# Solo Showdown



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Page - Stairway
Gilmour - Comfortably Numb


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

While I like PF and Gilmour, I grew up with Stairway and Zep and the epicness is branded on my brain so JP for the win.


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## Guest (Sep 11, 2013)

Just from the song choices.
Gilmour.


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## hjr2 (Sep 5, 2013)

I have to go with Gilmour here. I never liked the Stairway solo. Ever. It's this great chord progression with nice counterpoint, has a nice of great parts that are put together so well, then the solo just plays some tired old blues licks. It sounds out of context, and is too "notey". 

Gilmour doesn't get the credit he deserves in these "most influential" and "best guitarists of all time" polls. Before him, guitar players were just copping blues licks and splicing them into everything creating solos that weren't really singable or memorable. He came along and played solos that were part of the song, like a little composition inside the composition instead of stepping into the spotlight and being the centre of attention for 8 bars. His solos start, they build and they end telling great stories the whole way. He wasn't afraid to let notes sustain and have a life of their own, which takes a lot of guts. When you hit a note, bend it and hang on you are leaving everything right out there in the open. You can't hide behind anything. Listen to that solo on Time from 1973 and think about what every other guitarist was soloing like then.

Just my opinion of course.


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

It's not trendy to go with Pagey. Sentimentally, Page is my guy. Vote? Page. But I love Gilmour and Pink Floyd.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

I am a big Gilmour fan. His playing is so enjoyable and musical to listen to. 

hjr2 sums much of my thinking up very nicely. 

Cheers

Dave


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Page - Stairway
> Gilmour - Comfortably Numb


I've been following the poll on Guitar World's site--and I disagree with a lot of the choices.

But that's okay as we are allowed to have our preferences.

In this case, while I do appreciate Gilmour's abilities, and while Stairway has become a bit of a cliche, I would have to vote for Stairway.
I've never been a big Pink Floyd fan.
Maybe if it was Shine On You Crazy Diamond.
Wish You Were Here is the only Floyd album I like most of.
And I do like Gilmour's first solo album.


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## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

wow. you could have started off with an easier one.

love Comfortably Numb, but Stairway is just fucking epic.
I probably haven't heard it in 10 years and still can hear it note for note in my head


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## Clean Channel (Apr 18, 2011)

Both great, hard to vote.

I prefer Comfortably Numb, but am voting Stairway due to pure icono-status. (I think I just made that word up)


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

... and which of your children do you love more than the other?...

Tough, tough choice but I went with Gilmour because that song moves me so deeply and the solo is so integral to it.

(FWIW, Bill Henderson's guitar in the beginning of Rain-O has always been right up there for me too)


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## -ST- (Feb 2, 2008)

Had to go back and listen to both several times. 

Gilmour - Comfortably Numb 

Aside from having both burned into musical memory, listening again I found Gilmour's solo lyrical with story, movement, meaning.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

I had to pick Stairway as I've never heard "Comfortably Numb". . . . I'm going to have to change my forum name one of these days.


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Ha, ha, my jaw just dropped to the floor on that one...


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## Bubb (Jan 16, 2008)

unpossible

Both solos fit the individual songs .And that is what it is all about .
They are both in my "great guitar players list" for sure,but not my favourite examples of their playing by either one .


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

Guitar101 said:


> I had to pick Stairway as I've never heard "Comfortably Numb". . .


You know you could listen to them both on YouTube before voting?


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

As much as I love Gilmour and both solos in Numb the Stairway solo is just EPIC.


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## buzzy (May 28, 2011)

Neither. If those songs come on the radio, I'm reaching for the dial. I think I've heard them enough for a lifetime.

If pressed, gonna go with Gilmour. I like most of Page's solos and some are outstanding but I don't care for the Stairway one.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

Fun poll idea. Both wonderful. I have to go with Stairway. In Light & Shade it says Jimmy usually improvised around themes in the Stairway solo, never playing it note for note. That ended at the O2 reunion show when he played it as it is heard on IV. "I don't think anybody thought I could actually play it...I guess I just wanted to show I could." I like Stairway's placement as a solo, building the tension and rollercoaster pace towards the final subdued conclusion.


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

Where do I sign up for icono-status? I prefer it to be MIA than MIJ. DO THEY TAKE Paypal !?? 
Haha 



Clean Channel said:


> Both great, hard to vote.
> 
> I prefer Comfortably Numb, but am voting Stairway due to pure icono-status. (I think I just made that word up)


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

Shark said:


> You know you could listen to them both on YouTube before voting?


If you insist.

It seems I have heard the song before. I just didn't know what it was called. Waiting for the lead break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

Both great tunes. I'm going to call it a tie if that's ok.


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## doriangrey (Mar 29, 2011)

bluzfish said:


> Tough, tough choice but I went with Gilmour because that song moves me so deeply and the solo is so integral to it.


I totally agree...Page's vision in composition with ZEP is incomparable imho but I have to pick Gilmour for the win on this one because his first solo in Comfortably Numb is probably the most perfect guitar solo in music history for me...perfect in every respect... Plus Gilmour's solo tone is 2nd to none in my books...


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

Sorta like trying to choose between a Ferrari or Bugatti.


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## bluesmostly (Feb 10, 2006)

gotta go with Gilmore too, for almost any solo over Page. As for all time great rock riffs, Page is tops imo. Never liked Page's soloing. I remember Eddie Van Halen made a comment about Page once saying it was like he had "broken fingers." I always found his solos awkward and labored sounding, never liked his tone either, though he did come up with some cool riffs from time to time. 9kkhhd


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## zontar (Oct 25, 2007)

On the Guitar World site Gilmour won, but lost to EVH with Eruption for top spot.

A lot of solos I love lost out early, but that's okay--I still love those solos...


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## Beach Bob (Sep 12, 2009)

I'm a big PF fan, but I had to vote for Stairway... cmon...it's Stairway to Heaven for God's sake... music just doesn't get much better than that.


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## Guest (Sep 22, 2013)

Vim Fuego from the movie 'Bad News Tour'

"I could play 'Stairway To Heaven' when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn't 
actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot." 

at the 3:00 minute mark
[video=youtube;s8feNFx3y3U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8feNFx3y3U[/video]


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