who played the guitar solo on beat it
Beat It Eddie Van Halen, lead guitarist of hard rock band Van Halen, was asked to add a guitar solo.[6][10] When initially contacted by Jones, Van Halen thought he was receiving a prank call.[11] Having established that the call was genuine, Van Halen borrowed an amplifier from guitarist Allan Holdsworth[12] and recorded his guitar solo free of any charge. "I did it as a favor", the musician later said. "I was a complete fool, according to the rest of the band, our manager and everyone else. I was not used. I knew what I was doing – I don't do something unless I want to do it."[13] Van Halen recorded his contribution following Jones and Jackson arriving at the guitarist's house with a "skeleton version" of the song. Fellow guitarist Steve Lukather recalled, "Initially, we rocked it out as Eddie had played a good solo—but Quincy thought it was too tough. So I had to reduce the distorted guitar sound and that is what was released."[13] The song was among the last four completed for Thriller; the others were "Human Nature", "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" and "The Lady in My Life".[13]
Steve Hunter Stephen John Hunter (born June 14, 1948) is an American guitarist, primarily a session player. He has worked with Lou Reed and Alice Cooper and been often called "The Deacon".[1] Hunter first played with Mitch Ryder's Detroit, beginning a long association with record producer Bob Ezrin who has said Steve Hunter has contributed so much to rock music in general that he truly deserves the designation of "Guitar Hero".[2] Steve Hunter has played some of the greatest riffs in rock history[3]  - that first slamming solo that rings in Aerosmith's "Train Kept A Rollin'", the acoustic intro on Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" and he wrote the legendary intro interlude that made Lou Reed's live version of "Sweet Jane" Reed's first gold record (the Rock 'N' Roll Animal live set).