When I first learned Blackbird, I would finger pick the song using three fingers as most people do, but I did a bit of a deep dive a few years ago and learned that Paul McCartney plays the entire song by just using his thumb and one other finger on his picking hand. I guess he didn't have a ton of confidence in his fingerpicking so he employed this sort of quick, percussive, single-finger strumming technique. It is actually a simpler technique than Travis Picking, but I found it challenging to emulate after so many years of playing the song incorrectly.
I am very pleased to see 'Crazy On You' on the list. As someone with tiny fingers, I was also pleased to see Tyler-big-hands have trouble with the finger movements at the beginning of the song, especially as that's the *only* bit of the intro I can play. 😉Nancy Wilson is very underrated as a guitarist. Not acoustic, but the amount of guitar strings I've snapped playing along to 'Barracuda' over the years is, erm, rather high shall we say...
You should check out stuff by Roy Clark and Jerry Reed. They played some pretty difficult sounding stuff. Also, Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra Night Ranger song "LA No Name".
John Butler is known locally(and he hates it) as the million dollar hippy from when he had dreads.. I guess Jack butler would be the gift card bargain bin hippy 😂 Seriously though, while Ocean is definitely the magnum opus, he's an incredible guitarist - when Santana came he had Butler open for him. Under an Indian Sky or Mist are tracks in that same vein, but check out some of his slide work too, phenomenal.
Just glad you know of John Butler Trio. Technically you flubbed the name of the song too (it's just called "Ocean"), but close enough. There is so much amazing guitar work in their music. I highly, highly recommend listening to their live set at the Sydney Opera House here on TH-cam. The whole band kills it for 2 hours, and John's guitar work is immaculate throughout, covering many different styles.
Classical Gas is the most challenging song across the entire spectrum. Rhythm, chord voicing, thumb dexterity, single note arpeggio accuracy and swing. You could spend a lifetime practicing it.
@@Wildart2 Neon is 1 repeating pattern. It only takes a bit of practice to get the pattern down and you can do it. I'm a very mediocre guitarist and I learnt it decades ago. You can too.
This was literally the second song I learned on acoustic guitar (after becoming relatively competent on electric with a pick). It did take months to get it largely right and flowing smoothly at the right tempo, so it's not easy, but it's definitely no where near 'the most challenging song across the spectrum'. Tons of rock/fusion (Pat Methany, John Mclaughlin, etc.) is leaps and bounds more difficult to learn. That said, I also disagree with the other poster that neon is somehow a more difficult song to learn and play than classical gas...
Agree. I started working on that song when it was first produced and found it way too difficult for my 12 year old fingers to master. At 67 years old I still struggle with it!! It's like one of those impossible projects we pick up every now and then to work on, and toss it away after a day of futility!
I love that Roundabout, Crazy On You, and Hole Hearted, three of my favorite songs, were on this list. Not because they're hard, but because they're hard to play and GREAT. The beginning of all three songs are just simply beautiful, while setting the motif for the entire song. Roundabout has so many crazy changes that work. Crazy On You is so wildly intricate (as you demonstrated) because Nancy Wilson is a beast. Nuno's groove in Hole Hearted is fantastic, and I'm still trying to get it. Thanks for this.
Some of the most technically impressive acoustic playing I've personally heard is from Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia and John McLaughlin on Friday Night in San Francisco. My dad loves that album and it's part of what got me into playing the guitar.
They’re a ethnocentric only rock shit. If they had included bossa, flamenco, tango or any of those styles this list wouldn’t have included any of the ones they chose
@@marianologo true. I love Rock and Metal but damnn Flamenco and Tango are soo good too. Sad those 2 genre's arent very popular outside the country they were made.
I think Never Going Back Again deserves to be on the list. It is so fun to play and has a pretty difficult fingerpicking pattern. But man when you nail it, you feel awesome. I’m a big LB fan though so maybe I’m biased. Neon definitely should have been #1!
Totally agree, I’m also a huge Lindsey fan. Never going back again is so much fun to play. Have you tried learning Big Love? That’s what I’m working on right now.
Woa so seeing Tyler stuggle with the Crazy on you intro made me feel pretty good about my playing. Thats one I can actually play : ) Love your videos Tyler!
Hell yes. It is definitely her playing that makes their sound work. He is good but she is working bass drums and rhythm guitar all at the same time. I saw them live many years ago supporting the Foo Fighters and the context was weird but the show was wonderful.
Richard Thompson. Vincent Black Lightning is probably the most visible, but throw a hat at his acoustic catalog and you’ll land on a crazy hard song. Same is true for Kelly Joe Phelps, slide or finger style.
I wish you had taken the time to mention Maury Muehleisen who played with Jim Croce on every great song. The interplay between those two fine guitarists was a vital part of Croce's sound. Tragically, they died together in the same plane crash
“One Word” by Baby Animals has one of the best and most challenging acoustic introductions I’ve ever tried. There’s plenty of difficult ones out there, but this one’s up there for being a challenge while also being an awesome riff.
I remember learning classical gas, tommy emanuel version, it was very difficult also tall fiddler or guitar boogie. what about billy strings. I play a lot of fingerstyle so I know how hard it can be lol
Sort of splitting hairs with incredible fingerstyle but if you're in that realm then Mark Knopfler requires honorable mention. His immaculate fingerpicking and mastery of acoustic is amazing.
