# Bésame Mucho guitar solo

> The guitar solo on Bésame Mucho by Wes Montgomery (1963). Ranked #324 of all time across 80 lists. Played on a Gibson L-5CES. A jazz classic from the 1960s.

Canonical URL: <https://greatestsolos.com/song/wes-montgomery-besame-mucho/>

Wes Montgomery, 1963. Solo by *Wes Montgomery*.

From Boss Guitar; a minor-key bolero turned into a patient lesson in phrasing and octave melody.

On Boss Guitar, Wes Montgomery turns the minor-key bolero Bésame Mucho into a patient study in phrasing. In an organ trio setting, he leans on his thumb-picked tone and octave melody to give the theme a warm, rounded voice, stretching and compressing the rhythm of the line to add feeling. His solo stays lyrical rather than flashy, with runs that always resolve back into singable phrases. It shows how much expression he could draw from a well-known tune simply through touch and timing. Listen for the way his octaves make the melody sound both fuller and softer at once, and how he delays certain notes just slightly behind the beat to create a sense of longing.

Bésame Mucho by Wes Montgomery is ranked #324 in our consensus of 80 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Wes Montgomery and the song was released in 1963. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #1 (JazzGuitar.be).

## In our lists

- [The Greatest Solo of Every Year](https://greatestsolos.com/list/solo-of-every-year/) — #20
- [The 25 Greatest Jazz Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/jazz/) — #2
- [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1963](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1963/) — #1

## Sources

- [JazzGuitar.be: Top 10 Best Jazz Guitar Solos That Will Inspire You](https://www.jazzguitar.be/blog/best-jazz-guitar-solos/) — #1
- [Gibson.com (via Georgia Straight): Gibson.com's Top 50 Guitar Solos of All Time](https://www.straight.com/blogra/gibsoncom-picks-top-50-guitar-solos-all-time) — #36

### Who played the guitar solo on Bésame Mucho?

Wes Montgomery played the solo on Wes Montgomery's Bésame Mucho (1963).

### What guitar was used on the Bésame Mucho solo?

A gibson l-5ces, according to widely reported accounts.

### Where does Bésame Mucho rank among the greatest guitar solos?

#324 in the GreatestSolos consensus of 80 published lists; it appears on 1 of them.

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