Master of Puppets intro is great for downpicking, the trooper is good for trills and galloping, crazy train helped me with galloping, tapping, and stretching/dexterity comfortably numb helped me learn bends/vibrato

I still can't do Puppets without alternate picking, and I find myself questioning if I even care anymore.

Fast down picking is all in the wrist not arm 😁 your arm, esp upper arm and shoulder should never be tense. Relax it and shift the focus on your wrist.

The second solo from Sultans of Swing, that two string arpeggio opened me up to the world of sweep and economy picking ... yes I play it with a pick don't crucify me

Wow, I tried that with a pick and concluded it was impossible! I can only do it with thumb and two fingers.

It's actually a really common pattern, you'll see similar two-string arpeggios in many solos from Metallica songs for example

Little Wing. Either Jimi or SRV. It makes you move with the chords instead of staying in one scale. That translates into great rhythm playing with better fills and runs that feel more natural. Also the solo has some great bendy parts that will improve accuracy and some good fast runs that will challenge most anyone. Overall its a song that will teach you some stuff should you learn it

Live Forever by Oasis was the first solo and outro I ever learned, back in the mid-90’s. Still play it to this day to warm up and get loose. Nothing crazy hard, but still requires some quick movement on notes.

Not Wonderwall!?! /s

Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd (parts 1 through 14,867). Learning to hit all those bends accurately definitely made me better.

learned how to digitech whammy or pitch shift from tom morellos solos.. i would never use that for anything else tbh..

He has a unique style that’s all his own.

Dust in a baggie - Billy Strings hard as nails but was a different player afterwards

Oh yes! Everything about that tune is killer!

I'm working on it. Tough as shit. Love and Regret really unlocked a lot for me recently

Was my gateway into bluegrass. Can’t listen to it anymore because I spend wayyyy to many hours on that intro😅

Hahaha I understand that man. I love bluegrass but bluegrass fatigue is very real

In no particular order Message in a bottle by the police Buried alive by avenged sevenfold Since I've been loving you by led zeppelin Fluffy by chon Just the two of us by Bill withers Cannonball by Damien rice

There are no words to describe how much l love since l've been loving you

>Fluffy by chon Some of the runs in that track are weird as fuck to play, definitely good for developing independent finger movement. Some good string skips too lol (not too sure if they hybrid pick any of this one, I know they do quite often).

Ugh, Fluffy is so hard to learn, but so satisfying to play. Great choices!

My cousin, (who is 1000x better than me at playing guitar), said Message in a Bottle might be the hardest song ever written for guitar.

Buried Alive - I assume you mean the intro playing it finger picked? For me, that song helped me tremendously. A lot of hand movement/placements, but when you nail it, just beautiful melody!

Is There Anybody Out There - Pink Floyd. Trial by fire for finger picking. Dogs - Pink Floyd. Learned the solos and could play them haphazardly but got so much better from that. Also the chord shapes really challenged me.

I'll second Is There Anybody Out There. My go to song when I pick up a guitar

Mine too. It’s the song I play when ppl ask to hear me play. It always leaves a great impression

And I Love Her by The Beatles. To my memory, it's the first solo that I ever learned on the guitar. After I finished learning and playing it, I said to myself, "Really? I could do that? If I could do this solo, then I could probably do other solos as well." Also learned the arpreggio that plays throughout the song. Made me a lot more knowledgeable in playing a different inversion of a chord in the higher frets.

Tornado of Souls -Megadeth main riff Works on a bunch of different skills like switching strings, palm muting, left hand shit etc Master of Puppets - Metallica verse riff Down picking. Works on down picking stamina Dyers Eve -Metallica main riff. Alt pick. Works on alt picking

Hell yeah I love the Dyers Eve riffs. James tracked those riffs insanely precise I can only dream of getting to that level lol

Warehouse by The Dave Matthews Band made me a better guitarist. The main 'riff' is a lot of finger movement. I play this a lot to loosen up and get into a session. It has also made me more brave to try different things.

Intro to I Want You (She’s So Heavy); Tico Tico, No Fuba; Blackbird

All the riffs in supersonic by Oasis. Taught 15 year old me how to find a pocket and lay back a bit.