Dude, if you’re going to bother making a video, at least figure out that blackbird is not Travis picking before hitting record. Also, pause you’re recording and tune your guitar to whatever songs you’re trying to play along with. For fucks sake…
I think Rik Emmett of Triumph is probably one of the more underrated guitarist out there. One of my favorite acoustic guitar songs, and yes it is just an instrumental is “Midsummer’s Daydream” off of Thunder Seven
I assume WatchMojo is an American channel. Any British one would have had by Richard Thompson. Aside from him, the glaring omission and the song I would consider the hardest acoustic number would be Jorma Kaukonen's playing on Jefferson Airplane's 'Embryonic Journey'. Woah.
Greg Lake (ELP) has some fantastic acoustic Prog-Rock stuff (From The Beginning) I agree with you about the Metallica misstep (Nothing Else Matters - not terribly difficult, just cool sounding) I recently added the intro to Crazy On You to my list of show-off stuff.
Jon Gomm - Passionflower Honestly, if you haven't heard it before, it's incredible. Also insanely difficult. Also absolutely beautiful. Dude spends a good 50 percent of the song tuning and detuning his guitar, all while playing a melody, percussion, and singing. It's genuinely the most brilliant composition I've ever seen.
@@psharry I don't think it's a stretch to say that there are literally only a handful of people on the planet who could play it. Certainly while singing!
"Classical Gas," "Blackbird" and "Operator" were the songs that inspired me to learn guitar. It's not that they're really that difficult, but they're difficult to play CORRECTLY. Another that should be mentioned is Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are."
Watching you struggle with "Crazy on You" fills my heart with joy! Its nice to see that really skilled guitarists struggle with basic songs we all learned when we first picked up our guitars lol
IDK if this is one of the hardest acoustic songs or not, but a slam-dunk inclusion on this list would without a doubt be Diary of a Madman by Ozzy Osbourne, given that it shows Randy Rhoads at his absolute peak in terms acoustic/classical playing. Also, the song is, IMO, the best Ozzy Osbourne song ever.
Classical guitar and music are a whole universe in itself and is so vast. I love steel string acoustic fingerstyle in many genres, but classical guitar is the original and king of guitar.
@@josephosullivan9506facts they do such insane stuff like just listen to John Williams or paco de lucia or almost any classical guitarist literally every single one of them are just leaps beyond everyone else
@@colstoncrandon7827 it’s not that hard. You just need someone to play lead, another to play rhythm, someone else to melody, and someone to sing. Or….just get LB.
John Butler Trio by the way, not Jack. He was nice enough to come to my high school in 2011 and teach the music students some things and play a couple songs. Got to see him perform Ocean in a classroom of maybe 40 people consisting of students and it is still to this day one of the best live performances I've ever seen.
The Clap from The Yes Album (1970) is the hardest acoustic guitar song, played by Steve Howe. I could play it years ago, but I am kind of rusty on that song now, lol.
It's crazy that Sand Monster by Nick Johnston or literally anything by Rodrigo y Gabriela isn't on that list. But anyway, thanks for making this video, Tyler. I found some songs I really like here.
Glad to see Nancy Wilson getting respect! I've played all of these with the exception of Spanish Fly and Django. As a good Canadian I would be remiss if I didn't mention Bruce Cockburn. "If I had a Rocket Luncher", "Wondering where the Lions Are" are much harder to pull off than most of the songs on the list. "Shape of My Heart" (Sting), "Romeo and Juliet" (Knopfler) are also demanding... feels like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon should be in the frame as well.
There's also the question of when a song becomes "acoustic"? Big Love is probably the best example of a song that didn't start off acoustic but is better known and appreciated as an acoustic song..
It's so refreshing to see an accomplished player having trouble with a lick and also having fun with that. That's what makes your channel so much fun to watch for us fumble-fingered wannabes. Also, personally, I think Roy Clark should be on the list.
Angie by Davey graham (popularised by Bert janch) is pretty tough. It’s basically very similar to that tricky A minor riff you where struggling with but with a walking baseline underneath.
I remember when I was a kid I had decided almost anything by Jim Croce was hard! At the time he used chords and voicings I'd never seen before. He was awesome.
As far as Fleetwood Mac is concerned, my pick would be Big Love acoustic live version. Not the hardest song, but bearing in mind that Lindsey Buckingham is doing the lead vocals at the same time. Some Michael Hedges songs also might make the list, but not from a populair standpoint perhaps.
This list should be called "70's popular rock songs with acoustic guitar intros, except for one random jazz tune". 🤷 I grew up listening to a lot of bluegrass and I'm still blown away by Doc Watson. Get Ya some of THAT WATCHMOJO!
Mike Dawes is absolutely AWESOME. He's touring with Justin Hayward in the Justin Hayward/Christopher Cross show. We saw him a few months ago in Worcester MA. Mike came out first and absolutely floored us!!! OMG he is SO good! He used every part of the guitar in his compositions. The man is a genius. After his show he joined in with Justin Hayward for his part of the show, and, of course, was fantastic. Then Christopher Cross had his part. It was such an amazing show, with Mike Dawes certainly being the highlight of the evening. It was one of the best shows I've seen in a very long time.
@@JimVincent it’s actually “The Clap”, it was a misprint of sorts on the original release of the record and if you search it, it comes up as such. While yes, no pun intended, the song was supposed to be “Clap”, as Anderson suggested the title to him after his first son’s birth. It’s ok to be a troll but just get your facts straight first.
As far as Zeppelin goes, I would disagree with Going to California and say Bron-Yr-Aur. Once you get the travis picking down, Going to California is really pretty easy to play (much like Blackbird). Bron-Yr-Aur is not only a beautiful song, it is incredibly satisfying to learn and play.
