Best Acoustic Guitar Songs of All Time

You might be wondering what the best acoustic guitar songs are. This is subjective, so I’ve outlined a list of my favorite acoustic songs. These are also some of the best acoustic guitar songs to learn.

I’ve tried to pick a wide variety of songs and styles. These are all songs that I learned at one time or another during my playing career. Playing acoustic guitar is a lot of fun, and learning a new song is always a highlight.

I hope you enjoy playing these songs, and you probably have some of your own. These songs may inspire you on your acoustic guitar like they did for me when I was learning them.

What Makes a Great Acoustic Guitar Song?

Several things go into making a great acoustic guitar song. Naturally, the song has to be memorable and something that you want to listen to time and time again.

If the song has lyrics, the lyrics have to be something meaningful that you can relate to. Not all great acoustic guitar songs have lyrics, but some of the better ones have lyrics that we can all relate to on some level.

This short guide to acoustic guitar songs should give you plenty of material to work on. I tried to pick songs that inspired me along my own musical journey. There’s something here for most tastes in music.

Types of Acoustic Guitar Music

The acoustic guitar is one of the most popular instruments of all time. The first acoustic guitars go way back, and they used a nylon strings at the time. Now there’s a wide range of instruments available on the market.

When we think of acoustic guitar music, we think a lot about the singer-songwriter. There’s something so personal about sitting down with an acoustic guitar and writing a song.

There are several different types of acoustic guitar music that you should be aware of before you learn some songs. These are some of the basic ones, but not every style has been covered.

Country Acoustic Guitar

One of those popular types of acoustic music is country music. This music has roots that go way back, and there are many different types of country music, such as bluegrass. This is a popular genre for learning simple songs.

Blues Acoustic Guitar

Blues acoustic guitar has been played for generations. It’s not the easiest type of acoustic music to learn because a lot of it is played fingerstyle. Many of these songs are played on acoustic instruments, such as a resonator.

Rock Acoustic Guitar

From the 1950s until now, rock acoustic guitar has been a popular genre. There are many different offshoots of rock guitar. Rock acoustic guitar is often combined with an electric guitar.

Folk Acoustic Guitar

Some of the most popular acoustic guitar songs have been written in the folk genre. Singer-songwriters such as Bob Dylan have written many popular pieces of music on acoustic guitar.

Classical Acoustic Guitar

Another popular form of acoustic music is classical music. This music uses nylon-string acoustic guitars. It’s often played fingerstyle, and there are many different subgenres of classical music.

10 Best Acoustic Guitar Songs

I’ve picked songs here that I consider to be some of the best acoustic guitar songs ever written. These are my own personal choices, and you may have your own. A lot of these songs are fun to play and learn on acoustic guitar.

Take your time learning these songs, as some of them can be a little bit tricky. Try to play each part of the song slowly and then work up to speed as you learn it.

1. Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin

• Difficulty: Intermediate/advanced
• Music type: Rock
• Artist: Led Zeppelin
• Year released: 1971
• Acoustic guitar used: Harmony Sovereign Acoustic

I consider Stairway to Heaven to be one of the best songs ever written. It’s a combination of acoustic fingerpicking, great rhythm playing, and an excellent electric guitar solo at the end of the song.

This song gives you a great workout when you learn it. This is why I consider it to be one of the best songs ever written on acoustic guitar. It combines the best of both acoustic and electric music in one superb song.

2. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Music type: Rock
• Artist: Pink Floyd
• Year released: 1975
• Acoustic guitar used: Martin D12-28

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd is my all-time favorite acoustic guitar song. There are some songs that resonate with us on a personal level, and this is one of those songs.

It starts with an excellent short guitar solo and then goes into strumming basic chords. While the song itself is simple, it has a great message, and it’s something that you can relate to. This is why I like it.

3. Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver

• Difficulty: Beginner/intermediate
• Music type: Country
• Artist: John Denver
• Year released: 1971
• Acoustic guitar used: 6 and 12 string acoustics

One of John Denver’s most popular songs is Take Me Home, Country Roads. This is an excellent acoustic song to learn for a beginner or intermediate player. The song itself has an excellent message, and it’s fun to play.

I really like the lyrics of the song and the arrangement of the chords. It’s a pleasing song to listen to and one that you’re going to enjoy playing.

4. Church Street Blues – Tony Rice

• Difficulty: Advanced
• Music type: Bluegrass
• Artist: Tony Rice (Norman Blake Original)
• Year released: 1983
• Acoustic guitar used: Martin D-28

I discovered the song Church Street Blues by Tony Rice from an old VHS tape I had for learning guitar. I was amazed at the fingerstyle picking of Tony Rice and instantly fell in love with this song.

It’s a simple song in terms of the chords played, but Tony picks them in a unique way, and his flat-picking is completely amazing on this song. You’ll need quite a lot of guitar skills to master this piece of music.

5. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day

• Difficulty: Beginner
• Music type: Rock/punk
• Artist: Green Day
• Year released: 1997
• Acoustic guitar used: Tayor 514C

Green Day may not be a band that you would think could write acoustic masterpieces, but one of their best songs is Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). The song is simple to play and has an excellent message.

Back when I was teaching guitar, this is a song that many of my students wanted to learn, and I was happy to teach it to them. It’s a song that you can pick up right away and have a lot of fun playing.

6. Life By The Drop – Stevie Ray Vaughan

• Difficulty: Beginner/intermediate
• Music type: Blues
• Artist: Stevie Ray Vaughan
• Year released: 1991
• Acoustic guitar used: Guild 12 String

Life By The Drop by Stevie Ray Vaughan is another one of my all-time favorite songs. This song is played with a simple blues shuffle rhythm, but it has excellent lyrics. It pops a little bit because it’s played on a 12-string.

This is a song that anyone can pick up and enjoy playing. I really like the message in the song as it’s about life and living. This is a song that everyone will enjoy playing time and time again.

7. Dust in The Wind -Kansas

• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Music type: Rock
• Artist: Kansas
• Year released: 1977
• Acoustic guitar used: Martin D-28

Dust in the Wind is another one of my all-time favorite songs. This is an excellent song to learn for fingerpicking. It has a great melody, and I think it’s a song that everyone would enjoy playing.

I like this song because it speaks of our own mortality. It tells us that we should enjoy our lives because eventually, we all become dust in the wind when we pass away.

8. Blackbird – The Beatles

• Difficulty: Beginner
• Music type: Rock
• Artist: The Beatles
• Year released: 1968
• Acoustic guitar used: Martin D-28

One song that almost every guitar player ends up learning is Blackbird by The Beatles. This is an excellent introduction to fingerpicking. This is one of the first songs I learned on guitar.

This song taught me a lot about how to use my fingers instead of a pick. It’s an excellent song for anyone to learn. This is another excellent song about life and how we don’t know what will be in front of us.

9. Old Man – Neil Young

• Difficulty: Beginner
• Music type: Rock
• Artist: Neil Young
• Year released: 1972
• Acoustic guitar used: Martin D-45

Old Man by Neil Young is another one of my all-time favorite acoustic songs. It’s an easy song to strum on an acoustic guitar, and it’s a lot of fun to play. This is a great one for beginners to pick up.

I like the song’s message, as it’s about how young men are looking for the same things in life that old men have, such as love.

10. Black Mountain Side – Led Zeppelin

• Difficulty: Advanced
• Music type: Rock
• Artist: Led Zeppelin
• Year released: 1968
• Acoustic guitar used: Gibson J-200

I enjoy the acoustic guitar work of Jimmy Page, especially on the song Black Mountain Side. This song has an Indian feel to it. The song’s tuning is DADGAD. This was my first introduction to alternate tunings.

I love how Jimmy Page can incorporate both electric and acoustic guitars in a lot of his playing. This song is a pure acoustic song that showcases his amazing talent on guitar.

Best Acoustic Guitar Players

The best acoustic guitar songs are played by amazing players. Here are three of the top acoustic guitar players that I think deserve a mention.

Jimmy Page

I consider Jimmy Page to be one of the best guitar players in the world. Not only was he an excellent electric guitar player, but he had command of the acoustic guitar as well.

He used a lot of alternate tunings in different ways of playing the acoustic guitar. I enjoy songs such as Black Mountain Side, Babe I’m Going to Leave You, and Stairway to Heaven. They’re instant classics.

Neil Young

Another one of my favorite acoustic guitar players is Neil Young. He plays both acoustic and electric guitars, but his acoustic work is what I enjoy the most. I like how he was able to combine acoustic guitar and harmonica together.

Some of my favorite tracks include Old Man, Needle and the Damage Done, and Heart of Gold. He had an astounding command over the acoustic guitar, although he only played very basic chords for the most part.

Tony Rice

Tony Rice was an amazing country and bluegrass guitar player. He had complete mastery over the acoustic guitar. I discovered him one time when I was watching a VHS guitar lesson tape way back when.

He has written some excellent songs, including Church Street Blues, which is one of my all-time favorite songs, New River Train and Blue Railroad Train. If you want to listen to advanced acoustic playing, give him a listen.

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In Conclusion

I hope you enjoy this list of the best acoustic guitar songs. These are pieces of art that have inspired my own playing. You probably have your own songs that you like. These are just a few of mine.

I’ve enjoyed playing acoustic guitar for most of my life. It’s an instrument that ends up being a part of you. It’s a lot of fun to sit down, strum a few chords, and maybe even try some singing.

Please like, comment, and share this post. I look forward to hearing from you. Now, it’s time to pick up your acoustic guitar and write your own hit song.