Did Keith Richards really play the guitar solo on "Sympathy For the Devil"?

If I play my mono album backwards it doesn't sound like Keith at all.

 

I just googled that and found a discussion on the IORR board, apparently someone there speculated it was Mason because it sounds kind of like the solo in "Dear Mr. Fantasy". I gave a quick compare and the guitar tone on the two is quite similar but IMO it sounds like two very different players.

 

Agreed- my curiosity is satisfied....

 

Nah, it was Francis Bacon.

 

It was totally me.

That statement is just as plausible as saying it wasn't Keef.

 

Years ago a guy who was big into music told me it was Jimmy Page on that solo. I never heard that anywhere else, so I took it with a grain of salt.
To me it sounds like Keith was inspired by Hendrix on this solo. But if I found out it wasn't Keith, that would not surprise me much. The Beatles used an uncredited Eric Clapton for a solo around this time.

 

Of course it's him. Sounds similar to a lot of other his fills and lead work from '67/'68. It's the one time in his career where he was regularly doing lead work that fell outside the double-stop Chuck Berry style.

Those brittle-sounding transistor amps he was using at the time also made this era unique for him.

 

Well that's a new one!

Incidentally, Jimmy Page did provide a solo on a Stones song but it was "One Hit To The Body" in 1986:

 

As have we all ...

 

While admittedly there's no evidence to support it, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Keith claimed credit for some of Brian's work in this era, as it was not beyond the Glimmer Twins to claim credit for others work, and Brian didn't stick around long enough to argue the point.

 

Well he doesn't play the intro or beginning part of the solo recognizably anymore, I don't think he ever played it that way ever again live....but if you do listen to lots of various "Sympathy" live solos over the many many years, I've found that he plays bits and pieces of it, little molecules of that original solo, but in different places or rearranged in different ways. But never that opening lick of the studio version, which is of course the hardest part to play. It's more about hand positions, finger positions on the neck, rather than specific exact notes or patterns, and his phrasing has never been the same but it's always distinctly in the same ballpark as that original solo.

I can't point to them now but I am 100% sure I've heard small pieces of that original solo replicated, certain licks and bits, at various points in different "Sympathy" solos over the years. Just scrambled and rearranged each night.

 

That's Steve Winwood on Fantasy not Dave Mason

 

Steve Winwood plays the guitar solo on Dear Mr. Fantasy- not Dave.

 

Keith never seems to play anything Live the same way twice including signature riffs of his songs.

 

that's crazy talk - don't believe it

 

OK, I just did a quick search and repeated another's mistake, I'm not the expert on Traffic.

 

SW doesnt get enough credit for his guitar playing

 

The Beatles made it abundantly clear when the album was released that Clapton was playing on Weeps.

 

It's Keith, the best solo he ever did.
Never again did he reach such brilliance.

 

I concur - and the above gives me confidence it may be true - that as it's Keef on bass, that's his solo. As a bassist/guitarist, it is something about the hand and finger positions rather than specifics, not to mention just "the vibe" say that to me, and it just smells like a Keef solo, however unlike his other work it is. So is the bassline.
My 2c

 

Marianne AND Anita...see film..

 

He got a lot of exposure when he went out on Tour with Clapton. Fine guitar player, although I do think Mason plays that particular tune better himself..

 

I think most evidence points to it being Keith. But compare this solo to his solo in the 1974 track Ain't Too Proud to Beg, which is as sloppy as he ever got. One wonders if drugs played a part in that.

 

It's clearly Keith. His style is pretty distinctive. In my opinion, it's the best solo he ever did in a studio setting (his second solo on "Slave", years later, is arguably just as good). The live version on Ya-Ya's has him playing most of the same notes, but with a completely different sound. That Ya-Ya's version, with he and MT trading solos, is my favourite rendition of the song.