd solo on Wilco's "Side with the Seeds" kills me.

[epizootics]

It feels like Nels Cline stole the spotlight away from Jeff Tweedy's own guitar work. Tweedy's really good at off-kilter guitar solos. I think I love every single one of them on his solo record from 2020, Love is the King. The title track is a good example - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHklzxUtLh4

Come to think of it, all of my favorite guitar solo are the slightly dysfunctional, odd-shaped ones.

Mary Timony's short, wobbly solo on Helium's XXX is one of them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCPfYcLuYkk
Peter Laughner's pure sonic agression on Rocket From the Tomb's rendition of 30 Seconds Over Tokyo around 2:50 is another one - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoboBaxTh58
There's a great one on Iggy Pop's Success at 2:16. No one ever mentions it. I can't even tell if it is baritone guitar or bass. It is obviously written, but super short and absurd - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jO6wevEWV8g
The two screaming feedback bits on Scott Walker's Tilt pretty much check all the boxes for me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNgpr0rdgDk
I don't even need to post a link or describe it, but Fripp's guitar work on Bowie's Scary Monsters is insanely twisted. His parts on Fashion are absolutely perfect.
Annie Clark is also very good at that exercise. Her pitched-down solo on Cruel cracks me up every time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itt0rALeHE8

I like an epic '70s guitar solo as much as the next guy, but short, structural or askew soli work even better for me

[MattK]

Belew’s solos on Remain in Light.

[interceptör]

... Come to think of it, all of my favorite guitar solo are the slightly dysfunctional, odd-shaped ones. ...

Great stuff, the St. Vincent solo really is something else.

Those reminded me of the 4-minute feedback solo on Drown by Smashing Pumpkins. It blew my mind in 1992 and it still does.

[budda12ax7]

Cliff Burton - Anesthesia
Randy Rhoads - any of the solos from the first two Ozzy albums

Also into Metallica guitar solos from the 2nd & 3rd albums; the first Testament album; some Pink Floyd, some Iron Maiden solos through Powerslave; Hendrix - ..Watchtower; & 80's Cure solos.

Whoa.....nice pick

[budda12ax7]

The Cure Live in Orange Album/Concert video the solo in A Forest that goes on and on.

Hendrix Machine Gun
I'm gonna go with Eruption...just brilliant.

Junior Brown...when he does any solo.
Rush-Limelight solo
ahhhhh so much more.

[Plumerai]

I'm gonna go with Eruption...just brilliant.

Was discussing Randy vs Eddie with my brother. I prefer Randy, but as far as live solos go Eddie's playing on stage was much smoother.

[Jonesie]

Belew’s solos on Remain in Light.

His guitar playing from the Rome Talking Heads concert that's on Youtube is fucking insane.

[epizootics]

Belew’s solos on Remain in Light.

His guitar playing from the Rome Talking Heads concert that's on Youtube is fucking insane.

He has to be the one guitarist that doesn't make me shake my head and go 'no. NO.' when using the intermediate positions on a strat.
The fact he still used a fairly simple pedalboard back in those days makes me like his playing even more. Same rig as the one he used with Bowie two years prior to that:

I toured the world with David two times; two decades apart. on the first go-round in 1978-79 my guitar rig was a model of simplicity: a pedalboard with a single row of 8 off/on switches which controlled whatever stomp boxes I patched into a mixer. the stomp boxes were an MXR Dynacomp compressor, an ADA Flanger, EHX Echo Flanger, EHX Big Muff run through an MXR 10-band eq, EHX Graphic Fuzz, and a Roland DC-30 Analog Delay. I had one battered Fender Stratocaster which I played through a Roland JC-120 amp.

And his enthusiasm on stage is both well-documented and infectious. His interactions with Tina Weymouth in the Rome gig always make me smile. He also deserves credit for being the least pretentious singer in King Crimson.

Talking of Bowie...while he is rarely thought of as a guitarist, owing to the fact that he spent his career surrounding himself with a bunch of guitar heroes, his (rare) guitar work is always interestingly idiosyncratic. The only album where he gets to shine is Diamond Dogs, where he is responsible for most guitar parts apart from the riff on Rebel Rebel and the wah-wah thingie at the start of 1984. I like his use of the instrument as a supporting voice rather than the main point of focus, yet occasionally taking the center of the stage for transitions, like on Sweet Thing / Candidate at 3:03 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCqsJzBwjNQ
(he is also responsible for all the saxophone parts on the album and his arrangements are both super weird and tasteful; that's a big part of why DD doesn't really sound like anything else from that time)

[Flurko]

The Belew solos in remain in light/1980 talking heads show had a huge impact on me as well.
I'd like to see one of those YouTubers with too much money try to replicate this sound with all the pedals listed above, I'd do it but these days it would be more affordable to get something closer to his fully digital setup, but he doesn't sound as cool as his early self.

[MattK]

Laurie Anderson’s Mister Heartbreak and Home of the Brave have some prime Belew madness on offer as well.

[MattK]

actually what about all that great Fripp stuff on Another Green World, “Heroes” and Gone to Earth, too.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Leftfield pick, Peter Koppes' nylon-string solo on The Church's "Almost With You" is definitive.

Covering similar territory, John Morrow's nylon string solo on 1984 is quite nifty too. He's something of a bass solo going on behind the band on about 99% of New Model Army's early stuff but that's yer power trios for you.

Not a big solos guy but 'Kid' by The Pretenders is truly excellent from the opening riff to the end.

James Honeyman-Scott brilliance.
Pretenders - Kid (Official Music Video)

OSG = last bastion of guitar players with actual taste in music!

My favourite guitar solo has to be the double (or is it triple?) tracked one in "What Goes On" by The Velvet Underground, the studio version on the 3rd album. I've heard it hundreds of times but it still hits the spot every time. That was one of the songs that made me want to play guitar in the first place, that and "Roadrunner" by The Modern Lovers.

As a kid, Pete Shelley's solo on Boredom taught me all I needed to know. Concise and effective > meedly-meedly.

One I always shove down people's throat: Alasdair MacLean's sublime guitar break(s) on We Could Walk Together · The Clientele

[BoringPostcards]

Belew’s solos on Remain in Light.

Yes!

[TagoMago]

Actually, UlricvonCatalyst now you mention it - Buzzcocks full stop, they had great riffs and on the odd occasion there would be a solo it would usually be great to learn along to. Brilliant live band too.

My other favourites would be all the guitar playing on "Piper At The Gates Of Dawn" and all the solos and riffs on "Gigolo Aunt" and "Baby Lemonade" by Syd Barrett. Love his guitar tone, always. Huge influence on me.

Same with the solo on "Three Imaginary Boys" by The Cure. I'm not very rockist when it comes to guitar solos : )