Definitely surprised Neon wasn't on there given that it's a very common example of a very hard acoustic song. I also thought of "Ocean" right away, though I'm not as surprised it was overlooked given it's not as popular (though has a ton of views on TH-cam). Though the correct answer to this list is literally anything Marcin has ever composed. Though they did disqualify classical pieces at the beginning of the vid, but he still plays more than that.
Hi my name is Bode and I’m a student of one of your friends Jesse Trepiak I’m 10 and i love your videos I discovered your channel from him and i love the videos ! ❤
With all the crazy stuff I’ve seen you do, it surprises me a lot that you struggled with the crazy on you triplet pulloff. Made me feel better about myself. Thank you for a change of pace. Normally you make me feel very inadequate comparatively. Then you hit the Django pretty quick and made me feel bad again. 😂
The answer is subjective for sure. Any Tommy Emmanuel song works for me. I guess my favorite of his is TE Ranch or Mombasa. Mombasa is a fun song to learn and play. Beautiful melody.🙂
Thanks for a great video, and I love the harp guitar! To get close to sounding like James Taylor, you must become your own bass player. He is purposeful in creating a bassline; he builds all of his Jamesisms on top of the bassline. Ask Lee Sklar: mirror James' bassline, or play something that isn't a bassline. My top two hardest acoustic guitar songs are 'Aerial Boundaries' by Michael Hedges and 'Helms Place' by Billy McLaughlin. Thanks again.
Great video. Worth mentioning that Paul doesn’t play Blackbird using Travis Picking though. He does his own little technique with thumb and index which is a bit more difficult, but still doesn’t belong on this list.
“Midsummers Daydream” by Triumph. The changes are tough but the timing is insanely difficult. Almost all covers I have heard have been too fast. Kudos to those who can play it though; it’s too advanced for me…
Rik Emmett has written many songs that start out acoustically with a 6 string or 12 string and then break into eclectic. His runs and timing are insane.
Jim Croce was indeed a fantastic guitar player. My pick from him would be "Time In A Bottle." It took me years, but I finally learned how to play the main guitar part. I've never tried the second guitar part.
They did put Lindsey Buckingham on here with Fleetwood Mac, but I think his songs "time precious time" or "big love" much more deserve to be there. Insane fingerpicking
Lindsey Buckingham - possibly *the* most underrated guitarist of all-time, probably because he doesn't really show off. He can honestly play probably all types of style and the fact he plays without a plectrum is even more amazing.
@@mickeymao7145 I know my limitations with my small hands and tiny fingers (which are obviously to blame rather than a lack of talent). 😀 I did have a touch of gleeful Schadenfreude at Tyler's inability to play the opening bit (4 bars?) of 'Crazy On You' - that's the only bit of it I *can* play, possibly because of my female small hands.
I love your page and content bro, and honestly watching you figure out that crazy on you song gave me hope and showed me that even the master has to learn new stuff and practice! Awesome video!
As far as the LED Zeppelin song I'd have to say The Rain Song is the hardest acoustic song to play. It's the tuning mostly but the chords I think are different than normal standard chords so that definitely makes the rain song tough. And I play fire and rain but not like James Taylor does lol 😂
Crazy on You is freaking hard. That one definitely belongs, I haven’t attempted it in awhile but, I could never get it down growing up. I’m super impressed they put Operator on there, definitely sneaky tough. Also an extremely under rated song, one of the best songs ever written in my opinion, it’s perfect. It’s also two guitar parts but, the rhythm part is probably the hardest.
For me there are two hardest songs to play..one is Neon by John Meyer which he plays live and the second is Big Love played by Lindsey Buckingham live solo..those two are just masterpieces!
Agreed. Big Love is tough because of how consistently he plays it. It's a real test of hand strength and endurance. But when you consider he's also singing it...next level stuff!
The man taught at Berkeley for god sakes! If you see and listen to all his flamenco, jazz, rocj and fusion bits, it's just insane how good and accurate he is at everything!@@Icantdrive55
When I started learning Spanish Fly by Van Halen, I remember that I learned fast picking on one string for 3 months, the song is too difficult, you have to stretch your fingers a lot during the tapping part. My fingers became like stone, I didn't feel my fingers until 2 weeks ago. In my opinion, the hardest song on the acoustic guitar.
Anything by Leo Kottke...Jorma Kaukonen (especially Embryonic Journey, Water Song) - totally agree with Jim Croce and his partner in crime, Maury Muehleisen. From Steve Howe - Mood for a Day, The Clap in addition to Roundabout. Anything by Jerry Reed (especially Jerry's Breakdown). Chet Atkins - again almost anything -- which leads to Tommy Emmanuel. Any of the bluegrass flatpickers - Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor - there's a whole galaxy of incredible acoustic players out there...
Steve Howe's Mood For A Day which is an entire solo acoustic piece that is from the SAME album as Roundabout is significantly harder. If you want to go slightly more difficult there his other piece The Clap from the album that came before it, The Yes Album.
One that stands out for me is the acoustic version of "Big Love" by Lindsey Buckingham. A lot going on in that song with both melody and rhythm. More than my brain wants to sort out. Never Going Back Again is doable but I don't have the patience to learn Big Love.
Crazy on You sounds better with a droning A string. Fingerstyle or at least hybrid is kinda mandatory for a good solo arrangement. The Am chord trill in the intro is actually 1-3-1-0. Not that hard but takes some solid anchoring of the left hand fingers, accurate finger up and down finger placement (which is more important on acoustic in my opinion). You can also double thump the bassline or play the song with thumb or wrist percussion on-beat. Both at the same time might be possible without a thumb pick with some Andy Mckee type thumb technique. Very hard to get clean though.
