The greatest guitar solo of all time | Rick Beato and Lex Fridman

I have to go back to our the beginning of our conversation. What What do you think are some of the great solos of all time? Can we Can we put a few into consideration? You have a great list on top 20 rock guitar solos of all time. >> Yeah. So, I put comfortably numb as my favorite as my top one. >> Yeah. On that day. Right. >> On that day. >> Yeah. >> Right. Now, the day later, I would have said it's the second solo. [laughter] >> Okay. But I did the first solo because because nobody talks about that solo and that solo is equally great. And when David Gilmore when I played it for him and we talked about it in my interview with him, it was just to watch his face when he listened to it was incredible. I mean, I'm thinking to myself, it's like I'm sitting with David Gilmore and he's listening to Comfortably Numb and he's hearing it. He's played it a million times live, but how many times has he gone back and listened to it on the record? >> Probably not for a long time. And then he's hearing he's like, "Maybe you just don't look back. When you do great things, you don't look back." >> Miles never looked back. He never wanted to hear the old stuff. He always moved on. There was this funny moment um where you where you made a video why David Gilmore will never be on the channel. And then you ended up, of course, interviewing him twice. He's one of the greatest guitar players of all time. What do you think is at the core of his genius? He has just an incredible melodic sense. He knows how phrases should be put together. There's a flow to his ideas that I think is just incredible. It's the same with Hrix. This flow, how one idea leads to the next, how there's space between them. It's just like speaking. That's why I read about uh Miles Davis is he was very good at understanding tempo and the value of silence. >> Yes. >> And I think I think David Gilmore doesn't always play fast. >> Right. >> But he does a lot with less. >> Yes. >> And some of that is also on the more technical side. Probably the tone of the I one of the most uniquely recognizable tones in all of music. Yes. >> What do you understand about what it takes to shape the tone that is David? >> He has a very sophisticated setup for his tone and and that was one of the things when I went to his studio and I said to him, "So, David, is there anything I'm not supposed to see here?" I mean, he never sits down and shows people his gear and he laughed about it. >> But there I am sitting there right next to all these pedals that And I and I asked his tech, Phil, I said, "Did these are the same ones he used on the records?" She's like, "Yeah, [laughter] this tech has been with him for like 50 years." And I mean, the exact ones. Yes. So, it's just hard to It's hard to imagine that those things still. Of course, though, they he's just kept it. Yeah. This is his Benson Echo that he played through. And this is this, you know, these are all the same effects pedals. And wait, is this the same high watt amp? Yeah. Is this the same? Yes. Yeah. He gets some new stuff, but uh but they keep all their own gear and it's uh I mean he's did he does sell his guitars for charity, but like he has a black Strat that is a it's a signature version. It's like exact copy of his old one. >> So to him it's sounds exactly the same, plays the same. >> Well, of course they converge towards that kind of hardware, but there's so many tiny details over the years. you see the final result of it, but there's a there's a journey there of of exploring. And of course, he's not I guess he's not doing any soft like no emulation, no am >> he does do emulation. Actually, he does he has this thing and this is I asked him in the first interview about this. There's a little rack thing that I had heard that he used, but I asked him for sure. It's called the Zoom 9030. I put out a short where he talks about it. >> I said, "So that that Zoom 9030, is that a real thing?" because I've read about it. He's like, "Yeah." And he talks about how when he's sitting there recording on his own and he he runs ProTools himself and and so he'll be sitting there, there's no one there to help him. He's like, I'll just plug into this thing and then he'll play a solo with this model. It's like a kind of '9s modeling, early modeling thing >> and he'll play a solo and then after a while you hear the solo and it's like, >> well, I'm not going to replay that. That sounds great. you get used to the sound of it and that's what it is. So people always talk about, oh well he couldn't have used that. He's recording through an amp and because it sounds great and uh and then he's like, "Yeah, yeah, so that's what I use." And then I have I have the video of it right there and it has his presets DG1 and DG2 and you know whatever. >> What's your process for preparing for interviews like that? You've done a few legendary people. I never prepare for interviews because I ask people things that I'm interested in knowing. >> So just letting your curiosity just pull pull