Top 10 Solos By A Non Band Member

[Jesse]

I guess I could have worded it "Solos by Guest Musicians" but I'm going with my gut here. Ten best solos by someone who is not in the band who released the song...or was not in the band at the time. I'll show you what I mean:



10- Dickie Betts on "Long Haired Country Boy" by Charlie Daniels Band. That distinctive acoustic slide guitar solo was done by Betts, not Charlie or (his guitar player at the time) Barry Barnes.....and I couldn't imagine how the song would sound without it.


9-Hughie Thomasson on "Cold War" by Henry Paul Band. Could be argued that this was the solo launched the Thomasson/ Paul Outlaws reunion in 1983. I remember buying the "Henry Paul" album on cassette (Henry Paul Band was credited as the artist, so it counts as a "band") and, as soon as I heard the 1st solo to "Cold War" I knew it was Thomasson. Wicked overdriven Strat sound, great pickin'.



Hughie's solo starts @ 2:36.


8-Steve Morse on "Headed For Nowhere" by Triumph. I guess it's not really a solo per se, as he trades licks with Rik Emmett for several bars, but it kinda makes the song IMO and, well, it's STEVE MORSE! Needs to be on the list somewhere IMO.


More to come! What solos come to your mind?

[Jesse]

7- Zakk Wylde on After The Reign by Blackfoot. Fine soloing. I believe Zakk's spot is the 2nd solo coming in @ 3:15

[spacel0rd]

The first three I thought of was:
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Clapton with the Beatles)
No More Lonely Nights (David Gilmour with Paul McCartney)
Champagne Supernova (Paul Weller with Oasis)

[Jesse]

6- Charlie Daniels on This Ol' Cowboy by Marshall Tucker Band. Didn't specify that it had to be a GUITAR solo. Ol' Charlie played fiddle so much for MTB that he might as well have been a member of the band, but he wasn't. I think he played fiddle on some better songs than this one, but I think his fiddle solo on This Ol' Cowboy is the best of the bunch.


5-Junior Walker on Urgent by Foreigner. While we're on the subject of non guitar solos by a non member, I might as well throw this one in. Great guitar lick, but let's face it: Urgent is all about the sax, man!

[Jesse]

4-Duane Allman on Layla by Derek And The Dominos. Some great stuff here. Outshines Clapton on this one!

3-Eric Clapton on While My Guitar Gently Weeps by The Beatles. Hard to argue against this one being high on the list. Might be higher except I've heard a Peter Frampton version of this tune that blow Clapton out of the water!

2-BB King on When Love Comes To Town by U2. Not only does he one up The Edge with his guitar playing, BB King can also lay claim to the greatest guitar solo in the whole U2 catalog!

[kim]

Hows about Billy Preston on some of the Beatles tracks?...Worthy I'm thinking?

The only other musician I can think of that has contributed a ton of worth to many
an artists over the years is Kenny Arnoff. The man has drummed his way into infamy
with his underrated drumming expertise on so many releases and live contributions.

Seriously, a truly underrated artist.

Thanks
Kim

[Jesse]

#1 Solo by a non band member:

Steve Morse on Gimmie Back My Bullets by Lynyrd Skynyrd. Already an outstanding song. Always one of my favorites from the Skynyrd catalog. I was glad to see it made the cut for their live reunion album "Southern By The Grace Of God" in 1988 (it was left off the 1976 live set "One More From The Road"). I had no idea who Steve Morse was when I bought this album or why they let him play on this classic tune. However, his shredding at the end of this version takes the song into a totally different stratosphere. I originally had this at #5, but after another listen I HAD to move it up to #1. Some of the others on this list may be more well known, but I don't think any of those solos touch this one!



Steve's guitar clinic begins about 3:05 and continues until the end of the song. Pretty damn amazing IMO.

[Trexx]

...what about Derrick St. James in Ted Nugent's band? Did he play rhythm exclusively?