The 5 Longest Bass Solos In Rock History

You're not likely to find the longest bass solos in rock history on a standard album recording. They're usually impromptu jams that happen during live shows, and they often change each time they're performed. Even the longest bass solos on this list might be longer or shorter at individual concerts or on different tours. However, the artists we've wrangled regularly slap, pop, and pluck out these solos during their shows — at least the ones who are still playing do. The solos on this list are simply the longest ones with recorded evidence.

These phenomenal bassists have taken the art of the bass solo to the extreme, pushing them for more than the length of a typical song or two. To be clear, they don't match many of the longest six-string guitar solos in length, but five minutes or more is still an impressive feat for the deep, funky notes of a harmony machine usually relegated to the background of a song.

It's also important to note that these are the longest bass solos in rock, not necessarily the best ones. A rocking shred by the late Cliff Burton of Metallica, for instance, provides a long and expert example of what bass solos could be, while a longer solo from Michael Anthony of Van Halen may be less exciting. Regardless, these solos hammered on and drew loud reactions from crowds and fans.

Sure, we said the longest bass solos in rock history aren't typically on a standard album, and that's true, but Cliff Burton's solo in "(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth" also happens to be the longest ever solo on a studio-recorded rock track. Clocking in at over four minutes long, often even longer when Metallica performed the song live, this is generally considered to be one of the best rock bass solos of all time.

The track kicks off with several minutes of bare bass solo before any additional instrumental starts. Even after the band joins the fun, Burton continues to scale his licks at the forefront of the track, essentially making this song one long, wicked bass solo.

Burton uses interesting techniques while hammering out the song to contrast both the bass and treble clef portions of the fretboard. The intermittent use of heavy distortion makes it sound almost like he's playing two different instruments competing in a riff-off — one with the clean thumping sound of a classic harmonic bass, and the other as if it's a heavy metal shredding machine. Which, in Burton's hands, it was.

During a live concert on their 5150 tour in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1986, Van Halen paused the show for an intermission. Well, everyone in Van Halen except bassist Michael Anthony, who, instead, cranked out a solo for over five minutes. As far as solos go, this one certainly entertained the crowd with Anthony's energy, but it's not necessarily as musically strong as some of the other extended solo competitors out there.

Unlike most of the solos on this list, Anthony doesn't spend the whole time showing off his skill with a four-string. He shreds the bass, sure, but there are also long stretches where he holds relatively boring single notes for dramatic effect or runs around trying to hype up the crowd. He succeeds in the latter activity, highlighting that concerts are about more than just technical proficiency.

Michael Anthony is an extremely talented bassist, known for rapid bass riffs. During the parts of his solo where he actually exercises his skills, they shine. The other parts fall a little flat from a technical standpoint, but you can tell from the roars of the crowd that the folks in New Haven found it entertaining nonetheless.

Yes, Metallica takes two spots on this list, though each entry was performed by a different bassist during different eras of the band's career. Jason Newsted took over as the band's bassist after Cliff Burton's unfortunate death in 1986, and had big shoes to fill. However, while he and Burton had different playing styles, Newsted wasn't a newbie. He proved this on multiple occasions, but with few as impressive as his wild, four-minute-plus solo in 1988 at Long Beach Arena in Long Beach, California.

Newsted's solo uses overdrive distortion, which isn't quite as harsh as the heavy distortion that's common with thrashing guitars in heavy metal. He plays rapidly at times and then gives the ears a break with long rumbling notes at others. In the middle of the solo, he pauses for eerie tones and gusting wind noise to build atmosphere. The full ensemble joins Newsted towards the end of this piece as they start to move into the melody of another song. It's an impressive bass solo, but some listeners might feel that it misses out on the tone clarity provided by more poppy bass styles.

Chris Squire of the prog-rock band Yes wrote the song "The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)" as a way to show off his talent with the bass guitar. It's a bass-forward, mostly instrumental track in the studio recording, but when performed live, it serves as one long bass solo. And when Yes performed the track during their 1991 Union Tour, Squire took the soloing to the extreme.

For the first minute, Squire plays a mix of sharp single notes, short riffs, and long ominous tones while setting the atmosphere. He then goes into reverberating, psychedelic-sounding licks before starting to straight-shred the bass in a style you'd expect from a lead guitarist.

Squire continues this solo for over four minutes and moves straight into the song "Amazing Grace," and, honestly, the way it's presented on stage and lumped into one track on the live album feels like it's a continuation of the previous solo. It's bass-forward with rapid, technical riffs and solo licks from start to finish. If you see it from this perspective, it makes the solo over six minutes long, and it definitely feels like this is how you're supposed to take it.

There's no slow buildup to Billy Sheehan's bass solo when he takes the Warfield Theatre stage with Mr. Big in San Francisco, California, unless you count his introduction by Eric Martin. This is the show where the band recorded their 1992 "Mr. Big Live" album. Sheehan's solo didn't make it onto the album proper, but it is featured on the VHS tape. Yes, the band released a video recording of the concert. How else were people supposed to watch the show before YouTube?

With rapid fingers out of the gate, Sheehan scales the high frets in a way that's comparable with a lead guitar before he jumps into a two-hand tapping lick. Two-hand tapping is already one of the hardest ways to play the bass, and the style, speed, and precision that Sheehan uses during this part of the solo are difficult for even experienced musicians to replicate.

The Mr. Big bassist displays his finger endurance for over five-and-a-half minutes as he switches between plucking and tapping, and even playing with his fret hand inverted, popping over the top of the neck. The solo might not have the heavy distortion of a metal solo or the slap-pop funk played by some other rock bassists — looking at you, Les Claypool — but it demonstrates pure talent and showmanship perfectly without it. And at the end of the day, that's what the longest bass solos in rock history are all about.