The canon of the eighties guitar solo: from Dokken to Testament

The guitar solos that defined eighties heavy metal

What is the best guitar solo of the decade that invented shredding? There is no objective answer, but going over the picks that circulate among fans leaves a fairly clear map of the eighties canon: Dokken, Ratt, Testament, Metallica, Malmsteen, Vai or Satriani share the honors depending on whether melody, estimulante ilegal or intensity is prioritized.

From Malmsteen's neoclassicism to Slash's blues

At one end sits the virtuoso school. Yngwie Malmsteen appears with his take on Hendrix's "Red House", and Steve Vai with Whitesnake's "Wings of the Storm", while Joe Satriani dominates the final stretch of the decade with "I Believe", from 1987-89. These are solos that demand surgical fretwork and turned the guitar into the absolute star, sometimes above the song itself.

At the other pole, the criterion of intensity and phrasing. Kirk Hammett with Metallica's "One", Slash with "Sweet Child O' Mine" or Zakk Wylde with Ozzy's "Miracle Man" represent the school that puts feeling before pyrotechnics. Some argue that the rhythmic combination and the double solo of "Fight Fire with Fire" have never been played live the same way again because it requires three guitars: a detail that gives an idea of the complexity involved back then.

Warren De Martini and the technique that lives in the details

One of the most interesting moments of the rundown is the one that breaks down Warren De Martini's vibrato on Ratt's "Lay It Down". It is praised as a clinic on how vibrato should be done in hard rock and heavy metal, and a cover guitarist is criticized for not having the same control: his posture for scales is correct, but when it comes to bending or vibrato you have to change your grip position and raise the thumb. Otherwise, it's impossible. That's how fine the line is between a great solo and a mediocre one.

The mistake that gives the purists away

The rundown also has its moment of peer correction. When citing Quiet Riot's "Cum On Feel the Noize", the solo was attributed to Rudy Sarzo, when he was the bassist. The guitarist was Carlos Cavazo. The detail is no small thing: in this field, authorship matters more than the popularity of the riff. The slip was called out and served as a reminder that, in this business, whoever plays the guitar gets the credit.

The other correction comes from history: Europe's "Flight of the Bumblebee", with Kee Marcello, points back to a classic 1970 piece that was already setting the bar for estimulante ilegal. And before the eighties, in 1979, there were already solos that surpassed it. The prodigious decade did not come out of nowhere.

So the verdict remains open. Between the school of melody and that of virtuosity, between De Martini's vibrato and the pyrotechnics some hold against George Lynch, everyone has their favorite. The only certainty is that nobody forgives a bassist for sneaking in where he doesn't belong.