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Guitar lessons by music style
Pop, rock, blues, folk, country or metal — each style has its own chords and techniques. Discover what to focus on for each style and practice right away with real songs from our library.
Eight popular styles
See the typical chords and what you'll practice for each style — and jump straight to songs to play.
The fastest way to your first song
Pop songs often revolve around the same four open chords. Master those and you'll already be playing hundreds of songs. Ideal to start with: lots of satisfaction, minimal technique.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Ed Sheeran, Coldplay, Adele.
View all Pop songsSing along in Dutch
From listening songs to festival hits: Dutch pop relies on recognizable chord progressions and strong lyrics. Perfect to play together and sing along.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Bløf, Marco Borsato, Acda en de Munnik.
Practice with
Power chords and energy
Rock teaches you power chords and barre chords: raw, movable, and powerful. Once you know one shape, you can play it all over the neck.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, AC/DC.
Practice with
The foundation of almost all pop music
Blues revolves around the 12-bar scheme and dominant seventh chords. That tension is the blues sound — and the gateway to solos, bends, and improvisation.
Typical chords
Think of artists like B.B. King, John Mayer, Eric Clapton.
Practice with
Fingerpicking and storytelling songs
Folk is the home of fingerpicking: patterns where you play bass and melody simultaneously. Calm, warm, and ideal for training your right hand.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Bob Dylan, Mumford & Sons, Simon & Garfunkel.
View all Folk & singer-songwriter songsTight rhythm and clear chords
Country combines open chords with a solid boom-chick accompaniment and light fingerpicking. A rewarding style to refine your timing and right-hand technique.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Johnny Cash, Keith Urban, Dolly Parton.
View all Country songsSpeed, precision and gain
Metal demands tight palm-mutes, fast downstrokes and powerchords. Technique and timing are central — a challenge that really stretches your playing ability.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden.
View all Metal songsThe classics that started it all
Rock & roll builds on the blues format with a catchy shuffle rhythm and simple riffs. Fun to play and the root of rock and pop.
Typical chords
Think of artists like Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, The Beatles.
Practice with
Where do you start
You don't have to choose for life — but this will get you started.
The fastest way to stay motivated is to play what you love to hear. Choose the style of your favorite artists — motivation beats the 'right' order.
Want to play a full song quickly? Start with pop or Dutch pop: four open chords and you're on your way. Folk also nicely trains your right hand.
Each style adds something: rock teaches you powerchords, blues teaches you seventh chords and bends, metal teaches you timing. You can keep growing endlessly.
Pop and Dutch pop are most accessible: most songs use the same four open chords (for example C, G, Am and F). With these you'll be playing recognizable songs within a few weeks. Folk is a nice second step to train your right hand and fingerpicking.
You don't have to choose. The fundamentals — chords, rhythm and switching — are the same for almost every style. Once you master those, you pick up the characteristic technique for each style: powerchords for rock, seventh chords for blues, fingerpicking for folk.
Rock is mainly about powerchords (like E5, A5 and G5) and barré chords. The advantage: a powerchord shape is movable, so once you know one fingering, you can play it all over the neck. Palm muting and tight downstrokes complete the rock sound.
Blues is built on the 12-bar format with dominant seventh chords (E7, A7, B7) and a shuffle rhythm, relying heavily on bends and improvisation. Rock uses powerchords, a straight beat, and more distortion. Much of rock stems directly from blues.
Yes. For each style on this page, there's a link to matching songs in our library, with chords and — where available — ProTabs to play along with at your own tempo. This way you practice real songs in the style you're learning right away.
Guitar lessons by music style
More than 65.000+ guitarists learn to play in their own style. Choose your genre and start playing.
