A best guitar solo thread and only a passing mention of Mark Knopfler?! That ain't right!
Everything that comes out of his hands are magic! One of the most recognizable guitar tones in all of rock.

https://youtu.be/xcesFIK4Tzw?t=286

Man, "recognisable" in the same sense that it's easy to tell when you've eaten too much meat after you've shat. I actually don't mind his solo stuff but DS are z-grade dad rock.

Dire Straits define the word "lame".

Incredibly wrong and distasteful statement. You may not like them, but Dire Straits are far from lame.

Mark Knopfler's solos automatically disqualify Dire Straits from being lame.

Listening to a lot of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers lately and I really like Mike Campbell's work on the Mojo album, I Should Have Known It has a nice slide solo. Actually Campbell has a lot of sweet lead work on their albums.

Never really got the love for Mark Knopfler myself but I know he's a respected player. Loving the frequent shout outs to Mike McCready, really simple stuff but it just sounds so amazing. His work in Mad Season was good as well.

Steve Vai's solo in 'Tender Surrender' is absolutely amazing and emotional. No use my trying to describe it for you; listen (and watch, hahahaha) for yourself.

Pretty much anything from the first 6 albums...

Machine Gun

Hendrix wrote this song for the soldiers serving in Vietnam (Jimi himself had been a member of the 101st Airborne but was discharged when he broke his leg during training), and he played the most famous version of it at the Fillmore East on New Year’s Eve 1969, just as the hopeful late ’60s were shifting into what would become the disheartening ’70s. Jimi’s howling guitar not only seems to sum up the chaos of war in the jungle, it also seems to capture the way American culture teetered on the brink at the very moment he was playing it. From a guitar player’s perspective, the song is ridiculous: Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett has said that he never figured out how to recreate Hendrix’s famous machine gun riff.

Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

As far as sheer guitar pyrotechnics go, I don’t think anyone’s ever going to top this one. And trust me, basically every time I’ve gone to see a self-proclaimed guitar god in concert, they’ve taken a crack at this one. The sheer ferocity, the sheer strangeness of Hendrix’s tone—it’s hard to describe.

Eagles - Hotel California
Sure we'll all have heard this. Legendary solo.

Alice Cooper - Pass the Gun Around
One of Alice's most under appreciated gems with an amazing solo from the late Dick Wagner.

Bon Jovi - Dry County (solo one, solo two)
Two great solos in this one. Sambora is an excellent player.

Guns n' Roses - Estranged (solo one, solo two)
This is my favourite song of all time. It's just brilliant all round, and Slash's leads are a big part of that.

Guns n' Roses - There Was a Time (solo one, solo two)
Big fan of this album. This song is ace and has some top guitar playing. First solo by Robin Finck, second by Buckethead.

21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson. I still can't believe it was made in the 60's, definetely progressive in every sense of the world.

That album defines progressive rock to me.

How far Non-Metal do you mean? My choice has no YouTube video to link to.

It is a song where Baroque era Classical and Salsa is fused but is an instrumental so it may not count as a solo in the general sense. A Spanish lead guitar carries the rest of song, which becomes upbeat, swinging and as full of energy as dazzling guitar wizardry. More than just a guitar, it is a compelling band effort. While only featuring 3 stanzas of voicing - which all repeat 3 times - each repeat adds more instruments; the violin, cello, harpsichord and Mandolin join on the fun...

El Cuento Del Gadjo by Rik Emmett

Cathedral - Gong (at 4:00). Pretty much my eternal #1 solo. One of the least technical ones I've heard, but every. single. note. cuts to the soul.

The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares (5:30). Same as Cathedral (though Omar always wanks at least a little, it's just what he does).

Shoji Meguro - The Almighty (sax ver.) (5:12). The live version of this song is something else. Meguro is one of my favorite game composers, and this is definitely among the finest songs he's written. The big weakness of video game music is that it has to loop, which is exactly why arranges that create a solid conclusion are so awesome. And that solo is an amazing elaboration of the main melody. (Plus, the entire rest of the song, including the opening piano and the sax solo, is awesome too.)

Fleetwood Mac - I'm So Afraid!

Couple of real good versions exist, but this live version from 1980 is simply sublime. Not only is it Lindsay's most inspired solo performance but is also his best performance vocally. Everything works to perfection.

This is form The Terminator Sega CD soundtrack. This has some excellent guitar work with mindblowing solos at the very end. This goes fucking crazy.

I always felt Weezer had some really good guitar solos. The Sweater Song, Say It Ain't So, Tired of Sex. Rivers Cuomo is actually a very talented guitar player