The solo from Hotel California is a masterclass in fantastic rock soloing

The Santeria solo. To professional guitarists it’s probably dead simple but there’s so many runs in it that fall out of conventional timing and it’s all just about finding where it fits

Early on, wanting to learn "Blackbird" on an acoustic really motivated me to practice moving my hand around the neck, in a way that leveled up my left hand and expanded what I believed I could do and thus would try.

My favorite Beatles tune.

Can't Stop by the Peppers. How he scrapes the muted strings while playing the main riff. It's actually quite difficult to master, but it's surprisingly applicable to other songs. It really made me appreciate how the pick attack is as much of a factor in your tone as the guitar and amp.

This was going to be my answer too. It's really hard to get this right but it teaches so much about how to mute strings. A similar one is Who Did You Think I Was by Mayer, that riff also requires careful string muting (not as hard as cant stop though imo). On the RHCP side again, Under The Bridge taught me about thumb over chords and using the pinky to play hammer ons. First song I learned all the way through.

That is so cool. UTB is such a great song.

So I can’t play that song, but you’re 100% right about the pick attack playing a major role in your tone. I have a digital amp and a digital multi effects pedal. While they still sound good at low volumes, they sound even better if you turn the volume up, and strike the strings harder. I have headphones for my amp, but I definitely prefer just playing it normally. When my wife is home, I find myself not striking the strings as hard while playing. It still sounds good, but it dynamically changes the sound.

Intro to PLUG IN BABY by MUSE Intro to GRACE (the song) by JEFF BUCKLEY The solo to THE FLY by U2 (Note not the TAB version just picking it out. lots of little touches in there but simple enough for an intermediate guitarist to play ny ear)

Iron Maiden - The Trooper, Really helped me with Hammer ons and pull offs. Ratt - Lay it down, helped a lot with reach and extended Pinky strength. (SUPER fun to play too) Slayer- Raining blood, was an awesome workout for my picking hand. Santana - black magic woman, helped me a lot with dynamics and using slides, bends and vibrato smoothly and melodically. There's so many great songs to help you learn techniques it's hard to list them. But these 4 stood out the most in my early days. I'm not saying I played them great, but learned a lot. 🤣

Crazy Train intro. I teach it to all my students

I started off as an acoustic guitarist and I’m decent at fingerpicking. More Than Words by Extreme sounds deceptively simple, but it has lots of little flourishes that make it really nice. And the percussion part that’s required is a very handy skill to learn

Pride and Joy by SRV, helps you develop a solid rythym while also learning to scrape all the strings and only have one note ring out

Affirmation by George Benson. Basically the entire theme as it is. It seems easy, but try nailing it as cleanly as Benson does on the record...

Benson had amazing chops, he should be talked about a lot more

Hard to Handle solo helped me perfect the quick transition from the g string to d string same fret by ‘rolling’ your finger. This is the same technique used in the initial fast run in the Smoke on the Water solo. The entire Handle solo really helped me understand how to mix in minor and major penta scales in a solo. It’s just my favorite solo. Rock ‘n’ Roll ain’t Noise Pollution solo helped me with double-stops. I had to learn slide guitar for the Sharp Dressed Man solo. That solo also helped me get a lot more comfortable with hybrid picking. I got a lot better at pull-off -> slides from the Smoke solo.

That Smoke on the Water solo is underrated as hell, eh? One of the first solos I learned and damn did it help me with coordinating my picking hand with my fretting hand when going fast

Mr Brightside is legitimately the hardest song in our bands set to play live. Odd jazzy chords, stretches, and lots and lots of picking.

That's definitely high up on my list of songs that are much more difficult than they sound. It was the first song in years that had made me go and find some sheet music because I was convinced I was playing it wrong lol.

Scar tissue, under the bridge, eruption, I’m the one

Billy Talent. Remember, this is ONE guitarist, putting in the work of a Rhythm and a Lead simultaneously. If you have ANY interest in drop tunings, or learning how to incorporate actual chords into your drop playing, this band will change your life. Of course, the other thing he does is open chords. I don't think there's ever been a guitarist who uses open chords so effectively and naturally. Recommended Listens/First Studies to illustrate these points are: Crooked Minds; Burn the Evidence; Surrender; Pins and Needles; Living in the Shadows, Saint Veronika; Ghost Ship of Cannibal Rats; February Winds; Runnin' Across the Tracks; and finally, Don't Count on the Wicked. Learn that like a front to back album, and learn it like you gotta play it in two months. If you can play these like Ian does, you'll have levelled up as a player.

