10 great guitar songs

Bob-Dubery

Here's my attempt. I've tried to go for songs that were influential in terms of rock guitar playing rather than try to single out great solos or even a particular influential player's best solos. Apart from number 1 I'm not particularly sure myself of the rankings here.

Mine is really a rock list. It's the only broad genre that I've paid sufficient attention to to be able to shoot my mouth off.

1) Hey Joe. Jimi Hendrix. This rewrote the book, raised the bar etc etc.

2) Suzie Q. Dale Hawkins. But the guitar work was by James Burton. This was one of the first songs that was sexy, catchy, whatever because of the guitar part.

3) Eruption. Eddie van Halen. I don't think that rock or rock guitar playing has developed and enriched itself nearly as much between 1975 and 2008 as it did between 1955-ish and 1975. The curve flattened out fairly quickly. It's been increments rather than giant steps. And most of the advances in rock guitar in the last 20 years or so can be traced back to Eddie van Halen.

4) Sultans of Swing. Dire Straits. By the late 70s the guitar solo (in fact solos in general) was becoming severely discredited by the excesses of prog rock. There were two bands with prominent (and very skilled) guitar players that emerged in the late 70s that still gathered critical acclaim and whose guitar work was not seen as some kind of musical masturbation. One was Television, and I was tempted to plump for them, but the reality is that the other band from the other side of the pond reached a bigger audience and was thus ultimately more influential (and beneficial) so Mark Knopfler gets the nod.

5) Lover. Les Paul. This isn't really rock, but it was important for rock. Les Paul laid down his version of this Rogers and Hammerstein tune in 1947, but it was, as far as I can tell, the birth of overdubbing and multi-tracking, and one of the earliest recordings to feature a solid-body electric guitar. Paul was not exactly a shredder's dream, but the work he did in the early 50s and late 40s had significant ramifications for popular music. And he could play.

6) Dazed and Confused. Led Zeppelin. This is still pretty heavy now. Back in 1969 it must have been terrifying/

7) You Really Got Me. The Kinks. The riff driven rock 'n roll song was going to happen sooner or later. But Ray Davies got in just ahead of the Stones with Satisfaction and The Who's My Generation. Not a typical Davies song actually, but it was a milestone.

8) Crossroads. Robert Johnson. Considering how influential the blues in general was on rock in general, I think we have to tip our hats to the early master of that genre.

9) Rumble. Link Wray. I believe that this song, rather than anything by Pete Townsend, marked the birth of the power chord. It also pioneered distorted electric guitar. (I'm not accusing Townsend of plagiary by the way).

10) Taxman. The Beatles. Some would plump for Roger McGuinn's playing on Eight Miles High, but for me this is the moment when rock guitar started drawing on a vocabulary from music forms outside of itself and it's close relatives like Motown and the blues. Considering that George Harrison was nominally the lead guitarist, and was busy introducing eastern sounds to rock, Paul's eastern-tinged solo on a Harrison composition must have put some noses out of joint.

Rebuttals, boquets, brickbats, alternatives etc please.

Squonk

A good list Bob, Bit I would include "Apache" by "The Shadows", although you didn't get many Hank soundalikes, he influenced many players that were very influential, Beck, Clapton, Page and many others.
I cant believe you haven't included "You Really Got Me", This song started overdriven riffs. But many people don't see the Influence of "The Kinks" as they sounded "British" rather than "American"

"Stairway to Heaven", as much as we love to hate this song, inspired plenty of players all over the world. When I bought My Ibanez Concord in 1979, I had to try it before I bought it, so were many others in the shop on the same day. Waynes Wold even had a scene in a guitar shop, as Wayne was trying out a guitar, he looked up and saw a sign "NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN".

"Whole lotta love" Jimmy Page again, this was just such a big fat sound

I would put "Puple Haze" ahead of "Hey Joe"

I am sure there are plenty more

Bob-Dubery

Squonk wrote A good list Bob, Bit I would include "Apache" by "The Shadows", although you didn't get many Hank soundalikes, he influenced many players that were very influential, Beck, Clapton, Page and many others.
I cant believe you haven't included "You Really Got Me", This song started overdriven riffs. But many people don't see the Influence of "The Kinks" as they sounded "British" rather than "American"

I think it's at number 7 on my list.

Squonk wrote "Stairway to Heaven", as much as we love to hate this song, inspired plenty of players all over the world. When I bought My Ibanez Concord in 1979, I had to try it before I bought it, so were many others in the shop on the same day. Waynes Wold even had a scene in a guitar shop, as Wayne was trying out a guitar, he looked up and saw a sign "NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN".

I think that song, and the solo, a very, very good and also overhyped. And I don't think it was a significant solo (or song) in as much as it changed things or marked a major innovation. I mean I wish I could play like that... but it wasn't groundbreaking in the way that Hendrix's early stuff was.

Squonk wrote
"Whole lotta love" Jimmy Page again, this was just such a big fat sound

I would put "Puple Haze" ahead of "Hey Joe"

I am sure there are plenty more

I think "Hey Joe" was released a little earlier. Whichever Jimi Hendrix Experience song was released first gets my nod because Hendrix raised the bar so substantially, and so rapidly. His first single laid down the marker. Neither song would be his best playing, but the playing was still pretty darn good and nobody had heard anything like that before.

I tried to steer away from what I think has a great solo or what I think has a solo that I like and look for things that were influential. I'm a big fan of Richard Thompson, and I regard him as one of the very finest players that there is (or has been), but as far as I can tell he's had no real influence on any other player, except perhaps in the sort of english folk-rock field that the likes of Ian Anderson and Ritchie Blackmore started exploring. Even then I'm not convinced. I love David Gilmour's playing, but I don't regard his playing as being especially ground breaking (the argument for the band that he made his name in is a very different one).

Squonk

Sorry Bob, should have known you would have included "You really got me"

Bob-Dubery

Squonk wrote Sorry Bob, should have known you would have included "You really got me"

Well I wouldn't! Some of my list was arrived at by dint of long held beliefs. Others took a bit of googling - and YRGM was one of them. I'd thought that Townsend and Richards beat Ray Davies to the punch, but they hadn't so The Kinks got that one. Which surprised me, but there you go.

It was an interesting exercise for me as these aren't necessarily my favourite solos or are from my favourite players.

FYI If I had to nominate a Jimmy Page solo for Greatness I'd go for either "Since I Been Loving You" from LZ III.

Gearhead

Can I just suggest a couple for on the list, even if the list then becomes longer than 10? I think that was the whole idea of this thread...

I do not pretend to be able to tell if the songs were infulential of breakthrough or anything, I just feel these should be included because the use of the guitar(s) and the overall sound is very different from other songs:
- Layla, Derek and the Dominoes;
- Strong Persuader, Robert Cray;
- Still Got The Blues For You, Gary Moore;

Oh maybe this is just blues, the rock stuff then:
- Smoke On The Water, Deep Purple, the most important power chord song ever;
- La Grange, ZZ Top again for being different;
- Under The Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers, goosebump intro;
- Nothing Else Matters, Metallica, if only because after the 70s guitars kept on having moments of glory.

Squonk

@Gearhead

Robert Cray, Strong Persuader - a really catchy song and he does some good blues licks

[deleted]

I know this could go on and on, but I always thought Poison by Alice Cooper had a good intro/solo; and there I reveal my geekyness. I also thought Def Leopard were pretty cool, but maybe my judgment is compromised by my awe at their huge perm hair styles. Those were the days when you couldn't be in a band unless your hair walked into the room before you did. I know there's a whole lot more, and it's been ages since I thought about all that cool music, so my memory's a bit rusty.