What's the buzz with guitar solos?

The guitar solo, it divides opinion, but Simon Sweetman's a fan. He joined Jesse Mulligan to talk about some of his favourite solos and soloists - some well-known, some less so. 

She will rock you: five Kiwi woman guitarists that rock

Peter Green - 'Need Your Love So Bad'

The guitarist, singer and songwriter, who made his name with the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac was known for his exceptionally pure tone, Sweetman says.

"He's such a great emotional player, I love the way the melancholy mood of this song is determined by those opening notes; it gives a feel for the story before we hear the actual story."

Sweetman rates Green, despite his lesser reputation compared with Eric Clapton or Jimmy Page, as one of the finest of the first wave of great British blues players.

"I feel like Green was the most authentic, the biggest believer."

Peter Green with Fleetwood Mac on The Old Grey Whistle Test 'Oh Well'

The world's greatest guitar solos!

Ritchie Blackmore - 'Shake With Me' (The Outlaws)

'Shake With Me' was produced by the legendary, and deeply eccentric, Joe Meek it featured a young, and then unknown, guitarist named Ritchie Blackmore who went on to become riffmeister general with Deep Purple.

Ritchie Blackmore - 'Highway Star'

"Among his many contributions to the guitar he played this wonderful solo - which is like a blueprint for '70s and '80s heavy metal guitar solos."

Blackmore is seldom mentioned in influential guitarist lists, Sweetman says. Few people have a good word to say about Blackmore and he now focusses on "rennaisance folk music".

Mick Ronson - 'Moonage Daydream'

Bowie's sideman in the Spiders of Mars, Ronson was a guitar god, arranger, writer and producer. 

"Lovely, tasteful playing and a real mood is built up," says Sweetman about Ronson's solo on 'Moonage Daydream'.

"Mick Ronson was a really important player, a really great, slightly more subtle lead guitar player."

Mick Ronson on the Old Grey Whistle Test 1975

Davy Graham - 'Take Five'

He was one of the most important players to come out of the '60s because of his absolute direct influence on Bert Jansch, Jimmy Page and Paul Simon.

Graham's most famous composition was 'Anjii' and he pioneered different forms of open tuning and harmonic experimentation. 

Eddie Hazel - 'Maggot Brain'

Eddie Hazel was the guitarist George Clinton's Funkadelic; one of the two successful funk bands Clinton led concurrently across the 1970s.

And one of the most famous of the Funkadelic records is 'Maggot Brain' the opening title track is ten minutes of squally, weeping guitar by Hazel.

Legend is Clinton took LSD and told Hazel during the recording of the song to imagine he had been told his mother was dead, but then learned that it was not true.

"Clinton got Hazel to make his guitar cry and you can follow those tears down the line to players like Dean Ween from the band Ween and Vernon Reid from Living Colour."

Carlos Santana - 'Every Step of the Way'

"I loved his style of guitar playing - I would listen to Lotus the double-live album from Santana's 1973 tour of Japan over and over and over - especially while mowing lawns. It was teenage meditation before I'd ever even knew there was mindfulness."

Danny Gatton - 'The Simpsons theme'

"Gatton called his style of playing "Redneck Jazz" which fused country, rockabilly and blues licks; he was a ferocious talent. The sad story of his life is a factor in appreciating his talent, he was a depression sufferer and took his own life."

Frank Zappa - 'Watermelon in Easter Hay'

Zappa fostered some of the great guitar players in his band, he was a famously brutal band leader who auditioned his group twice yearly, says Sweetman.

"He often played lead guitar but also talked down his playing, preferring to revel in the great talent that was around him. But when you hear him do something tasteful and interesting - again leaving space and creating interesting motifs - you realise he was, for a time, one of the absolute greats."

Richard Thompson - 'If Love Whispers Your Name'

The greatest, most versatile guitarist that too many people haven't heard of," says Sweetman.

Thompson has been making music for 50 years spanning soundtrack albums, acoustic folk and electric rock and is a "a devastatingly brilliant songwriter." says Sweetman.

"Whatever Mark Knopfler couldn't take from J. J. Cale he stole from Richard Thompson."

Related:

The world's greatest guitar solos!