you forward. >> Yes. And I can think of a hundred questions to ask David Gilmore and but I always ask my questions based on what they say to me. >> Yeah. >> So but I do make a playlist of songs that I want to talk about. Mhm. So that kind of guides me is that cuz I want to make sure that I there's specific things that I need to play to so that you can jog his memory. Mhm. >> Cuz anytime you play something that somebody recorded even 50 years ago, they'll remember if they don't remember the exact specifics, they that that brings it to life to them again and they can >> they can kind of piece together some aspects about it and they can really talk he can talk about the phrasing and the you know the kind of melodic direction of things like that. So there's a lot of tiny details that go into a particular song, whether it's in the production or how it's played or how it was composed, all that kind of stuff. And you don't know what those are ahead of time. >> No, >> you just know the song and you just are looking to jog their memory. And maybe your own curiosity of like, how did you do this or how did what this sound or that? You make it look easy, but you have to have a depth of knowledge. You're saying you don't prepare. >> I have an incredibly good memory. Exactly. >> That's that's what it is is that I can remember when records came out, who produced them, where they recorded them, who was the engineer, what the what songs are on it, >> and not only that, but the the people I'm interviewing know that I can play all the parts >> of all the instruments because I've done breakdowns of their songs, which is why I get the interviews with them in the first place, really. But the actual like the skill of the interview, the thing you're not saying the preparation is the you young listening to Bbop. It's the it's the background know it's the soul carrying with you being able to radiate the love of the soul of music. I will say this, Lex, is that the the other thing is that most of these people have a really good sense of humor. Mhm. >> When I was when the first time I interviewed David in New York, my brother John came along and he is a massive David Gilmore fan. That's his biggest influence as a guitar player. And so he said, "You're interviewing David Gilmore? I'm I'm coming." I was like, "All right, come on. Come on down." So So my brother John standing about 5t away and John is a sales guy, but he great guitar player. So John's like I was like, "This is John. This is David. This is my brother John. David, great to meet you buddy." And you know, John's like, "So, he's a sales guy." And and uh so during the interview, I I was like, "Hey, John, what was I gonna ask David?" Oh, ask about the Gilmore effect. Oh, yeah. That's right. And the Gilmore effect is my thing that I say in the comment section when people say anytime anybody plays anything technical. Oh yeah, that's great, but I much prefer David Gilmore. [laughter] And uh so I always call it the Gilmore effect. anytime I have like Ingve Malmstein, anybody that played that has chops that I interview that the the negative comments are always well I prefer David Gilmore >> and I [clears throat] I said that I told David that he's like well maybe they should keep their opinions to themselves. [laughter] >> Yeah, a lot of these folks have really wonderful personalities with a with a trusted person to be able to reveal that personality. So comfortably numb at the top on that day. What else is up there? >> Stare at heaven. Hey Joe. >> What in that list? Your top Hrix solo was Hey Joe. >> It's the first guitar solo I ever learned, so I had to put it on there. So I don't I don't necessarily do these by I do those in kind of how how important they are to me and and my development. So there there is always a biographical component to these lists. Number three was Kid Charlemagne, a Steely Dan solo. Larry Carlton, amazing solo. Extremely difficult to figure out. Mhm. >> Probably there's two solos on the list that are just about are very that one I can play. Uh but there's a few solos that are very hard to play. Stone in Love by Journey by Neil Sha Neil Shawn is very hard to play some licks. Um the um there's a song there's a solo by a guitarist Carlos Rios that people don't know. It's a brother to brother Gino Vanelli song, but it's ex very hard to play and figure out and um that people don't know the solo. So, I put it on my list cuz I knew a lot of people are going to watch it and they're going to know what this solo is. For me, it's a sentimental one. My my first solo is Mr. Crowley, Randy Rhodess. I like the musicality Mr. Crowley that there is a melodic component to it. You're playing really fast, but there's there's a melody to it. And also, there's like a legendary nature to the the the the brief time we had to we had Randy Roads. >> This was probably one of the greatest guitarists ever. >> 56 to 82, I think. Terrible. Um he was um um absolute brilliant guitarist. Had his own style. >> We should say he's the guitarist for Ozie Osborne, the band. >> Yeah. And uh