If you think any of these songs are hard, try playing “recuerdos de la alhambra” on a nylon string guitar. They say some people never understood the concept of eternity until they tried to play this song 😮
Hey guys! I know this doesn’t have a whole ton to do with this video, but I got a tele! I love teles and have been waiting to get one for months now! I love that thing
Theres a reason you dont hear Jim Croce and his guitarist Maury Muehleisen's songs in bars and clubs outside the juke box; despite being very popular they !are very hard. They should be on the list.
I know he uses a lot of improvisation, pedal effects, and looping techniques, but Tim Reynolds has many acoustic songs he plays that seem difficult. Most familiar are the ones he has recorded with Dave Matthews, (Stream, Betrayal, You Are My Sanity), but if you dig into his archives, songs like, Chatterbox, Flourescence, and if you like John Mayer’s, Neon, listen to Tim’s song, Loose Interpretation (circa 1996).
To me, the intricacies Big love's live rendition by Fleetwood Mac gives the song a place on that list. The way Lindsay Buckingham makes 1 guitar sound like there's 3 guitars playing at the same time is unbelievable, I can't fathom how I the world
maybe not THE hardest but people do tend to forget about Kathy's Song by Paul Simon or any Paul Simon for that matter. his stuff can be tough to play accurately! i also think bonus points should be given for those who can sing over that kind of playing. I mean come on Jim Croce was a freaking monster!
Would love to see you play Spanish Fly. I never really see much VH love. No EVH gear demos or nods to all that he accomplished! Love your playing! Keep up the great work!
What's the hardest acoustic guitar song?
Never going back again, I think
John mayer-Neon
Why Georgia
Angelina or Somewhere over the Rainbow by Tommy Emmanuel have to be up there
Meow
When I first learned Blackbird, I would finger pick the song using three fingers as most people do, but I did a bit of a deep dive a few years ago and learned that Paul McCartney plays the entire song by just using his thumb and one other finger on his picking hand. I guess he didn't have a ton of confidence in his fingerpicking so he employed this sort of quick, percussive, single-finger strumming technique. It is actually a simpler technique than Travis Picking, but I found it challenging to emulate after so many years of playing the song incorrectly.
i just use my thumb and index
It’s basically the same John Mayer picking technique
what a Travisty..
He definitely can travis pick, but it’s more of his own take on Travis picking which him, john, and george all learned in India from Donovan
Try playing Her Majesty Short sweet and difficult
I am very pleased to see 'Crazy On You' on the list. As someone with tiny fingers, I was also pleased to see Tyler-big-hands have trouble with the finger movements at the beginning of the song, especially as that's the *only* bit of the intro I can play. 😉Nancy Wilson is very underrated as a guitarist. Not acoustic, but the amount of guitar strings I've snapped playing along to 'Barracuda' over the years is, erm, rather high shall we say...
Lol I said Jack Butler Trio it's John Butler Trio been watching too much Crossroads 😛
Whatever happened to Jack Butler after he threw his guitar down and walked out on the devil?
You should check out stuff by Roy Clark and Jerry Reed. They played some pretty difficult sounding stuff. Also, Brad Gillis and Joel Hoekstra Night Ranger song "LA No Name".
John Butler is known locally(and he hates it) as the million dollar hippy from when he had dreads.. I guess Jack butler would be the gift card bargain bin hippy 😂
Seriously though, while Ocean is definitely the magnum opus, he's an incredible guitarist - when Santana came he had Butler open for him. Under an Indian Sky or Mist are tracks in that same vein, but check out some of his slide work too, phenomenal.
Just glad you know of John Butler Trio. Technically you flubbed the name of the song too (it's just called "Ocean"), but close enough. There is so much amazing guitar work in their music. I highly, highly recommend listening to their live set at the Sydney Opera House here on TH-cam. The whole band kills it for 2 hours, and John's guitar work is immaculate throughout, covering many different styles.
I was about to correct you on that being an Australian I was a little offended that you said Jack butler trio not John lol
Classical Gas is the most challenging song across the entire spectrum. Rhythm, chord voicing, thumb dexterity, single note arpeggio accuracy and swing. You could spend a lifetime practicing it.
I can't believe it wasn't even mentioned.
@@NedJeffery It's nowhere near as hard as Neon
@@Wildart2 Neon is 1 repeating pattern. It only takes a bit of practice to get the pattern down and you can do it. I'm a very mediocre guitarist and I learnt it decades ago. You can too.
This was literally the second song I learned on acoustic guitar (after becoming relatively competent on electric with a pick). It did take months to get it largely right and flowing smoothly at the right tempo, so it's not easy, but it's definitely no where near 'the most challenging song across the spectrum'. Tons of rock/fusion (Pat Methany, John Mclaughlin, etc.) is leaps and bounds more difficult to learn. That said, I also disagree with the other poster that neon is somehow a more difficult song to learn and play than classical gas...
Agree. I started working on that song when it was first produced and found it way too difficult for my 12 year old fingers to master. At 67 years old I still struggle with it!! It's like one of those impossible projects we pick up every now and then to work on, and toss it away after a day of futility!
I love that Roundabout, Crazy On You, and Hole Hearted, three of my favorite songs, were on this list. Not because they're hard, but because they're hard to play and GREAT. The beginning of all three songs are just simply beautiful, while setting the motif for the entire song. Roundabout has so many crazy changes that work. Crazy On You is so wildly intricate (as you demonstrated) because Nancy Wilson is a beast. Nuno's groove in Hole Hearted is fantastic, and I'm still trying to get it.
Thanks for this.
