There’s a solo which is Gold and it glitters with being voted the best ever.
Jimmy Page’s solo on ‘Stairway to heaven’Β has been voted the ‘best solo ever’ amongst the many solos by legendary guitarists. He has been given this accolade by Classic Rock Magazine. His work on the 1971 track was voted No.1 by a panel of critics, bands and readers in the new issue of Classic Rock magazine, which features the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. His solo has surpassed others like David Gilmour’s on ‘Comfortably Numb’ and Don Felder/Joe Walsh on ‘Hotel California’.
Jimmy was quoted saying,Β βIsΒ Stairway To HeavenΒ my best Zeppelin guitar solo? No, but it’s pretty damn good. The solo was done very quickly β in actual fact, there were already layers underneath, the bottleneck you can hear was on before the solo.Anyway, I just said, βRoll it,β took a deep breath, thatβs what I usually do, and then go. I had a couple of cracks at it because you didnβt have as many options as you would have now. Back then you had 16 tracks and could only put guitar solos down where the vocal wasnβt. Youβd save maybe three tracks to lay guitar solos into which meant you could have two or three cracks at it and then choose the best.βΒ He adds,Β βIf everyone else says itβs my best solo then thatβs great, thatβs good, but there are others that I prefer.β
Other solos to feature in the top 10 include Pink FloydβsΒ Comfortably Numb, Eagles classicΒ Hotel California, Black SabbathβsΒ ParanoidΒ and PrinceβsΒ Purple Rain. See the top 10 below.
Classic Rockβs 100 Greatest Guitar Solos Top 10
- Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin β Stairway To Heaven
- David Gilmour/ Pink Floyd β Comfortably Numb
- Don Felder and Joe Walsh/Eagles β Hotel California
- Allen Collins/Lynyrd Skynyrd β Freebird
- Jimi Hendrix/The Jimi Hendrix Experience β All Along The Watchtower
- Eddie Van Halen/Van Halen β Eruption
- Brian May/Queen β Killer Queen
- Slash/GN’R β Sweet Child Of Mine
- Prince/Prince And The Revolution β Purple Rain
- Tony Iommi/Black Sabbath β Paranoid