# West Coast Blues guitar solo > The guitar solo on West Coast Blues by Wes Montgomery (1960). From the album The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. Played on a Gibson L-5CES. Canonical URL: Wes Montgomery, 1960, from *The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery*. Solo by *Wes Montgomery*. A jazz waltz blues where Wes moves easily between single notes and his trademark octaves. West Coast Blues puts a blues in three-quarter time, and Wes Montgomery makes the waltz feel swinging rather than stiff. On his Gibson L-5CES, he moves easily between warm thumb-picked single lines and his trademark octaves, shaping phrases that sit comfortably across the bar lines. The tune's unusual structure gives the solo interesting harmonic turns, and he navigates them with calm confidence. It became one of his most studied compositions for its blend of blues feeling and jazz sophistication. Listen for how he uses octaves to state a phrase firmly, then switches back to single notes for looser, more conversational lines, keeping the three-beat pulse buoyant throughout. West Coast Blues by Wes Montgomery is featured in our Jazz (#15) list. The solo is played by Wes Montgomery and the song was released in 1960. ## In our lists - [The 25 Greatest Jazz Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/jazz/) — #15 - [The Best Wes Montgomery Guitar Solos](https://greatestsolos.com/list/wes-montgomery-guitar-solos/) — #2 - [Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1960](https://greatestsolos.com/list/best-guitar-solos-1960/) — #5 ## Sources ### Who played the guitar solo on West Coast Blues? Wes Montgomery played the solo on Wes Montgomery's West Coast Blues (1960). ### What guitar was used on the West Coast Blues solo? A gibson l-5ces, 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/)