10 Alt Rock Songs That Are Impossible To Play On Guitar

Even in a decade that was as varied as the '90s, you weren't going to see anyone else doing what Tom Morello was doing. Throughout the majority of Rage Against the Machine's run, Tom seemed to make it his mission to come up with the most off the wall solos he could, using the different scales that he learned as a kid and blending that with the warped sounds he would get out of his guitar effects. When it came time for something brutal though, Bulls on Parade is the kind of solo that no one will be able to play perfectly ever again.

Borrowing more from the school of hip hop than rock and roll, most of this solo barely even has any notes, involving Tom scratching the strings of his guitar while operating the toggle switch at the same time, making a sound that almost feels like aliens trying to make contact with Earth. It may have been strange to hear this out of an aggro rock song, but Tom is serving the role of the DJ in the band here, taking the time where a solo would be to warp the sound before bringing it back to the stomping guitar riff that lands right in the pocket towards the end of the solo.

This is a guy who could easily play a million notes at a time, but he doesn't need to to prove his point here. There was enough people like Yngwie Malmsteen and Randy Rhoads out in the world, so why not try to create something that no one had ever heard before?