Some of the most technically impressive acoustic playing I've personally heard is from Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia and John McLaughlin on Friday Night in San Francisco. My dad loves that album and it's part of what got me into playing the guitar.
Mediteranean sundance for sure, iconic
Definitely, not my style of music but I was blown away by it when I heard it first from my father's LP collection.
Yes Paco de lucia. Sad they didnt pick any flamenco
They’re a ethnocentric only rock shit. If they had included bossa, flamenco, tango or any of those styles this list wouldn’t have included any of the ones they chose
@@marianologo true. I love Rock and Metal but damnn Flamenco and Tango are soo good too. Sad those 2 genre's arent very popular outside the country they were made.
I think Never Going Back Again deserves to be on the list. It is so fun to play and has a pretty difficult fingerpicking pattern. But man when you nail it, you feel awesome. I’m a big LB fan though so maybe I’m biased. Neon definitely should have been #1!
once you've tried to learn it on guitar you understand why Lindsey Buckingham starts screaming in the song
100%
Beat me to it. That song is a beast.
Totally agree, I’m also a huge Lindsey fan. Never going back again is so much fun to play.
Have you tried learning Big Love? That’s what I’m working on right now.
Definitely.
Woa so seeing Tyler stuggle with the Crazy on you intro made me feel pretty good about my playing. Thats one I can actually play : ) Love your videos Tyler!
I'm a big fan of Rodrigo y Gabriela. Especially, Gabriela's percussion and strumming.
They kick ass
Tamacun!!
Hell yes. It is definitely her playing that makes their sound work. He is good but she is working bass drums and rhythm guitar all at the same time. I saw them live many years ago supporting the Foo Fighters and the context was weird but the show was wonderful.
Richard Thompson. Vincent Black Lightning is probably the most visible, but throw a hat at his acoustic catalog and you’ll land on a crazy hard song. Same is true for Kelly Joe Phelps, slide or finger style.
I wish you had taken the time to mention Maury Muehleisen who played with Jim Croce on every great song. The interplay between those two fine guitarists was a vital part of Croce's sound. Tragically, they died together in the same plane crash
Maury’s playing was just immaculate
“One Word” by Baby Animals has one of the best and most challenging acoustic introductions I’ve ever tried. There’s plenty of difficult ones out there, but this one’s up there for being a challenge while also being an awesome riff.
Best part of the song! Love Dave Leslie's guitar work
I remember learning classical gas, tommy emanuel version, it was very difficult also tall fiddler or guitar boogie. what about billy strings. I play a lot of fingerstyle so I know how hard it can be lol
Sort of splitting hairs with incredible fingerstyle but if you're in that realm then Mark Knopfler requires honorable mention. His immaculate fingerpicking and mastery of acoustic is amazing.
for me Mediterranean Sundance/Río Ancho performed by Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía . Masterpiece!
Dude, if you’re going to bother making a video, at least figure out that blackbird is not Travis picking before hitting record. Also, pause you’re recording and tune your guitar to whatever songs you’re trying to play along with. For fucks sake…
For Zep I'd go with Bron Y Aur. As for putting Over The Hills and Far Away as hardest to play, Babe I'm Gonna Leave You is easily harder to get right.
I feel like The Clap by Yes really deserves a spot here. Really hard to master the whole thing.
Steve has some ragtime guitar songs on his solo albums that are pretty difficult too.
Mood for a day is pretty insane
Don't know if this counts but seeing Roy Clark play Malaguena on acoustic still blows my mind. And he did it on the tv show The Odd Couple too.
I think Rik Emmett of Triumph is probably one of the more underrated guitarist out there. One of my favorite acoustic guitar songs, and yes it is just an instrumental is “Midsummer’s Daydream” off of Thunder Seven
I assume WatchMojo is an American channel. Any British one would have had by Richard Thompson. Aside from him, the glaring omission and the song I would consider the hardest acoustic number would be Jorma Kaukonen's playing on Jefferson Airplane's 'Embryonic Journey'. Woah.
I've been a Croce fan for decades. Man was a genius R.I.P.😢
Greg Lake (ELP) has some fantastic acoustic Prog-Rock stuff (From The Beginning)
I agree with you about the Metallica misstep (Nothing Else Matters - not terribly difficult, just cool sounding)
I recently added the intro to Crazy On You to my list of show-off stuff.
The best example of Greg Lake’s skill is “The Sage” off the Pictures at an Exhibition album!
Try keeping up “Father Christmas” for very long. Ouch.
Love the channel and all the work you do. Stay strong guitar brother. 🤘🎸🤘
Jon Gomm - Passionflower
Honestly, if you haven't heard it before, it's incredible. Also insanely difficult. Also absolutely beautiful. Dude spends a good 50 percent of the song tuning and detuning his guitar, all while playing a melody, percussion, and singing. It's genuinely the most brilliant composition I've ever seen.
gorgeous song
This, yeah... this is a song I won't even attempt to learn in all honesty, and I can play most songs on this list.
@@psharry I don't think it's a stretch to say that there are literally only a handful of people on the planet who could play it. Certainly while singing!
Tony rice- Church Street blues is the hardest and he sings while playing too. Just insane.
Id love to hear you try to learn Big Love (live acoustic) by ear, like you did with Neon
"Classical Gas," "Blackbird" and "Operator" were the songs that inspired me to learn guitar. It's not that they're really that difficult, but they're difficult to play CORRECTLY. Another that should be mentioned is Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are."
Watching you struggle with "Crazy on You" fills my heart with joy! Its nice to see that really skilled guitarists struggle with basic songs we all learned when we first picked up our guitars lol
“The Claw” Jerry Reed-a picker who utilized unique tunings, fingerpicking, and harmonization, with freaky speed and taste.
