# The Best Whammy Bar Guitar Solos > The Best Whammy Bar Guitar Solos: #1 is Eruption by Van Halen, then For the Love of God and Star Spangled Banner. Every video starts at the solo. Canonical URL: Dive bombs, flutters, squeals and the sweetest vibrato ever played: these solos are defined by the tremolo arm. The list runs from Lonnie Mack's Bigsby on Wham! and Hendrix's Star-Spangled Banner to Eddie Van Halen's Eruption, Steve Vai's For the Love of God, Dimebag Darrell's Floyd Rose dives and Jeff Beck's bar-controlled melodies. Every video starts at the solo. 1. [Eruption](https://greatestsolos.com/song/van-halen-eruption/) — Van Halen · solo by Eddie Van Halen · 1978 2. [For the Love of God](https://greatestsolos.com/song/steve-vai-for-the-love-of-god/) — Steve Vai · solo by Steve Vai · 1990 3. [Star Spangled Banner](https://greatestsolos.com/song/jimi-hendrix-star-spangled-banner/) — Jimi Hendrix · solo by Jimi Hendrix · 1969 4. [Floods](https://greatestsolos.com/song/pantera-floods/) — Pantera · solo by Dimebag Darrell · 1996 5. [Cowboys from Hell](https://greatestsolos.com/song/pantera-cowboys-from-hell/) — Pantera · solo by Dimebag Darrell · 1990 6. [Where Were You](https://greatestsolos.com/song/jeff-beck-where-were-you/) — Jeff Beck · solo by Jeff Beck · 1989 7. [Freeway Jam](https://greatestsolos.com/song/jeff-beck-freeway-jam/) — Jeff Beck · solo by Jeff Beck · 1975 8. [Nessun Dorma](https://greatestsolos.com/song/jeff-beck-nessun-dorma/) — Jeff Beck · solo by Jeff Beck · 2010 9. [Limelight](https://greatestsolos.com/song/rush-limelight/) — Rush · solo by Alex Lifeson · 1981 10. [Yankee Rose](https://greatestsolos.com/song/david-lee-roth-yankee-rose/) — David Lee Roth · solo by Steve Vai · 1986 11. [Don't Tell Me You Love Me](https://greatestsolos.com/song/night-ranger-don-t-tell-me-you-love-me/) — Night Ranger · solo by Brad Gillis & Jeff Watson · 1982 12. [Tooth and Nail](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dokken-tooth-and-nail/) — Dokken · solo by George Lynch · 1984 13. [Angel of Death](https://greatestsolos.com/song/slayer-angel-of-death/) — Slayer · solo by Jeff Hanneman, Kerry King · 1986 14. [Through the Fire and Flames](https://greatestsolos.com/song/dragonforce-through-the-fire-and-flames/) — DragonForce · solo by Herman Li, Sam Totman · 2006 15. [Wham!](https://greatestsolos.com/song/lonnie-mack-wham/) — Lonnie Mack · solo by Lonnie Mack · 1963 16. [The Great Curve](https://greatestsolos.com/song/talking-heads-the-great-curve/) — Talking Heads · solo by Adrian Belew · 1980 17. [Wonderful Slippery Thing](https://greatestsolos.com/song/guthrie-govan-wonderful-slippery-thing/) — Guthrie Govan · solo by Guthrie Govan · 2006 18. [Only Shallow](https://greatestsolos.com/song/my-bloody-valentine-only-shallow/) — My Bloody Valentine · solo by Kevin Shields · 1991 ## Quick answers ### What is the best whammy bar solo ever? Eddie Van Halen's Eruption is ranked highest on the site, with Steve Vai's For the Love of God close behind. For melody played with the bar, Jeff Beck's Where Were You is the usual answer. ### What is a dive bomb? A dive bomb is when the player pushes the whammy bar all the way down so the pitch drops fast, often from a harmonic, for a falling-bomb sound. A locking system like the Floyd Rose keeps the guitar in tune afterwards. ### Is the whammy bar the same as the DigiTech Whammy pedal? No. The whammy bar (tremolo arm) bends the pitch by moving the bridge. The DigiTech Whammy is a pitch-shifting pedal. This list is about the bar, so pedal-driven Tom Morello solos are not on it. --- GreatestSolos ranks the greatest guitar solos by consensus across published lists. Agent guide: [llms.txt](https://greatestsolos.com/llms.txt) · [Sitemap](https://greatestsolos.com/sitemap.xml) · [Dataset (CSV)](https://greatestsolos.com/data/greatest-guitar-solos.csv) · [How we rank](https://greatestsolos.com/method/)