Hear Allen Collins' Isolated Guitar Solo from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird"
Although this video hit the YouTubes a few years ago, we thought you'd enjoy hearing the isolated guitar-solo track from Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."
The solo on the song—which was played by Allen Collins and Gary Rossington—comes it at Number 3 on Guitar World's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.
On the studio version of "Free Bird," which appeared on Skynyrd’s debut album, Collins played the entire solo himself on his Gibson Explorer, with Rossington playing rhythm on his Les Paul (“Bernice”) and adding the slide fills on his SG.
“The whole long jam was Allen Collins himself,” Rossington says. “He was bad. He was super bad! He was bad-to-the-bone bad. When we put the solo together, we liked the sound of the two guitars, and I could’ve gone out and played it with him. But the way he was doin’ it, he was just so hot! He just did it once and did it again and it was done.”
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Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.

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