# Evil Ways guitar solo > The guitar solo on Evil Ways by Santana (1969) starts at about 1:25. From the album Santana. Ranked #542 of all time across 80 lists. Canonical URL: Santana, 1969, from *Santana*. Solo by *Carlos Santana*. Santana's first hit single, with a concise solo trading space with Gregg Rolie's organ. Evil Ways was Santana's first hit single, and its solo shows how the band balanced tight songwriting with improvisation. Carlos Santana's guitar trades space with Gregg Rolie's organ, and his lines are concise, bluesy and melodic, fitting snugly into the song's Latin groove. His sustained tone and expressive bends give each phrase a vocal quality. The track helped bring his sound to a wide audience. Listen for how the guitar and organ hand phrases back and forth, and how Santana keeps his solo short and focused, choosing a few strong ideas rather than filling every bar with notes. Evil Ways by Santana is ranked #542 in our consensus of 80 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Carlos Santana and the song was released in 1969. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #196 (Digital Dream Door). ## In our lists - [The 25 Greatest Latin Rock Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/latin-rock/) — #10 - [The Best Santana Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/santana-guitar-solos/) — #14 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1969](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1969/) — #20 ## Sources - [Digital Dream Door: 250 Greatest Rock Guitar Solos](https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_guitarsolo.html) — #196 ### Who played the guitar solo on Evil Ways? Carlos Santana played the solo on Santana's Evil Ways (1969). ### Where does Evil Ways rank among the greatest guitar solos? #542 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/)