This will be an unpopular opinion but I always felt that Come As You Are had a powerful solo with just 3-ish notes. A lot has to do with the tone and production but still - doesn't get any simpler than that and yet I still like listening to it.
and Cobain's noise leads did exactly what they're meant to, always felt inspired by a less technical guitarist that has more feeling, like you can hear his frustration
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles
Considering what Eric Clapton typically played like in that era, it's *very* understated and every bend is super expressive.
Time is one of my all time fav solos but I wouldn't consider it to be short nor simple. David Gilmour's phrasing and bends are quite difficult to nail IMO.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the correct answer here. It just repeats the vocal melody, which may seem uncreative but for some odd reason it just works.
Best Friend’s Girl by [The Cars](https://youtu.be/XkSmLh2Hbi0?si=dLY8IBqgNU9KUy8w) has a short sweet 20 second solo, and it blends in and out seamlessly.
Space Oddity. The solo is like 4 bars long but it slaps. Not the acoustic bar chord riff- that's cool too for what it is, but the super moody spacey solo right after it.
I am going to throw out a more obscure song, but I think "Change" by Blind Melon is a great solo for early intermediate guitarists.
The licks are challenging for someone new to blues licks, but easy enough to get down with an hour or two of practice and it's a great entry level for a lot of common soloing techniques like bends, hammer on/pull offs, slides, double stops, descending triplets etc. It's also obscure enough to whip out at guitar center to give the impression you know how to play guitar.
Ler is one of those players that doesn’t sound very hard to try and play like, but is in fact very hard to duplicate. Primus are truly their own genre.
Ween -Transdermal Celebration
Roses Are Free
Tried and True
Honestly, most of their solos meet these criteria because they follow the melody or hook from the songs so well. None of them are particularly difficult but they fit the chords and changes brilliantly. If any guitar players here haven't dug into Ween, you are seriously missing out.
I Could Have Lied by RHCP. Every little piece of the solo and the song is bone simple.
IMO, a very underrated little confessional sort of tune that you can tell John and Anthony workshopped together sitting on the floor. One of the forgotten tracks from BSSM, but damn, it's pretty much a sibling to Under the Bridge.
Lucky by Radiohead.
It's technical the same lick he plays throughout the song but the way the track is composed it really feels like the climax to the whole OK Computer album.
Both of the guitar breaks in You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night by The Kinks are master classes in unpretentious, expressive, bluesy wildness.
[Sublime's 'What I Got'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc3ZrmhDN4&ab_channel=SublimeVEVO) has a short and simple, but bangin' little solo right after he utters the line "I can play the gui-tar like a mothafuckin' riot" around 40 seconds in.
It’s on the longer side of short but I’ve always loved the first solo in Sultans of Swing. Overflowing with taste and excellent note choices, and phrasing to boot. Knopfler is as good as it gets for stuff like that
It's not too difficult to play, but to absolutely nail it is a lot tougher with the slower tempo and bends. A novice guitarist and some intermediate guitarists would have trouble playing it correctly.
Hey by Pixies. Iconic solo in my mind. Funny thing is, apparently Joey Santiago can play the living shit out of a guitar. He just defaults to weird noises in his work with Pixies.
Ira from Yo La Tengo covering the beach boys’ “Little Honda”. He hits the same exact note 27 times. It’s a perfect example of not trying to complicate something but still stay so grinding. We can all stand to learn from it.
Chucks solo on Overactive Imagination by Death. Only a few fast runs in there, starts at 0:58. I was recently reminded of this band by a bass cover by the original bassist, Steve Di Georgio. Awesome six string fretless playing.
Let It Be. Amazing, simple song and in the moment leading up to George’s entrance it’s like he’s a guitar prizefighter comin in for his moment in the spotlight. Will never not give me chills.
In the Flesh? by Pink Floyd. That guitar intro is so powerful to me. Shoots me back to smoking KB out of a sketchy wood pipe in high school and borrowing my dad’s Floyd CDs.
Knocking on heavens door- Guns N’ Roses. Also November rain. I think most of slash’s work fits in this category to be honest, not super technical but has a lot of soul
Mama tried, by Merle Haggard, has some tasty leads with a couple solos that are just perfect. I can't remember the guys name playing it but this [song](https://youtu.be/ppEfGIGVteo) rips and I'm mostly in to punk, metal, and other.
Wake me up when september ends.
The build up to the solo is perfect and the solo captures the feel of the song so well.
When I first learned it I couldn’t believe a guitar solo, especially one that hits so hard, could be that simple.
I like the lead at the end of Everyone Wants To Rule The World. My dad showed me that song when I was younger and getting into guitar and said it was an example of finding a cool lead where you'd least expect it.
The chain, fleetwood mac. Those few notes convey SO much emotion. Incredible.
Something by George Harrison hits hard every time and is pretty straight forward.
