Photo: Jake Kiszka | By Jackson Maxwell, Guitar World / Yahoo | Last month, we asked you to cast a ballot for your favorite guitar solo of the 21st century. The responses that came in were numerous, and stylistically all over the map, but ultimately, a clear winner emerged – and it was released more recently than you might think.
To answer your first question, no – even with the benefit of recency bias, it wasn’t Rise, the fire-breathing comeback single from Nuno Bettencourt and Extreme that set the guitar universe ablaze when it came out three months ago.
However, the solo that did end up taking the crown is indeed from the 2020s. The best solo of the 21st century, according to your ballots, is the extended electric guitar spin-out that closes Greta Van Fleet’s nine-minute epic, The Weight of Dreams.
The solo beat out some impressive competition, including the lead breaks from The Darkness’s bombastic, operatic crowd-pleaser, I Believe In A Thing Called Love, Tedeschi Trucks Band’s unforgettably evocative Midnight In Harlem, Polyphia and Steve Vai’s generation-bridging Ego Death, and era-defining classics like Velvet Revolver’s Slither and Slipknot’s Psychosocial.
Something that might make Greta Van Fleet, and their guitarist, Jake Kiszka, particularly proud of their win is that the White Stripes – whose blend of raw blues passion and Led Zeppelin- channeling power and bombast left a significant impact on the band as youngsters – could get no higher than 18th in the poll, on the strength of their own lengthy epic, Ball And Biscuit.
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To read Total Guitar’s full round-up of the best solos of the 21st century – and see the top 50 from the public vote – pick up the new issue of the mag at Magazines Direct.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/heres-voted-best-guitar-solo-154816642.html
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Nuno Bettencourt Says the Rise Solo Opens With a Mistake
By Matt Parker, Total Guitar / Yahoo
Nuno Bettencourt has revealed that his statement solo on Extreme’s comeback single Rise begins with a mistake.
The masterful guitar solo effectively broke the guitar internet when Rise dropped back in March, winning acclaim from everyone from Brian May to Rick Beato for its blend of technical wizardry and musicality.
However, in a new interview with Total Guitar, Bettencourt says the recorded take actually began with an error.
“If you really want to break it down, I think it’s the first note I play, I miss the whole string completely, I was so excited,” admits the guitarist. “It made a sound that I’ve never even heard before, like a kick drum mixed with a guitar note mixed with a car accident!”
There’s an adage that it’s the notes that you don’t play that count the most as a musician, but this is a good argument for expanding it to include the notes you don’t intend to play. For his part, Bettencourt says he’s definitely learned to embrace such accidents.
“My 18-year-old self would have fixed that,” reflects Bettencourt. “But now I was like, ‘Oh my God, I couldn’t recreate that if I wanted to.’ It went through me, and that’s what I’m looking for.”
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For more from Nuno – including his thoughts on the state of lead guitar, his tonal trademarks and his insight on the guitars behind Six – head to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Total Guitar – and keep an eye out for a very special issue of Guitar World, which arrives June 13…
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/nuno-bettencourt-says-rise-solo-090020490.html
Photo: Jake Kiszka
https://www.facebook.com/jake.kiszka/
Here’s What You Voted the Best Guitar Solo of the 21st Century // Nuno Bettencourt Says the Rise Solo Opens With a Mistake
