7   "While My Guitar Gently
Weeps"
The Beatles (1968)

This is a tale of two guitar giants at an empathic peak: George Harrison, who wrote this song on acoustic guitar in India, and Eric Clapton, who amplifies Harrison's vocal dismay with a waterfall of blues fills. It's the finest examaple of his jagged, late-Sixties tone.


"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" from The White Album (Capitol)



George Harrison performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" live

8   "Stairway to Heaven"
Led Zeppelin (1971)

"Stairway," Jimmy Page told RS in 1975, "crystallized the essence of the band." It's a masterpiece of dramatic ascension: Page's acoustic picking rising into chiming chords, which introduce the solo, a brilliant succession of phrases that steadily move toward rock & roll ecstasy.


"Stairway to Heaven" from Led Zeppelin IV (Atlantic)



Led Zeppelin performing "Stairway to Heaven" live

See all of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All TIme