# What is the greatest guitar solo of all time?

> From face-melting shred to heartbreaking bends, these are the moments that made guitarists put down their picks and weep. Legends face off against cult favorites — cast your vote.

*By YPB Team · Published May 5, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-greatest-guitar-solo-of-all-time*

---

## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin**
   Jimmy Page's climactic eight-minute ascending solo from the 1971 classic, widely considered the pinnacle of rock guitar.
2. **Hotel California – Eagles**
   The twin-guitar harmony outro by Don Felder and Joe Walsh that closes the Eagles' 1977 masterpiece in an unforgettable melodic duel.
3. **Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd**
   David Gilmour's soaring, emotionally devastating two-part solo from The Wall (1979), frequently voted the greatest solo ever recorded.
4. **Eruption – Van Halen**
   Eddie Van Halen's 1978 one-minute-and-42-second solo that redefined electric guitar technique with two-handed tapping.
5. **Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd**
   A nine-minute triple-guitar outro from the 1973 southern rock anthem, a live concert staple demanded by fans everywhere.
6. **All Along the Watchtower – Jimi Hendrix**
   Hendrix's revolutionary 1968 reimagining of Dylan's song features a psychedelic, feedback-laden solo that transcended the original.
7. **November Rain – Guns N' Roses**
   Slash's soaring melodic solo in Guns N' Roses' 1992 epic ballad, performed amid a cinematic music video watched by billions.
8. **Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne**
   Randy Rhoads' neo-classical shred solo from Ozzy's 1980 debut that launched a new era of virtuosic heavy metal guitar.
9. **Sultans of Swing – Dire Straits**
   Mark Knopfler's fingerpicked, jazz-tinged closing solo from the 1978 debut single, a masterclass in taste and restraint.
10. **Purple Rain – Prince**
   Prince's emotionally raw, bending, gospel-infused solo that closes his 1984 film song in a torrent of wailing expression.
11. **Cliffs of Dover – Eric Johnson**
   Eric Johnson's cascading, harmonically complex 1990 instrumental that won a Grammy and became a benchmark for technical artistry.
12. **Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry**
   The 1958 riff and solo that effectively defined rock and roll guitar, influencing every guitarist who followed for decades.
13. **Little Wing – Jimi Hendrix**
   A delicate, chord-laced solo from Hendrix's 1967 Axis: Bold As Love album that fuses R&B tenderness with psychedelic flair.
14. **La Grange – ZZ Top**
   Billy Gibbons' raw, boogie-blues shred from ZZ Top's 1973 track, built on a John Lee Hooker riff and packed with Texas grit.

Tags: music, rock, guitar