10) Guns N' Roses: Sweet Child O' Mine

So I started off by picking the greatest bands of all time to the greatest albums and now made my way to greatest guitar solos. This is definitely a tough one but I feel like I’ve created the best list that I could possibly compile. I feel like I left out some incredible solos (and completely omitted some of my favorite guitarists from the list) but I am judging them not on just the mere skill to play them but their musical quality. Just because a solo is lightning fast doesn’t mean it’s the best but it certainly helps. To start off the countdown I am going to one of my personal favorite guitarists who I think is terribly underrated and that is Slash of Guns N’ Roses. His work on “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is just incredible, not only being one of the greatest riffs of all time but it also has one of the greatest solos. Now this is tough just to write about a solo so don’t expect long elaborate descriptions but I will do my best. This song was the thing that launched Guns N’ Roses into unprecedented popularity. The riff alone was supposed to be a joke according to interviews with Slash, he claims he was just trying to make it sound like a “circus theme.” Axl apparently liked the sound and thus “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was born and thank the Lord for that. The solo is just beautiful, not extremely quick but played just perfectly. It will certainly go down as one of the most remembered guitar solos of all time. Slash utilizes the wah wah pedal so well here and uses enough gain to make it sound just right and not over the top. What also makes this solo so fantastic is how Slash bends each note to really give it that fantastic sound that it has. At first Slash was not too happy with the song but grew to appreciate it after playing it more and more during live shows, and rightfully so. This is a song that the whole world has come to adore and due in part to the ridiculously great guitar work from Slash. Unfortunately I don’t feel like there is much more to touch upon regarding this song so check in daily for the next solo because since these are so quick to write I just might actually post the next number each day.