Sometimes it’s not until we strip away the lights, effects, and showmanship that we really get to see just how good some rock songs are. This is one of the very reasons why it’s so common to see big artists perform acoustic renditions of their most popular tracks, so we can experience their great songwriting without the distracting performance spectacle.
That’s why today we’ve gathered up a list of 40 absolutely stellar acoustic rock songs, of which some were written specifically for the acoustic guitar while others are acoustic renditions of their rock originals.
Starting things off strong with this incredibly emotive track from Pink Floyd. Which features a simple arrangement that focuses on a nostalgic and somber feel that you can’t help but be grabbed by. An interesting fact about the recording of this song is during the intro just before David comes in with his acoustic part, you can hear him cough. This was due to his heavy smoking at the time and upon hearing it in the final take he decided to quit smoking that very next day.
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The guitar work is nice and simple, opting for memorable motifs and effective chord progressions over anything fast or technical. It’s also been dubbed with a lot of 12-string guitar to thicken the sound up, but it’s all very much playable on a six-string too.
This is an absolute classic tune that many consider to be one of the greatest songs of all time. It uses a perfect balance of acoustic guitar with rock drums to create a laid-back carefree vibe. It’s one of his most famous tracks of all time and afforded him the opportunity to perform it live alongside Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin during the 2008 Superbowl.
The acoustic parts for this song are quite simple to play and you’ll need a capo on the first fret of the guitar. The chord progression for the song is Em, Asus2, Bsus4 which is played using a simple strumming pattern, and once you’ve memorized that you’re done as it repeats for the entire song!
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Often overshadowed by the likes of Hotel California, but Take it Easy is a fantastic song by itself that perfectly blends rhythmic acoustic guitar as the electric guitars play single-note melodies over the top. It’s the opening track from their debut self-titled album and is considered one of their signature tracks. Songwriter Jackson Browne re-recorded the song for his own album ‘For Everyman’ but it didn’t chart.
Here the acoustic guitars are taking on the role of rhythm, offering that nice and steady foundation for the electric guitars to play over. We only need 3 chords to play the majority of the song which are G, D, and C, then on the chorus, they also introduce the Em chord.
Love them or hate them, there’s no denying Nickelback is one of the most successful groups in the world when it comes to putting out massively successful commercial rock tracks. Photograph is no exception to that as we can see from the official YouTube video which is sitting at 64 million views. The song is from their fifth studio album called ‘All the Right Reasons’ and was written about the nostalgia we can feel towards our childhoods.
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This is song is nice and easy to play but actually makes very good use of open strings to create what we would call ‘melodic intrigue’. You are basically playing power chords based around your first and second strings, but you let every string that can ring out do so, this way you get a nice interaction between the chord and the open strings which creates very unique chord voicings.
Another great track that marries an acoustic guitar rhythm section with some classic ‘roots rock’ drums to achieve that signal acoustic rock style. The song was written by John Fogerty and discusses the fact the group had achieved success well beyond any of their wildest dreams, yet every member of the band suffered from depression and was unhappy. Just 2 years after the song’s release the band would split up.
This is another one where we will just be strumming open chords to hold that nice and stable base for the song. There are not too many chords to learn here, but they are voiced in quite a few different ways using things like inversions and 7ths, we encourage you to check out the provided video lesson to see at which times you should use each particular chord voicing.
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An iconic song from the pioneers of rock n roll, taken from the 1973 album ‘Goats Head Soup. After its release, it immediately shot to the top of the charts and hit the number 1 spot in multiple countries. It features a wonderful blend of twin acoustic guitars, a piano arrangement, and acoustic drums which all come together to make a classic acoustic rock ballad. Due to its success, it became a staple of their live performances which were also recorded and released on numerous live albums from the band.
The guitar parts for this song are surprisingly involved, as they use twin guitars they will often play separate unique parts to achieve chordal harmony with each other, often jumping between strummed chords and arpeggiated sections.
After suffering a back injury that made playing and standing with the electric guitar for prolonged periods painful. He decided to write a series of softer, acoustically driven pieces so he could play sitting down. Throw a little harmonica into the mix and you have some truly fantastic songs! This is from his fourth album titled ‘Harvest’ and as a single, this became his first (and only) number 1 US hit.
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The main thing to note about this song is it has a unique strumming pattern, with the first note being a quarter note played on the low E followed by 6, really strong Em7 chord strums. This is followed by some softer strumming, try to get the dynamics of how hard these chords should be hit to match the song and you’ll be sounding just like Neil in no time!
Although Green Day are well known for their pop and punk roots, after the release of Good Riddance they proved to everyone they were also more than competent enough at acoustic rock too! While this is somewhat of a departure from their normal sound, it was a hugely successful, chart-topping hit that has sold over 2.6 million copies to date.
While the song is predominantly based on strummed chords, it uses an interesting technique that has you targeting certain groups of strings within the chord which makes the tablature look extremely busy. Don’t worry about it too much! Just focus on strumming the chords and you will naturally find your hand wants to target certain areas.
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While Metallica originally formed in 1981 and primarily stuck to thrash and heavy metal, as their career progressed they began to explore more melodic styles, even employing the acoustic guitar. This is essentially a rock/metal song that makes great use of catchy acoustic guitar lines sitting side by side with distorted guitars and solos.
The acoustic guitar parts for this song can be divided into two main motifs, the opening riff, and the verse riff. The opening part makes excellent use of an augmented fifth interval on that open string which sounds slightly dissonant as it sits alongside that perfect fifth. A great example of how purposeful dissonance written with intention can create a beautifully melodic sound.
A slightly tongue-in-cheek song that takes a lot of musical cue’s from ‘Soul Sister’ by Allen Toussaint and puts in a bunch of references to other popular media. This includes lyrics that reference his own song ‘Space Cowboy’ from his Brave New World album. Released in 1973 from the album of the same name, although it did chart very well, it got to enjoy a second shot at the charts after it was used in a Levi’s advertisement bringing it back to the number 1 spot in the UK, 16 years after its initial release.
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While the song is primarily driven by the rock drum and bass guitar lines, there is an acoustic accompaniment that underlines the whole song which uses the simple 3 chord progression of G, C, and D.
A legendary song from the English rock powerhouse, despite being described by songwriter Pete Townshend as ‘the most clumsy piece of writing (he had) ever done’, the song was a huge success. Well received by critics and became a staple of their live performances. It was written about a fictional pinball champion simply called the ‘local lad’ who was impressed with the album’s main protagonist, Tommy Walker, for his incredible pinball skills.
No one said acoustic rock songs need to be slow, here you’ll be strumming 16th notes at 125bpm, which by itself isn’t so bad. But the chords played usually need to cover 5 and sometimes all 6 strings, so get ready for a good forearm workout!
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Easily one of the greatest acoustic rock groups of all time. Despite their tumultuous relationship together, when brothers Noel and Liam Gallaher get together
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