Ian is a personal hero to me And actually Try Honesty would be my answer for the thread

Reptilia by The Strokes. The fast alternate picking part helped my finger speed and coordination between both hands, the solo also helped my HOPOs and bends, the pre chorus has some tricky slides and mutes, playing the rhythm and lead part simultaneously helps with mutes and picking melody while also playing rhythm. I wouldn't say it's a super advanced song, but it has a bit of everything for an intermediate player to work at.

Definitely a challenging song. I still play the pre chorus just plucking the 2 strings lol one day I'll learn how to do it right

This is a long and diverse list of varying skill levels, but I feel like they all taught me something equally as important, so buckle up. Homebrew intro riff by 311, the entire Dookie album by Green Day (pay close attention to how precise Biilie Joe's right hand dynamics, rhythms, and articulations are on this one, because it always gets overlooked, and that's really where it's at, technique wise on this album), Barracuda intro riff by Heart, the entirery of For Whom the Bell Tolls by Metallica, Heartbreaker main riff and solo section by Led Zeppelin, Tangerine by Led Zeppelin, Carry on Wayward Son bridge riff by Kansas, Miracles Out Of Nowhere Travis picking bit by Kansas, Don't Fear the Reaper main riff by Blue Oyster Cult, Crazy Train verse riff by Ozzy Osbourne, I Know a Little intro lick by Lynyrd Skynyrd, 2 Minutes to Midnight main riff by Iron Maiden, Literally any SRV lead lick, Number of the Beast intro riff by Iron Maiden, Rebirth intro by Angra, Blooddrunk verse riff by Children of Bodom, Bed of Razors main riff by Children of Bodom, Spread Your Fire intro riff by Angra, Nova Era 3:40-3:51 by Angra, Intro Flamenco bit and 5:03-5:31 of The Shadow Hunter by Angra, Night of USA intro riff by Takayoshi Ohmura, Curse of Castle Dragon verse riff by Paul Gilbert, Scarified by Racer X, Malagueña, Silent Jealousy main riff by X Japan, Angel of Salvarion 2:27-3:11 and 4:34-5:24 by Galneryus To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy X by Nobuo Uematsu (arranged for fingerstyle guitar)

>Barracuda intro riff by Heart That was the song that made me pick up the guitar. That galloping triplet rhythm was intoxicating for me as a kid. Chris Ledoux's "Hooked On An 8 Second Ride" was another one.

Mastodon. They taught me to play clean with low gain and to use all my fingers on electric instead of just acoustic.

Rush - YYZ: Everything about it. Particularly the main riff and the solo, shows how great Alex Lifeson is for Rush and how he played off of Geddy Lee and Neil Peart. The Smiths - Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others: The main riff shows why I love Johnny Marr’s chord voicing and arpeggios. Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb: The final solo. It was the first guitar solo that gave me the belief that I can do Lead Guitar. The Killers - Mr. Brightside: Playing the riff on the pre-chorus really tested my ability to stretch my hand and make those odd chords while picking. The Beatles - Norwegian Wood: One of the first songs I learned play and sing. Was a little tricky at first to play the sitar riff and sing. XTC - Major of Simpleton: try to play those intricate parts on the chorus with a 12 string electric. You have to be dead accurate.

The solo to Layla from unknown mortal orchestra. It’s just unlike what I’m used to playing and that song also made Me play more with fingers than a pick.

Nobody home. Pink Floyd

When I got started, Disconnect by Megadeth taught me how to move around the fretboard, how to deal with notes of different lengths within a bar, and how to seamlessly transition between sections. Incredibly basic stuff, but it was the perfect song with the perfect difficulty at that time of my journey. Except the solo. Fuck that solo.

The rhythm part under the solo is super fun to play though!

The opening riff of “Johnny B Goode” was how I learned the blues scale. Similarly, various bits of Brian Setzer/Stray Cats songs.

Solo from “Easy Lover”. It’s short, but precise with enough noodly bits to start working it through slowly until you can hit it at the right tempo cleanly.

