# Mr. Tambourine Man guitar solo > Roger McGuinn's guitar solo on Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds (1965). From the album Mr. Tambourine Man. Watch from the solo, with tab and lesson links. Canonical URL: The Byrds, 1965, from *Mr. Tambourine Man*. Solo by *Roger McGuinn*. McGuinn's Rickenbacker twelve-string intro became the defining sound of American folk rock. Mr. Tambourine Man opens with one of the most recognisable guitar sounds of the 1960s: Roger McGuinn's Rickenbacker twelve-string, chiming and bright, playing a descending figure that sounds instantly familiar. The intro and short break are compact rather than showy, but the tone itself was the revelation, shimmering and jangly in a way that became the defining sound of American folk rock. McGuinn's approach turned a Bob Dylan song into a radio-ready pop single without losing its poetry. Listen for the ringing overtones of the twelve-string in the opening bars; the paired strings create a halo around each note that countless jangle-pop bands would chase for decades. Mr. Tambourine Man by The Byrds is featured in our Folk Rock (#10) list. The solo is played by Roger McGuinn and the song was released in 1965. ## In our lists - [The 25 Greatest Folk Rock Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/folk-rock/) — #10 - [The Best The Byrds Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/the-byrds-guitar-solos/) — #2 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1965](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1965/) — #5 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on Mr. Tambourine Man? Roger McGuinn played the solo on The Byrds's Mr. Tambourine Man (1965). --- 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/)