Welcome one and all to the Guitar Wars. These battles feature songs nominated by you, the folks from the Realms. This isn’t about who the better guitarist is, or what band is better. This is about the instrument and the song. Great solos are something that make us sit up and take notice, but the guitar is more than that. There are great riffs like the one in Beat It, which was not done by Eddie Van Halen. You know, that awesome riff that permeates the song is also the part that EVH had nothing to do with. There are ways that the guitarist wraps his playing around the melody and makes a perfect fit that’s so subtle and imperceptible that most times it gets missed. And of course, there are the solos, some with blinding speed and some played so eloquently and with so much feel that you can get lost in one sustained note after another.

You are hear! Hendrix, Clapton, Lifeson, Atkins, Page, Abasi, Santana, Morello and a host of others will be popping up. Come on in and check out the virtuosity of these and others. Find new songs you can add to your shuffle or just reminisce on songs you may not have heard in a while. Enjoy.

Listen to each song and pay attention to the guitar part and vote for the song whose guitar part you liked better. Maybe you’re a fan of the slide, or finger-picking or electric solo, but give each song a chance and then vote for the performance that you liked better. We’ll go round by round and match by match until we have a winner. That song will be crowned best overall guitar song to listen to on the Realms. All the songs will have the main guitarist or guitarists listed along with the band’s name and the name of the song. Critique it if you want, and judge it as you will, but keep in mind, this isn’t a battle of what band or artist is better. I for one may not be a fan of a certain band or solo artist, but that will not keep me from voting for a song of theirs if that song has one of the most gorgeous guitar solos ever heard.

Matchups will close on the fifth day after they are posted.

So, without further adieu, here we go:

LAYLA - Duane Allman/Eric Clapton - Derek & the Dominos

ORIENTAL MELODY - Joe Satriani

Joe Satriani Wowed me more.

I simply can not vote for a guitar tag-team, no matter how much I may like the work or the song.
This isn't a case of having a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist. Each of the two have a huge part to play in that complete song.

Joe Satriani and Oriental Melody.

Okay, this is a little easier for me than round one, thank goodness.

I have often asked myself and the people around me "Where's the next Eric Clapton, Duanne Allman, etc...?" Who is going to carry the flag of classic guitar rock to the next generation. When all the masses seem interested in is auto-tuned crap-rap and inane Disney-anna, who is going to carry real rock to this and the next generation?

Well, clearly, Satriani is one of those torch bearers.

But this is "Layla", folks. THE iconic guitar rock song of all time (IMO). Over 40 years after I first heard it, I still get goose-pimples and still feel a chill run down my spine when I hear it. And the real kicker is that this isn't even Allman or Clapton at their finest - just maybe their most inspired and inspiring.

Few and far between are the songs I will be voting for against Layla.

Layla - cause the guitar virtuosity within it still affects me like few songs ever have or ever will.

I love me some Satriani. Flying In A Blue Dream is an incredible album.

but I gotta vote for Layla for this one.

These matches are going to be hard to pick from, but it's already way more fun then 80s rock wars.

Oddly enough, this one was easy for me (and not because I'm the one that nominated Oriental Melody).

Layla is one of the greatest riffs of all time. However, this contest isn't riff vs riff, or else we'd have Smoke on the Water and Iron Man (and a bunch of others) in here. Layla's strength is clearly the main riff, and I don't think the soloing is representative of Clapton's best work. It's a very emotional song, but honestly, I like the piano at the end better than the guitar solo. Don't get me wrong, this is one of the best rock songs of all time, but looking at it straight-on for the guitar solos, I gotta go with the inventiveness of Satriani.

Oriental Melody brings a great mix of sounds and styles into one song, and blends them seamlessly in and leaves you stunned at its beauty.

JOE SATRIANI - ORIENTAL MELODY

Agreed - but then again, oral surgery is more fun than 80s music. <<shudders>

my vote has to go for Layla, by eric clapton. joe is a far superior guitar player but clapton has the emotion in his song.

Neither of these are really my style, but Layla always leaves me wishing it would end sooner, so I'll vote for Joe Satriani - Oriental Melody.

On first listen, I thought I might lean toward Oriental Melody, so had to listen to each song about three more times, and come back to vote. Oriental melody got a knee jerk plus from me just because it is so unique. But in the end, I think I prefer either Eric Clapton or Duane Allman (and also both) in this matchup.

A vote for Layla, please!

Layla is more iconic for me.

Never really liked either one of these, but I'll go with the more unique sounding, probably because it is newer

ORIENTAL MELODY - Joe Satriani

I'm entirely with wintremute here. Also I'll grant Sigdr's point about Layla going on rather long. Two good reasons to vote for Oriental Melody

Layla - Duane Allman/Eric Clapton.