Log In
Register
8.36pm
18 December 2011
Offline
Well, this is not going to be easy, there are so many great solos out there, especially by George. It's also really hard to compensate between the early and their later stuff.
In my opinion, I will say that “Twist And Shout “, “Any Time At All “, “Michelle “, “Girl”, “Dizzy Miss Lizzy “, “I Feel Fine ” is not real guitar solos, but rather guitar/lead breaks.
Remember this is a list for “Guitar” solos only! and it's based on the melody (the way it sounds to me).
The rest (I think) of The Beatles' solos:
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Let It Be **
I Want You (She's So Heavy)
You're Going to Lose That Girl
I've Just a Seen a Face
Honey Don't
Baby's in Black
I'll Follow the Sun
I'm a Loser
What You're Doing
20) She's a Woman
19) A Hard Day's Night
17) Taxman
16) Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
14) Back in the U.S.S.R.
13) I'm Down
11) Helter Skelter
10) You Never Give Me Your Money
9) Nowhere Man
8) While My Guitar Gently Weeps
7) The End
6) Octopus's Garden
5) Can't Buy Me Love
3) Let It Be *
2) Something
* = album version
** = single version
To be honest, I'm not really sure about this one, but I give it a try! :p
"Real music is made by real people playing real instruments using own creativity and skills."
10.34pm
4 December 2010
Offline7.23pm
14 December 2009
Offline
I'd like to vote in this, but – and don't be mad! – I don't think I can come up with 20 truly great guitar solos, as opposed to merely passable ones. For one thing, they really didn't play all that many – “And Your Bird Can Sing ” has fine lead guitar work, sure, but nothing that I'd consider a solo; the leads are part of the song's composition. And furthermore, I don't care for “solos” that do nothing but repeat the vocal melody, which leaves out “And I Love Her “, “I Want You”, “I Should Have Known Better ” and several others. And finally, I'm disqualifying Eric Clapton's gentle weeping just 'cause he ain't a Beatle. So 20 is out, but I can pretty easily name 10 (maybe even 15!) really great ones:
1. Taxman
2. Good Morning, Good Morning
3. Something
4. The End
5. Octopus' Garden
6. Something
9. Get Back
10. One After 909
11. Let It Be
12. Hey Bulldog
13. Long Tall Sally
14. It's All Too Much
15. Boys
16. 'Til There Was You
17. Savoy Truffle
18. Drive My Car
19. For You Blue
20. Polythene Pam
OK, turns out there was more memorable ones than I originally thought!
Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.
3.37am
10 August 2011
Offline
“Let It Be ” – absolutely; but the “single” release on Past Masters , not the album version!
I still don't see how that album version was ever released. The guitar “solo” was never meant to be. If I recall, it was simply going to be the backing to an eventual two-guitar solo.
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
12.53pm
14 November 2010
Offline
Beatles Bassist, I was scrolling through your list, scrolling, scrolling, (me: “WHERE IS I Saw Her Standing There I can't believe it's not in here!!”) scrolling scrolling (“stupid list without that in it”) scrolling scrolling *stop* (“oh.”)
The sunshine bores the daylights outta me
2.23pm
18 December 2011
Offline "Real music is made by real people playing real instruments using own creativity and skills."
2.31pm
18 December 2011
Offline Von Bontee said:
I’d like to vote in this, but – and don’t be mad! – I don’t think I can come up with 20 truly great guitar solos, as opposed to merely passable ones. For one thing, they really didn’t play all that many – “And Your Bird Can Sing ” has fine lead guitar work, sure, but nothing that I’d consider a solo; the leads are part of the song’s composition. And furthermore, I don’t care for “solos” that do nothing but repeat the vocal melody, which leaves out “And I Love Her “, “I Want You”, “I Should Have Known Better ” and several others. And finally, I’m disqualifying Eric Clapton’s gentle weeping just ’cause he ain’t a Beatle. So 20 is out, but I can pretty easily name 10 (maybe even 15!) really great ones:
1. Taxman
2. Good Morning, Good Morning
3. Something
4. The End
5. Octopus’ Garden
6. Something
9. Get Back
10. One After 909
11. Let It Be
12. Hey Bulldog
13. Long Tall Sally
15. Boys
16. ‘Til There Was You
17. Savoy Truffle
18. Drive My Car
19. For You Blue
20. Polythene Pam
OK, turns out there was more memorable ones than I originally thought!
I totally agree about the “vocal melody solos”, nobody made it too the list for that reason. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was played by Eric Clapton as mentioned, that's why it got minus thought the solo is actually is better than “The End ” in my opinion – I've been told that George did invent the solo, but I'm not sure, it sound to “Claptonish”. I don't get why I forgot “Old Brown Shoe “…
"Real music is made by real people playing real instruments using own creativity and skills."
