Whipping Post
The Allman Brothers Band, 1971. Solo by Duane Allman & Dickey Betts.
At the Fillmore it stretches past 20 minutes.
On At Fillmore East the song becomes a long, patient climb, and the two guitarists handle it in very different ways. Dickey Betts tends toward melodic lines that develop a theme, while Duane Allman plays with a hotter, more urgent attack, digging into bends and repeated phrases until they boil over. The band's odd-metered opening riff and the two-drummer groove give both soloists room to build without the tension ever sagging. It became a model for how a rock band could improvise at length and still sound composed, and every jam band since owes it something. Listen for the quiet dips in the middle of the jam, where the dynamics fall almost to nothing before the next surge.
Whipping Post by The Allman Brothers Band is ranked #92 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Duane Allman & Dickey Betts and the song was released in 1971. It appears on 8 lists, placing as high as #8 (Society of Rock).
In our lists
- Genre Champions — #16
- The 25 Greatest Blues Rock Guitar Solos — #6
- The 25 Greatest Jam Band Guitar Solos — #1
- The 25 Greatest Southern Rock Guitar Solos — #2
- Greatest Live Solos — #3
- Epic-Length Solos — #21
- Played on a Les Paul — #25
Sources
- Society of Rock: 15 of the Greatest Guitar Solos You'll Agree With — #8
- Far Out Magazine: From Jimi Hendrix to Jimmy Page: The 10 greatest live guitar solos of all time — #9
- TheTopTens: Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time — #22
- Music in Minnesota: 38 Best Guitar Solos Of All Time — #27
- Guitar Tricks: 200 Best Guitar Solos of All Time — #50
- Radio Beat: 88 kytarových sól na Beatu — #78
- Bombay Lives (Substack): 100 Greatest Guitar Solos — #86
- Topito (now 10h26.com): Top 100 des plus grands solos de guitare de l'histoire (Benoit Floyd) — #86
- Digital Dream Door: 250 Greatest Rock Guitar Solos — #92
Who played the guitar solo on Whipping Post?
Duane Allman & Dickey Betts played the solo on The Allman Brothers Band's Whipping Post (1971).
What guitar was used on the Whipping Post solo?
A gibson les paul through a Marshall amp, according to widely reported accounts.
Where does Whipping Post rank among the greatest guitar solos?
#92 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 79 published lists; it appears on 8 of them.