# Torquay guitar solo > George Tomsco's guitar solo on Torquay by The Fireballs (1959). Watch from the solo, plus the story and gear. A surf classic from the 1950s. Canonical URL: The Fireballs, 1959. Solo by *George Tomsco*. Tomsco's twangy, reverberant lead predates the surf boom and influenced the players who started it. Torquay came out of New Mexico before the surf boom took off, and George Tomsco's lead guitar anticipates much of what followed. His tone is twangy and reverberant, and he plays the melody with a clean, bright attack that feels relaxed yet punchy. The tune rolls along on a bouncy rhythm, and Tomsco's phrasing has a lightness that sets it apart from the heavier surf records that came later. Many early surf guitarists heard and learned from the Fireballs' records. Listen for the twangy bends and echo on Tomsco's lead, and notice how the band keeps the arrangement spare, letting the guitar melody stay in the foreground at all times. Torquay by The Fireballs is featured in our Surf (#17) list. The solo is played by George Tomsco and the song was released in 1959. ## In our lists - [The Greatest Solo of Every Year](https://greatestsolos.com/list/solo-of-every-year/) — #16 - [The 25 Greatest Surf Guitar Songs](https://greatestsolos.com/list/surf/) — #17 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1959](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1959/) — #1 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on Torquay? George Tomsco played the solo on The Fireballs's Torquay (1959). --- 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/)