![\"Joe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Joe-Walsh-Jimmy-Page-Split-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Jim Summaria \/ 2025 Paradise Pictures Ltd)<\/p>\n
Sat 24 May 2025 23:30, UK <\/p>\n
In the age of instant gratification and impatient consumption, would a solo like Joe Walsh<\/a>\u2018s in \u2018Hotel California\u2019 become as iconic? Forget the fact that guitar solos are more sparingly performed in the modern day; I don\u2019t think the charts would allow for a two-minute solo at the end of a six-minute song anymore.\u00a0<\/p>\n Whether you like it or not, everything about that song symbolises the yesteryear. From the lengthy solo to the idolisation of West Coast America, to the very fact that the definitive \u2018dad band\u2019, the Eagles, performed it. But perhaps that\u2019s symptomatic of a larger conversation, about the death of the guitar in general?<\/p>\n It\u2019s run rife over the last few decades, as rock fans scramble to find morsels of what they used to identify as \u201cproper\u201d music. But the fact is, rock, indie, and punk are all alive and well, just repackaged into something more modern and representative of the times. And, unfortunately for fans, that\u2019s primarily meant the guitar solo has been relagated to the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s perhaps why when the rock icons of today are asked to express some admiration for their musical peers, their choices often extend the realms of their own genre. But in the 1970s, the heyday of expansive classic rock, guitar gods would pretty much exclusively rub shoulders with one another as they competed for the title of best solo writer.\u00a0<\/p>\n When Joe Walsh ripped into his \u2018Hotel California\u2019 epic<\/a>, you would have expected the fight to be well and truly over. It was an instantly iconic riff that flexed every muscle on the fretboard, wetting the appetite of rock and roll daydreamers across the globe. But let\u2019s not forget, it was written at a time when solos and riffs were falling from the sky at will. And most of them were written by Jimmy Page.<\/p>\n Throughout the decade, Led Zeppelin trampled over the arenas with their powerful brand of bona fide rock, and Jimmy Page quietly became the godfather of the guitar.<\/a> Walsh was always quick to herald Page as one of his favourite guitarists of all time, but maybe we have him to thank for the power behind Led Zeppelin\u2019s world-dominating sound.<\/p>\n