Señor: Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ Take on a Bob Dylan Classic
While the guitar playing is superlative throughout all ten of the album’s tracks, the duo’s work on Bob Dylan’s “Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)” truly stands out.
Learn a Country-Tinged Guitar Arrangement of “Deck the Halls”
Perfect for beginners, this arrangement uses just a few common chords and a boom-chuck pattern for an energetic and festive feel.
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Learn a Guitar-and-Voice Arrangement of “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow”
Popularized in the film ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?,’ this classic American folk song has antecedents that trace back over 200 years.
Acoustic Classic: Learn Big Bill Broonzy’s “Baby, Please Don’t Go”
Few tunes enjoy as prominent a status in the blues canon as “Baby, Please Don’t Go.”
Tips for Playing “Jackson” by Lucinda Williams
Though the picking is rather straightforward, there are some challenging techniques to deal with.
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Acoustic Classic: Learn to Play Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” on Guitar
“Big Yellow Taxi” was the sole single from Joni Mitchell’s 1970 album, Ladies of the Canyon. Though it didn’t crack the Top 40 (it charted at No. 67 on the Billboard singles chart), that doesn’t accurately reflect its success.
World Premiere: “$20 Bill (for George Floyd)”
Shortly after the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, Tom Prasada-Rao, a singer-songwriter based in Silver Spring, Maryland, was watching CNN footage of protests when in a fit of inspiration he penned a new song. In its aching and deeply felt contemplation, “$20 Bill (for George Floyd)” brilliantly captures the grief and rage coursing through the veins of so many in the wake of Floyd’s senseless murder, over cigarettes said to have been purchased with counterfeit currency.
Campfire Songs: ‘Oh Shenandoah’
“Oh Shenandoah,” sometimes called “Shenandoah” or “Across the Wide Missouri,” is an American folk heirloom which, ironically, was most likely written by French-Canadian fur traders in the 16th century.
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Acoustic Classic: ‘Georgia on My Mind’
To make things easier to play on the guitar, I placed the first two bars an octave lower than the strings on the original recording, with the second two bars in the original octave. Play this part kind of languorously, taking advantage of the breathing room afforded by the open strings.
Campfire Songs: Learn to Play ‘Red River Valley’
In this acoustic guitar lesson, you'll learn how to play "Red River Valley."
Play an Easy Version of the Traditional Song “Darling Corey”
Here is a simple version of "Darling Corey" using two chords, A and G, that will give you plenty of practice switching between those two chords.
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Learn to Play the Irish Folk Song “The Lassie Who Had the Land”
When Jody Stecher first heard this song, he couldn't get it out of his mind.
Acoustic Classic: Prince‘s “I Feel for You”
It might seem incongruous to see “I Feel for You,” a song made popular by the R&B singer Chaka Khan in the mid-1980s, in this magazine. Sure, it’s a classic, but there’s nothing even faintly acoustic about Khan’s version of this Prince tune, with its dominant synth and drum programming.…
Acoustic Classic: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash’s take on “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”
“Just a Closer Walk with Thee” finds Dylan and Cash—incidentally, with rockabilly legend Carl Perkins on the electric guitar—putting a country spin on a New Orleans funeral standard.
Campfire Songs: “Stealin’”
Learn a simple arrangement of the classic tune "Stealin'" in this video from Acoustic Guitar's Campfire Songs series.
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John Denver’s Neat Trick on “Rocky Mountain High”
This folk-rock gem became the official state song of Colorado in 2007.
Play and Sing the Irish Tune “Whiskey in the Jar” on Acoustic Guitar
This tune has been popular for over 200 years and is an instantly recognizable pub favorite.
Acoustic Classic: James Taylor’s ‘Fire and Rain’
It’s been 50 years since James Taylor released what would prove to be one of the most enduring ballads in the folk-pop realm—and, according to recent surveys, an overwhelming favorite of AG readers. “Fire and Rain” is a rather heavy song. Its three verses refer obliquely to a friend who…
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Acoustic Classic: ‘Quite Early Morning’
Pete Seeger wrote this lovely song in the 1960s, and it may have been the last song he sang. He told banjoist Tony Trischka this was his favorite of his own songs.
Acoustic Classic: Dire Straits‘ ‘Sultans of Swing’
When AG recently surveyed readers about what songs they’d like to learn, the most requested selection was “Sultans of Swing.” This came as a surprise, as the track, which the British rock band Dire Straits released in 1978, has not a lick of acoustic guitar in it. But ask and you shall receive, as they say.
‘Amazing Grace’: Learn Arlo Guthrie’s Take on This Great Hymn
Audiences at the Woodstock Festival in August of 1969 were treated to Arlo Guthrie’s languid folk-country version, the inspiration behind the arrangement shown here.
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Campfire Songs: Learn to Play ‘Tom Dooley’
This classic murder ballad chronicles the 1866 death of one Laura Foster, in Wilkes County, North Carolina, and the capital punishment of her lover and assailant, Tom Dula—a story that received widespread national attention when it was published in newspapers such as The New York Times.
Acoustic Classic: Bruce Cockburn’s ‘If I Had a Rocket Launcher’
Cockburn originally recorded the song in a rock-band setting, flush with electric guitars and synths, but when he stopped by our studio, he stripped the song down to just guitar and voice.
Campfire Songs: Learn the Gospel Classic ‘This Little Light of Mine’
To work up “This Little Light of Mine,” first make sure that you are familiar with all the chord shapes and can switch between them with relative ease.
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Acoustic Classic: Richard Thompson’s “She Twists the Knife Again”
The transcription here, which captures the song note for note, comes from 'Acoustic Classics II' (2017).