# Sweet Home Alabama guitar solo > Ed King's guitar solo on Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd (1974) starts at about 0:59. From the album Second Helping. Canonical URL: Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1974, from *Second Helping*. Solo by *Ed King*. Ed King's clean, melodic solo is as memorable as the riff, and one of the most recognised in rock radio. Sweet Home Alabama is one of rock's most recognisable songs, and Ed King's guitar work is a big reason why. The riff is bright and chiming, built on open chords and little melodic fills, and the solo follows in the same relaxed, melodic spirit. King plays clean, singing lines with country flavour, choosing tasteful phrases over speed and building a solo you can hum. His tone is crisp and warm, sitting comfortably with the piano and backing vocals. Listen for the way the solo stays close to the song's key and mood, and notice the little fills King adds around the vocals, which make the arrangement feel full without ever getting cluttered. Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd is featured in our Southern Rock (#7) list. The solo is played by Ed King and the song was released in 1974. ## In our lists - [The Most-Taught Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/most-taught/) — #7 - [The 25 Greatest Southern Rock Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/southern-rock/) — #7 - [The Best Lynyrd Skynyrd Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/lynyrd-skynyrd-guitar-solos/) — #2 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1974](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1974/) — #16 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on Sweet Home Alabama? Ed King played the solo on Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama (1974). --- 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/)