Favorite Guitar Solo


What is your favorite guitar solo? The one that bypasses your cerebral cortex? The one that best hits your emotional center? Any genre. Any period. Any length. A million notes. Or just one note. Obscure or famous. You can make any excuse as to why you choose it, but explanations are optional. But you gotta choose just one.

My choice? Eric Clapton’s solo in "Sleepy Time Time" from the Fresh Cream album. Simplicity. Emotional ecstasy. Tone.
edcyn
Way too many for me to list. Not a fair question. I love so many genre’s of music to choose. Some favorite guitarists off the top would include; Hendrix, Page, Vaughn, Gilmore, Mottola, Hedges, Lofgren, Emmanuel, White, Paisley, Clark, Campbell, Benson, Schulz, Webster, Slash, Vai, Santriani, I could go on for days.
Frank Zappa’s starting at 01:39 on The Orange County Lumber Truck from Weasels Ripped My Flesh. Played over one of the greatest grooves EVER in rock. Too bad it ends....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdSqLEnAw7c

(Well, favorite tonight anyway)


Agree that there are too many to choose one, but two that come to mind to me are David Gilmour's solo in Pimk Floyd's Comfortably Numb and Jeff Beck in People Get Ready with Rod Stewart..
I agree not a fair question, like picking your favorite pistachio in a 10 lb bag. But for homesickness played thru a guitar, Son Seals 'going back home'

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=son+seals+going+back+home
Actually it was a ukulele and it was my 6 year old grandson.

The best, most heart felt solo I ever heard, it was for "HIS GRANDPA".

Yup thing to remember, LOL while I still can..

I wish I had 50 Grandkids.. ONE will do.. :-)

He did kinda BB King it. The one string thing and the ol face shake, pretty good...

Regards
E. Clapton:
Spoonful on "Wheels of Fire"
Had to Cry Today on "Blind Faith"
Do What You Like on "Blind Faith"
Unsurpassed work...
Jimmy McCulloch's "Maybe I'm Amazed" solo with Wings.

Love the tone (SG through some type of Fender amp with the bass pot and/or neck PU dialed down) and a first rate player who improved upon PM's original solo.

DeKay
I've always been partial to Robert Fripp's out-of-control solo on Eno's "Baby's on Fire." It's the solo that refuses to end.

-- Howard
Thanks. A lot of excellent choices here.  And I was hoping most of you would ignore my request to only choose one. It was just a feeble attempt on my part to focus you guys a bit.
Two that come to mind are Mick Taylor’s solo in the Rolling Stones song "Sway", and Rick Derringer’s solo on "Livin’ in the USA" on the Edgar Winter’s White Trash live disc.

Hodu - Love that "Babies on Fire". Haven't heard it in a while.
Something very moving about Garcia's solo on "Cold Rain and Snow" off the Steal Your Face LP. Simple, brief, yet beautiful. My favorite for this moment but ask me tomorrow and I'll have something else in mind.

This topic was been raised many times before, and I have before nominated the following examples. For you who have seen them, I apologize, but I think it’s important to counter the sometimes-technically superior examples posited by others (just my opinion ;-) with more, shall we say, musical examples.

- Ry Cooder in John Hiatt’s "Lipstick Sunset".

- George Harrison in The Beatles "Nowhere Man".

- Just about anything by Albert Lee, including his signature solo in "Country Boy".

- Dave Edmunds in "I Hear You Knocking". The most intense example of "tension & release" guitar playing I’ve ever heard.

What makes each of these solos "musical" is that the solo is not separate from the song itself, but is as much a part of the song as is the song’s melody: a musical element.

The same can be said of musical drummers such as Jim Gordon, Jim Keltner, Roger Hawkins, Kenny Buttrey, and Levon Helm. Each player creates parts that act in service to the song itself, not in an attempt to bring attention to one’s own talent (listen to THAT! Aren’t I great? ;-). It can be argued that the distinction between those two playing styles is a matter of musical perception and taste. Well yeah, of course.
I'll break my own rule.  Jerry Garcia's solo on Dark Star in the Live Dead LP.
I can't remember which one it was, but the Moabs fired it right straight through my cerebral cortex just before the tube blew. In terms of one the amp survived, Money.
My favorite guitar solos are by billy gibbons of zz top he just makes me forget about the world when he plays.
Lynyrd Skynyrd - I Never Dreamed (Steve Gaines)
Wilco - Impossible Germany (Nels Cline)
@edcyn - "Dark Star" is the ultimate "Afterward" jam, got to admit.
Close is Jerry Garcia’s work on Jefferson Starship’s "Blows Against the Empire" album "Have You Seen the Stars Tonight"/Starship".
Oh boy, always a fun topic. 
I’ll throw out a hidden gem. 
Jimi Hendrix on “Old Times Good Times”
from Stephen Stills’ first solo album, “Stephen Stills.”
And don’t forget Duane’s screaming slide on “One Way Out” from “Eat A Peach.”
Now I’m going to listen to “Orange County Lumber Truck” again. 
Roll with the Changes (REO Speedwagon)  or Hitch a Ride (Boston). Roll down the windows and turn the volume up to 11!
Elvin Bishop on “Fooled Around and Fell in Love.” I learned it and played it with the band at my second daughter’s wedding reception. Such fun!
Alvin Lee with Ten Years After in the song “I’d Love To Change The World.”
Bodhisattva solo by Denny Dias on Steely Dan's Countdown to Ecstasy...lt just never ends!
Way too many, but one that comes to mind is Robin Trower's solo on "Whaling Stories" from Procol Harum's "Home" lp.

Fripp's solo on "Starless" too
Frank Zappa on the album "Bongo Fury" the song "Muffin Man". Live track, No overdub no messing with the mix, just pure ART FROM THE HEART! 
There are too many to name, but one that really jumps out for me is Jeff "Skunk" Baxter on "My Old School" by Steely Dan.
There's so many that it would be hard for me to pick. But favorite "Intro's" I only think of one ... Lou Reeds Sweet Jane Live 
Jerry Garcia on New Minglewood Blues from Ladies & Gentlemen...The Grateful Dead recorded April 25-29, 1971.  Absolutely incredible.  Mid-song, about a minute of absolute genius.
Duane Allman playing at the 6:30 of You Don't Love Me from the Live at the Fillmore album.  It is a soulful lyrical solo, no fast, but one that touches your soul.

I experienced it live at the Syria Mosque in Pgh on that tour.  I still touches me 50 years later!!!