10 Greatest Guitar Solos Of The '70s

Any seasoned rock musician knows that the guitar riff is what drives the song. For as many bells and whistles you put in a particular piece of music, you can always count on the main riff to paint a straight line through the whole song. However, it's a bit more fun when you can go a little crazier on your instruments.

As the '70s began to open up, there seemed to be more respect for the rock and roll guitar solo. While some bands abused it like crazy and made every song a showcase for their technique, some artists supplied some of the most beautiful melodic phrases to come from a six-string. More than being just a fun little interlude in between the song, some of these solos feel like separate songs unto themselves, with melodies that stick in your head just as much as the chorus or the main lick.

From hard rock to folk to blues, every single genre had some of its more awe-inspiring guitar noodlings come to the forefront during the Golden Age of Rock and Roll. Each of these songs might hold up as fantastic pieces of music unto themselves, but sometimes it takes just the right amount of guitar flair to bring them to the top of the rock heap.

The debut album from Boston will forever be hailed as one of the best starts of any rock band's career. Brought to life by the mastermind Tom Scholz , almost every song on the record got on the radio thanks to the riffs from "Smokin" and "Peace of Mind." However, no one forgets their first love, and "More Than a Feeling" is when we got the first taste of what this band could do.

Starting with a simple acoustic guitar, the song doesn't really kick into high gear until Scholz' guitar break, which has the perfect amount of grit and cleanliness to it. As the solo takes off, you'll notice that it's almost constructed like a vocal melody, with the right amount of space left in between the notes to give the song the time to breathe. In addition to the catchiness of the solo, it reaches a different plain once another guitar is added, creating a guitar harmony that feels like a rocketship about to take off.

For as amazing as vocalist Brad Delp was to the Boston sound, this one guitar solo had the ability to rival any vocal line to come from Delp's mouth. Boston may never have reached the heights of their debut album again, but when you get something this good on the first try, it's hard to mess with perfection.