GitaartabsPlaylist · 50 songs
The 50 best guitar songs of all time
Fifty songs that wrote guitar history — the riffs everyone recognises, the solos that keep you busy for years, and the chord songs that always work around a campfire. Not a ranking to argue over, but a playlist: each entry says what it teaches you as a guitarist. From easy (three chords) to life's work (Eruption). Play along with chords, tabs and ProTabs.
Starts as a strumming song you can manage in your second year and ends in the most famous solo ever. The whole guitar spectrum in eight minutes.
Slash's opening riff is a finger exercise that accidentally became a hit — perfect for testing your picking accuracy at speed.
The first riff nearly everyone learns. Four notes, two strings, and instantly the feeling that you can play guitar.
The arpeggio intro teaches you how to make a chord progression sound like a melody. The twin solo at the end is your reward.
Knopfler's fingerstyle without a pick — proof that tone has more to do with your right hand than with your amp.
The Hendrix chord (E7#9) and that tritone intro. Learn this and you suddenly hear where half of rock guitar comes from.
The blueprint for every rock and roll solo that followed. Double stops, shuffle rhythm and not one note too many.
Angus Young proves that space between the notes hits harder than notes. Practise this with a metronome — that is where the song lives.
Four power chords that turned a whole decade upside down. Ideal for getting loud/soft picking dynamics under control.
The tightest palm-muting exercise there is. If this sounds clean, your right hand is in good shape.
Gilmour's closing solo: few notes, endless bends. A masterclass in making a guitar sing instead of run.
A hundred seconds that reinvented the guitar. Tapping, tremolo, sweeps — the deep end of the pool.
The chords are friendly, the outro is an endurance test. The song that is always followed by “one more time”.
The fuzz riff Keith Richards came up with in his sleep. Three notes, and everyone still recognises it within a second.
Brian May's layered harmony parts and that short, perfect solo. Learn it phrase by phrase, not in one go.
The riff you want two guitars for. It works fine on your own in chords too — then you sing the hook yourself.
Wah pedal, double stops, rhythm and lead at once. Hendrix played on his own what a whole band usually does.
Latin blues in a minor key. The chords are doable; the real work is in your vibrato and your timing.
Iommi's riff at full speed — the best way to build your downpicking stamina.
Drop D, a groove that will not let go, and a lesson in using silence as an instrument.
Frusciante's intro is full of chords with open strings ringing through. Sounds harder than it is — exactly what you want.
Four chords and those three dead strokes before them. Proof that one odd chord change can carry an entire song.
Capo on 2, five shapes, one strumming pattern. The most requested song at any party, and rightly so.
The Edge plays few notes and lets the delay do the rest. A lesson in treating effects as part of your playing.
Buckingham's fingers instead of a pick, over a driving chord progression. Great fun to play with two guitarists.
The singalong par excellence, and that key change in the final chorus teaches you modulation without a theory book.
Tom Scholz stacked guitars into a wall of sound. The acoustic intro works surprisingly well on its own.
The best known harmony guitar part in rock. Play it with a friend — on its own it only sounds half finished.
Randy Rhoads combines classical phrasing with metal. The riff is a perfect alternate picking exercise.
The acoustic intro every guitar shop knows. Mind the bends in the opening bars — that is where the feel is.
Page's riff sits just off the beat, and that is entirely the point. Play it with swing, not straight.
Simple shapes, maximum impact. The song that teaches you playing slowly is harder than playing fast.
Power chords at tempo, start to finish. If you get through it without tensing up, your wrist is doing fine.
Four chords and a melody line you play in double stops. The wedding song you simply have to know.
Bass, melody and an open G string at once, with thumb and two fingers. The best introduction to fingerstyle there is.
Percussive fingerstyle: you tap the rhythm on the strings as you go. Harder than it sounds, and hugely satisfying.
Instrumental, and yet you sing along. Satriani shows how to write a melody instead of a solo.
Blues phrasing with an enormous tone. Every note gets vibrato — that is the whole secret of this song.
That raw intro riff is a wah plus a studio trick. The chords underneath are surprisingly simple.
Seven notes every football stadium knows. Playable straight away, and a nice first meeting with an octave pedal.
The finest Dutch rock export. Tight riff, driving groove, and a solo that dares to go anywhere.
Andy Summers plays add9 arpeggios instead of chords. One pattern across the whole song — ideal for learning.
Three chords, a capo and a harmonica. Proof that very little is enough to make a classic.
The solo is a sprint across the entire neck. Start at half speed — it will save you months.
It starts with nothing but open strings and your fingers. You can play the opening tonight, the solo next year.
Clapton's guest solo on a Beatles record. Minor, beautiful, and a wonderful exercise in phrasing.
Arpeggios over a chord progression the lyrics literally spell out. Play it slowly and let the chords ring.
Capo on 7 and then that rolling D figure. The cheeriest finger exercise in the Beatles repertoire.
Four chords going round and round. The first song you can play with a group without rehearsing.
Clapton's wah solo over a 5/4 intro. Count the opening out loud and the rest falls into place by itself.
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