Ticket 2 Ride

There many great guitar licks across the rock and roll spectrum. A smaller subset are great guitar performances as a guest of an artist or band. What’s a “guest performance” anyway? It could be by a session player or a guitarist friend asked to help out on a song. I’ll let each of you decide what that means.

Here are some of my favorites.

Eric Clapton, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” The Beatles, The White Album (1968). What can one say about this recording and Clapton’s performance that hasn’t been said already? The video is from the Concert for George.

David Gilmour “No More Lonely Nights” Paul McCartney, Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984). The music to McCartney’s film score was not really his great work, although “No More Lonely Nights” was a standout track, made better by Gilmour’s moody and raw guitar solo.

Eddie Van Halen “Beat It” Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982). Asked to play on the song, EVH shredded it. He asked for not money or credit, it was a favor to producer Quincy Jones. EVH was chastised by his brother Alex for doing the session, writing in his memoirs that the Van Halen sound wasn’t for sharing. Equally impressive, but not as showy, was Steve Lukather’s rhythm guitar work on the same song. Lukather, from the band Toto, was also a top session player who has lent his amazing playing to hundreds, if not thousands, of songs.

Larry Carlton “Don’t Take Me Alive” Steely Dan ( A lot of people would pick “Kid Charlemagne” over this one. They are both great.

Jimmy Page, “Sunshine Superman” Donovan (1966). A folkie, Donovan also embraced the trippy, psychedelic music of the era, employing some of London’s premier session musicians. Page was the top guitarist and played on several of Donovan’s recordings. Initially, Page turned down an offer to join The Yardbirds because he was making a lot of money doing sessions, but he relented and joined.

Stevie Ray Vaughan “China Girl” David Bowie Let’s Dance (1983). Bowie and co-producer Nile Rodgers wanted a song that had a faux Asian sounding guitar. Bowie had heard of Stevie Ray Vaughan and asked him to play on the album Bowie was recording, then stick around for the tour.

Barney Kessel “Wouldn’t it Be Nice” Beach Boys Pet Sounds (1966). Kessel played a 12-string hybrid mando-guitar, plugged directly into the recording console. Kessel was a member of the Wrecking Crew, many of whom worked on this song and album.

Louis Shelton “Last Train to Clarksville” The Monkees (1966). The first Monkees single ever, eventually included on their self-titled debut album. Another member of the Wrecking Crew. He went on to produce Seals & Croft, Art Garfunkel and others.

Randall Elliott “Reelin’ in the Years” (1972). From Steely Dan’s debut album, one of the two best known songs. Randall was a session guitarist who, according to various notes, was recorded in one take. It’s a gritty, distorted sound, but flows like a melodic river. Perfect.

Tommy Tedesco (1959) Theme from Bonanza. Tedesco was one of The Wrecking Crew and was hired to play on thousands of songs. It’s his guitar you hear on the Bonanza TV show, as well as Batman, Green Acres, The Twilight Zone and many others.

Bill Pittman (1965) Theme from The Wild Wild West. He played a Danelectro guitar. Pittman was known as a member of The Wrecking Crew and played on hundreds of recording sessions. He played the ukulele on “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”, the instrument is very prominent in the song intro.

Waddy Wachtel (1979) “Someone to Lay Down Beside Me” From Karla Bonoff’s debut album. Linda Ronstadt also released a version. Wachtel has worked with Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne and many others.