10 Perfect Rock Albums For Guitar Players

And to give everyone audio whiplash, we go from punk rock to some of the most complex prog rock ever made. Towards the end of the '70s, Rush were becoming one of the few prog bands that were almost too prog for their own good, turning away from making albums like Hemispheres because they were too hard to record in one go. Once they started to streamline their sound a little bit, Alex Lifeson stepped up to the plate with some of his best riffs.

Serving as a kickoff to the '80s, Permanent Waves has most guitar players hooked from the minute it starts playing with Spirit of Radio, as the opening lick washes across the speakers. Although every single member of the band is an absolute monster behind his instrument, Alex really came into his own on this record, bringing together styles from the likes of Genesis and the Police to create something catchy and chaotic at the exact same time.

While you've got some of the more celebrated singles on here, they're not for the faint of heart to learn, like the solo in Freewill giving someone like Eddie Van Halen a run for his money in terms of pure sonic madness. Whereas most guitarists have their own unique bag of tricks, this is the kind of rock and roll that feels like you're in music theory class half the time.