Most emotional guitar solo

[Jimi75]

There was this guy in the neighbourhood telling me that electric guitar has nothing to do with emotions, he said it is just noisy! This guy was an orchestra cellist!

I invited him to listen to Jeff Beck's "'Cause we've ended as lovers" over at my house...

He changed his mind after hearing Jeff's playing :-)

This song is for me the epitome of emotionful guitar playing. Never topped by another song, at least in my eyes.

What's your favourite???

[Robert]

"City Nights" or "Peril Premonition" - Allan Holdsworth from the album "Secrets". A lot of emotion in his playing on the whole album.

[oldguy]

Too many for one favorite.
Right near the top, though.
"Crying", by Satch
" A World Away" , by Sonny Landreth
"Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" , from the "Live! In the Air Age!" album by Be Bop Deluxe. Bill Nelson's solo, clinkers and all, just rocked me the first time I heard it. Maybe because the song itself was about 8 min. long.
"Samba Pa Ti", by Carlos Santana

[DaveO]

Wow. I had never heard any Be-Bop Deluxe. I went on to Rhapsody (which if you haven't used yet, is incredible) and loaded all the songs mentioned so far on to a playlist and just rocked out. I always loved "Cause we ended as lovers". Just close your eyes and wallow in that song. My addition-probably "Lonely feeling" by Robert Earl Keen off of the album Gringo Honeymoon.
Dave

[t_ross33]

Comfortably Numb... that first note/bend sends shivers down my spine and brings a tear to my eye every time!

[warren0728]

there are way too many for me to pick one...right now i am listening to "Feelin' Bad Blues" by Ry Cooder....pretty damn emotional.

Although not really a guitar solo song (lot's of emotional sax playing though) i have to sat that "Sad and Deep as You" by government mule is an incredible emotional song...there is a history behind it for me that probably makes it more emotional than it is...but i think you should give it a listen....

kinda in a melancholy mood tonight....

ww

[warren0728]

Comfortably Numb... that first note/bend sends shivers down my spine and brings a tear to my eye every time!
+1 .... i'm getting there myself tonight.....

ww

[tot_Ou_tard]

there are way too many for me to pick one...right now i am listening to "Feelin' Bad Blues" by Ry Cooder....pretty damn emotional.

ww
Gotta love Ry!

[SixStringJoe]

I love "The Loner" by Gary Moore. That one has a lot off feelings

[Danzego]

I think my two favorites off the top of my head are Stevie Ray's version of Little Wing, which is essentially a solo over the entire song, and one I would think most people around here haven't heard, Zakk Wylde's solo in Fire in the Sky (off Ozzy Osbourne's No Rest For the Wicked album). . :)

[Katastrophe]

Gary Moore "Still Got the Blues" is way up there for me.

[Lev]

Thin Lizzy - Still in Love with You from "Live and Dangerous"

[elavd]

+1 for "Cause we've ended as lovers" (especialy the live version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsfL6ATX1i4)

[marnold]

BB King "The Thrill Is Gone"--to me the solo sounds just like the lyrics: a man trying desperately to come to terms with the fact that his relationship is over. He's knows it's true, he just can't bring himself to admit it.

SRV "Tin Pan Alley" and "Leave My Girl Alone" The latter is some ANGRY guitar playing. I can almost picture this big dude getting in someone's face for messing with his girl.

Steve Vai "Sisters"

[Tone2TheBone]

Marnold you beat me to the punch. Stevie Ray Vaughan, October 1989, Austin City Limits - "Leave My Girl Alone". That is some wicked mad guitar playing ever. Enough said.......

[Justaguyin_nc]

All such good choices... With the word Emotional in the title of the post though... I guess I have to go with Gary Moore and I still got the blues during any LIVE performance... The Emotion he puts into the vocals and playing makes it stand out. He seems to add more orf moore into his Live performances... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6IO5EN49hY it's a very emotional experience...

[Tinky-Winky]

For me, Hendrix's live performance of little wing has the most emotional guitar solo, with some wonderfully subtle guitar playing and a beautiful singing, almost crying tone. However, there are many SRV performances which are almost as good - I'd probably go with texas flood at the El Mocambo, but I really don't have a favourite.

[Katastrophe]

All such good choices... With the word Emotional in the title of the post though... I guess I have to go with Gary Moore and I still got the blues during any LIVE performance... The Emotion he puts into the vocals and playing makes it stand out. He seems to add more orf moore into his Live performances... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6IO5EN49hY it's a very emotional experience...

Thanks for posting the clip! That gave me chills listening too it. That solo, to me, is about the perfect blend of emotion, speed and phrasing.

[Tone2TheBone]

......what's that guitar in your avatar Kata?