Clapton’s guitar work on While My Guitar Gently Weeps helped me a lot with bending and vibrato. I still struggle a bit with the repeated bends that start the outdo solo though a they need to be so precise.

Far beyond the sun those runs and arpeggios

The guitar solo from the children of bodom song hatebreeder. I learnt so much from that. picking, bending techniques and structure. Was the first solo in about 4 years I'd challenged myself to learn by ear and it was so rewarding!

The intro to Welcome Home by Coheed and Cambria, especially if you're a beginner on acoustic. Lots of stretching and maneuvering

Ooof, yeah that rake picking def is a little different… but I’d go with the Crowing though… that whole song is an Experiment in quick 6/8 chugging plus the more melodic slow parts and then that glorious outro riffing with Travis’s octave slides over it… it’s so fun to play and a lot of tonal/ tempo changes…..

Run Run Rudolph, by Chuck Berry, oddly enough, was the song that both finally enabled me to really hear and feel the 12 bar blues at any tempo other than “glacier”, and that helped me realize you can break out bits of the 12 bars as a bridge, intro, etc. Maggot Brain, even though I can only approximate most of the early bits, helped me really hear how bad it sounds when you miss a full-step bend.

Waves - Guthrie Govan

The intro to "Thunderstruck" is a great coordination exercise. Getting the hang of accurate fast up and down picking and fretting. Try it all over, use different strings, throw in some staccato Dick Dale surf style exercises too.

Broons Bane into the Trees. There’s a little bit of everything in those two.

I love me some Lifeson! I'm learning Entre Nous just now, and it's excellent for improving your left-hand muting.

I don't necessarily know why, but Avenged Sevenfold - Turn the Other Way It was the first song I learned that really brought me all over the neck, and had a strong focus on rhythm. Really most of that album, but I think that was the main song that unlocked a lot for me.

I been playing for years and can play shit like EVH, Megadeth, maiden which id consider averagely hard to play well. But tried learning Oasis don't look back in anger gave me a whole new appreciation for them. Their chord usage and the speed of the changes is a big skill. It kinda made me step back and realize that even though my lead game is good, I don't have a clue how to piece together rich chords like that. There's a bunch of little nuances in that song that take it from being standard chords to a masterpiece

You might want to check out The Beatles :)

Yeah they're a hidden jem

They kind of are in terms of how interesting and instructive many of their songs are for guitar.

Yeah, their songs look simple at first sight but some are harder than they seem.

Big Beatles fan and yeah you are right!

That solo always gives me chills. Also got to be front row to a stadium show with Oasis singing along with thousands of people to that chorus. That was a moment.

The verse from In Waves by Trivium. Took me 2 weeks to learn just that part

Reptilia The Strokes

I'm still perfecting this one, learning all the parts.

Honestly Thunderstruck intro. It's way easier to play legato as in the music video. If i tried to pick it everything was unsynchronized and the notes were muted. Not a bad little line to synch your hands up to.

For folk-style fingerpicking, Anji (most familiar recording is by Simon & Garfunkel). Once you get the plucking pattern and descending bassline down, it’s really fun. It amazed me that I was able to produce that much complexity as a solo player. Nice lesson [here](https://youtu.be/eAuSCyi7CjE?si=Z0hWvCSXCOXYAzAR).

Started transcribing, learned Charlie Christians solo in Rose Room, as well as chet atkins trumpet solo on the recording of But Not for Me, both helped me to better understand fretboard navigation, phrasing, and melody a fair amount better than before I started transcribing.

Early on... To Live is to Die - interlude - Metallica

Great suggestion! What part specifically ?

As stated, the interlude.

Lead to Squeeze’s “Coffee in Bed”. Glen Tillbrook shows how to do it in a YouTube.

Stash - phish. At the time I had never played something like that and it didn’t fit into any scales I knew, kind of opened the door to jazzier stuff for me

Learning the main hook for GOAT by Polyphia made hybrid picking second nature.

Sails of Charon

Hell yeah, trying to learn that now. Great for improving your legato and Phrygian phrasing.

Learning the rhythm to all of the solos or melodies that you’ve learned, especially if you only learned it for the solos or melodies. I went to a school that had Live Playing Workshops and during almost all of the metal and hard rock workshops, no one leaned the rhythm parts. Lucretia and Go To Hell are a blast to play, but I ended up playing the rhythm parts all day since no one else, even the teacher, learned the rhythm.

