Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver is one of the most recognisable Country/Folk style songs of all. A hit in 1971, it has maintained popularity in the digital era and become an official anthem in West Virginia as well as sporting venues around the world. Take Me Home, Country Roads’ steady medium-tempo rhythm and two-bars-per-chord structure makes it ideal for learner guitarists.

The fourth single from her Hit Me Hard and Soft album, Wildflower by Billie Eilish and Finneas is a cool jazz-pop number that makes a great chart for steel-string acoustic and electric guitars. The guitar is an integral element of the structure throughout Wildflower ; an excellent example of the importance of good rhythm guitar work.

Take On Me by A-ha is a one of the biggest global pop hits from the 1980s. The original is not guitar oriented but the song has been re-imagined as an acoustic fingerstyle ballad for the HBO hit series The Last of Us. Reduced to a slow, simple finger-picked ballad, Take On Me becomes a beautiful song for acoustic guitar.

Please Don’t Move to Melbourne by Ball Park Music is the first single from their 2025 album Like Love. It’s a slice of classic, summer Pop that is both breakup song and feel-good radio hit. Please Don’t Move to Melbourne is a perfect capo rhythm track for acoustic guitarists and also a good play-along track for electric players.

Winner of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest, Zitti e Buoni by Måneskin is a great 21C rock track for electric guitarists. From the energy of the opening E-blues riff to the spiky lead fills of the ending section, Zitti e Buoni is a cool modern example of classic Rock style and suitable for electric guitar learners with the basics established.

Enduring classic, Landslide by Fleetwood Mac seems more popular than ever in the 2020s. The 1975 original, from the self-titled Fleetwood Mac album was a popular album track but wasn’t a single at the time. Landslide gained new audiences in the mid-’90s via a cover by The Smashing Pumpkins, and was boosted further by the popular Dixie Chicks 2002 version.  This poignant ballad has since become one of the Mac’s most recognisable songs and this chart in C is perfect for fingerstyle players of all acoustic guitars, steel or nylon-strings.

Introduced to new audiences in 2025 via Timothée Chalamet’s brilliant performance in A Complete Unknown, Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan is the song the film builds up to in the final scenes. An anthem for it’s time, Like a Rolling Stone slotted Dylan’s robust folk rhythm-guitar style seamlessly into the progressive electric sound of the day. The result bristles with energy and it’s still a great rhythm piece for steel-string players.

From her 2024 album Rosie, APT is one of the biggest global hits happening in 2025. With a big nod to ‘80s/90s pop-punk Rosé & Bruno combine with great effect on this energetic, fun rocker. APT’s well structured blend of power-chords with varied rhythms make it a great chart for developing electric guitarists.

One of numerous big global hits by CCR, Have You Ever Seen the Rain is a classic rhythm guitar number that is just perfect for acoustic steel-string players. In the key of C it does include the F chord, and the strumming pattern requires good left-hand control for the percussive strums, otherwise it is suitable for established hobby guitarists with the basics under control.