The Great Guitar Solo

I love beer. But I love music more. And the name of this place is Music and Beer…so here’s something about music.

The great debate has been going since before Woodstock. Who’s the greatest guitarist? I’m not going to address this because everyone knows it’s….ME! Thank you, thank you. But seriously, what’s the greatest rock guitar solo?

Jimi is probably the best known by rock guitar fans and considered the innovator by most. Eddie would probably be considered second by the masses largely due to his early works like Eruption. But I don’t believe either of these have the greatest guitar solo. I would choose the work of one very misunderstood, Frank Zappa.

Frank was a phenomenal composer. He wrote everything that every person in his band played. And they had to play it as written. He was always sober and required his musicians to be sober for all rehearsals and performances. He put Steve Vai on the map of top rock guitarists. But I really don’t like most of his music. Not because it’s bad, it’s just not my taste. But there is one song.

A close friend, lover of beer, fine musician, once introduced me to homebrewing. He also introduced me to Watermelon in Easter Hay. This song is a straight forward almost nine minute guitar solo. It’s not filled with lightning fast licks (there are a couple), there is no finger tapping, the distortion is subtle and tasteful, and limited to about three minutes in the middle of the song. It’s just beautiful. It’s filled with emotion. As a musician, I also appreciate the technical aspect of the song. The measures alternate between 4/4 and 5/4 time…the entire song. This is the only guitar solo that has evoked emotion in me. And words cannot do it justice.

If you love music, and love the guitar, I highly recommend listening to this song. And if you do give up nine minutes of your life to listen to it, hopefully you have a quality homebrew handy to enjoy with it. If not, try a Hazed and Infused.