Download music notation and TAB for more than 1,475 great songs from the first 30 years of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
Learn to Play Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”
Lightfoot recorded the song on a 12-string—specifically, a Gibson B-45-12—but it will work just as well on a six-string.
Learn Dom Flemons’ Fingerstyle Showstopper “Rabbit Foot Rag”
This ragtime-inspired composition leaves a lot of room for improvisation and variations on the main themes.
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Learn to Play “Big Sciota,” a Traditional Fiddle Tune Popularized by Flatpicking Master Russ Barenberg
“Big Sciota” is not necessarily easy to play, but if you stick with it, you'll learn a fun and well-known tune and develop some powerful chops in both hands.
Play the Classic Sea Shanty “Drunken Sailor” with 3 Simple Chords
This easy campfire arrangement follows a traditional four-bar pattern using just the chords Am, G, and C.
Julian Lage on How to Play His Position-Shifting Guitar-Bass Duet “Double Southpaw”
With its "quirky rhythmic and harmonic twists and turns," this piece moves all around the fretboard.
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Video Lesson: Learn a Fingerstyle Arrangement of “It Is Well with My Soul” in Double Dropped-D Tuning
The arrangement is fairly undemanding of both the picking and fretting hands and makes strategic use of the open strings.
Tips on Playing “Shake Sugaree,” an Elizabeth Cotten Fingerpicking Staple
Cotten plays “Shake Sugaree” on a guitar tuned down a whole step, using chord shapes in the key of C major that sound in Bb.
Learn “Doc’s Guitar”—Doc Watson’s Fingerstyle Tour de Force
The brilliance of Watson’s right-hand technique can be clearly heard on this punishingly fast instrumental
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Updated Acoustic Guitar Song List, 1990 to 2023
We've published the music to more than 1,500 songs in Acoustic Guitar magazine since 1990. Now you can easily locate the issue in which a song appeared.
Borrowing Fiddle Techniques for Flatpicking Guitar on the Traditional Tune “Little Liza Jane”
This version of “Little Liza Jane” comes from the eastern Kentucky fiddler J.P. Fraley (1923–2011), who played it in the key of A major.
Learn “Talco Girl,” Steve James’ Rootsy Character Study in Dropped-D Tuning
One of James' most popular tunes, “Talco Girl” is supported by a guitar accompaniment that would make a smart instrumental composition on its own.
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How to Play Billy Strings’ Fleet-Fingered Solos on “Way Downtown”
Strings' version of this traditional song includes two solos that quote some signature Doc Watson licks.
Learn to Play Mary Flower’s ‘Waltz,’ a Jazzy Roots Piece in Dropped D Tuning
“Most of the time I have no idea how the music comes from my fingertips while writing. It’s not like I’m going for some genre or sound. It just happens!”
Learn How to Play Joe Robinson’s Showstopping “Let the Guitar Do the Talkin’”
It’s one thing to play blazingly fast Travis picking, and quite another to sing at the same time, as Joe Robinson does.
![Cover artwork for the ablum 'Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1]](https://i0.wp.com/acousticguitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/TRAVELING-WILBURYS-VOL-1.jpg?fit=750%2C568&ssl=1)
Learn to Play “Handle With Care,” the Traveling Wilburys’ Impromptu Hit
George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan had so much fun recording this song that they ended up making a band together.
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Acoustic Classic: A DADGAD Arrangement of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”
One of the pleasures of DADGAD and other open tunings is letting open strings add lush extensions to chords, as in this arrangement of "Wish You Were Here."
How to Play Bonnie Raitt’s Grammy-Winning Story-Song “Just Like That”
With its character-driven narrative and fingerpicking guitar, “Just Like That” taps into Raitt’s love of the folk ballads of her songwriting contemporaries.
Play Happy Traum’s Fingerstyle Arrangement of “Worried Blues” on Acoustic Guitar
“It’s one of those lonesome blues things, but it’s not a standard 12-bar blues... It’s more like a folk song,” says Traum
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Learn “Cam Ye O’er Frae France,” a Dropped-D Arrangement of an Irreverent Scottish Song
Popular versions have been performed by Steeleye Span, Ewan MacColl, and Dick Gaughan
Fanø/Black Sea Dress: Learn to Play this Pair of Miniatures from Charlie Rauh
While hybrid picking lends a certain definition and crispness, especially on the bass notes, straight fingerpicking will work equally well on the two pieces.
Woodshed: How to Play a Dropped-D Gospel Theme as Recorded by Bahamian Guitar Legend Joseph Spence
Listen to any Joseph Spence song and you’ll find unexpected nuance and detail, no matter how many times you have heard it.
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“Dans Kef” – Learn to Play a Mysterious Celtic Arrangement for Solo Guitar
“Dans Kef” is in a sort of modified Orkney tuning I call Celto-Hawaiian, because it can sound like it’s from the islands. The tune is in fact a good case study in how to build your own Celtic arrangement.
Sunny War’s “No Reason” Is Built from a Cool and Distinctive Riff
It has a non-Western vibe, but at the same time connects to the Travis picking tradition
How to Play “Willin’” — Little Feat’s Trucking Anthem in Open-G Tuning
This guitar lesson is based on Little Feat’s original recording of "Willin'," a duet with George on vocals and acoustic guitar and Ry Cooder on bottleneck electric guitar.
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“Prelude No. 1 in C Major”—Transforming a Bach Keyboard Work into a Flatpicking Guitar Study
As this arrangement shows, Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C Major works quite well as a flatpicking etude.