Jerry's part in "Jerry's breakdown".
IDK if this is one of the hardest acoustic songs or not, but a slam-dunk inclusion on this list would without a doubt be Diary of a Madman by Ozzy Osbourne, given that it shows Randy Rhoads at his absolute peak in terms acoustic/classical playing. Also, the song is, IMO, the best Ozzy Osbourne song ever.
How would Dave Mathews NOT be on this list? AND he plays while singing!
Satellite immediately came to mind when I clicked on this video
@@Jason22Douce fantastic song, requires a bit of stretching but I dont think the song is that hard
The Stone 🤯
His fingers look like he has a 12 fret reach at times :O I'm a beginner so Im good for a maybe 3 frets LOL :)
You could add John Mayer too...Dave does play more complex chords though..
Always loved Crazy On You’s intro man. It reminds me a lot of Angie by Davey Graham.
There should be a steel string list and a nylon string one
There are some incredibly difficult classical guitar songs out there
Classical guitar and music are a whole universe in itself and is so vast. I love steel string acoustic fingerstyle in many genres, but classical guitar is the original and king of guitar.
@@josephosullivan9506 it could be interesting to see a comparison, including what overlaps, but also the big differences
@@josephosullivan9506facts they do such insane stuff like just listen to John Williams or paco de lucia or almost any classical guitarist literally every single one of them are just leaps beyond everyone else
Oh yeah for Zepp: Going to California or the rain song especially the outro!
Billy strings pieces are pretty insane technical wise, would love you see you react and play that!
billy's bringing the doc watson style of flatpicking back and i love it.
“Never Going Back Again” is sneaky hard to play with that modified Travis picking, plus singing on top of that. I’m cool with it at two.
If we're going Lynsey Buckingham, then I'd call his acoustic rendering of Big Love. Utterly awesome stuff.
I’ve seen Lindsey Buckingham seen him live. Fantastic musician and performer. Say Goodbye is his masterpiece in my opinion.
@@colstoncrandon7827 it’s not that hard. You just need someone to play lead, another to play rhythm, someone else to melody, and someone to sing. Or….just get LB.
I'd like to plug Babe I'm Gonna Leave You for my Led Zeppelin rec - while it's not overly technical, the stamina required gets me every time
John Butler Trio by the way, not Jack. He was nice enough to come to my high school in 2011 and teach the music students some things and play a couple songs. Got to see him perform Ocean in a classroom of maybe 40 people consisting of students and it is still to this day one of the best live performances I've ever seen.
The Clap from The Yes Album (1970) is the hardest acoustic guitar song, played by Steve Howe. I could play it years ago, but I am kind of rusty on that song now, lol.
Mood for a day is outrageous as well
It's crazy that Sand Monster by Nick Johnston or literally anything by Rodrigo y Gabriela isn't on that list. But anyway, thanks for making this video, Tyler. I found some songs I really like here.
I was fully expecting to see Rodrigo y Gabriela in this video. Absolutely awesome live.
Glad to see Nancy Wilson getting respect! I've played all of these with the exception of Spanish Fly and Django. As a good Canadian I would be remiss if I didn't mention Bruce Cockburn. "If I had a Rocket Luncher", "Wondering where the Lions Are" are much harder to pull off than most of the songs on the list. "Shape of My Heart" (Sting), "Romeo and Juliet" (Knopfler) are also demanding... feels like Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon should be in the frame as well.
There's also the question of when a song becomes "acoustic"? Big Love is probably the best example of a song that didn't start off acoustic but is better known and appreciated as an acoustic song..
It's so refreshing to see an accomplished player having trouble with a lick and also having fun with that. That's what makes your channel so much fun to watch for us fumble-fingered wannabes. Also, personally, I think Roy Clark should be on the list.
Never Going Back again is my goal. If I ever get good enough to play it I will finally feel like I made it on my guitar journey.
Angie by Davey graham (popularised by Bert janch) is pretty tough. It’s basically very similar to that tricky A minor riff you where struggling with but with a walking baseline underneath.
Trinity Grade 7 and quite easy once you get the thumb coordinated. Classical Gas is more difficult.
When I managed to get Anji down I felt that maybe I could call myself a guitarist. Then I started to learn Chambertin....😂
I remember when I was a kid I had decided almost anything by Jim Croce was hard! At the time he used chords and voicings I'd never seen before. He was awesome.
As far as Fleetwood Mac is concerned, my pick would be Big Love acoustic live version. Not the hardest song, but bearing in mind that Lindsey Buckingham is doing the lead vocals at the same time. Some Michael Hedges songs also might make the list, but not from a populair standpoint perhaps.
This list should be called "70's popular rock songs with acoustic guitar intros, except for one random jazz tune". 🤷 I grew up listening to a lot of bluegrass and I'm still blown away by Doc Watson. Get Ya some of THAT WATCHMOJO!
Blackbird is a song that looks soooo unbelievably hard to play but actually isnt so hard to pull of in the end
Mike Dawes is absolutely AWESOME. He's touring with Justin Hayward in the Justin Hayward/Christopher Cross show. We saw him a few months ago in Worcester MA. Mike came out first and absolutely floored us!!! OMG he is SO good! He used every part of the guitar in his compositions. The man is a genius. After his show he joined in with Justin Hayward for his part of the show, and, of course, was fantastic. Then Christopher Cross had his part. It was such an amazing show, with Mike Dawes certainly being the highlight of the evening. It was one of the best shows I've seen in a very long time.