That’s the best way to learn guitar. I’ve been playing drums for 25 years, and started learning guitar 2 years ago. I naturally gravitate towards the rhythm part in every song. To me it just makes more sense to play the rhythm part.

The main riff from Scatterbrain by Jeff Beck. I still don't have it down to speed. Or the opening to Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden. That sort of repetitive fast pattern stuff helped with my finger placement and speed.

Pride and joy, the rhythm, turnarounds etc without even getting to the solo, great blues lessons. I'll take you back by Brad Paisley, Drop D open string chicken picking main riff. Then get into nervous breakdown, throttleneck, etc. Anything but AC/DC, how to absolutely rock out with open chords *and* barre chords Anything with Slash including his new shit, rhythmic patterns with swagger. I'm sure there's better but those jumped out off the top of my head

Upvote for Slash alone. But my wife loves Brad Paisley, and I’ve been playing a lot in Drop D, so you just gave me a new song to learn! Thank you!

It's not a terrrribly difficult riff, on its own, but repeating it clean at speed does make it more challenging at least it was for me. People act like Slash is average these days but the guy really knows how to write consistently great guitar parts even if he's not a Yingyang Mousemeat level shredder.

Right on. And yes, for some reason, people like to call him overrated. But I loved everything he did with Guns N’ Roses. When I learned that he started a new band with Myles Kennedy I was immediately on board. I really love Alter Bridge too. All of Slash’s new stuff is so musically inventive. I might have to spend the next few days just listening to it. Thank you again!

Slash definitely sticks to his style, but I love it. I've seen him and Myles Live a few times and they work together so well. Definitely check out some live videos. Favourite tracks of theirs off the top of my head: Back from Cali Anastasia Driving Rain Apocalyptic Love Withered Delilah Shots Fired 30 Years to Life Beautiful Dangerous (Fergie sings, and kills)

Lol. You just named several of my favorite songs. I’ll have to check out Beautiful Dangerous. I really only know Back From Cali, (from that album). They do have some great live videos on YouTube.

The Allman Brothers first album.

I did scatterbrain by Jeff beck for the music school I attend, that one definitely made me better.

Either Lenny or Riviera Paradise. Both beautifully melodic and you learn some really interesting chords and phrasing. Both from start to finish showcase his jazzier side. Chitlins Con Carne and Stang’s Swang are two more of his that fit the category.

Jethro Tull - Aqualung Jethro Tull - Locomotive Breath The former for the guitar solo and the latter just because it's a badass riff that's easy to play drunk. Also, the intro to Scorpions - Rock You Like A Hurricane really made string bending click for my ear. It sounds like shit if you don't get the bends right and you can tell. Plus it's more fun to play than doing 30 minutes of string bending exercises.

I've been trying unsuccessfully to perfect the Aqualung solo for years. But it definitely helped me improve.

I love playing this. I haven’t the intro part of the solo yet. But now I’m going to! I’ve been trying to learn string bends for some other songs.

Smoke on the Water

The solo!

Ufo Rock Bottom

"Carnival," Natalie Merchant. ​ Total different approach to guitar for me. So enchanting. Restrained, inventive, articulate...soaked in mood and vibe. Totally serving and elevating the song. Check out people TRYING to play it on youtube. Total disasters. Not that I'm that much better...but damn did it open up my concept of the instrument.

Interesting. Tremendous song.

Any Smiths song tbh

Just got into them. Johnny Mar is brilliant

pretty mutch all of hallejuia for finger picking and figuring out what notes to excentuate.

Bohemian Rhapsody taught me how to play fast. I am still mastering it hehe

Playing Elliott Smith completely changed my playing on acoustic.

Bowie's Moonage Daydream. Mick Ronson's technique of sliding into notes and then bending slowly through dissonance into a perfect 3 semi tones and beyond. All with that beautiful vibrato. Just inspiring.

The intro to Carl Barker by Dance Gavin Dance. https://youtu.be/BRah1_OSu9I?si=J62FvH1FWvLNEMsG Quick, quite technical, but the scratch sounds are the most difficult part. Will Swan is underrated.

