# Birds of Fire guitar solo > John McLaughlin's guitar solo on Birds of Fire by Mahavishnu Orchestra (1973). From the album Birds of Fire. Ranked #386 of all time across 80 lists. Canonical URL: Mahavishnu Orchestra, 1973, from *Birds of Fire*. Solo by *John McLaughlin*. Built on a 9/8 figure, the title track shows McLaughlin trading dense, distorted lines with violin and keyboards. The title track of Birds of Fire is built on a restless 9/8 figure, and John McLaughlin uses it as a launchpad. Playing his Gibson EDS-1275, he trades dense, distorted lines with violin and keyboards, the three voices pushing each other higher. His phrasing is rapid and jagged, yet each run seems to spiral back to the underlying pulse. The piece captures the fiery, almost overwhelming energy that made the Mahavishnu Orchestra so influential in the early 1970s. Listen for how the odd meter never feels stiff, because the band lets the accents fall in unexpected places that keep the groove moving. Birds of Fire by Mahavishnu Orchestra is ranked #386 in our consensus of 80 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by John McLaughlin and the song was released in 1973. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #31 (guitarguitar). ## In our lists - [The 25 Greatest Fusion Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/fusion/) — #4 - [The Best Mahavishnu Orchestra Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/mahavishnu-orchestra-guitar-solos/) — #1 - [The Best John McLaughlin Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/john-mclaughlin-guitar-solos/) — #1 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1973](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1973/) — #18 ## Sources - [guitarguitar: Top 50 Guitar Solos of All Time](https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/news/141664/) — #31 ### Who played the guitar solo on Birds of Fire? John McLaughlin played the solo on Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire (1973). ### What guitar was used on the Birds of Fire solo? A gibson eds-1275, according to widely reported accounts. ### Where does Birds of Fire rank among the greatest guitar solos? #386 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 80 published lists; it appears on 1 of them. --- 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/)