100 Greatest Guitar Solos: 1) "Stairway to Heaven" (Jimmy Page)
If Jimmy Page is the Steven Spielberg of guitarists, then “Stairway” is his Close Encounters. Built around a solid, uplifting theme—man’s quest for salvation—the epic slowly gains momentum and rushes headlong to a shattering conclusion. The grand finale in this case is the song’s thrill-a-second guitar solo.
Page remembers: “I’d been fooling around with the acoustic guitar and came up with several different sections which flowed together nicely. I soon realized that it could be the perfect vehicle for something I’d been wanting to do for a while: to compose something that would start quietly, have the drums come in the middle, and then build to a huge crescendo. I also knew that I wanted the piece to speed up, which is something musicians aren’t supposed to do.
“So I had all the structure of it, and ran it by [bassist] John Paul Jones so he could get the idea of it—[drummer] John Bonham and [singer] Robert Plant had gone out for the night—and then on the following day we got into it with Bonham. You have to realize that, at first, there was a hell of a lot for everyone to remember on this one. But as we were sort of routining it, Robert started writing the lyrics, and much to his surprise, he wrote a huge percentage of it right there and then.”
Plant recalls the experience: “I was sitting next to Page in front of a fire at our studio in Headley Grange. He had written this chord sequence and was playing it for me. I was holding a pencil and paper, when, suddenly, my hand was writing out the words: ‘There’s a lady who’s sure, all that glitters is gold, and she’s buying a stairway to heaven.’ I just sat there and looked at the words and almost leaped out of my seat. Looking back, I suppose I sat down at the right moment.”
While the spontaneous nature of Plant’s anthemic lyrics came as a pleasant surprise, the best was yet to come. The beautifully constructed guitar solo that Guitar World readers rated the “best ever” was, believe it or not, improvised.
“I winged it,” says Page with a touch of pride. “I had prepared the overall structure of the guitar parts, but not the actual notes. When it came time to record the solo I warmed up and recorded three of them They were all quite different from each other. All three are still on the master tape, but the one we used was the best solo, I can tell you that.”
“I thought ‘Stairway’ crystallized the essence of the band. It had everything there, and showed the band at its best. I’m not talking about solos or anything; it had everything there. Every musician wants to do something that will hold up for a long time, and I guess we did that with ‘Stairway.’"
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indyrocknrolla80
April 24, 2013 at 7:56pm
Jimmy Page doing his Dazed and Confused solo at MSG! That was one of the best solos of all time,way better then Stairway to Heaven.That entire concert/film was badass,if anybody hasn't seen the Song Remains the Same concert,you need to check it out!! A lot of great solos by each band member. If you can handle a half hour Moby Dick drum solo!!!!
kris101
September 11, 2012 at 7:40am
This is a greatest solo list, while i'm not too fond of these lists I'd have to say this is messed up.
If you want to argue that Stairway to Heaven is the "Greatest Song" then sure, it's definitely very influential and had a huge impact, but by no means does it deserve to be #1 on the greatest solo list.
Shobhit Bhatnagar
September 01, 2012 at 7:23am
Are you gonna kidding us with "All along the watchtower" at 5# if there is any Jimi Hendrix song which need to be in top 5 is "Purple Haze" which didn't even crack near top 50 in their list 2nd what the hell is
"you really got me " by Kinks doing at 59# it is one of the most influence guitar riffs ever played . Placing a song like "November rain" in top 10 doesn't make any sense. As much as i listen "Queen" "Keep yourself Alive" is their best guitar riff . Where the hell is "Back in black" by AC/DC one of the most important guitar solos. This is such a weird list. At the end "Rolling stone magazine 100 guitar solos " list is a pretty accurate and meaningful list however they have also some misleading choice but they are far better than this piece of shit
mobiusdick
March 15, 2010 at 2:59am
Certainly not the best technically, but the solo from Stairway could not be more perfect. Tension, intensely emoted melodically, harmonically and through repetition, is resolved in ways that I can only imagine J.S. Bach coming up with if he were playing a Les Paul over some Marshall stacks in 1970 instead of a Gottfried Silbermann Organ at the beginning of the 18th Century.
Those of you who do not like this solo, listen to it without the negative bias that perhaps overplay in the recent past, or dissatisfaction with Stairway ALWAYS coming in as the #1 rock song of all time no matter by what criterion it is being judged.
Just listen, shh! Listen...
MobiusDick
guitar_meditate
June 09, 2009 at 3:30pm
i think stairway to heaven is good.... but its not great, any 5 year old can play the solo. led zeppelin is okay but they are definitely not the best....
greatnameless
June 18, 2009 at 4:05pm
There's a difference between a technically good solo and a sonically good solo. Example: I think Michael Angelo Batio is a great guitarist. His music, however, makes my ears bleed. Just because something is simple doesn't mean that it can't sound great. Just because something is incredibly complicated doesn't mean it can't sound like something the dog threw up, the cat ate, and coughed back up inside a hairball.
jimmypagesdmf
April 09, 2009 at 11:32pm
you are both GH:3 posers, that just because of the promo video they made, you think Stairway to Heaven sucks...no you suck.
And Jimmy Page overrated?It's not his fault if he's just godly, and you can't see that.
You both can't *feel* this music.You have to feel it, you have to have the *feel*, but you don't.
So please don't say bullsh*t about this perfect music.
It's not only the solo, it's the whole music.
Just perfect.
tomfromhell
March 04, 2009 at 9:54pm
the solo from "Master of Puppets" was amazing, there also has to be some triv solos
aarontodd
November 18, 2008 at 12:22am
K well i like zeppelin i think that jimmy page is way way way overrated its ridiculous hes not that awesome yeah hes got good riffs but whats the big deal about him dude hes not special at all i think that someone better could have been picked if your gonna talk about top 100 guitar solos i would say that john mayer should have been somewhere on the list he is one of the only people i have heard cover SRV and do it well not to mention the solo for belief is quite emotional. And herman li and sam totman were not anywhere on the list neither was alexi laiho come on people
mvaughn326
December 01, 2008 at 1:42pm
dear aarontodd, is that you or you and your life partner. if your a john mayer fan, why are you on this website?
tommygun88
May 05, 2009 at 2:30am
Hey, don't be knockin John Mayer. Yeah, he's pop, but he's pretty legit as a guitarist. And he has a broad appreciation for music. He's covered Hendrix and was influenced by SRV and I think he did them justice.
daysinrain
November 10, 2008 at 2:04pm
Stairway to heaven?! Great solo, but definately not the best. It would of been cool to see Speed Lives make the list, but I think they got the list right for the most part....Satch should've placed higher too.
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