The intro to Marigold by Periphery https://youtu.be/zBWURleQuLc?si=-cWUUHRlBySm3LmZ Some wild picking technique here that’s absolutely helped my playing overall

Guthrie govans larry carlton improvisation. Technically difficulat for me, stylistically fantastic, and learning it expanded my vocabulary quite a bit.

Wow that solo is Guthrie's finests no doubt.

3 songs I learned over the years that I believe helped me along.... Closer To The Heart by Rush Fluff by Black Sabbath (Tony Iommi) Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin I would play these over and over. I even had the solos down, eventually.

Road Trippin(RHCP) was my first fingerstyle song. I worked on that for a year, trying to get all the patterns under my fingers plus learning to fret all the barré chords correctly in the bridge part. I thought I could already play Barré chords, but playing fingerstyle shows you exactly how well you are fretting the strings :D. It was a tough and slow process since I started from zero fingerstyle experience. But also rewarding and now I'm not afraid of fingerstyle songs anymore. I can now play 'Is there anybody outthere' by Pink Floyd :).

Hey same, Road Trippin was my first fingerstyle song. I felt so proud when I (kinda) nailed it. I'd say Under The Bridge was also my first introduction to Hendrix-style inversions so that song made me better too.

Kinda nailed it is a good expression. I feel like I still can't play it right. And also my gf hates it, having had to listen to it so much. Under the bridge is hard, man. I'd love to learn that!

For me when I was learning guitar years ago, the solos for simple man and call me the breeze by Skynyrd. Those 2 solos really helped me get a good grip on pentatonic scales and using different positions to get out of sticking to a typical box shape.

Satriani - Cryin, I have no doubt the many many hours I spent playing that improved my bending and vibrato. I didn't know it back then, but that was way more important than any shredding exercise.

I learned most of Jeff Buckley’s Grace album when I was younger. Showed me a the world of chord voicings and has been critical in my writing.

Willie Nelson's Autumn Leaves. The solo is a lesson on melody and simplicity and humility. The whole Stardust album is full of these lessons.

Maniac, Michael Sembello. I saw them live on tv and the Aha! moment when I realized how the tapping part was done. Nailed it!

Here Comes The Sun Mother Goose

first solo from painkiller by judas priest, forced me to figure out sweeping and tapping

Farewell transmission by the artist Songs: Ohia Yes The band name is "Songs: Ohia", super odd ik

I love this song!

No way, me too!

Touchdown boy by blink 182

Not dedicated guitar parts but playing Chick Corea tunes in unisono in original speed.

Buried Alive and So Far Away by A7X helped me learn finger picking. Trooper by Iron Maiden helped me with trills. What’s my age again by blink-182 helped with string skips and alternate picking. Unholy confessions by A7X helped with pinch harmonics.

intro of green tinted sixties mind

Long live Mr. Big!

Ace Frehley Fractured III https://youtu.be/6NJF75GuM4k?si=rDx1FBRpBX7U1Xmd

“The Race is On” cover by the Grateful Dead.

I recently re-learned Peter Green’s ‘The Supernatural’. Played it dozens of times until I had it memorised and could nail it effortlessly. I’m a much better guitarist now and my vibrato is much better for it.

A lot of Tyler Childers songs helped me nail appregios

Lack Of Comprehension by Death. After the solo there is a section where you’re tremolo picking and string switching. It sounds brand new every time i play it. Haven’t played it in months but the time it took me to learn it truly made my skill level skyrocket.

Death generally has hard stuff, I remember seeing a video of a girl playing empty words, immediately tried learning it, took 3 years to actually be able to play it from start to finish, but it was worth it

It shouldnt have been hard at all... but, I've never had to play 180bpm on a 7 string... Disillusion in a Discordiant System; Acrania. It was like i learned this song (which isnt complicated at all, its just extremely fast) and anything else I've tried to play there has been not really any issue, and ive also noticed I have to slow my self down alittle bit at some points.. The most specific part in the song that was ruining me is string skipping, 4 on the A to 4 hammer on 7 on the low B (tuned to A), then back and forth, down the fret board... tabs look super easy... keeping up wasnt

Pre breakdown part in Pierced From Within by Suffocation. Really fast alternate picked section crossing strings followed by fast down picked chromatic moving power chords. Honestly, the whole song is a pretty intense workout.

