Beginner guitar solos don’t have to be basic. There are loads of songs out there that sound way harder than they actually are. Let’s look at 5 great guitar solos that you can learn as a beginner.
Beginner Guitar Solos:
All About Beginner Guitar Solos:
- Beginner guitar solos are about building confidence on guitar outside of basic chord work. Allowing players to extend their repertoire.
- Ideal tracks should be challenging, whilst also adding new techniques such as bends, slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
- Easy guitar solos for beginners will be those that you can recall easily, or hum instead of play. Overall, this helps with the entire learning and retention process.
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns N’ Roses
Everyone has that one song that made them want to start learning how to play the guitar. Therefore, our first pick for beginner guitar solos is this ultimate guitar anthem from Guns N’ Roses. Sweet Child O’ Mine has it all: a mighty intro riff, singable choruses, and those all-important solos.
For beginners, the 1st guitar solo is a great one to learn from. It offers players the chance to add a couple of extra techniques to their skill set. Notably, this solo requires the use of bends and slides.
Furthermore, this beginner guitar solo is played up at the dusty end. This is a colloquial term used by guitarists when referring to the higher frets. Helping to boost confidence by playing harder tracks. Just watch out, this track is in Eb tuning. Therefore, you’ll need to *downtune your guitar to play it correctly, or find yourself a version in 440hz.
Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
Next up in our pick of beginner solos, we’re sticking with the 1980s and are checking out this Michael Jackson track. This falls perfectly into the well-known side of guitar playing. Sure, it’s not an AC/DC riff; however, there’s still a lot to learn from this disco bop.
Clean single coils at the ready, the tone of this beginner guitar solo is disgustingly dry, yet iconic. What do I mean by a dry tone? When a guitar tone lacks effects such as reverb, delay, or chorus, we would describe it as being clean or dry.
However, on this occasion, it works fantastically well. Overall, this solo teaches beginners that less is more. There are too many players who still think that max gain equals max tone. Just chill out!
I Feel Fine – The Beatles
For our next instalment of beginner guitar solos, we’re heading back to a time when the guitar was only just starting to become a solo instrument. It’s hard to imagine a world where the guitar was used just for rhythm.
George Harrison laid down some impressive guitar solos, given his age, but there is a lot we can steal from his playing. On this occasion, the solo to I Feel Fine helps beginners to practice their slides. Slides require the movement of a fretting finger to glide from one fret to another. Accuracy is key.
Plus, I love how the solo resolves back to the main riff of the song, making it feel like a finished piece. Likewise, no harsh tones here, just George’s guitar being louder in the mix for his time to shine.
Holiday – Green Day
For our penultimate look at beginner guitar solos, we’re checking out something a little more contemporary. Although having said that, Green Day’s Holiday celebrated its 21st birthday this year. Feel old yet?
Green Day were responsible for inspiring a new generation of guitarists, and continues to do so today. A lot of their stuff is pretty basic, and the accessibility is so attractive and motivating for many players.
The solo to Holiday is no different. It works through a bunch of repeated notes and encourages alternate picking. Whereby you’d pick down for one note, and then upwards for the corresponding note. It’s a technique that is often overlooked, but will save you a lot of time and effort in other areas of your playing.
Use Somebody – Kings Of Leon
Rounding off our look at beginner guitar solos is this 2000s pop track. Unlike the rest of the picks in this list, it’s not very rock and roll or what you’d call iconic. If anything, It’s pretty bland.
Despite this, the solo to Use Somebody is a real earworm. You can easily hum or whistle along, which will help your memory of the solo. Furthermore, you get five consecutive chances to play this solo in the track, so you really get some good mileage out of it.
What I also like about this beginner guitar solo is that you can really hear the attitude in the picking. Allowing players to dig deep with something simple to work on their picking articulation. Have a try!
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