# The Best Yo La Tengo Guitar Solos

> The 15 best Yo La Tengo guitar solos, ranked. #1 is Blue Line Swinger (1995), then I Heard You Looking and Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind.

Canonical URL: <https://greatestsolos.com/list/yo-la-tengo-guitar-solos/>

Yo La Tengo's Ira Kaplan is indie rock's great noise-guitar improviser, known for extended feedback-drenched solos that owe more to the Velvet Underground and free jazz than to classic-rock technique. On record and especially live, his squalling, unpredictable leads give the Hoboken trio's gentle songs their sudden, ecstatic flights.

Informed by: [Paste – 40 best Yo La Tengo songs](https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/yo-la-tengo/the-40-best-yo-la-tengo-songs), [Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/yo-la-tengo-ira-kaplan-this-stupid-world), [Premier Guitar](https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/guitarists/yo-la-tengos-ira-kaplan-if-it-aint-broke), [PopMatters](https://www.popmatters.com/167214-popular-songs-15-or-so-essential-yo-la-tengo-tracks-2495785737.html)

1. [Blue Line Swinger](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-blue-line-swinger/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1995
2. [I Heard You Looking](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-i-heard-you-looking/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1993
3. [Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-pass-the-hatchet-i-think-i-m-goodkind/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 2006
4. [The Story of Yo La Tango](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-the-story-of-yo-la-tango/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 2009
5. [Sugarcube](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-sugarcube/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1997
6. [Tom Courtenay](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-tom-courtenay/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1995
7. [Big Day Coming](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-big-day-coming/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1993
8. [We're an American Band](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-we-re-an-american-band/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1997
9. [Cherry Chapstick](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-cherry-chapstick/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 2000
10. [Double Dare](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-double-dare/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1993
11. [From a Motel 6](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-from-a-motel-6/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1993
12. [Deeper into Movies](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-deeper-into-movies/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 1997
13. [Sinatra Drive Breakdown](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-sinatra-drive-breakdown/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 2023
14. [Ohm](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-ohm/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 2013
15. [Night Falls on Hoboken](https://greatestsolos.com/song/yo-la-tengo-night-falls-on-hoboken/) — Yo La Tengo · solo by Ira Kaplan · 2000

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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/)