Sorry, I am not a guitarist who thinks that fast is everything. The best solos IMO are the ones playing the right note at the right time. That said, my partial list (only one artist will be listed):
Martin Barre - Solo on Jethro Tull's Aqualung
Richard Thompson - Solo of Austin City Limits live take of Put It There Pal
David Lindley - Solo off of Jackson Brown's Doctor My Eyes
Johnny Winter - solo off of Muddy Waters' Mannish Boy from Hard Again
David Gilmore - solo from Pink Floyd's Time
Piotr Grudzinski - Solo from Riverside's Forgotten Land
Eric Clapton - Solo from Cream's Crossroads
Keith Richard - Solo from Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil
Mick Taylor - Outro from Rolling Stones' Can't You Here Me Knocking'
Jeff Beck - Solo on Led Boots
Jimmy Page - solo on Led Zeppelin's Black Dog
Jimi Hendrix - Solo on All Along the Watchtower
James Mankey - Solo on Concrete Blonde's Dance Along the Edge
Frank Zappa - Watermelon in Easter Hay
Eddie Hazel - Solo from Funkadelic's Maggot Brain
Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter - Intro to Lou Reed's Sweet Jane from Rock and Roll Animal
I can go on....
Riffs:
Keith Richard - Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Woman (I can substitute an number of others)
Pete Townsend - Who's Baba O'Reilly
Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy
Jimmy Page - Led Zeppelin's Ramble On
Mick Jones - Clash's Train In Vain
Paul Weller - Jam's This is The Modern World
Jimi Hendrix - Fire
John Lennon - Beatles' I Feel Fine
Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn
Noodles - Offspring's Gone Away
Too many more to list...
I'd have to go with Layla as a riff and solo that has that magic soul; Duane Allman came up with the riff though, not Clapton and the solos on the original recording were a combination of Duane's solos, part notably on slide with Eric Clapton playing harmony/melody. A lots of folks think of Layla as signature Eric Clapton and Duane Allman doesn't always get the credit he deserves. The boy could fucking WAIL on guitar! Clapton always had the class to give Duane his due for Layla.
Lots of other great riffs/solos listed here too.
Breathless, by X. Throwaway tune, but it rocks, and Billy Zoom rocks the solo.
Prince , Still My Guitar Gently Weeps Performance
Bass solo in Bullfrog Blues - Rory Gallagher.
For me it's Mark Knopfler's guitar solos/licks in "Lady Writer "
It's an old track, but still one of my favorites !
There are no strangers here - just lots of sexy friendly folk to chat with ?
The solo in Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven
Several of the queen guitarist Brian Mays guitar solos such as the one from don’t stop me now and we will rock you
Pearl Jam - Yellow Ledbetter (THE definition of the Seattle-sound)
Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way? (possibly one of the sexiest riffs out there)
Blink 182 - Dammit (nothing overly complicated but that opening riff plays in my head several times a day)
I can’t think of a good tagline so this will have to do. Suggest a better one for me?
I can listen to Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler play "Sultans of Swing" or Eric Clapton (Derek & the Dominoes) play "Layla" anytime, any day.
Clapton live at Maddison Square Gdns find the clip n turn it up loud
Most of these seem subjective to rock itself. Without considering other genres. Of course, I like rock too so there's that..
Neil Young , ' Like A Hurricane ' .