Van Halen, Jimmy Page and Zakk Wylde Make Top Guitars That Don't Sound Like Guitars List

7. Van Halen, "Baluchitherium": Eddie Van Halen has never recorded a solo instrumental album and it doesn't look like he plans to do so any time soon, so "Baluchitherium" from 1995's Balance might just be the closest thing we'll get to such a release. A huge, stomping track named after a lumbering prehistoric creature (also known as Paraceratherium or Indricotherium, for the paleontology buffs), "Baluchitherium" boasts a veritable menagerie of animal sounds during its end section, most of which appear to have been achieved by combining volume knob swells with natural harmonics and the whammy bar � although Van Halen noted to Guitar World at the time of Balance's release that this section of the song does include one real animal � his dog, Sherman.

3. Ozzy Osbourne, "No More Tears": Zakk Wylde throws a wide range of techniques into "No More Tears," including slide, a dropped tuning and fast arpeggios, but the song is also notable as one of the more famous examples of a guitarist who not only wails, but whales, too. During the orchestral-sounding interlude before the guitar solo, Zakk turns his volume control down, hits a note, turns the volume up and bends the string for a series of mournful, moaning notes which reinforce the lonesomeness of the track's theme. They also set the listener up for a killer build-up before the solo's rapid-fire blues licks.