THE 30 GREATEST GUITAR SOLOS OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Featuring every kind of guitar hero - from old-school to cutting-edge. And not one but two Van Halens…

30 MR. ED MAMMOTH WVH (2021)

We wondered whether Wolfgang Van Halen would steer clear of tapping to avoid comparisons with his dad, but Mammoth WVH’s opening song gave a clear answer. Pointedly titled Mr. Ed, it exploded onto the stage with tapped harmonics and a sequence based on the Hot For Teacher patterns. Wolfgang keeps alive the family tradition of sounding like he’s falling down the stairs and landing on his feet; the opening tapped harmonics ring with such force you can feel the string thumping against the fretwire. Wolf beats out a quarter-note triplet with his tapping finger and fits the rest of the phrase into the gaps, another family secret. We’re just glad there’s still a Van Halen lighting up the fingerboard.

29 SLITHER VELVET REVOLVER (2004)

Signalled by the crack of a snare drum, the jewel in Velvet Revolver’s debut has Slash at his Slashiest: full of nonchalant swagger and absolutely bristling to destroy 16 bars in the spotlight with a blazing wah-fest. As with a great majority of his solos, this one’s built from blues-inspired licks, sped up and fed through a hard rock filter – and a cranked Marshall amp. Limber alternate picking and hammer-on/pull-off patterns allow him one to build up speed around the D minor pentatonic shape that the solo calls home. But, much of that signature sound comes through at the apex of his bends, where a muscular vibrato and some furious Cry Baby action imparts attitude in buckets.

28 LAST NITE THE STROKES (2001)