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…

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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)