The Best Guitar Solos Of All Time: Number 8

"Nodbody's Fault" is the brainchild of genius and criminally underrated Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford. On this one, Whitford shares a writing credit with singer Steven Tyler. For his part, Tyler has said that he regards "Nobody's Fault" as the highlight of his songwriting career.

Featured on the 1976 album Rocks, "Nobody's Fault" is perhaps Whitford's signature song, along with "Last Child."

I had trouble choosing between the two for best solo, but the complexity of "Nobody's Fault" ended up pushing me in that song's favor.

If you've ever watched a guitar tutorial for "Nobody's Fault" then you get where I am coming from. The guitar parts are just complex and crunchy as hell, too. There is so much going on up and down the fretboard on both the lead and rhythm parts, the song is just a guitar fan's dream. The track was definitely way ahead of its time. So many bands have covered "Nobody's Fault" because it is a favorite among many of the artists we love - but no artist outside of Aerosmith has really ever come close to matching the guitar tone on the Rocks recording. It was one of those snapshot-in-time moments, akin to Slash's guitar tone on Appetite for Destruction. Magic in a heavy metal bottle I guess.

Here's a solo tutorial:

Brad Whitford joined Lzzy Hale and the East Side Gamblers on stage in Nashville a few years ago. You can see Brad's playing up close here:

Comments

[Him]

Another great, thought-inspiring, post, Allyson. Wish more people were replying to these. I don't have enough 'heft' in the Aerosmith department to comment on this one. But I loved your explanation. Yet again, you make BBG! a great place to go for interesting observations.

Readers? Where are you? Come on, post some thoughts. Mix it up.