A great guitar solo truly is a thing of beauty!

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Ah yes! The guitar solo. What guitarist doesn't dream about cutting loose with a solo that would make Hendrix's jaw drop?

Who hasn't finger-tapped Eddie's Eruption solo and envision himself on stage at the "Monsters of Rock" concert.

I have always been fascinated by them. It is amazing to me that someone can take a collection of seemingly random notes and string them together to create a riff for the ages.

I have often wondered what creative process would go through a musicians mind to move him to put finger to fret board in just the right place.

Maybe the reason is more mundane. You have to structure the solo to fit the rest of the song. The key and chord structure for example. But as a guitarist, you already know the basics of song construction.

It must be some inspirational thing that creates the solo in your head. A lot of solos seem lame and perfunctory, but some just jump out and grab ahold of your brain!

Guitar solos have evolved and changed over the years since the birth of rock and roll in the 1950's. Most guitar interludes through the early sixties were very short and really didn't stand out. They were generally a few notes that took a backseat to the rhythm of the song.

Think back on early Beatles hits. She loves you, Hard days night, Help, and I wanna hold your hand. They had short (if any) guitar solos. The focus was everything in the songs structure except the solo.

Then in the mid to late 1960's, the pendulum swung to the other extreme-the extended guitar riff. Cream, Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Iron Butterfly, Ten Years After, Grand Funk Railroad among others, created songs with solos that seemingly went on forever! (Not necessarily a bad thing). Creativity was stretched to the limit and repetition was rampant.

The extended solo for me anyways, culminated with Free Bird by Skynyrd. This seems to be the most remembered solo of all time.

Solos from the eighties on are far more structured and a lot shorter for the most part. Some bands forgo solos altogether. Bands such as Stone Temple Pilots, Offspring and Weezer have either brief or no solos in some of their hits.

Guitar solos can come at the beginning, middle or end of a song. One of my favorite beginning solos is Gary Richrath, of REO Speedwagon, on "Roll with the Changes".

Middle solos are also very popular. Check out Leslie West, of Mountain, on "Theme for an Imaginary Western" off of the Woodstock II live album. Not one, but two beautiful middle solos.

Outro solos are also very powerful. Check out Randy Bachman, of BTO, on "Let it Ride". Very simple, maybe ten note, but again, very powerful.

Some of my favorite guitar solos, in no particular order:

Kansas- Kerry Livgren's middle solo on "People of the South Wind".

Jimi Hendrix- anything (but especially "Villanova Junction" off of Woodstock. Not technically a solo but a great guitar piece).

Dio-Vivian Campbell's solo on "Rainbow in the Dark".

Van Halen- Anything off of the first album.

Journey- Neal Schon on "Feeling that Way".

Ozzy- Randy Rhoads on "Suicide Solution" off the live album.

The list is obviously endless. These are only my choices. Every guitarist will have tons of favorites.

I don't know what it is, but when I hear a particular refrain, it will take me back to what I was doing at the time it was popular. When I hear "More Than a Feeling" by Boston, I instantly go back in time to 1979 in Coral Springs, Florida where I lived and went to school. It's amazing how that works!

Go ahead and remember some choice guitar solo from your past and see where it takes you. Wait a minute, what do I hear? "It's more than a feeling, when I hear that old song they used to play"...

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