{"id":361038,"date":"2026-01-09T14:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361038\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T14:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T14:40:14","slug":"the-greatest-guitar-solo-of-all-time-according-to-jimmy-page","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/361038\/","title":{"rendered":"The greatest guitar solo of all time, according to Jimmy Page"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jimmy<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Andrew Smith)<\/p>\n

Fri 9 January 2026 12:15, UK <\/p>\n

There\u2019s perhaps no one more qualified to share his opinion on the best guitar solos of all time than Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s written some of the most famous riffs in rock music, from the solo in \u2018Stairway to Heaven\u2019 to the repeated riff that underscores \u2018Immigrant Song\u2019. Page\u2019s innovative use of the instrument even included playing the guitar with a string bow. His contributions to guitar rock have garnered him widespread acknowledgement as one of the most important guitarists in music, gaining two Grammys and two inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

When looking back on his career, Page previously told Rolling Stone that his favourite Led Zeppelin riff was \u2018Kashmir\u2019<\/a>. Outside of Led Zeppelin\u2019s discography and his own work, though, the legendary guitarist names his favourite guitar solo of all time as Elliott Randall\u2019s riff in \u2018Reelin\u2019 In The Years\u2019 by Steely Dan during a 1999 interview with Classic Rock. <\/p>\n

He also later reaffirmed his love for the riff in a 2016 interview with Oliver Patrick Loughnan, in which he rated the guitar playing a 12\/10. When Loughnan plays the track to Page, he recognises it immediately and states: \u201cOh I know this, yeah, that\u2019s cool. I really like that. Steely Dan. Yeah I really like that. That\u2019s gotta be a 12 hasn\u2019t it?\u201d <\/p>\n

He continues to explain his love for the instrument, stating: \u201cThe thing is, I really love all guitar playing. Hearing guitarists when I was a kid, and just really appreciating even then. It\u2019s six strings and it\u2019s an electric guitar but everyone\u2019s whole take on it and their character is totally different. And that\u2019s what\u2019s so cool about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jeff<\/a>Jimmy Page with Jeff Beck, lifelong friend and inspiration. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Page\u2019s admiration also speaks to his lifelong appreciation for feel over flash. Despite being capable of jaw-dropping technical feats himself, he has often gravitated towards solos that serve the song rather than dominate it. Randall\u2019s playing on \u2018Reelin\u2019 In The Years\u2019 is concise, melodic, and perfectly pitched, cutting through the mix with personality rather than excess, something Page has always valued in great guitar work.<\/p>\n

In that sense, it makes perfect sense that Page would single out a solo born from instinct rather than overthinking. Much like Led Zeppelin\u2019s best moments, the magic lies in capturing a fleeting spark and committing to it without sanding down its edges. Randall\u2019s one-take contribution embodies that philosophy, standing as proof that the most enduring guitar solos are often the ones that feel inevitable rather than engineered.<\/p>\n

\u2018Reelin\u2019 In The Years\u2019 is jazz-rock band Steely Dan\u2019s biggest hit, released in 1973; it served as the second single from Can\u2019t Buy a Thrill, their debut album. A breakup song, the track was written by founders Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, but they couldn\u2019t quite nail their guitar solo. \u2018Reelin In The Years\u2019 was missing something. <\/p>\n

So Walter Becker took a backseat, and the band instead called in Elliott Randall from Jay & The Americans to contribute a guitar riff<\/a> to the track. Randall recalled the experience to Produce Like A Pro, sharing, \u201cI thought they were really special, and they must have thought I was special too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randall explained the process of finding the right \u2018flavour\u2019 solo for the track in just one take, using an old Stratocaster from 1965, an Ampeg SVT amp and a single AKG 414. He shared, \u201cThe whole solo just came to me, and I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to play it.\u201d <\/p>\n

While Page names it as his favourite of all time, Steely Dan seem to take a different opinion \u2013 in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview, Donald Fagan called it \u201cdumb but effective\u201d, while Walter Becker said: \u201cIt\u2019s no fun.\u201d Still, the track gained Steely Dan chart success and went on to become their most well-known single. Page\u2019s praise only reaffirms its genius. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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Straight to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Andrew Smith) Fri 9 January 2026 12:15, UK There\u2019s perhaps no one more qualified…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,23795,10866,128,24070,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-361038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-jimmy-page","tag-led-zeppelin","tag-music","tag-steely-dan","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}