The Best Guitar Solos Of All Time: Number 7

Heart released the album Little Queen in 1977. That album includes the track "Barracuda" which features some of Roger Fisher's best guitar work.

"Barracuda" has two nice solos for Fisher to show off his talent. There's some innovative stuff going on here, especially the unique sounds toward the end of the second solo (around the 3:30 mark). Then there's the fact that this riff is probably one of the most recognizable in all of rock. Fisher should really get more praise fo his skill and expertise. He left Heart around 1980 but was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the band in 2013.

Roger Fisher explains how he came up with some of those innovative sounds in an interview from 2018:

I dare you not to rock out while listening to this track:

Comments

[Him]

I will go directly to the horse's mouth:

“Nazareth had a hit with a Joni Mitchell song that they covered called ‘This Flight Tonight’ that had kind of that riff,” (Nancy) Wilson explained to Loudwire. “So we kind of borrowed that, and we made it into ‘Barracuda.’ We saw the guys from Nazareth later, and they were pissed.”

Yes, I know the category is the solo, not the riff. But said riff factors into said solo working so well. Moving on.

Here's the thing. I love Nazareth's cover even more than I like Heart's song. So I always find this cross-pollination (by way of Mitchell, no less!) so fascinating and fun. All songs stand or fall on their own. But, here again, Heart's is clearly the better known song. But that fact doesn't factor into my loving the one more than the other (keeping in mind that I am keeping in mind the difference between a riff and a solo). Heck, kudos to Mitchell for inspiring a cascade of inspiration that partially created at least two more inspiring songs!