GitaartabsPlaylist · 32 songs
The 32 best guitar songs of the 70s
If one decade shaped the guitar, this is it. Hard rock, singer-songwriter, blues and the first stadium rock — often on the same record. Thirty-two songs in order of year, from Layla (1970) to Comfortably Numb (1979), with Golden Earring and Focus flying the Dutch flag. Many also appear in our top 50; that is no coincidence.
1970. The riff you want two guitars for; it works fine on your own in chords too.
1970. Iommi at full speed — the best way to build downpicking stamina.
1970. Four chords with enormous space between them. Play less than you think.
1970. Ten minutes from whisper to deafening. A lesson in patience.
1970. The comfort song. Sits well under the hand and in the throat.
1970. Piano chords that sound surprisingly warm on guitar.
1970. Two voices, one guitar. The accompaniment deliberately holds back.
1971. Starts as a strumming song and ends in the most famous solo ever.
1971. Three chords and a chorus nobody can get wrong.
1971. Eight and a half minutes, four chords, and lyrics worth memorising.
1971. Acoustically driven, with a mandolin solo that works on guitar too.
1972. Four notes, two strings, and instantly the feeling that you can play guitar.
1972. Three chords, a capo and a harmonica. You need nothing more.
1972. Dutch guitar pride: one melody, endlessly repeated, and never dull.
1973. A loose, swinging strum over four chords. Ideal for practising your feel.
1973. The finest Dutch rock export. Tight riff, driving groove.
1973. Four chords going round and round. Playable without a single rehearsal.
1973. Friendly chords, and then an outro that is an endurance test.
1974. Straightforward rock with a shuffle you play with your whole arm.
1974. D-C-G keeps turning; the riff on top takes one evening to learn.
1975. Brian May's layered harmonies and that short, perfect solo.
1975. Twelve-bar blues at its shortest. It is all in the groove.
1976. The best known harmony guitar part in rock. Play it with two guitarists.
1976. The arpeggio intro, and a twin solo as your reward at the end.
1977. Four chords, endlessly repeated, and still it keeps building.
1977. Travis picking in its purest form. An exercise that sounds like a song.
1977. A funky muted strum in sixteenths. Harder than it sounds.
1978. Knopfler's fingerstyle without a pick: tone lives in your right hand.
1978. A hundred seconds that reinvented the guitar. The deep end.
1978. Easy reggae with space between the chords. Ideal for your timing.
1979. A boogie shuffle you only get right by playing it relaxed.
1979. Gilmour's closing solo: few notes, endless bends.
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