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:

SPACE STATION #5 – Ronnie Motrose

FREE BIRD – Allen Collins/Lynyrd Skynyrd

ROUND 1 MATCHES:
1 Chet Atkins Vs Buddy Guy Chet Atkins wins 11-9
2 Clapton/Allman Vs Joe Satriani Satriani wins 13-8
3 John Mayer Vs Duane Eddy Duane Eddy wins 11-10
4 B.B. King Vs Alex Lifeson B.B. King wins 16-5
5 Jimmy Page Vs Eric Clapton
6 Adrian Smith Vs Mick Jones
7 Pete Townshend Vs Friedman/Becker
8 Ronnie Montrose Vs Allen Collins

Montrose vs. Collins....why? Why must life be so cruel? Two great 70s rockers against one another. Why?

Oh well, Free Bird is my nom and I would vote for it over any of my other noms. In my honest, honest opinion. Free Bird is THE rock anthem of all time with THE iconic guitar solo of all time.

Yes, yes - its been worn out over the years and has been a staple of classic rock since before the words "classic" and "rock" were ever combined.

But there's a reason.

Free Bird

I hadn't heard Space Station before and it is very creative, but when you think guitar solo the first song you think is Free Bird, and though it may be the official encore song of rock music in general only Collins can rock it like this.

Free Bird

Ahem. That's Montrose, Ronnie Montrose!

So now I've got to watch my second nomination go down in flames.

Love Freebird and the hard charging finale but I've got to support my nom.

My hat's off to every person who nominated in this TOC.

Good grief, EVERY nom in the contest has been so good. I could see me voting for any of the songs that have come up so far.

These days, every time I hear Freebird, it reminds me of the finale to Devil's Brigade. And that's a good thing. I'm not normally into gory movies, but did get into what Rob Zombie did, and his choice of Freebird to cap it.

On the other hand, I wore out the Montrose album this song is from, especially loving "Bad Motor Scooter" (Get on your bad motor scooter and ride!). Space Station #5 is almost as good , so:

A vote for Montrose and Space Station # 5, please!

this one is easyFREE BIRD!!!!!

but seriously can anything beat free bird

Montrose wins this for me. It seemed new but yet classic with its guitar work.

Well Free Bird man!

Free bird. Easy call.

I'll go with Free Bird. Don't mind Mr. Montrose, either.

Ronnie Montrose and Space Station.

Ronnie's a great guitarist and Space Station's a good song, but this one goes to Allen Collins and Free Bird

Kinda like playing pinochle...some cards will trump (lower case "t") others.

This one surely ain't no deuce...

Free Bird -- Allen Collins/Lynyrd Skynyrd, please!

I hope it doesn't take this whole thing, but I'll vote Free Bird in this match quite easily.