This page contains a collection of the finest acoustic fingerstyle blues guitar songs I have selected and played. Here you find tab, sheet music and my video tutorial. The difficulty of the songs increase from top to bottom. Through these tabs you'll improve your technique by learning many beautiful blues compositions. Enjoy the songs. Fingerstyle guitar tabs download in PDF and Guitar Pro formats. Beginner, intermediate and advanced.
Click titles to hear/ see me play the songs (YouTube link).
For the Adobe Reader PDF file, use right-click and 'Save As...' etc
TAB info: Circled numbers indicate left (fretting) hand fingerings; 1=index, 2=middle, 3=ring, 4=little finger
Picking hand; T (or p)=Thumb, I=Index, M=Middle, A=ring finger (from Spanish 'Anular')
Love Theme from Chinatown - One of my favorite movie themes from one of my favorite films - Chinatown (from 1974). Composed by Jerry Goldsmith.
Drift Away - Began as an idea that I came up with on electric guitar after finding the Particle Reverb on the Line 6 Helix guitar processor. The second part I wrote using the Tonewood Amp, which can give you similar reverbs on your acoustic guitar, coming out of the soundhole - it´s a kind of magic!
Sound of Silence - By Paul Simon. Great arrangement by Luca Freddi with some additional ideas by me.
My Heart Will Go On - I´ve had a lot of requests for this one. Let us give thanks to great Swedish fingerstylist Cim Frode, who did the transcription! Be sure to check him out, he just recorded his debut album.
Ambient Groove - From my Cool Waters album. Mp3 backing track below.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
mp3 backing track
Angel - Beautiful song by Sarah McLahlan, here arranged in DADGAD tuning. Note, in the current video (click the title) I play it a half step down, ie Db Ab Db Gb Ab Db. DADGAD version on its way! Also works fine on a baritone which I tuned to Bb F Bb Eb F Bb.
Lap Steel open G6 - A little unusual tuning (?) I came up with, here´s a little pop tune in the key of D. If you have a lap steel or some other 'slide thingy' try it out. Or play it on a guitar. Mp3 backing track below.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
mp3 backing track
The Shadow of Your Smile - By request from a documentary film maker (yes, this version will be used :) Pretty much based on Tony Bennett´s version. On the baritone tuned B to B, I played it with a capo on 2nd fret.
Jiffy Jam intro lick - This is how I play the groovy intro I use to kick off Jerry Reed´s Jiffy Jam. I originally stole it from Mark Hill´s version.
Carina´s Blues - The melody on this along with some bass notes was among the first things I learnt to play as a kid. I recently came up with this arrangement, which is a little trickier!
Banjo rolls open G - Some ideas to get you rolling :)
Wichita Lineman on baritone guitar - I cleaned up the below arrangement a bit and recorded a take on the baritone guitar.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
Wichita Lineman - Great song from Jimmy Webb, my arrangement is pretty much based on Glen Campbell´s version.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
Chet Chat - A laid back picking tune of mine influenced by the great Chet Atkins.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
Vår Vals - If you want to learn some jazz/ bossa nova sounding chords/ progressions, check this out!
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
How Great Thou Art - One of the most well known hymns, originally a Swedish folk song!
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro TAB
He Ain´t Heavy He´s My Brother - Great classic arranged in open G tuning. Look out for the Eb major chord, when this is played, you must try to mute the B-string. You´ll hear why :)
PDF TABGuitar Pro TAB
The Holy Spirit Flood - Intro/ riff from this great Kelly Joe Phelps song. Lovely bluegrass sound but done fingerpicking style. You will have to work on it slowly first, then you can gradually try to increase the tempo. Open G tuning.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Fool About You - My fingerpicking arrangement of this old Nazareth song. I play it with the A-string dropped to G. Same tuning as my version of Foggy Mountain Breakdown, btw.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Fragrance of Heaven - Not everyday one gets musical dedications - but Mihail Konstantinov in Ukraine composed this beautiful piece and dedicated it to yours truly :) Thank you Mihail!
