The Saddest Guitar Solos Ever Recorded
Some solos show off. These ones grieve. Here are the guitar solos that sound like loss: Eddie Hazel's Maggot Brain, which George Clinton reportedly told him to play as if he had just heard his mother had died; Eric Clapton weeping on George Harrison's song; and David Gilmour's final solo in Comfortably Numb. Every video starts right at the solo, so you can go straight to the part that hurts.
- 1Funkadelic · solo by Eddie Hazel · 1971
- 2The Beatles · solo by Eric Clapton · 1968
- 3Pink Floyd · solo by David Gilmour · 1979
- 4Jeff Beck · solo by Jeff Beck · 1989
- 5Jeff Beck · solo by Jeff Beck · 1975
- 6Gary Moore · solo by Gary Moore · 1990
- 7Gary Moore · solo by Gary Moore · 1978
- 8Led Zeppelin · solo by Jimmy Page · 1970
- 9B.B. King · solo by B.B. King · 1969
- 10Metallica · solo by Kirk Hammett · 1984
- 11Judas Priest · solo by Glenn Tipton & K.K. Downing · 1978
- 12Roy Buchanan · solo by Roy Buchanan · 1972
- 13Dire Straits · solo by Mark Knopfler · 1985
- 14Thin Lizzy · solo by Gary Moore & Brian Robertson · 1974
- 15Guns N' Roses · solo by Slash · 1991
- 16Pantera · solo by Dimebag Darrell · 1996
- 17Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble · solo by Stevie Ray Vaughan · 1991
- 18Buckethead · solo by Buckethead · 1998
- 19Pink Floyd · solo by David Gilmour · 1979
Quick answers
What is the saddest guitar solo of all time?
Funkadelic's Maggot Brain is the solo most often named. Eddie Hazel improvised it after George Clinton reportedly told him to play as if he had just heard his mother had died. Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb and Jeff Beck's 'Cause We've Ended as Lovers come up almost as often.
Who played the guitar solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps?
Eric Clapton. George Harrison brought him in for the Beatles recording, and Clapton went uncredited on the 1968 White Album.
Why do slow blues solos sound so sad?
Sad solos use a lot of space, wide vibrato and string bends that go slightly flat or hold just short of the target note. It sounds like a voice cracking. Players such as B.B. King, Gary Moore and David Gilmour build whole solos on a few notes played this way instead of fast runs.