One of the Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Belongs to 1968 Hit - And It Still Rocks
Few bands represented rock and roll better than the Rolling Stones, who created some of the most iconic songs in music history.
One of their massive hits, Sympathy for the Devil caught the attention of Rolling Stone, which placed Keith Richards' legendary solo at No. 46 in a list of the greatest guitar solos of all time.
"The Stones' take on a world spinning off its axis in 1968 boasts a Keith Richards solo that's stark, spare, and the definition of simple elegance. The way he drops out and leaves spaces between the first few bursts! Those bent high notes! That quick flurry that sounds like an SOS right before the band goes back into the chorus!" Rolling Stone wrote.
"It's the sort of solo that erupts into the middle of the song, yet never becomes the kind of flashy, virtuoso fireworks display that eclipses it. Asked in 1969 by Rolling Stone about their upcoming album Let It Bleed, Richards noted that there was a lot of bottleneck playing on it, adding that 'I really got hung up on that when we were doing Sympathy for the Devil.' His hang-ups paid off, however. The satanic majesty of that solo still inspires awe - and more than a few shivers."
Keith Richards Suggested a Small Change
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Mick Jagger was asked if the song, which he wrote, was "wholly a Mick Jagger song" to which he initially replied, "Uh-huh," before expanding on his answer.
He alluded to a change in the rhythm suggested by his legendary guitarist, which was to shift the song into a sort of samba.
"It has a very hypnotic groove, a samba, which has a tremendous hypnotic power, rather like good dance music. It doesn't speed up or slow down," Jagger said when asked what makes the song so powerful.
"It keeps this constant groove. Plus, the actual samba rhythm is a great one to sing on, but it's also got some other suggestions in it, an undercurrent of being primitive – because it is a primitive African, South American, Afro-whatever-you-call-that rhythm. So to white people, it has a very sinister thing about it."
The song sits in the pantheon of the best Rolling Stones songs, which immediately makes it one of the best in rock history.
Related: One of the Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time Belongs to 1944 Hit - And It Created Rock
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 27, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 27, 2026 at 1:12 PM.