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Mark Lee Had a Great Idea - Wonderful DADGAD composition by Mark Lee who sadly passed away in 2009. I had some brief contact with him on YouTube. Here is the link to his recording, where he played a Yamaha EZ-AG, a MIDI guitar of sorts. He had it transposed a 5th up, like having a capo on the 7th fret.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Auld Lang Syne - Traditional in drop-D tuning.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Heartbeat - In drop-D tuning. Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Here For You - Low and slow... I play it on the baritone guitar tuned B to B. Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Nice song from Green Day in an altered open G tuning, lowest string dropped to C. Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Mbube/ Wimoweh/ The Lion Sleeps Tonight - In open G tuning. Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Amazing Grace - Version in open G tuning, basic idea without all the slurs and (amazing :) grace notes I tend to add... Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum) - fingerstyle arrangement. Album: Acoustics
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Country Blues - Traditional blues with fingerstyle arrangement
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Foggy Mountain Breakdown (Earl Scruggs) - Fingerpicking guitar arrangement. Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Forever Young (Alphaville) - Fingerstyle arrangement - Open G tuning. Album: Acoustics
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Itsy Bitsy Spider - fingerpicking version - Folk style picking on this old nursery rhyme. Intermediate level.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Laura Palmer´s Theme (Love Theme) (Angelo Badalamenti) - Fingerstyle/ classical arrangement. Album: Summer Breeze
Notes: On the baritone I play it with a capo on first fret to get in the original key of C (minor/ major). On a standard guitar you can skip the capo and thus play it in E (minor/ major).
Watch out for the harmonic played together with a fretted note, in the standard notation the harmonic is diamond shaped.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Loef Acoustic Bass - This half-improvised little piece became unexpectedly popular on the good ole YouTube. Use the video for reference.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Lost in the Rain - Original song. Album: Acoustics
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Marie - Original song. Album: Acoustics
PDF TAB
Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry) - Basic idea for a fingerstyle arrangement
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Shuffle Rag - Fingerpicking country style with some Jerry Reed influences. Works best with accompaniment - bring your friends! Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Silent Night - Easy arr. in open D tuning
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Summer Breeze - Fingerpicking/ fingerstyle original song. Album: Summer Breeze
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
The Rose (Amanda McBroom) - Classical/ fingerstyle arrangement - Open G tuning. Album: Acoustics
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Twin Peaks Theme (Angelo Badalamenti) - Classical/ fingerstyle arrangement - Open G6 tuning. Album: Acoustics, where, like in the YT video, it´s played on a baritone guitar in open Eb6 tuning.
PDF TAB
Guitar Pro 5 TAB
Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Tabs
We are glad to present you a new lesson by Tobias Rauscher, the great guitarist behind the “Tobias Guitar” Guitar Academy. Today’s lesson will introduce you to the wild world of percussive fingerstyle guitar with a riff especially designed for beginners. Enjoy!
“Tobias Rauscher – Memories (Percussive Part).gpx”
(click on the image to download the tab)
The riff
“The percussive part I am showing you in this tutorial is taken from my song “Memories”. It includes several techniques like body percussion, slap harmonics and legato playing. The riff looks more difficult to play than it actually is and it makes a lot of fun to play. In the tutorial I show you how to play it step-by-step. You can download the Guitar Pro 6 files as well.
Percussion in tabs
When it comes to notating percussive elements in tabs the most common method is to indicate the percussive hits with “X’s”. Hereby, the X’s on the higher strings (eg. G, B, E) can indicate a higher pitch than X’s notated on the lower strings (eg. E, A, D). An alternative method is to position the X’s parallel to the location the percussive elements are performed at on the guitar. In this case hitting the guitar’s lower parts, for example the lower side of the body would be be indicated with and X on the high E string. Hitting the guitar on Top would then be indicated with an X on the low E string.
However, the indication of percussive elements can drastically vary from guitarist to guitarist and song to song. Thus, it is best to compare the tabs with ideally the video to see where the percussion is played at exactly.”
– Tobias Rauscher
About Tobias Rauscher
Tobias Rauscher is a 29 year old German Modern Percussive Fingerstyle guitar player and part of the modern acoustic guitar movement that is led by players like Andy McKee and Tommy Emmanuel. His playing style combines melodies with percussive elements in own compositions full of technical refinements – pure and clean – performed on only one guitar.
Tobias started to play the electric guitar at the age of 14 as an autodidact and initially played mainly Rock and Metal. In 2004 he founded his first band “Synatic” and played the guitar in several other musical projects. In 2010 he finally decided to fully focus on playing solo acoustic guitar.
He received first attention through his videos on YouTube with more than 10 million views by now and a steadily growing community. In late 2015 he created his online Guitar Academy to help other guitarists to learn the art of Modern Percussive Fingerstyle.
Learn percussive fingerstyle
Sign up for Tobias’s Guitar Academy at www.tobiasguitar.com and get tutorials directly into your inbox. You will get notified as soon as the Academy opens its doors again.
Country Blues Fingerstyle Guitar Tabs
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