Listen - The Yardbirds perform A Certain Girl
As I was flipping the stations on my satellite radio I came across a show where the DJs were having a segment about the greatest guitar solo in rock history. Those cats on the station were playing stuff by AC/DC (really?), Metallica and Deep Purple and the likes. I didn't stick around long enough to get much more info but thought about the premise a bit. Songs like The Rolling Stones' Shine A Light, the very gentle guitar work of John Frusciante on The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Scar Tissue,everything by Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn and even Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven.
I'm not going to come to a greatest guitar solo conclusion, but I will come to this conclusion: the guitar work by a very young Eric Calpton on The Yardbirds' A Certain Girl is absolutely perfect in tone, attack, phrasing and length. A Certain Girl was the flip-side of the bands' amazing first single,I Wish You Would. I've always thought A Certain Girl, the cover of the Neville Brothers original, was a bit goofy with the band hollering' out a baritone "Nooooo" too often, but this guitar work is undeniable.
Got any other great guitar solos you think need attention? Let us know in comment section below.
Enjoy.
