Re: Reggae Guitar Solos

I have always thought how was it possible that on the 70s, with the great uprising of electric guitar, reggae stayed away from it. You can listen to any song from any music stlye from any country and you are going to find songs with a 5 minute guitar jam; but not in reggae.

I was just wondering if we can make a list of reggae songs with a guitar solo (not riffs or licks) only solos.

Bob Marley - Concrete Jungle
Ijahman Levi - Jah Heavy Load
Willi Williams - Messenger Man
Pablo Moses - I Man A Grasshopper
Native - Meet Mr. Nobody
Third World - Satta Maasagana

Earl Zero - None Shall Escape The Judgement

Carl Harvey - Guitar Inferno

Soul Syndicate - Mariwana

Live shows had more guitar solos than studio records.... Peter Tosh and Dennis Brown shows come to my head...

Thank god reggae stayed away from it. Solo guitars doesn't match with reggae music.

I Jah Man : Miss Beverly (beautiful melodic guitar solo)

i was always fascinated by the different way guitars are used in reggae.. especially this percussive style, or only 5 second solos.

"Riot in the Streets" from the album "20th Century DEB-Wise" has a nice decent guitar solo all the way.

One of my favourites is Chinna Smith's beautiful solo on Cornel Campbell's Give A Little Man A Great Big Hand. Chinna, Ranglin and Sowell's brilliant stuff with that hosepipe thingy that Peter Frampton used to use on those early Radics records. But overall, I agree with esfiha above, though I love rock and blues guitarists like Hendrix, Neil Young, Keith Richards, John Lee Hooker etc.

Always loved the outro of Gregory's "Mr. Cop" - incongruous and unusual for reggae, but somehow it fits perfectly: the mind-your-own-business-I'm-gonna-do-whatever-I-like theme of the lyrics.

A similar thread can be found here;

"Play that guitar Mr Rootsman"

There's some nice guitar playing on Freddie McKay's, "Guide Us Jah, Jah". There is also some magnificant guitar playing on Augustus Pablo's "Twin Seals", although it's acoustic rather than electric.

There's an amazing tune of Michael Rose with an electric guitar solo. Michael Rose - We Shall Overcome. Big tune !!! Don't miss it !