10 Best Classic Rock Guitarists
5. Slash
The 80's era of guitar seemed to belong to the super shredders. Wherever you went to for rock and roll, the name of the game when it came to guitar was how would you be able to play faster than the guitarist next to you. But where's the emotion behind that?
Towards the end of the 80's, Guns N Roses rose to prominence bringing with them a top-hat-sporting guitar troubadour whose solos rediscovered the heart of rock and roll. Across Guns N Roses's discography, Slash's guitar sound always cut through the mix and demanded your attention with its mix of punk flair and classic rock bombast.
Slash's lead breaks were able to take each song to unforseen levels. Take "Welcome to the Jungle" for example. The riffs of that song alone are enough to make it a legendary tune, but both of the solos Slash plays are like mini-songs unto themselves, as each note builds in tension and gives the song a truly cinematic feel.
It's simple rock and roll at its core, but the way Slash pours his soul into his instrument shows that there is a truly gifted musical mind at work underneath that top hat.