Ten Extraordinary Buckethead Solos

Music for the Modern Electric Guitarist

Oct 23, 2009

Sifting through Buckethead's 28 albums for mind-bending solos can be time-consuming. Here is a list of 10 amazing guitar solos every guitarist should hear.

Avant-garde guitar virtuoso, Brian Carroll, known throughout the guitar world as Buckethead, is renowned for having an affinity for chickens, deftly dancing the robot, and, of course, wearing a KFC bucket atop his noggin.

Having a produced a prolific amount of music, Buckethead has collaborated with artists such as Guns 'n' Roses, Viggo Mortensen, Bootsy Collins, Les Claypool, and Serj Tankian. He has contributed to movie soundtracks, appeared on video games such as Guitar Hero, and has soloed 28 albums.

Spanning Sound and Genre

Buckethead transcends specific genre by experimenting with a range of sounds and styles. However, out of the musical amalgam, arises a specific and unique, wordless voice.

Perhaps Buckethead's music should simply be labeled "guitar music" because its broadness of scope continues to expand. Recording after recording, he deftly manipulates metal strings and electricity, creating strange and sonorous sounds that blend in waves from serenity to insanity. From album to album, and oftentimes within single songs, melodically and rhythmically, through nuance and preternatural technique, he effortlessly shifts through a catalog of styles with a sort of schizophrenic genius, like audible chaos theory, harmony, dissonance, grace, and destruction, coalesced.

The Bucket Solo List

The sheer volume of Buckethead's songs makes the truly great one seem that much more valuable. Many of his best songs include extraordinary guitar solos. His face-melting, jaw-dropping, finger technique leaves witnesses frozen with bewilderment. What is more impressive is his stage performance and presence, playing incredibly (sometimes one-handed) while behind a mask, in a strange array of contortions. These songs, in order of release, include ten of Buckethead's notable solos:

Each of these songs include Buckethead pouring out a remarkable display of speed, rhythm, melody, emotion, and technique. "Jordan," appearing on Guitar Hero II, opened Buckethead up to a whole new generation of listeners and features a electric spectrum of astonishing riffs.

Other songs such as "Siege Engine" and "Soothsayer" exhibit force, endurance, and dedication, showering notes and cascading sound for minutes on end. On the other hand, songs such as "Ghost Host" and "Lurker at the Threshold Part II" demonstrate masterful focus and concise articulation.

The Bucketheadland Toystore

For more information on Buckethead visit the Bucketheadland website where a free track is located, "The Homing Beacon," dedicated to Michael Jackson. Buckethead's music is available for purchase at Travis Dickerson Music via Buckethead's Toystore.

Fans can also find music videos and documentary footage on the DVDs Secret Recipe and Young Buckethead Vol. I and II.

The copyright of the article Ten Extraordinary Buckethead Solos in Rock Music is owned by William Padgett. Permission to republish Ten Extraordinary Buckethead Solos in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.