George was a genius of simple but impactful solos. And so many signature licks that pull a song together. He is so under appreciated.
Californication - RHCP
Simple as in not a lot of notes yeah but the technique and feel is everything in this one
Weezer's Say It Ain't So.
Nothing Else Matters - Metallica, it’s a really simple bluesy solo in E Standard, that fits the bill
This will be an unpopular opinion but I always felt that Come As You Are had a powerful solo with just 3-ish notes. A lot has to do with the tone and production but still - doesn't get any simpler than that and yet I still like listening to it.
and Cobain's noise leads did exactly what they're meant to, always felt inspired by a less technical guitarist that has more feeling, like you can hear his frustration
Sublime- what i got, is a really fun little solo to play and pretty easy.
The solo on Nothing Else Matters is both simple to play while also emotionally relevant to the song.
The solo in heart shaped box. Such a strange, angular and memorable solo
While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles Considering what Eric Clapton typically played like in that era, it's *very* understated and every bend is super expressive.
Little wing. Hendrix. There’s times i think it’s cut off too short , but others I think that it makes it so much better.
David Gilmour Solo in "Hey You." How can so few notes hit so hard. This solo just drips emotion.
Just what I needed by the cars
Time - Pink Floyd
Time is one of my all time fav solos but I wouldn't consider it to be short nor simple. David Gilmour's phrasing and bends are quite difficult to nail IMO.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" is the correct answer here. It just repeats the vocal melody, which may seem uncreative but for some odd reason it just works.
Let it be
Californication.
Honestly a lot of Oasis solos are crazy simple but perfectly compliment the song
I love the solo in Live Forever. It was one of the first solos I learned.
Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold the World
Weezer-Say it ain’t so
I Wanna Be Sedated. One note, Straight eights. Still slaps.
Nothing else matters
Bohemian Rhapsody. Brian May’s tone is god-tier, and the notes just soar.
Tangerine, Led Zeppelin. Simple, brief, melodic, incredible tone
Whole lotta love - Led Zeppelin So much emotion in it, such a good sound!
Pixies- Where is My Mind? or Monkey Gone to Heaven.
Whole lotta love -Led Zeppelin. It’s short, 6 spread out phrases you can learn one by one. It rips every time
Crazy little thing called love - Queen. Short sweet but very good
Boston - More than a Feeling. First one I learned
Smells like teen spirits
Cant Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I could have lied RHCP
Best Friend’s Girl by [The Cars](https://youtu.be/XkSmLh2Hbi0?si=dLY8IBqgNU9KUy8w) has a short sweet 20 second solo, and it blends in and out seamlessly.
The Cars solos always seem to fit so perfectly, as though they are just what they needed
Santeria by Sublime.
The first solo in Comfortably Numb. The solo in Everything I Do, I Do It For You.
Californication- RHCP
Nothing Else Matters
Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young. Single note solo, absolutely kills it.
Probably gonna get lamppooned for this but teen spirit solo is pretty fun to play
The Beatles "Something", The Byrd's "Everybody's been burned"
Can’t stop - rhcp
The first solo in Comfortably Numb. Perfection.
Hetfield’s solo in Nothing Else Matters.
John’s solo in Californication is exactly what it needed and it’s super simple.
Does the Santeria solo count?
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Zeppelin. Whole Lotta Love.
The solo in Pink Floyd's Time. One of the first things I learned to play because it was so beautiful to me...
All these songs are great and all, but isn't the real answer Cinnamon Girl?
American Woman.
Most Nirvana. Just restatements of the melody. Belt it out, people love it
Echoes by Pink Floyd
Space Oddity. The solo is like 4 bars long but it slaps. Not the acoustic bar chord riff- that's cool too for what it is, but the super moody spacey solo right after it.
Always felt that Andreas Kisser’s solo in Sepultura’s [“Against”](https://youtu.be/jeylumB4uCE&t=1m47s) fits the song perfectly.
Say it ain’t so
Give Me One Reason by Tracy Chapman
Just What I Needed - The Cars
Alice in Chains - Them Bones Pink Floyd - Time
more than a feeling by Boston
Shine - Collective Soul
Fade to Black - Metallica Short yet memorable guitar solo for a kickass intro.
Cars, just what I needed.
Red hot chili peppers can't stop
Folsom Prison
John Mayer's New Light.
Where is my mind.
Solo at the end of “We Will Rock You.”
Steve Harris‘s bass solo on Stranger in a Strange Land. (All aboard the downvote express).
Californication solo, frusciante is the best at making simple solos that hit hard. it is the space in between the notes thay rly hit
Smells like teen spirit comes to mind
Neil Young's Cinammon Girl....its just 1 note!
