The first vote for Dave....

Did it for Dave as well...

Yup, Gilmour for me. Interesting choice for the Howe solo, being acoustic. I would have gone for his solo on "Yours is no disgrace" on "Yessongs".

Well done not calling it "THE clap" though!

Lifeson's on La Villa Strangiato.

Still gives me goosebumps!!

It's not a traditional guitar solo per se, but Belew and Fripp doing "Indiscipline" has some of my favorite guitar work of all time. I'm pretty sure Larry LaLonde would agree . "Matte Kudasai" is another favorite, and Fripp's sweeping lead on "The Night Watch" is beautiful, too.

On a similar track, Belew's "Naive Guitar" from his Lone Rhino solo album gives me goosebumps. Is Belew's solo stuff in the archives?

It's hard to pick a favorite Zappa solo...there's so many great ones. The title tracks to both "Apostrophe" and "Zoot Allures" are pretty choice.

I'm not saying he's a virtuoso, but Justin Hayward has some great moments- the guitar is pretty tasty on "Isn't Life Strange" and the final (almost Brian May-ish) moments of "Procession" from "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour".

I like Lifeson's solo on "La Villa Strangiato" even better than "XYZ".

Howe could have done 15 minutes more of soloing at the end of "A Venture" and I wouldn't have complained one bit; I love his (less often used) fuzz tone. I'm not a huge fan of "Clap", but "Mood for a Day" is classic.

"Dogs" has my favorite Gilmour lead- the double-tracked bit- but my PF guitar highlight has to be the climax to "Echoes".

Whoops, almost forgot- I love the guitar solos on Mezquita's "Recuerdos de mi Terra". Somewhere between Steve Howe, Dick Dale, and Carlos Montoya .

The guy from "Deus ex Machina" is pretty amazing, too. Check out "Macte Aequitatem"...but listen quick, or you might miss his genius...

I voted for Gilmour's but a few of my other favourites include :

Jan Akkerman - Sylvia

Steve Howe- Wurm (Starship Trooper)

Greg Lake - Battlefield (Tarkus)

Mike Holmes- The Last Human Gateway (middle section)

Steve Hackett - Firth Of Fifth

I think the best solo I've ever heard for guitar is the solo from Fripp on Lark's Tongues part I.

Best bass solo would be anything from Victor Wooten, though I can't really make the difference between his different works. I'm not that good yet....

Best drumsolo, now here's a hard one, since the drummers I think have the most merit have hardly played any drums. I like Bruford's work a LOT, but his solo on Yessongs was not as amazing as his Fragile-work. But then again, if you can count five percent as a solo he's the man.

Keyboard solo would be Wakeman on Edge, great stuff, from the master.

I'm up for the solo on Comfortably Numb. In fact, any Dave Gilmour solo does it for me, the guy's just got the best feel ever, those little double bends are such a cool trademark sound and yes, his Animals works is definitely some of his best stuff.

Also whoever said Alex's La Villa Strangiato -  for me it's his use of volume pedal on the first part of the solo, it's tasteful, beautifully played and builds perfectly.

Not really prog at all - but Page is just the business - sloppy, groovy, infiniely filthy and all about the vibe - hat's off to Jimmy Page - legend. For a perfect example just listen to how clever the guitar arrangement is on 'Ten Years Gone' or indeed the whole of 'Presence' (probably there most proggy album if you ask me) and even more amazing when you consider that Page recorded most of the arrangements in a few days. And also his acoustic playing is magic.

again not really prog but Richie Blackmore 's playing on the 'On Stage' version of 'Catch the Rainbow' is wonderful.

Brian May's guitar arrangements are also spectacular, particular up to and including The Game.

Latterly Dave Navarro is always interesting - his work on Ritual de lo Habitual and One Hot Minute is fantastic. Check out the little guitar solo on 'My Friends' with the Chili Peppers, it rocks and his work Jane's is great.

I've kind of drifted off the prog vibe here, but the above guys are the best.

Out of the list, Gilmour.

John Mclaughlin on Dance of Maya sounds very bad to me, especially that reworked boogie section - all I hear is bluff and no music - what am I missing?

It's impossible to pin down one solo as favourite, but (just for today) here are my top 5 gems;

Steve Hillage on "Angel's Egg" - "Castle in the Clouds".

Steve Rothery on "Script..." - "Forgotten Sons".

Andy Latimer on "Mirage" - "Lady Fantasy".

Joe Satriani on "Surfing With the Alien" - title track.

John Squires on "Do It Yourself" (Seahorses) - "Love is the Law".

