Guitar Heroics

Guitars

When I began scheming for my post this week, I wanted to do something abrasive to provoke responses. I thought that maybe I'd challenge people to name better guitar solos than the ones I could name (take that suckas!). Terrible idea. My rock knowledge is limited. I am not a guitar aficionado. I like cool music, but the expertise ends there. In a similar vein, I don't want to have to defend my own selections against you jackals. I wouldn't presume to guess where you might rate them on some arbitrary scale of difficulty or importance.

What I really want is some new tunes to groove to. This is pretty standard music chatter, but what makes it interesting is the fact that some of you have a taste for rock and roll music that far surpasses my own. Another interesting factor is that some of you have musical abilities that are far beyond my current and future proficiency for anything (seduction being the notable exception). I've randomly chosen three songs in which I particularly enjoy the guitar work. I'm looking forward to hearing some of your favorites.

• Little Wing ~ Jimi Hendrix. I love the open and the solo later in the song. Beautiful. There's not much more that needs to be said about Mr. Hendrix. Shout out to Stevie Ray Vaughn for his amazing version.

• Settle For Nothing ~ Rage Against the Machine. This track is about as hard as it gets from Rage. Be prepared. Before you listen, you'll need to meditate on a time in your life when you were truly irritated with The Man. The harshness of the song actually complements the solo. It's the eye of the storm. Short, and absurdly sweet. Tom Morello definitely earns his money. Behold what marvels shall emerge when Zack sees fit to silence himself.

• Californication ~ Red Hot Chili Peppers. Good solo. Good song. Good album. Great band.
  

Bonus Video: RIP Ricky Hatton (Warning! This video contains extremely violent, non-musical subject matter)