# One Word guitar solo > John McLaughlin's guitar solo on One Word by Mahavishnu Orchestra (1973) starts at about 3:45. From the album Birds of Fire. A fusion classic from the 1970s. Canonical URL: Mahavishnu Orchestra, 1973, from *Birds of Fire*. Solo by *John McLaughlin*. The ten-minute centerpiece ends in a thrilling round of trades between guitar, violin and keyboards over Billy Cobham's drumming. McLaughlin's exchanges are a masterclass in call and response at speed. One Word by Mahavishnu Orchestra is #4 in our ranking of the best Mahavishnu Orchestra guitar solos. The solo is played by John McLaughlin and the song was released in 1973. ## In our lists - [The Best Mahavishnu Orchestra Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/mahavishnu-orchestra-guitar-solos/) — #4 - [The Best John McLaughlin Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/john-mclaughlin-guitar-solos/) — #5 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on One Word? John McLaughlin played the solo on Mahavishnu Orchestra's One Word (1973). ### What guitar was used on the One Word solo? A gibson ems-1275 through a Marshall amp, according to widely reported accounts. --- 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/)