11.12pm
1 May 2010
Offline The cool thing about guitar solos is some are great by how technically proficient they are and some are great simply because they fit the emotion of the song so perfectly. Although I think a top 20 is a bit excessive, I’ll give a top 10 or so.
1) I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – I don’t know who played it but I suspect John because of its simplicity and how…what’s the word for it, raw the solo is. Perfectly fits the emotion of the song.
2) I’m Only Sleeping – never ceases to amaze me with its coolness
3) Hey Bulldog (nasty)
4) Taxman
5) Let it Be
6) Octopus’s Garden
7) Get Back
8) Yer Blues (the second one more so)
9) Til There Was You
10) Something
I sat on a rug, biding my time, drinking her wine
3.28pm
20 January 2012
Offline About The Beatles , I can't choose, but I think the solo of Brian May for Killer Queen is the best melody I ever heard.
...They've forgotten all about God
He's the only reason we exist...
3.31pm
20 January 2012
Offline Beginnig of the song; In my life is very effective and simple and beauty…
...They've forgotten all about God
He's the only reason we exist...
5.58pm
20 December 2010
Offline I'm enjoying the lists that everyone is putting together. George pretty much did all the solos.
The further one travels, the less one knows
2.41pm
26 January 2017
Offline I tried several times to rank them but I couldn’t find an order so I thought I would list some great ones, hopefully in some kind of best to worst order.
Also, somebody mentioned Maxwell’s Silver Hammer but I can’t remember there being a solo there? I’ll listen again.
I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
Let It Be (Album)
Let It Be (Single)
You’re Going To Lose That Girl
Back In The U.S.S.R
The following people thank QuarryMan for this post:
SgtPeppersBulldogI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
2.59pm
26 January 2017
Offline 
In a vague order
The reason I love the Beatles is not for their solos, although I do love their solos. George is one of my favorite guitarists ever because each and every solo he did I could hum like an old nursery rhyme. Paul also shreds on Taxman .
1 While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Clapton wailing, sorry Beatles, but very hard to beat in terms of a pure guitar solo.
2 The End – Very emotional for me to hear them trading licks one final time, also killer rock and roll.
3 Let It Be (album) – makes we close my eyes and raise my fist to the sky. Such a great solo.
4 I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – such a boogie. I can’t help but dance to this one. Really smooth as well.
5 Taxman – an example of everything Paul touches being masterful. So effortless and badass.
6 And Your Bird Can Sing – Great guitar harmony that tracks the chords through the middle eight, and carries the song all the way through.
7 Something – Similar to Let It Be in its simple, yet beautiful brilliance.
8 Fixing A Hole – Gets stuck in my head all the time. I love the descension at the end.
9 Sexy Sadie – George uses so many accidentials here, but it fits the song so well. Follows Johns falsetto wail into the best climax in any Beatles song.
10 Get Back – I love the Get Back solo. I LOVE the Get Back solo.
11 A Hard Days Night – Jingle jangle Georgie!
12 I’m Only Sleeping – Mind blowing for obvious reasons.
13 You Never Give Me Your Money – what else can I say about this one? So underrated. It turns up the intensity near the beginning of the Medley, preparing us for what we are about to hear, but we can’t forget about this one either.
14 Happiness Is A Warm Gun – if “I need a fix cause i’m going down” isn’t a heroin reference, the guitar solo definetly is.
15 Hey Bulldog – this is a really cool variation of the melody. That was something George was really good at.
16 Yer Blues – Bluesy boogie. I love every second.
17 Back In The USSR – Nice bends in this one that vary the original melody.
18 I Saw Her Standing There – See #11
19 Nowhere Man – I really like the strumming style of the solo.
20 The Ballad Of John And Yoko /Lonesome Tears in My Eyes – I love the throwback, and I think its an unbelievable catchy riff.
The following people thank sir walter raleigh for this post:
WeepingAtlasCedars, Martha, Beatlebug, Beatlebug, Von Bontee, Heath"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl
7.16am
Moderators
15 February 2015
Offline I agree with @sir walter raleigh pretty much 100% — thanks for saving me the trouble of making my own list! 
The following people thank Beatlebug for this post:
sir walter raleigh([{BRACKETS!}])
New to Forumpool? You can introduce yourself here.
If you love The Beatles Bible, and you have adblock, don't forget to white-list this site! 
4.03am
26 January 2017
Offline Okay, I decided to come back to this fresh.
1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – It ain’t a Beatle but IMO it’s one of the greatest solos of all time.
