Why don't bands do guitar solos anymore?

Answer 1

Coz most of 'em cant actually play guitar, they just pretend! lol...;

Answer 2

There were so many years that so many songs always had a guitar solo that guitar solos became a cliche. Most pop and rock songs still have an instrumental bridge of some sort, but it isn't automatically a guitar solo. If a band has a good guitarist, they might put guitar solos in their songs, but some bands have a great keyboardist or a great drummer and these musicians need to have a featured spot in a band's songs, too.
And some of the great rock guitarists of the last few decades really set the bar pretty high for other guitarists. How many guitarists can compare to a Van Halen or a Stevie Ray Vaughn?
That instrumental section of a song needs to have something that kicks a$$ between the next-to-last chorus and the last verse.
Maybe what kicks is guitar, maybe it's something else.

Answer 3

There are some great guitarists out there, but more frequently a band guitarist uses too many foot pedals to alter the amplifier's sound of the instrument, making it too easy for intricate fretboard work.

SRV, Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, and a few others could always hold their own, but artificiality through foot pedals has hampered originality.

Answer 4

Jazz bands do, even though it's not as common as say a trumpet or sax solo.