Coolest Electric Guitar Tones in Prog Rock Song

[regenerativemusic]

Would say Lake's solo tone setting in Lucky Man and Fripp's in St. Elmo's Fire (Eno).

[tormato]

You could probably have a list of Fripp a 100 pages long. Here are my faves:

Heroes
Scary Monsters
Starless
Elephant Talk (solo)
Dinosaur
Red

Steve Howe:

Yours is no Disgrace
Long Distance
Starship Trooper
Gates

Also, say what you want about 80's Rush, Alex really used some cool effects on Grace Under Pressure, Power Windows, and Hold Your Fire.

My favorite player who has a consistent, distinctive tone is absolutely Eric Johnson.

[Progbear]

I don’t know how “prog” they are, but Kim Kwang-Hyun of Magma (not that one) has one of the most face-melting guitar tones of anyone:

[Dave (in MA)]

[NogbadTheBad]

Anything by Gilmour

[sergio]

Jeff Kolmann, not prog (more prog fusion) but superb anyway!
Jean-Pierr Louveton
Mauro Collina
Nick Barrett

just off the top my head

[GuitarGeek]

A few that come to mind:

Fripp's "laser beam" fuzz solo tone is a favorite of mine. Love the way it sounds at the end of Lizard, the Earthbound version of Groon (I call that the death rattle solo), and the 1974 live versions of Starless.

Hackett's tone on Firth Of Fifth, Supernatural Anesthetist, Dancing With The Moonlit Knight and numerous other examples.

David Gilmour's distorted solo tones, like on Comfortably Numb, Dogs, Pigs (3 Different Ones), All Lovers Are Deranged, etc is also classic.

Frank Zappa's tones that he got from his Performance Strat copy, the one with the Floyd Rose whammy bar and custom EQ system, are also divine. Tracks like Republicans, Sunrise Redeemer and the Them Or Us versions of Truck Driver Divorce and Sinister Footwear are favorites.

Adrian Belew's late 70's and early 80's tones were pretty awesome too. His solos on Bowie's DJ and Boys Keep Swinging and also the 80's Crimson records and his own solo albums are fantastic.

Might not be very prog to some, but I love Huw Lloyd Langton's playing and tones on the 80's era Hawkwind albums.

Steve Howe's tone on much of the 70's era Yes albums is pretty cool too. I particularly like the tones he got from his Telecaster on Relayer.

Another one I'm not sure qualifies as prog, but I'll mention anyway, is Chris Spedding on the Roy Harper song Referendum (Legend). He gets this great distorted tone o nthe solos, and in fact, for years, I thought that was Gilmour playing those solos, since the very vague credits on the original LP list him as also playing on that album. It wasn't until I got the CD that I realized it was Spedding, and that Gilmour only played on The Game.

[Dave (in MA)]

^
Love Spedding's work with Nucleus, such as: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AknCXWuvU0M

[ProgMusician]

Real quick reply before bed.... man I just love that guitar Howe does in Release, Release after the breakdown where it's just drums. Such a country-fried, bold and rude tone in a WAYY rockin' tune. Howe is king in this regard.

I don't know if it's prog enough... but Klattu's "Older" has a really great guitar sound all the way through.

[mx20]

Hackett circa Foxtrot, Howe circa The Yes Album and Relayer and Fripp circa Starless and Bible Black. Honorable mention to Stan Whitaker of Happy The Man on their two arista albums and to King John Mclaughlin who is Beyond Prog, and, so, not on my list!

[Svetonio]

[Facelift]

Phil Manzenara on Roxy Music's "Casanova."

Zappa on "Transylvania Boogie."

Richard Pinhas on Heldon's "Stand By."

[walt]

Martin Barre on Back To The Family,from Tull's Stand Up.

Fred Frith on Teenbeat Reprise,from Leg End.

[Halmyre]

Anything by Gilmour

Not quite; he played guitar for Kate Bush on a live performance of Running Up That Hill, I've never liked the squealing noise he got there.

[Svetonio]

[Tangram]

A few that come to mind:
Another one I'm not sure qualifies as prog, but I'll mention anyway, is Chris Spedding on the Roy Harper song Referendum (Legend). He gets this great distorted tone o nthe solos, and in fact, for years, I thought that was Gilmour playing those solos, since the very vague credits on the original LP list him as also playing on that album. It wasn't until I got the CD that I realized it was Spedding, and that Gilmour only played on The Game.

Another entry in the "was it Spedding or was it Gilmour" is on Nick Mason's song Hot River from Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports album. For Soft Machine fans, Robert Wyatt sang on all of the tracks. Carla Bley wrote all of the music. This was my intro into her work.

[Obarmoth]

Why, Fripp, of course, although Latimer's beautiful solo on 'Ice' takes some beating too...

[spiderfeathers]

Sorry this is not prog-rock, but here's the coolest tone in prog-r&b:
Hot Chocolate "Every 1's A Winner"

[saucyjackstl]

John Mitchell (arena, kino, etc) comes to mind. I always loved Ian Bairnson from Alan Parson project.

[Scott Bails]

John Mitchell (arena, kino, etc) comes to mind. I always loved Ian Bairnson from Alan Parson project.

Two of my faves, as well

[Zeuhlmate]

Songs... solo... hmmm... Clapton in Cream, Jeff Beck on his latest soloalbums, Fripp in Sailors Tale on Earthbound, Johnny Winter on Second Winter, Hendrix on Band of Gypsys.

solo 2:24

Or Allan Holdsworth - Panic Station https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJeb6IEFamY solo 1:46

[Roth-Handle Studios]

Johnny Greenwood - Paranoid Android

[2steves]

trevor rabin on endless dream and shoot high aim low---just kidding lol
anything Howe in the 70's and Relayer was over the top amazing
Hackett---Firth---Dancing with the Moonlite---lot's of the Lamb---end of Suppers Ready----
Lots of Fripp---Alan Holdsworth---Jan Ackerman

[aliano]

Robin Trower on Repent Walpurgis is amazing. I love his playing and tone.

Anything by Terje Rypdal. I just love it every time he touches his guitar.

And the fuzzy tone of Manzanera:

[zravkapt]

Can't believe Mike Oldfield hasn't been mentioned yet.