[Katastrophe]

That would be my new MIM HSS Standard Strat in beautiful 3 Tone Sunburst, relaxing on one of my couches.:D

[warren0728]

very nice kat!! how do you like it?

ww

[Tone2TheBone]

Hehe I thought that's what it might be....excellent...and maple necked too. +1

Sorry for the off topic comment I just had to ask...now back to your regularly scheduled program.

[doomhauer]

Maybe not soloing in the traditional sense of the word but much of Nick Drakes playing has brought a tear to my eyes in the past :o particularly on Cello Song and Road

[duhvoodooman]

Can't believe I haven't weighed in on this thread until now! :eek:

No discussion of the expression of emotion through the guitar is complete without considering the catalog of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and I'm gratified to see him mentioned several times in this thread. Though probably most often remembered for his technical mastery of the blues and his incredibly distinctive tone, to me, SRV's most important single skill was the ability to convey raw, naked emotion through his playing. The list of songs/solos demonstrating this ability is too long to go through here, but let me mention a couple that spring to mind immediately:


Any of several of his recorded versions of Tin Pan Alley. My personal favorite, even though the playing isn't as polished as his later work, is the one on In The Beginning, recorded live in a club in Austin in 1980. Searing intensity.

Riviera Paradise. Stevie used to introduce this tune as being "...for anyone who is suffering in any way." And if you can't hear that suffering and about 50 other emotions in that song, then the Good Lord apparently saw fit to create you without a soul!

The outro solo to Life Without You just drips with emotion and is one of my SRV favorites. The song is dedicated to the memory of Charley Wirz, a music store owner and close friend an supporter of SRV long before he broke big. Charley helped him through the lean times, gave him guitars and encouragement, and made that white "parts-o-caster" with the Danelectro lipstick tube pickups that Stevie used to play this tune on. The solo expresses an amazing combination of the joy of having known Charley with the grief of his loss. There are four notes, each one bent more than the last, right near the end of the tune that say more in a couple of seconds than most guitarists do in a lifetime.

Check out the solo in Leave My Little Girl Alone, as Marnold mentioned. This guy is mad. Really mad. To the point of considering murder. And you can hear it in every note.

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now! ;)

[Jimi75]

SRV's playing was pure emotion. He is one of the few guys whom I believe when they are playing, I mean gestures and so on....Stevie was for real!

By the way, "In the beginning" is one of my favourite SRV records.

[bluesbreaker]

For me it would probably be EC's work on Roger Water's "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking". It was the early 80's when Eric was in a pretty dark place and he just pours that darkness and yearning toward the light into Blackie and some very sweet acoustic slide work.

[helliott]

In the spirit of the conversation, as in this is a pretty subjective ranking and one that should be fun, I'd add the following for consideration and debate in the top tier of emotional (meaning could be angry could be sad or happy) solos on record:
-- some of the classic Springsteen solos on Prove It All Night; Dwayne Allman's slide on Layla; Mark Knopfler (live versions are better) on Brothers in Arms; some of Neil Young's live solos on songs such as Hurricane and Rockin in the Free World, Slash's homicidal guitar rant on Welcome to the Jungle, EC's original solo on the From the Cradle album, song Have You Ever Loved a Women and Moanin the Blues, a number of EC solos on live River of Tears takes, Caesar Rohas solo on Live Los Lobos, This Train Done Left, and one of my all time favs, Warren Haynes total meltdown on the live Deeper End CD and DVD at the end of Beautifully Broken.

[r_a_smith3530]

Now for a few from the lower end of guitar solos.

Although usually mentioned for his solo on the track "School Days" from the album by the same name, I believe that the solo he (Stanley Clarke) performed on "Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant" intertwined with the solos by Al DiMeola and Chick Corea from Return to Forever's Romantic Warrior is a far better example of emotional bass palying. It is not to be missed!

Jaco Pastorius is considered one of the greatest bass players ever, and he performs a fantastic solo on "Donna Lee" from his self titled album, Jaco Pastorius. If you've ever seen Jaco play, you can see the emotion he puts into what he's doing.

Any martial arts fans out there ought to appreciate the solo that Marcus Miller performs on his album Silver Rain. The track I'm thinking of is "Bruce Lee," and every time I hear it my mind starts alternating between the main fight scene in "Enter the Dragon," and the Crazy 88s coming down the hall in "Kill Bill."

Waymon Tisdale's work on "Get Down On IT" from the CD Way Up is dripping with feeling. I've become a big fan of his lately.

The most emotional bass guitar solo that I can think of though, surely must go to Victor Wooten. It's a number that I first heard and saw on his DVD from Bass Day '98. Luckily, there's a version out on YouTube that I can share with you all. I've included it below. When Victor plays, you can just hear the love pouring out.

Victor's "Amazing Grace" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR6t47pV8Qc)

Now, just so you don't think I forgot about guitars, I'll give you the weirdest guitar solo I can think of. It is during the 21:28 minutes of Steppenwolf's "The Pusher" as captured in a live performance on the CD, Early Steppenwolf.