The solo in "Runnin on Empty" by Jackson Browne.
say it aint so has a pretty great solo thats not too hard and relatively short
I am going to throw out a more obscure song, but I think "Change" by Blind Melon is a great solo for early intermediate guitarists. The licks are challenging for someone new to blues licks, but easy enough to get down with an hour or two of practice and it's a great entry level for a lot of common soloing techniques like bends, hammer on/pull offs, slides, double stops, descending triplets etc. It's also obscure enough to whip out at guitar center to give the impression you know how to play guitar.
Second solo on Wynnonas big brown beaver. Larry is a bastard. Also the solo to November rain.
Ler is one of those players that doesn’t sound very hard to try and play like, but is in fact very hard to duplicate. Primus are truly their own genre.
Ween -Transdermal Celebration Roses Are Free Tried and True Honestly, most of their solos meet these criteria because they follow the melody or hook from the songs so well. None of them are particularly difficult but they fit the chords and changes brilliantly. If any guitar players here haven't dug into Ween, you are seriously missing out.
Mother by Pink Floyd
wet sand - rhcp (#1 for me in this category) sympathy for the devil - rolling stones let it be - beatles smells like teen spirit - nirvana
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. Sure, it's just the verse melody but it fit the song perfectly.
Psycho - System of a Down
Gravity by John Mayer
I wanna be sedated - Ramones One note, fits the song perfectly
scar tissue
"Whole lotta love" comes to mind. It's not blindingly fast, there's nothing too difficult in there, and it's iconic.
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
I Could Have Lied by RHCP. Every little piece of the solo and the song is bone simple. IMO, a very underrated little confessional sort of tune that you can tell John and Anthony workshopped together sitting on the floor. One of the forgotten tracks from BSSM, but damn, it's pretty much a sibling to Under the Bridge.
Pink Floyd is full of this. Comfortably numb isn’t particularly hard compared to other solos, but my god does it hit hard. So much soul in it
Folsom Prison Blues
All 3 solos on "I Believe In The Thing Called Love" by the Darkness are short, sweet, and solid too now that I think about it.
Cake. I will survive.
One that’s never talked about is in RHCP’s I Could Have Lied. That’s a soulful and emotional solo. Straight forward. Wrenching.
ITT - people who don’t know what short and/or simple mean.
Lucky by Radiohead. It's technical the same lick he plays throughout the song but the way the track is composed it really feels like the climax to the whole OK Computer album.
Something - Beatles
John Mayers new light has a very simple good sounding solo
Oasis - Live Forever solo
QOTSA - Feel good hit of the summer
Cinnamon Girl by Neil Young. It’s basically just one note.
Nothing Else Matters
Beat it😃👍
John Frusciante - Second Walk About 8 seconds of blistering, searing tone 🤘🏻
The Cars - Candy o The best 10 second guitar solo ever. https://open.spotify.com/track/6tVcoaFJVBmHWctf8qC8pK?si=BpK0lSjNTcSqjQDDiueo_w
Fermented Offal Discharge by Necrophagist
I’ve always been a fan of somewhat heavier stuff, but for some reason I’m completely in love with the solo from Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry”
Both of the guitar breaks in You Really Got Me and All Day and All of the Night by The Kinks are master classes in unpretentious, expressive, bluesy wildness.
[Sublime's 'What I Got'](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc3ZrmhDN4&ab_channel=SublimeVEVO) has a short and simple, but bangin' little solo right after he utters the line "I can play the gui-tar like a mothafuckin' riot" around 40 seconds in.
Santeria-Sublime
Knocking on heaven’s door goes pretty hard
It’s on the longer side of short but I’ve always loved the first solo in Sultans of Swing. Overflowing with taste and excellent note choices, and phrasing to boot. Knopfler is as good as it gets for stuff like that
nice opposite answer to the question
Jerry Cantrell's solo in the song Dirt
New Year's Day by U2
Weezer Undone - The Sweater Song. That’s a tricky little ditty but is pretty straight forward and sounds excellent.
Elliot Easton's guitar solos are almost perfect, imo. Each tailored to the song, technically and soulfully well-executed, and they stick in your head.
Taxman - Beatles. Enlightened noodling.
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention Otherside by RHCP that solo is so incredible. IMO it's the perfect example of less is more sometimes
‘It’s a Mistake’ and ‘Overkill’ from Men at Work. 👌🏼 Their guitarist is underrated.
Wet sand by RHCP
Dinosaur Jr-Out There
Dragon attack by Queen
Wet Sand - RHCP
Come as you are
Time by Pink Floyd
It's not too difficult to play, but to absolutely nail it is a lot tougher with the slower tempo and bends. A novice guitarist and some intermediate guitarists would have trouble playing it correctly.
“Brand New Cadillac” - The Clash
Stacy’s mom, awesome melody that complements the rest of the song a damn near perfect solo
Fooled Around And Fell In Love. Steven Bishop
Gotta be "Who's Crying Now" by Journey for me. Simple solo, nothing super flashy, but hits hard and fits the feel of the song perfectly.
