Last month in mid-June my band (the Blasters) played a couple of nights at Fitzgerald’s in the West side Chicago neighborhood of Berwyn and we were lucky once again to have Chicago blues legend Billy Boy Arnold join us as a guest artist. Sixty years ago, Billy Boy recorded his first hit single for Vee-Jay Records, including the future blues standards “I Wish You Would” and “I Ain’t Got You.”

Although just 20 years old at the time of its release, Billy Boy had already studied harp with Chicago legend John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson AKA “Sonny Boy I” and knew or had played with most of the leading lights of Chicago blues, not to mention performing on the hit single “I’m A Man” with his childhood friend Bo Diddley.

I have been an ArtistWorks student for over a year now, learning guitar with Bryan Sutton.  I still find it somewhat incredible to be able to say, “Bryan Sutton is my bluegrass flat pick teacher.” 

Bryan’s accomplishments and recognition in the world of bluegrass is legendary: 8 time Guitar Player of the Year from the International Bluegrass Association plus five albums, including his latest, Into My Own which got him a Grammy nomination and universal acclaim.   Bryan has already won a Grammy Award for the song “Whiskey before Breakfast” which he played along with perhaps the greatest flat picker of all time, Doc Watson. If you want to experience flat picking at its greatest, listen to that cut on Doc Watson’s album, Best of the Sugar Hill Years:

Obviously, there are more than 15 great guitar solos in rock music history. 

So the only way I can do this with any semblance of fairness is to base my picks not only listening to the technical qualities of the guitar solo, but factor in the historical importance of the performer who played the guitar solo. As in, did they influence more people to want to play guitar?

1.  “Rock around the clock” : Bill Haley and His Comets, Rock Around The Clock (1954)

"Rock around the Clock" was one of the first pure shred guitar solos. There is a fascinating backstory about this song and the tragically short life of the brilliant guitarist, Danny Cederone, who put down a very technically precise and exciting guitar solo that complements this “birth of Rock and Roll” song. The tragedy is that Danny died just ten days after recording the solo, a guitar solo masterpiece that he was paid a whopping $21.