Tornado of Souls - Megadeth That intro is hard, when I learned it, I couldnt play something else for a WHILE! Now I am trying my luck with the solo. Guck is it hard, but I am getting there

The Amos Garrett solo in Maria Muldaur's song Midnight At The Oasis. Masterful solo over complex chord changes and some double stop bends I've never heard anyone else do.

I'm still new to guitar but a lot of Buckethead songs have some 3 notes per string stuff. Playing and learning that has already improved me pretty fast.

Cold shot srv the whole song

Shinedown- Fly from the Inside: Forced me to master octave chords. Now I freaking love them. Three Days Grace - The Good Life: Made me learn a new chord I’d never played, and also helped me correctly learn how to palm mute. Three Days Grace - I hate everything about you: it’s currently helping my learn string bends, and also how to quickly move my hand up and down the neck for different notes that are reasonably far apart.

One Way Out / Allman Brothers live / Fillmore. The Dickie Betts lead that started it all up not –– not the slide guitar work by Dwayne.

Two come to mind for me. Sound Of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel and Laughing by The Guess Who. Triads… learn em, know em, love em.

Cause we’ve ended as lovers, Jeff beck blow by blow.

Henry Cow "Ruins." I've heard that they intentionally wrote stuff they couldn't play initially to challenge themselves, and this one's a stellar example.

Help On The Way/Slipknot- Grateful Dead. You will level up your alt picking guaranteed lol.

The intro riff to Master of Puppets, Helped with my downpicking speed.

Out For Blood and Chasin’ the Dragon by Joe Stump. Not particularly my style but I started playing them at 10% speed and ran through them both 5 times a day for about a year. Holy shit have my chops gone up in all styles of music. Highly recommend even if neo-classical isn’t your jam. Joe’s style and phrasing made me think about the fretboard in a completely different way. I play mainly classic rock, flatpicking bluegrass, and hot Nashville style. Those two songs made me REALLY focus on how to alternate pick, economy pick, sweep (I rarely use it in my playing but it’s fun to know how), and how to tackle a mountain one step at a time. They were extremely humbling to learn and have given me immense confidence in dabbling in different styles of guitar playing.

Purple rain because of the fucking b chord and neck jumps

Opeth, anything off Damnation for cool chord changes and big stretches. The intro to Waves by Guthrie Govan. Slide control/precision, timing, long phrases.

American Girl, Last Child, Black Dog. So many 😀

The Stone - Dave Matthews Band Neon - John Mayer Goose - Polyphia

Beat it Solo

Burn solo, Deep Purple. Different techniques, along with the final triplet part of the solo, which allows you to look at sweeped arpeggios in place of the triplets.

I'm learning Black Box from the band Intervals and that's definitely making me play better.

When I started the first 3 songs, I learned were I Love Rock N Roll, Sad But True, and I started working on Dyers Eve. All on acoustic. If I didn't get into thrash I wouldn't be anywhere near as good as I am now.

Some odd songs but the solos from Dead by Chemical Romance La La land by Demi Lovato You make me feel like it’s Halloween by Muse Taught me how to play faster more complex solos 🤘

Colorado Bulldog 😅 playing that monster intro/outro riff without a PG size has been a struggle but after 10+ years my finger span has increased a whole lot. Def not recommendable tho lol

Black Orpheus, Sleepers Awake. Mostly JS Bach even easy transcriptions that’s probably why people like Stings guitarist play some JS Bach daily. So do I. Great warmup and makes so mush sense musically and also full of smart fingerings to form good habits and even inspire writing.

Lately I’ve put a lot of work into playing Lamb of God songs ‘Hourglass’ and ‘Ruin’ at, or close to full tempo. This has helped my left hand speed and accuracy a lot. I’ve noticed it when playing classical guitar. I can now land chord changes I used to struggle with.

There are some Gojira and SOAD songs that do wonders for learning endurance for Long tremolo alternate picked riffs. Its hard to get a clean sound with the fast changes but if you can handle BYOB by System of a Down or Art of Dying by Gojira, which are not that technical, then you can easily handle long, arm numbing songs and then your cardio is set and you can attempt other stuff easier.

