“Is this the return of the guitar solo? There’s two of them!” Rick Beato names the Chappell Roan mega-hit that’s ushered in a new age of pop guitar solos

Rick Beato has heaped praise on Chappell Roan’s undeniable pop banger Pink Pony Club, claiming it may well mark the return of the guitar solo in pop music.

Roan, who bagged the Best New Artist Grammy this year, has emerged as one of today’s biggest acts in modern pop music. Her breakthrough album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, flew the flag for fretboard theatrics in pop music, and arrived not long after the power chord-loving Olivia Rodrigo helped inject some riffage into the synth-dominated pop world of recent years.

In a recent video, Beato turns his attention to one of Roan’s most popular cuts, as he breaks down the two fretboard-burning moments that helped Pink Pony Club become one of 2024’s biggest hits.

He first highlights the chord progression that underpins it – Gm, A, Em, C, which is a I-II-VI-IV progression in G. Recording guitarist Sam Stewart cements himself in the E minor pentatonic scale, with the first solo seemingly channeling a little of Journey's Don't Stop Believing via a slew of three-string repeating licks.

The second solo continues in a similar vein, with Beato commenting how “it’s a great scale to noodle around in”.

Interestingly, as Roan’s producer Dan Nigro explained to Rolling Stone, the inclusion of the twin solos wasn’t from some besuited label execs who believed that nostalgia might shift a few more records: It was the singer’s idea.

“My brain is like, ‘Guitar solos are dated because I listen to Metallica, and Metallica's guitar solos are from the ’80s,’” Nigro recently said of the making of Pink Pony Club. “It's always great as a producer and a guy in his 40s to work with the younger artists and have the fresh perspective that's not dated to me.

“When [Roan] heard the part after the bridge, she was like, ‘No, I want a guitar solo.’ I remember I went in, worked on it, and sent her a version. She was like, ‘It needs to be more melodic.’ So me and Sam workshopped what you hear now. I think it was a second pass that we made it super-melodic, and she loved it.”

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Roan’s love of guitars goes far beyond the studio, too, with one of her live guitarists, Devon Eisenbarger, crediting the guitar-fest of her shows to music director Heather Baker – a “kickass guitar player” who re-worked the songs to have more prominent guitar parts.

The singer’s standout Grammys performance also included a mirror ball Les Paul, put together in rapid fashion just days before the big music biz bash, and it stood out like a glittering totem of the return of the guitar in pop music.

“She wants the guitar to sound exactly or very, very similar to the recordings,” Andrea Ferrero, the guitarist that night, explained. “That Pink Pony Club solo – she is very picky with that. She wants the way I play it and the tone very similar to her recording, especially because it's such an epic solo. She’s very picky with those things.”

In terms of guitar in mainstream pop music, it’s also notable that Beyoncé scooped the Best Album Grammy at this year’s ceremony with possibly her most guitar-laden record in Cowboy Carter. It features the fabulous chops of Justus West, who admits to sneaking in Plini-styled licks, “crucial rock elements,” and his Abasi Concepts guitar onto the record.

So then, we have three pop acts at the height of the genre pushing guitar music right now. Talk of the death of the guitar solo can finally quieten.