that Mr. Crowley solo is a is a great solo. Great solo. And um he's incredibly influential as a guitar player um to for metal guitar players. And um I love Randy Rhodess. >> Uh another guy. So one of my favorites is uh Mark Nofler. >> Yes. And I did have Mark Nofler on my list. Sing. That's right. You did. >> Now I had it high on the list and I'll tell you why. Yeah, >> I would have had had it lower because it's one of the early ones because I want people to be like, "Okay, oh, this is a serious list." So, Rick's going to talk about serious stuff. So, um >> Mhm. >> and Rick's going to play along with all these things. So, I wanted to kind of state that at the beginning of the video. I mean, I made the video in one day to do 20 solos. I think I played 19 of them, but the heart solo that I had on there, >> Nancy Wilson, I uh I played the video of and I tried to get a couple of my friends to play the um Ice Cream Man Van Halen solo. >> So, I called Dasel Zappa and I was like, "Dweezel, can you play the ice cream man solo? I'm making a video about it." He's like, "Oh, I'd have to practice that." And then I called my friend Phil X who's amazing guitar player and and he's like, "No, I'd have to practice that." I like, "Come on, man. Can't somebody play Ice Cream Man? The opening lick of Ice Cream Man that he plays is very hard to play cuz it's an incredibly long stretch >> and it hurt my fingers to do. And Eddie would turn his guitar up like this to to play and plus it's a tricky it just it's a tricky rhythm and and it's such a big stretch. It's like man I can't that hurts my hand. I just love that. That's the Van Halen solo you have. [laughter] >> See, I have to do some >> Yeah. Yeah. >> There's so many Van Halen. My god, it could be there. I could pick 25 different Van Halen solos, but to me, I mean, there really is nobody like Mark Nofler. I mean, there's this unique guitarist. There's something about his tone. Speaking of Gilmore, there's just the tone, the care, the timing of the notes, >> his improvisation, like the live performances of Salt in the Swing that's been actually going like somewhat viral around a re recently his his uh pretty old live performance of um Sultan's swing for me, Brothers in Arms, these kind of >> soulful, mournful type of solos he does really really well. Also the interesting instrumentation of Romeo and Juliet. Just so so many just it truly one of the great. Now obviously the intro to Money for Nothing is is one of the greatest >> almost impossible to recreate that because of the sound is so unique and his it's just improvised. It's so cool. >> Yeah. There's certain songs like um Europa by Santana. Santana can have that tone too. >> Yeah, >> that Mark Knoffler makes me really just how clean it is. >> I think he beats BB King in my book on terms of the cleanness of just pure beauty of a single note. Like a power of a single note. I don't know anybody who beats Mark Nofler. >> Well, that thing about being able to recognize somebody from a note. >> Yeah. >> You know, >> when I hear Brian May, I can immediately recognize it's Brian May. incredibly melodic. The tone that he has, Gilmore, Hendris, everyone that we're talking about, Van Halen, it's just they have that one note. Oh, I know who that is. And that's that's why we're talking about him. >> That'd be funny. That'd be a good uh video. >> BB King, you hear one note >> as a test of like how quickly can you recognize just a solo starts playing? That's a great I'm going to make that video tomorrow, [laughter] >> Lex. The day after tomorrow, you'll see it. >> I would love to see that. >> Can you say Can you recognize these players by one note? >> By one note. I think it's I think we're being a little too aggressive with that. I think you need like two or three or four. I guarantee you. So, I I was going to do a video last week where I was going to play >> uh songs in reverse. Okay. See if you can recognize these songs in reverse. And I had my two assistants come in. And it's like, "Do you know what song that is?" They're like, "Oh, that's Adele." Like, "What?" And then they're like, "Oh, that's that's Nirvana." Instantly they could recognize like, "Well, that's not worth making." I said, "Yeah, [clears throat] it's so obvious. You hear the tone of the voice backwards, forwards, it doesn't matter. You know who it is." >> Okay. So, it's about the tone. >> Yeah. >> How could you possibly know the from a single note? It's I guess Van Halen you can. >> One note of of BB King's VB. You could know. I'm gonna I what I'll do is I would separate the guitars. I'll you I I can actually separate the tracks and I'll just play one note. >> You think you can from a single ver you can know as BB King. >> Yes. >> Well, we'll see. >> Put on record. I'm skeptical. >> I'm going to do I'll do 20 20 of them. Can you recognize these guitarists from a single note? >> Could you recognize Stevon? Absolutely. >> Versus [sighs] Eric Clapton. >> Yeah. >> All right. You might be right. You might be right.

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