Seventeen guitar solo

Winger, 1988, from Winger. Solo by Reb Beach.

Reb Beach packs tapped runs and whammy tricks into a solo that outshines the song's teen-romance lyric.

Seventeen is a bouncy hair-metal single with a lyric few people defend, but Reb Beach's solo gives guitarists a reason to keep listening. He packs tapped runs, whammy tricks and fast legato into a tight space, jumping between ideas with a technician's precision and a showman's sense of fun. His tapping has a distinctive, slippery quality, with lines that seem to change direction mid-phrase. The solo showed how much musical detail a skilled player could fit inside a radio-friendly song. Listen for the quick whammy flutters at the end of tapped phrases, little flourishes that give the solo a playful, almost comic edge.

Seventeen by Winger is ranked #414 in our consensus of 80 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Reb Beach and the song was released in 1988. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #7 (Ultimate Classic Rock).

In our lists

• The 25 Greatest Glam Guitar Solos — #16
• Tapping — #14
• The Best Reb Beach Guitar Solos — #2
• Top 20 Guitar Solos of 1988 — #4
• The 18 Best Hair Metal Guitar Solos — #6

Sources

• Ultimate Classic Rock: Top 20 Hair Metal Guitar Solos — #7
• guitarguitar: Top 50 Guitar Solos of All Time — #45