2. Something – Perfect melody and perfectly complemented by Ringo’s drum rolls and the strings.
3. The End – Just brilliant. A great guitar jam.
4. Let It Be (album) – Prefer this to the single, mostly because of it’s Hendrix-isms and it’s choppy tone.
5. Get Back – Some of John’s best playing.
6. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) – Yes, it’s a vocal melody solo but it’s so perfect it deserves to be here.
7. And Your Bird Can Sing – I showed this to a friend who thought the Beatles couldn’t play. He doesn’t think that anymore.
8. You Never Give Me Your Money – Another bit of brilliance by John, one of my favourite songs in the medley.
9. Taxman – This Paul solo could take out an eye.
10. I Saw Her Standing There – The only early song here, but i really like George’s playing.
The following people thank QuarryMan for this post:
BeatlebugI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
11.53am
10 March 2017
Offline Here are the rules:
1. No more than 3 solos per album to give every album a chance
2. No more than 10 solos per guitarist to give all 3 of them a chance, although if multiple guitarists participate, it doesn’t count
3. The solo must be performed by either George, John, and or Paul, that means While My Guitar Gently Weeps doesn’t count
4. At least one song per each album (Please Please Me , With The Beatles , A Hard Day’s Night , Beatles For Sale , Help !, Rubber Soul , Revolver , Sgt. Pepper ‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, Abbey Road , and Let It Be ) as well as at least one non album single
5. No solo songs allowed
Let’s go:
20. Revolution
17. Drive My Car
16. Good Morning, Good Morning
15. Ticket To Ride
14. Baby’s In Black
13. Nowhere Man
12. Dear Prudence
11. Helter Skelter
This is a gentle solo and is the first reversed solo ever recorded.
This is a great solo and is the turning point where George decided that he’d plan out his solos instead of improv-ing them.
8. I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
John is well known for sucking at lead guitar with his solos being either simple and or choppy but this is a great solo that shows neither of those elements and shows that John can be good at lead if he wants to be.
This is probably the best example of George’s early work and shows that even back in 1963 George was a great guitarist.
Despite being used constantly live, most believe that George never used his Casino in the studio, this is one of the few times where George pulls out this beast and plays low harmony lead while Paul plays high harmony lead for this classic song that has a great harmonized solo.
5. Taxman
What a song to open Revolver with, this is the only time someone other than John or Paul opened a Beatles album and it’s such a great song that is about tax and politicians that take advantage of this, the backing track is great with George on his Fender Stratocaster and Paul on his Rickenbacker bass but it’s the solo that is so good, they used it again, Paul McCartney shows everybody that he can play guitar nearly as good as George Harrison .
Some speculate that this is the last song George Harrison used his 1961 Fender Stratocaster Rocky on, I think it sounds more like a Telecaster but regardless, this is a great follow up to Yellow Submarine and contains a great guitar solo by George who was really getting in a groove of making great guitar solos at the time.
3. The End
This is a great song, although it’s practically an instrumental, it has a great solo, which is actually a truel by Paul on his Epiphone Casino, George on what seems to be his Gibson Les Paul, and John on his Epiphone Casino only for the solo to end and for the message to be heard, a great instrumental with a great solo and a great drum solo as well, but that’s for another list.
2. Let It Be
Fun fact about this song, this was the last guitar solo George ever recorded with The Beatles and man was it a good one to go out on, George really puts a punch into this solo and decides to give it his all one last time before biting the dust and leaving The Beatles for nearly 25 years.
1. Something
[Image Can Not Be Found]
What a beautiful solo, so elegant and well thought out and performed in front of a live orchestra, this solo showed that George Harrison was a great guitarist and it also showed off his red 1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard he called Lucy, there’s a good reason this solo is at number 1 in front of every other and it makes me sad when it’s not on best guitar solos of all time lists.
The following people thank Dark Overlord for this post:
BeatlebugIf you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
12.06pm
19 October 2016
Offline Too many rules for me, I don’t take my list making so seriously.
The following people thank Pablo Ramon for this post:
Beatlebug, Zig, QuarryMan3.10pm
10 March 2017
Offline If I didn’t include filters in there, there would’ve been maybe 2 solos at the most made before 1968 and at least 17 of them would’ve been by George and it would make it a lot harder to make a list.
If you're reading this, you are looking for something to do.
3.16pm
Moderators
27 November 2016
Offline I’d love to do this, but I don’t have time right now. If someone could please tag me (to remind me), I’d be very grateful.
#AppleHoley2024: Make America Great For The First Time
2016 awards: 
2017 awards: 
2018 awards:
2019 awards: 
2020 awards:
2021 awards:
6.30pm
Moderators
15 February 2015
Offline @The Hole Got Fixed
Your solos are due!
([{BRACKETS!}])
New to Forumpool? You can introduce yourself here.
If you love The Beatles Bible, and you have adblock, don't forget to white-list this site!
