Famous Guitar Cameos

Here's a song-by-song listing of famous (and not so famous) guitar cameos. I've always been interested to see the kind of musical fingerprints my favorite guitar players leave on the work of other musicians.

Sometimes these collaborations work, sometimes not. Usually they do.

It's by no means a complete list so do drop me a comment if you know of any more I might have left out -- there must be dozens, if not hundreds more:


Let's Dance (David Bowie) -- Stevie Ray Vaughan

This Is Not America (David Bowie) -- Pat Metheny

Western Vacation (Western Vacation) -- Steve Vai (using the moniker Reckless Fable for legal reasons)

Stories To Tell (Stanley Clarke) -- Allan Holdsworth

Ellipsis (Pat Martino) -- Joe Satriani

Clowns On Velvet (Frank Zappa) -- Al Di Meola (only bootlegs of this live recording exist)

Chinese Fire Alarm (Kittyhawk) -- Robben Ford (from a rare out-of-print album -- great solo with extremely cool phrasing!)

Monmouth College Fight Song (The Yellowjackets) -- Robben Ford

Attack Of The 20lb. Pizza (Vinnie Colaiuta) -- Mike Landau

Beat It (Michael Jackson) -- Eddie Van Halen

Eyesight To The Blind (from the soundtrack for 'Tommy') -- Eric Clapton

While My Guitar Gently Weeps (The Beatles) -- Eric Clapton (Clapton is uncredited on the song due to legal reasons)

Peg (Steely Dan) -- Jay Graydon (this is actually more of a session job by Graydon than a guest cameo, but what the heck, it's still a classic)

All Along The Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix) -- Dave Mason (on 12-string rhythm guitar)

Mediterranean Sundance (Al Di Meola) -- Paco De Lucia