10 Guitar Solos That Changed The Face Of Rock Music Forever

There's a good chance that even George Harrison wouldn't consider himself one of the greatest guitarists in the world by any stretch. Back when he was first starting out with the Beatles, he was more or less trying to walk in the footsteps of his heroes like Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, putting both country and rock and roll guitar playing in the same room. Something started to shift when he tried his hand at songwriting though, and along the way George turned in one of the most lyrical solos the world had ever seen.

Even though the song Something is already the perfect love song without the guitar solo, the guitar break is practically an extension of George's raw emotion, sounding like he's slowly caressing his guitar through each movement, courtesy of Eric Clapton who gifted him the Les Paul that he used on the tune. While a song like While My Guitar Gently Weeps had a much more jagged sound to it, there's nothing but pure taste in this solo, weaving around the chord changes beautifully and always knowing to serve the song rather than just grandstand for the hell of it.

There may have still been the bluesy guitarists trying to outdo each other, but George's attention to detail on a song like this is more about making something that people can sing along with than writing a solo that sounds impossible to play. He may have been the Quiet One throughout his tenure in the Beatles, but whenever George did speak up, people listened.