“The Clap” by Yes, Steve Howe, is way more intricate and difficult then “Roundabout”
It's just "Clap," but I agree. I'm shocked it's not on the list. I've played for 34 years and I can't touch this song.
Yup!
@@JimVincent it’s actually “The Clap”, it was a misprint of sorts on the original release of the record and if you search it, it comes up as such. While yes, no pun intended, the song was supposed to be “Clap”, as Anderson suggested the title to him after his first son’s birth.
It’s ok to be a troll but just get your facts straight first.
Have you heard the acoustic version of Sketches in the Sun?
@@bassmandan12 Interesting Yes trivia...I always called it The Clap
As far as Zeppelin goes, I would disagree with Going to California and say Bron-Yr-Aur. Once you get the travis picking down, Going to California is really pretty easy to play (much like Blackbird). Bron-Yr-Aur is not only a beautiful song, it is incredibly satisfying to learn and play.
Definitely surprised Neon wasn't on there given that it's a very common example of a very hard acoustic song. I also thought of "Ocean" right away, though I'm not as surprised it was overlooked given it's not as popular (though has a ton of views on TH-cam).
Though the correct answer to this list is literally anything Marcin has ever composed. Though they did disqualify classical pieces at the beginning of the vid, but he still plays more than that.
Hi my name is Bode and I’m a student of one of your friends Jesse Trepiak I’m 10 and i love your videos I discovered your channel from him and i love the videos ! ❤
Steve Howe's the clap , very hard to play chords and runs. And crazy rhythms.
Mood for a day is a cross town ride on the struggle bus too
Maybe not the hardest, but Michael Hedges' deserves some love. Let's go with "Ritual Dance."
Nancy Wilson is a massive guitarist. In other news, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac may be a good song to try
Yes Neon by John Mayer and the Ocean by John Butler Trio are definitely contenders for this list in my opinion.
Blackbird isn't Travis picked
With all the crazy stuff I’ve seen you do, it surprises me a lot that you struggled with the crazy on you triplet pulloff. Made me feel better about myself. Thank you for a change of pace. Normally you make me feel very inadequate comparatively. Then you hit the Django pretty quick and made me feel bad again. 😂
This list isn't 10 Tommy Emmanuel songs. IT'S WRONG.
🤓
Pretty sure the list is made up of humans not legends
Also no mention of Leo Kottke?
YESSS
As soon as I saw this video I immmediately thought “there’s probably a ton of Tommy Emmanuel songs on here.” I was pretty disappointed
The Clap by Steve Howe from Yes is the hardest acoustic song imo
Classical Gas needs a mention
The answer is subjective for sure. Any Tommy Emmanuel song works for me. I guess my favorite of his is TE Ranch or Mombasa. Mombasa is a fun song to learn and play. Beautiful melody.🙂
I would say you could make a case for a lot of Jethro Tull songs to be on this list. Ian Anderson is an amazing acoustic guitar player.
Agreed!
Martin Barre
Definitely. Martin is an excellent acoustic player but people forget that Ian is the acoustic master.
Thanks for a great video, and I love the harp guitar! To get close to sounding like James Taylor, you must become your own bass player. He is purposeful in creating a bassline; he builds all of his Jamesisms on top of the bassline. Ask Lee Sklar: mirror James' bassline, or play something that isn't a bassline. My top two hardest acoustic guitar songs are 'Aerial Boundaries' by Michael Hedges and 'Helms Place' by Billy McLaughlin. Thanks again.
Great video. Worth mentioning that Paul doesn’t play Blackbird using Travis Picking though. He does his own little technique with thumb and index which is a bit more difficult, but still doesn’t belong on this list.
It should make the list because no one plays it like Paul.
@mattrogers1946 that's 100% why I thought it was on the list
True, I can't disagree with you there..@@mattrogers1946
I was so proud when I finally learned the crazy on you intro, although rather sloppily. Such a tasty piece.
“Midsummers Daydream” by Triumph. The changes are tough but the timing is insanely difficult. Almost all covers I have heard have been too fast. Kudos to those who can play it though; it’s too advanced for me…
Rik had several songs that fall into this category.
Rik Emmett has written many songs that start out acoustically with a 6 string or 12 string and then break into eclectic. His runs and timing are insane.
Jim Croce was indeed a fantastic guitar player. My pick from him would be "Time In A Bottle." It took me years, but I finally learned how to play the main guitar part. I've never tried the second guitar part.
Glad to see Jim Croce mentioned. The guy was incredible and died far too young.
Love Over Gold- Dire Straits. The outro to this song is incredible. Knopfler's playing is so intricate and yet so clean.
They did put Lindsey Buckingham on here with Fleetwood Mac, but I think his songs "time precious time" or "big love" much more deserve to be there. Insane fingerpicking
I'd add “Never Going Back Again” to the list, that's a tough one
Lindsey Buckingham - possibly *the* most underrated guitarist of all-time, probably because he doesn't really show off. He can honestly play probably all types of style and the fact he plays without a plectrum is even more amazing.
@@mickeymao7145 Gave up on that years ago. 😂I'll stick with the two-chord 'Dreams', just strummed.
@@joolz666 I don't blame you, it's really hard! 😂
@@mickeymao7145 I know my limitations with my small hands and tiny fingers (which are obviously to blame rather than a lack of talent). 😀 I did have a touch of gleeful Schadenfreude at Tyler's inability to play the opening bit (4 bars?) of 'Crazy On You' - that's the only bit of it I *can* play, possibly because of my female small hands.
I love your page and content bro, and honestly watching you figure out that crazy on you song gave me hope and showed me that even the master has to learn new stuff and practice! Awesome video!