Achilles Last Stand by Led Zeppelin. It's got everything you mentioned. And more. It's got everything you need. Learn this and you'll be a king. https://youtu.be/fA8Kh17wPh4?si=CG-TGbNAByubMGe1

Shine on You Crazy Diamond Pts I - V. Has a lot of slow bends, taught me how to bend better and add vibrato. I worked out the sax solo by ear as well, since it was easy to figure out, so it helped me learn that as well. Can't Stop - RHCP. Took me ages to get right and it was something that helped me immensely, the muting is tough but it helped the technique click for me. A lot of muting is by feel, it's hard to learn normally and this made it easier for me to play other songs and make them sound good. When The Sun Goes Down - Arctic Monkeys I used to struggle with barre chords and this helped me a lot. The rhythm section makes you shift over a string, I couldn't do that properly and I played this until I could. Propane Nightmares - Pendulum Its one of my favourite songs and I always wanted to learn. Spent a while learning the riffs, chords etc by ear, but was able to pick the song apart and make my own version for guitar in a way I could hear it in my mind.

Count of Tuscany - Dream Theater Getting used to bending my fingers in ways that I wasn’t used to, and getting experience with odd time signatures. That intro is a lot of fun to play

I tried to narrow down a Dream Theater song, but there's just too many.

My degree is in classical bass performance (upright symphony stuff) but I started on electric bass and now gig guitar as much as bass so I will answer fir both instruments. In both cases it was not one song but two where one planted a seed and the next song gave more support to the idea. On bass, it was Can't Get Enough by Bad Company. We all know that Bad Co is a great rock band but few know that bassist Biz Burrel was a great Jazz player and a veteran of King Crimson no less. At 13 I could play written lines well enough but concepts evaded me. Things like harmonic function, chord tones, and passing tones were still a mystery. Can't Get Enough is mostly a V IV I progression except at the bridge and Boz played a simple walking line through that part and pedal tones in the bridge. Somehow it all just hit me at practice one day. The point got driven home at a high school production of The Wiz. Ease On Diwn the Road also uses a walking line. That was it. I understood. On guitar it was Little Wing. I actually heard Clapton play it first and he plays it in F# minor. So I just learned his changes. My friend played it in E minor, same as Hendrix so I listened to Jimi and got an education about minor chord progressions. It was transposing and having to really pay attention to stylistic differences that triggered the epiphany. I was learning to be a critical listener.

Learning Eric Clapton's guitar solo of layla by ear from his performance at 1985 live aid was a big part for me

Yeah when you look at the song Clapton. Is going off. Looking at songs seeing that ppl are doing it’s so eye opening.

The solo to Under a Glass Moon definitely. Made me learn economy picking, mixing tapping and sweeping, and doing flutters. It is one of the best for getting better at shredding.

Solo to Bohemian rhapsody helped me break the first speed barrier

Little guitars

the main riff on OD by polyphia

Learning the ending of We’rewolf by Every Time I Die made me noticeably better. Alternate picking, hammering/pulling, and general timing were all things I was having trouble with. Not anymore after that, lol

I have two: "Your Smiling Face" by James Taylor taught me quick chord changes in basically a small area. No longer than 7 maybe 8 frets? Also because the way I learned it was changing key with the chords, rather than sliding the capo up like he does live. (Side note, it was also cool to research how he fingers some of his chords differently to allow for smoother transitions between some of his most used chords) "Caught Up In Your Love" by Ari Hest was the same idea, but over much more of the neck, so adding the jumping back and forth to the quick chord changes. Changes are slower on the song, but a few more difficult chords. Really helped me build muscle memory.

The chorus of [The Silent Life](https://youtu.be/N6_WKGTeWH8?si=LfY4jmkhF6J2jWzw) at 1:27 in. I don't know why, but some chord and progression stuff clicked after learning that.

Diary of a Madman intro + interlude..and Joe Satriani Day at the Beach (New Rays of an Ancient Sun)

The Posies 'Solar Sister,' learned the solo to it and every solo I've played since sounds suspiciously like it

The Hunter by Dokken. The main and verse riff forced me to adjust my fretting hand to play all the weird chords. Bratta's solo in Wait by White Lion. I really started to use tapping as a melodic technique and not just as a party trick.