It was declared dead, ridiculed, and often associated with terms such as “toxic masculinity”. It was considered “uncool” for a long time, and many still avoid it like the devil avoids holy water. But let’s be honest: the guitar solo lives in rock music. What’s more, he’s doing great.
Why shouldn’t it? After all, a guitar solo is much more than just a show effect, more than a display of technique and testosterone. In the best case, it is a composition within a composition, a dramaturgical turning point and climax, sometimes even a melodic roller coaster ride – or perhaps even, quite the contrary, a compositional reduction. Something that you can not only marvel at technically, but also listen to wonderfully – even as a non-guitarist.
Besides, anyone who still believes in 2023 that even in the post-post-modern age, guitar solos in rock are inevitably only worn by people with spandex pants on their bodies and hairspray on their heads, has missed something fundamental anyway. With that in mind, we’re going to take a look at five interesting and notable recent guitar solos.
Extreme—”Rise”
It is the Solo that the guitar world has been talking about for the past few weeks. It is well known that Nuno Bettencourt is a “Guitarist’s Guitarist” – valued by colleagues like Brian May, Steve Lukather and several other very prominent guitarists as well as by fans. The fact that he is technically extremely well-versed, too. In April 2023, however, the native Portuguese caused a greater stir than usual with his solo in the extreme single “Rise”. Fast, Van Halen-esque tremolo runs, divebombs, and a daringly fast climax—that in itself wouldn’t be unusual. But the fact that a mainstream rock song has once again placed a guitar solo in the foreground and at the same time incorporated it as part of the composition — that, according to Bettencourt in a recent ROLLING STONE interview, is what many people have been thirsting for for a long time.
For some, you read that again and again, Bettencourt could fill the space that has been empty since Eddie Van Halen’s death — even if he puts that into perspective himself. In any case, one thing is certain: Nuno Bettencourt probably performed the (for many reasons) most sensational solo in mainstream rock in recent times!
Polyphia feat. Steve Vai “Ego Death”
Whether you like his clinically clean, technically extremely adept sound or not: Tim Henson has brought the electric guitar quite a bit into the future and developed a new, independent style. The 29-year-old is without a doubt one of the big stars in the guitar world — it’s definitely possible to do a feature with Steve Vai. According to his own statements, however, he was slightly irritated when he heard what the band made of the guitar tracks he had sent in the piece “Ego Death” – because Henson & Co. cut and pushed Vai’s tracks in such a way and de/refragmented them that the barely recognized his own solo. All’s well that ends well: Polyphia apologized — and released a more “realistic” version of his solo. Both leads and rhythm parts are spectacular here. Almost everyone in the guitar world was talking about “Ego Death” in 2022 — and Polyphia and Vai definitely didn’t go wrong with the accompanying music video either. And: With Scott LePage, Polyphia also have a very competent guitarist in their band.
Lari Basilio “All To You”
Lari Basilio has been a rising star in the guitar firmament for some time — her playing is virtuosic and engaging, yet always melodic and relatable. A good example of this is her song “All To You,” which features her with two legendary fellow musicians — Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Leland Sklar on bass. This time-honoured rhythm foundation gives the Brazilian the perfect basis to shine with catchy and extremely tasteful leads for almost four minutes.
Red Hot Chili Peppers — “Eddie”
It was foreseeable that with the return of John Frusciante one or the other interesting guitar solo would return to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Whether Frusciante’s return turned out to be as musically spectacular as hoped is a matter of opinion. His guitar solo in “Eddie” — a tribute to Eddie Van Halen released on 2022’s Return Of The Dream Canteen — is definitely memorable. Frusciante raves about Flea’s succinct bass line and, despite the escalating solo, manages to keep both instruments in the foreground, even though they act completely contrary to each other.
“Playing that solo was a brainfuck, I can tell you,” Frusciante told Guitar Player Magazine a while back. “I saved it for last because the idea of doing a song about Eddie Van Halen is basically like telling people, ‘Remember Eddie Van Halen.’ And then when it comes to that long guitar solo at the end, you’re like, ‘Now watch this!’ And I didn’t like that idea.” He himself had tried many different approaches – and was close to dropping the solo part entirely. “I tried for a while and wasn’t happy with what I did. I either went too much in the Eddie Van Halen direction so it was too hectic and there was too much two-handed banging and it didn’t sound like me, or I just did it and it sounded just like me…in one song about Eddie Van Halen.” The solution to John’s problems: He stopped thinking about the guitar legend who died in 2020 during the solo part — and was able to play himself free.
Nita Strauss – “The Wolf You Feed” feat. Alissa White-Glue
If one speaks of virtuoso rock guitarists, one cannot avoid Nita Strauss. The American made a name for herself in the early 2000s with the Iron Maiden cover band The Iron Maidens, and later Alice Cooper hired her for his band. There she is, with a stopover at pop star Demi Lovato, still or: active again. In 2022 she released “The Wolf You Feed” — and pulls out all the shredding stops on the solo. Nita Strauss, who has her own signature guitar at Ibanez, is a guitar heroine in the classic sense, trained on the role models of the 1980s.