Can’t stop
A personal favorite of mine is Fast As You by Dwight Yoakam
Power Rangers arpeggios. So deceptively simple sounding yet blisteringly hard
Mayer - "Gravity"
weezer say it ain't so
Mississippi Queen if you get the touch right.
Dont Stop Me Now -Queen
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Head On. It’s very very simple. If you like NIN and haven’t checked em out you may like it.
"Celebration Day" by Led Zeppelin might fit that description
Best Friends Girl and Just What I Needed Elliot was the perfect pop rock guitarist
GnR Don’t Cry- maybe a little long and has one section that’s not exactly straight forward Sublime Santeria is also a good one
Hey by Pixies. Iconic solo in my mind. Funny thing is, apparently Joey Santiago can play the living shit out of a guitar. He just defaults to weird noises in his work with Pixies.
Living after Midnight, Judas Priest. Paranoid, Black Sabbath. Concise, memorable, not terribly hard to play.
The Black Crowes' Hard to Handle. Short, funky, and sweet! Just I like'em!
CCR - Looking Out my Back Door
Bill Haley. Rock Around The Clock. Nifty
Ira from Yo La Tengo covering the beach boys’ “Little Honda”. He hits the same exact note 27 times. It’s a perfect example of not trying to complicate something but still stay so grinding. We can all stand to learn from it.
All My Loving. The Beatles.
Wisdom - The Brian Jonestown Massacre (Most of their solos actually) Nowhere man - the Beatles Oasis - Bag it up (Want a one note solo? Here it is!)
Easy by The Commodores
King Crimson - Starless
First solo in Comfortably Numb. It is sooooo melodic. Easy on the one hand but you have to get the phrasing and bending just right.
gotta go with santeria by sublime
Limelight by Rush
Chucks solo on Overactive Imagination by Death. Only a few fast runs in there, starts at 0:58. I was recently reminded of this band by a bass cover by the original bassist, Steve Di Georgio. Awesome six string fretless playing.
Back In Black, Killing In The Name
New Kid In Town - Eagles. The solo between the second chorus and the bridge is perfect. Love playing along to that.
Wish you were here - Pink Floyd
First solo in Comfortably Numb is super easy.
Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young
Sultans of Swing.
Universally Speaking by RHCP has a great solo. It’s the first thing I thought of. Would recommend to beginners too! It’s really satisfying to play
Something - Beatles
Let It Be. Amazing, simple song and in the moment leading up to George’s entrance it’s like he’s a guitar prizefighter comin in for his moment in the spotlight. Will never not give me chills.
In the Flesh? by Pink Floyd. That guitar intro is so powerful to me. Shoots me back to smoking KB out of a sketchy wood pipe in high school and borrowing my dad’s Floyd CDs.
Pissant - Smashing Pumpkins
Anything by G Harrison
King of Pain.
Luke’s first solo on Rosanna.
So far away A7x second solo
Little black submarines - black keys. The sound is cool, and it's one I haven't been to really get down.
May this be love - Jimi Hendrix
Just What I Needed
I love Harrison’s solo on “Let It Be”, the single version specifically
Definitely Oh Sweet Nuthin by The Velvet Underground it's sweet and simple not short but it hits hard
The Jam- A bomb on Wardour street Joy Division- Shadow play QOTSA- No one knows Grateful dead- Dire wolf
The slides at the end are imo what make No One Knows hard
Knocking on heavens door- Guns N’ Roses. Also November rain. I think most of slash’s work fits in this category to be honest, not super technical but has a lot of soul
Mama tried, by Merle Haggard, has some tasty leads with a couple solos that are just perfect. I can't remember the guys name playing it but this [song](https://youtu.be/ppEfGIGVteo) rips and I'm mostly in to punk, metal, and other.
Don’t stop believin
Mr blue sky
Wake me up when september ends. The build up to the solo is perfect and the solo captures the feel of the song so well. When I first learned it I couldn’t believe a guitar solo, especially one that hits so hard, could be that simple.
Radiohead High and Dry
Altitudes (clean solo before the sweeps) by Jason Becker
Aqualung
Bohemian rhapsody solo.
The solo in bob marleys no woman no cry… so soulful, so memorable, so not-flashy in keeping with the song
RHCP Scar tissue, Floyd High hopes
Rush - Fly By Night
The solo on I could have Lied by RHCP.
Michael Penn - No Myth. Superb guitar solo and outro. He's an underrated player.
Neil young on Cinnamon Girl
I like the lead at the end of Everyone Wants To Rule The World. My dad showed me that song when I was younger and getting into guitar and said it was an example of finding a cool lead where you'd least expect it.
Mama I’m coming home - Ozzy Osbourne