Reed Lover wrote: The older guitarists certainly know how to crank up the emotion in their solos:Lifeson and Gilmour are wonderfully emotive.This is one area where the likes of Petrucci and his ilk (super teccy but no feel) fall down. I defy anyone to name a single Dream Theater solo that stirs the heart (although I know this is subjective, you all know what I mean.)

'goodnight kiss' from the 'six degrees of inner turbulence' album for starters.

WaterGate wrote: My vote goes to Mr. Gilmour. But if I could choose I would prefer the version played in the PULSE concert. Have you heard it? What an amazing solo! So wonderful... But I have a doubt about this solo during PULSE tour, I've been reading David has some kind of pre-arrangements prepared in the studio and in fact it isn't really a live solo. Maybe I'm wrong, could someone tell me more about it?

Not true.  I attended atleast 8 of those TDB concerts, including the Giant Stadium one here in NJ where they did the entire DSOTM album.  He played that CN solo (1&2)... like a true guitar god... every concert I saw him ... and I hit quite a few of the shows cross country.  I agree that the version of this done on the PULSE cd is absolutely incredible... it makes you drop to your knees and pound your hands on the ground... it was that good!!  I have about 7 different versions of CN from studio, live and bootlegs recordings.

As I mentioned before, David said that on this tour.. in New Orleans on May 14th, 1994... that his performance of CN was the best he ever did...  How unfortunate that I wasn't at this show....  anybody got a bootleg??.......

And its true that DG could sure play with emotion.  My second favorite solo by him is Dogs... but that version of SOYCD from the Delicate Sound of Thunder cd is another drop to your knees moment....

I agree on that Gilmour's best guitar work is all around in the 'Animals' album.

Regarding Mr. Petrucci, I admire his technique, precision and warmth: I'm not sure he is pure technique and no feel, since I can't pretend to know his inner world as many anti-DT people seem to do. I mean, he's not a friend of mine, not even a neighbour - how am I supposed to know that behind all that technical display (which in some DT songs is played in a more subdued manner) THERE IS NOT some kind of emotional drive pushing him onwards? Once a guitarist gets a bit far more pyrotechnical than others, then here comes that arbitrary suspicion of "no feel".

Regards.

You are right of course Cesar. What I would say is that some guitarists sound more emotional than others. The sound of Andy Latimer of Camel's guitar work for example to me sounds emotional.

In what I admit is a sweeping generalisation, I don't find that Petricci's guitar work sounds like he is putting much emotion into it. I readily acknowledge however that I may well be completely misjudging him!

Yes but my point is that a lot of the newer guitar gods have got sucked into the Eddie Van Halen thing of speed is good,

My most emotive soloists:

1. Lifeson

2. Gilmour

3. Gary Moore

4.Carlos Santana

5.Michael Schenker (Rock Bottom live anyone?)

"Yes but my point is that a lot of the newer guitar gods have got sucked into the Eddie Van Halen thing of speed is good"

Now I see your point more clearly, and I hope I'm more capable of understanding it. You're right at pinting out the dangers of excessive and gratuitious love for speed for the sake of it, but again, speed is not in itself an enemy of emotional pouring: I listen to Holdsworth and DiMeola, and I can tell you that these guys are really fast and skilfull, and at the same tiem, their lines and phrases are really moving.

Petrucci has done a lot of stuff that was emotional and pyrotechnical at the same time: his solos on 'Erotomania', 'Another Day', 'Misunderstood', 'Scarred', I find them really motivating on a personal level, as much as impressive from the merely technical point of view. At least that's how I feel about them.

Anyway, my vote went to Akkerman's amazing performance on 'Hocus Pocus': here comes another guitarist who is fast and emotional, sometimes simultaneously.

Alex Lifeson is another guitarist who is well crafted technically and capable of expressing and motivating pure emotion. Well, I could find lots of examples like them...

Regards.

I dont understand it I really think that Steve Howes solo on Starship Trooper is crap. He doesnt know where he is going. Its out of time and just doesnt mean anything. Its not melodic, not fast its just awkwerd, he could have done so much better considering the chord progression he was playin over was so "rock and roll"

IMO of course

arcer wrote: again not really prog but Richie Blackmore 's playing on the 'On Stage' version of 'Catch the Rainbow' is wonderful.

Well done, Arcer! Blackmore is probably my all-time fave guitarist. As to Rainbow, I feel the first three studio albums and the live should be in the Archives under Prog-Metal... After all, how do you call an eight-minute track with a backing orchestra like Stargazer, if not prog?

Back to the list, I like all of the first three, but my vote went (of course) to Dave...

Gotta go with floyd