My pick for led zeppelin is Black mointain side. The white summer/black mountain side version he played live (on electric) is absolutely insane.
The only problem....Jimmy Page stole it from an Irish folk singer.
@@DrFrederico1 .. who was black and LGBT...
One of my favorite acoustic songs of zeppelin is babe I'm gonna leave you. It's simple but the note changes on the b string make it so awesome.
As far as the LED Zeppelin song I'd have to say The Rain Song is the hardest acoustic song to play. It's the tuning mostly but the chords I think are different than normal standard chords so that definitely makes the rain song tough. And I play fire and rain but not like James Taylor does lol 😂
Once you have the tuning down, it's not that hard.
Crazy on You is freaking hard. That one definitely belongs, I haven’t attempted it in awhile but, I could never get it down growing up. I’m super impressed they put Operator on there, definitely sneaky tough. Also an extremely under rated song, one of the best songs ever written in my opinion, it’s perfect. It’s also two guitar parts but, the rhythm part is probably the hardest.
They had an inexcusable lack of Joni Mitchell songs in that list.
For me there are two hardest songs to play..one is Neon by John Meyer which he plays live and the second is Big Love played by Lindsey Buckingham live solo..those two are just masterpieces!
Agreed. Big Love is tough because of how consistently he plays it. It's a real test of hand strength and endurance. But when you consider he's also singing it...next level stuff!
Toughest one I've never mastered. Midsummer's Day Dream by Rik Emmett. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Rik Emmett is one of the best but underrated. His runs and timing on many of his songs are unbelievable.
The man taught at Berkeley for god sakes! If you see and listen to all his flamenco, jazz, rocj and fusion bits, it's just insane how good and accurate he is at everything!@@Icantdrive55
When I started learning Spanish Fly by Van Halen, I remember that I learned fast picking on one string for 3 months, the song is too difficult, you have to stretch your fingers a lot during the tapping part. My fingers became like stone, I didn't feel my fingers until 2 weeks ago. In my opinion, the hardest song on the acoustic guitar.
I feel like Leo Kottke should have at least gotten an honorable mention.
Agreed!
Anything by Leo Kottke...Jorma Kaukonen (especially Embryonic Journey, Water Song) - totally agree with Jim Croce and his partner in crime, Maury Muehleisen. From Steve Howe - Mood for a Day, The Clap in addition to Roundabout. Anything by Jerry Reed (especially Jerry's Breakdown). Chet Atkins - again almost anything -- which leads to Tommy Emmanuel. Any of the bluegrass flatpickers - Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor - there's a whole galaxy of incredible acoustic players out there...
👍
Steve Howe's Mood For A Day which is an entire solo acoustic piece that is from the SAME album as Roundabout is significantly harder. If you want to go slightly more difficult there his other piece The Clap from the album that came before it, The Yes Album.
Mood for a day would be my pick for Steve Howe. It's bananas. And like 7 minutes of them
More like "The TOP 10 HARDEST ACOUSTIC GUITAR SONGS FOR BEGINNERS"
One that stands out for me is the acoustic version of "Big Love" by Lindsey Buckingham. A lot going on in that song with both melody and rhythm. More than my brain wants to sort out. Never Going Back Again is doable but I don't have the patience to learn Big Love.
I genuinely said "what?" out loud when I saw number 9. That was literally the first song I learned on acoustic.
@@roof1975Exactly
Malaguena performed by Roy Clark. Check out the version he does on a 12 string!
Crazy on You sounds better with a droning A string. Fingerstyle or at least hybrid is kinda mandatory for a good solo arrangement. The Am chord trill in the intro is actually 1-3-1-0. Not that hard but takes some solid anchoring of the left hand fingers, accurate finger up and down finger placement (which is more important on acoustic in my opinion). You can also double thump the bassline or play the song with thumb or wrist percussion on-beat. Both at the same time might be possible without a thumb pick with some Andy Mckee type thumb technique. Very hard to get clean though.
If you think any of these songs are hard, try playing “recuerdos de la alhambra” on a nylon string guitar. They say some people never understood the concept of eternity until they tried to play this song 😮
Hey guys! I know this doesn’t have a whole ton to do with this video, but I got a tele! I love teles and have been waiting to get one for months now! I love that thing
Theres a reason you dont hear Jim Croce and his guitarist Maury Muehleisen's songs in bars and clubs outside the juke box; despite being very popular they !are very hard. They should be on the list.
Django yes, but what about Davey Graham, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch?
I know he uses a lot of improvisation, pedal effects, and looping techniques, but Tim Reynolds has many acoustic songs he plays that seem difficult. Most familiar are the ones he has recorded with Dave Matthews, (Stream, Betrayal, You Are My Sanity), but if you dig into his archives, songs like, Chatterbox, Flourescence, and if you like John Mayer’s, Neon, listen to Tim’s song, Loose Interpretation (circa 1996).
To me, the intricacies Big love's live rendition by Fleetwood Mac gives the song a place on that list. The way Lindsay Buckingham makes 1 guitar sound like there's 3 guitars playing at the same time is unbelievable, I can't fathom how I the world
maybe not THE hardest but people do tend to forget about Kathy's Song by Paul Simon or any Paul Simon for that matter. his stuff can be tough to play accurately! i also think bonus points should be given for those who can sing over that kind of playing. I mean come on Jim Croce was a freaking monster!
Yes had some of best and most difficult acoustic songs. The Clap, Starship Trooper, and Mood for a Day-just of the top of my mind. Steve Howe!!!
Would love to see you play Spanish Fly. I never really see much VH love. No EVH gear demos or nods to all that he accomplished! Love your playing! Keep up the great work!