20 Guitar Tabs For Beginners

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘The Simpsons Theme Tune’

What? We’re learning the Simpsons theme tune? That isn’t a guitar riff!

When you’re learning guitar tabs for beginners all that matters is that you have fun and develop your finger dexterity. And the Simpsons Theme fits the bill. Check it out:

We’re only going to be focus on the first part of this, so let’s take a look at the tab:

Notes on this tab

The hardest part is going to be stretching from the 2nd fret on the D string up to the 4th fret, that can be a bit of a stretch. Make sure you get that part down and you’ll be on a good footing.

Watch Jack’s video for more guidance:

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Mission Impossible’ Theme Tune

Another great theme tune and one of the coolest guitar tabs for beginners. (You can pretend to be your favourite spy while you play this for extra flavour!)

One important thing to mention when learning theme tunes is that they’re a great way of finding and playing music which isn’t presented on guitar in its original form. Remember, music doesn’t have to be limited to just one instrument, you can translate it to any other instrument. (If you hear something which is played on strings or a saxophone, you can play it on guitar too.)

Here’s the tab:

Tab notes

This riff is super-simple to play, just watch that last string change to the B String. Check out this video where Jack explains this riff in more detail:

Guitar tabs for beginners – James Bond Theme

Forget about guitar tabs for beginners, let’s just pretend we’re spies and keep this theme going! 🙂

We’re now going to look at the James Bond Theme tune. Another great riff, which sounds brilliant on guitar. Let’s take a listen.

We’re going to be focusing on the very first part of the riff. Let’s take a look at the tab:

Tab notes

The tricky part with this is changing between the high E string and the B string, if you’re struggling with that part, it would be useful to practice playing between those strings first. (That way your right hand is used to playing that part first.)

Check out this video where Jack explains in more detail:

Here’s the tab for the next part:

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones

This is one of those guitar tabs for beginners that has real energy. A fantastic punky riff by The Undertones. (The favourite song of John Peel, no less.) It’s simple to play:

We’re going to be focusing on the main riff. Here’s the tab:

Tab notes

If this is the first time you’ve ever played power chords this is a great track to learn with. Use fingers 1 and 3 to play this. Give it some chops!

Watch the video to learn more:

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Killing In The Name’ by Rage Against The Machine

One of the most angsty guitar tabs for beginners comes from alt rockers Rage Against The Machine. Let’s take a listen to the tune:

Here’s the tab:

Tab notes

This can be a little tricky to get down as the timing can be strange, try practicing with a metronome (or metronome app) to make sure you’re in time.

Take a look at this video to hear this in action:

Tone Tips

You can play this song with pretty-well any distortion pedal, but we really like to jam to this one with the BOSS DS-1 fully-cranked. This is a fantastic pedal for beginner guitarists who are just getting into using distortion – and it’s a classic, so you’ll never grow out of it!

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Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Chasing Cars’ by Snow Patrol

This is one of the more gentle guitar tabs for beginners in our list. We’ve rocked hard, now it’s time to chill.

Let’s have a listen to this iconic indie riff.

This riff is super simple, but the timing requires concentration. Let’s have a look at the tab.

Tab notes

The really important thing to notice when you’re practice this tune is the stretches. Stretching between the 6th fret on the D string and 9th fret on the G string is a killer stretch!

Make sure you practice that carefully, your posture will really help with this, make sure your wrist come forward under the guitar to give you the reach you need.

Check out this article where we talk about guitar posture How To Play Guitar Chords: A Beginner’s Guide

Also have a look at this video where I explain how to play this riff in more depth:

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ by the Rolling Stones

This next riff is a stone-cold-Rolling-Stone classic! It sounds great and is dead simple. This is one of the very best guitar tabs for beginners (because it’s so easy and sounds so great).

Here’s the tab:

Learn more in this video:

Get the tone

Did you know there’s a pedal called “Satisfaction”? We didn’t either until we tried it.

This pedal absolutely nails the classic tone of this song, and countless other Rolling Stones songs too.

If you’re a diehard fan of the Stones and want to get closer to that Keith Richards sound, be sure to check out Satisfaction by Electro-Harmonix.

🇺🇸 Buy now on Sweetwater

🇬🇧 Buy now on Amazon.co.uk

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Redemption Song’ by Bob Marley and The Wailers

This is a lovely song by reggae legend Bob Marley. So soulful and heartfelt.

This is one of the most useful guitar tabs for beginners because it teaches us a big chunk of the C major scale.

We’re going to be focusing on the intro riff, before the chords kick in. Here it is:

This riff can be a bit of a finger twister as it changes quite a bit between each string, make sure you take it really slow and build up speed as you get comfortable. Watch the video to see it in action and learn more:

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘I Predict A Riot’ by The Kaiser Chiefs

We’ve looked at tons of classic guitar tabs for beginners, but this is one of the more modern ones. Let’s have a quick listen:

We’re going to be focusing on the main riff after the ghostly soundscape fades out. Let’s take a look at the tab.

Tab notes

The main aspect of this is changing between frets. Make this easier by using one finger per fret:

• Your first finger on Fret 8.
• Your third finger on Fret 11.
• Your second on Fret 10.

As we only cover these frets, it means you can keep your fingers in one space, rather than just using one finger for ALL the frets. Here’s the video:

Guitar tabs for beginners – ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ by Survivor

Is this the most uber of all guitar tabs for beginners?? Maybe! Let’s finish with a blinder of a track: ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ by Survivor. What a riff!

This sounds amazing on guitar and is so easy. Let’s listen to the track:

We’re going to be focusing on the main riff which starts at 0.09. Here’s the tab.

Tab notes

In this tune, the timing is absolutely key. Make sure those breaks are so clear in-between changes.

Here’s a video explaining how to play this awesome iconic riff:

Can you play each riff? Download this lesson’s worksheet to keep/save/print for future practice.