2026 is already proving to be an exciting year for all things guitars. However, a gamut of high-profile guitarists battling it out for a solo certainly wasn’t on my bucket list for the first week of January.
Johnny Franck from Bilmuri is teasing the band's upcoming record in the best way possible: by issuing a call-out for a solo.
“We are working on a song right now, and we have tried about 800 different types of solos, and we cannot get it right,” he said in an Instagram video (posted two days ago). “So I'm sending it out to the nation. If you guys like this song, and you turn in a solo in the next two days and it's sick, it'll go on the record."
And while Franck doesn't specify that he needs a guitar solo, a couple of big-name guitarists – and, interestingly, electronic music mega-producer Diplo – have taken to his comment section to flag their interest.
Spiro Dussias, one of shred guitar's breakout stars in 2025; Aaron Marshall from instrumental progressive metal band Intervals; social media shredder Connor Kaminski; and Novelists guitarist Pierre Danel are just some of the many players vying for that spot – and have all apparently submitted their take.
Whatever the band ends up choosing, fans are petitioning for all these solos not to vanish into the ether.
“Please make a YouTube video showcasing the entries,” comments one fan. With all the tasty guitar solos the band is about to receive (and has already received), Guitar World fully supports this call.
Last year, Franck opened up about leaving the band he founded in 2010 and launching what was supposed to be a solo project, Bilmuri – and how this ended up growing beyond its initial ambitions.
