One of the great things about playing classic rock guitar is that there are many great songs to play. And they run the gambit from very complex to incredibly simple. Here is a list of some of the most popular yet easy to play classic rock and oldies tunes. (Note: Some of these songs have some rather advanced solos, effects, etc. but the basic rhythm and structure are simple enough for beginning guitarists to master quickly.)
The list:
- Fortunate Son (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- Who'll Stop the Rain? (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- Have You Ever Seen the Rain? (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
- I Wanna Hold Your Hand (The Beatles)
- I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles)
- I Feel Fine (The Beatles)
- Bad Moter Scooter (Montrose)
- You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
- Highway to Hell (AC/DC)
- TNT (AC/DC)
- The Jack (AC/DC)
- Just Like Me (Paul Revere and the Raiders)
- Wild Thing (The Troggs)
- Love is All Around (The Troggs)
- Gloria (Them)
- Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Bob Dylan)
- Some Kind of Wonderful (Grand Funk)
- Louie Louie (Kingsmen)
- Born to Be Wild (Steppenwolf)
- Grinder (Judas Priest)
- Livin' After Midnight (Judas Priest)
- Breakin' the Law (Judas Priest)
- Peaceful Easy Feeling (The Eagles)
- Summer of 69 (Bryan Adams)
- Cuts Like a Knife (Bryan Adams)
- Just Between You and Me (April Wine)
- Sign of the Gypsy Queen (April Wine)
- Jesus Just Left Chicago (ZZ Top)
- Take the Money and Run (Steve Miller Band)
- Swing Town (Steve Miller Band)
- Hold on Losely (38 Special)
- Sweet Home Alabama (Lynrd Skynrd)
- Bad Case of Loving You (Robert Palmer)
- Surrender (Cheap Trick)
- Ain't That a Shame? (Cheap Trick)
- You Really Got Me (The Kinks)
- White Wedding (Billy Idol)
- The Breakup Song (Greg Kihn Band)
- Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)
- Shake it Up (The Cars)
- Just What I Needed (The Cars)
- Every Rose Has a Thorn (Poison)
- Patience (Guns n' Roses)
- Fly By Night (Rush)
- Working Man (Rush)
- Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
- Should I Stay or Should I Go? (The Clash)
- R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (John Cougar Mellencamp)
- What I Like About You (The Romantics)
- On the Dark Side (John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band)
- Cherry Cherry (Neil Diamond)
- I'm Not Your Stepping Stone (The Monkees)
- I'm a Believer (The Monkees)
- I Fought the Law (Bobby Fuller Five)
- Summertime Blues (Blue Cheer)
- Get Ready (Rare Earth)
- Takin' Care of Business (Bachman Turner Overdrive)
- American Woman (Guess Who)
- Hang On Sloopy (The McCoys)
- Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
- Memphis Tennessee (Chuck Berry)
And that's just the beginning....
There really are hundreds more great classic rock and oldies songs just waiting to be learned by beginning guitarists. Most of these songs have just a few chords and are quite simple to play. Experiment with a few of these songs and see if they might work in your setlist.
Jeremy Lunnen - Jeremy Lunnen is a 44 year old MBA and father of seven whose "grown up" job is as a corporate leadership trainer. His love affair with ...
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