Acoustic guitar songs are well-known for their raw and stripped back nature. This is why “Unplugged” albums and DVDs are always great sellers; songs that are originally played as acoustic are great, but those that are popular for being heavier and rockier also sound amazing when played acoustic, as it gives a whole new twist and meaning to tracks.

We’ve looked at songs that fit into both categories; what are the best acoustic guitar songs?

Yesterday

There is no doubt that The Beatles lead the way overall when it comes to acoustic guitar tracks. Yesterday is one of their most famous songs and Sir Paul McCartney famously claims that he woke up one morning and just had the song in his head. What many don’t know is that it almost never got recorded at all, because it didn’t sound right when all four members of the group played it together in the studio.

It wasn’t until it was reduced back to a guitar and string quartet that the song we know today was produced.

Layla

This Eric Clapton classic is probably the perfect example of how to take a huge, anthemic track and reduce it down to one man and his guitar. The track that people still look forward to most when they buy a Clapton ticket, it is also featured heavily on numerous “Best of” acoustic guitar and unplugged collections.

Hotel California

While you could dedicate many words to how criminal it is that many people associate The Eagles with just one great song, when you produce something this good you’re going to be associated with it forever.

Another track that sounds completely different when played acoustic, The Eagles often play an extended live version when touring today, while it is another staple track on unplugged compilations.

Paranoid Android

Radiohead are a funny band in that they’re generally considered to be pioneers of music and responsible for some of the best music ever, but in mainstream terms their music work is not massively well-known or loved. Still, Thom Yorke probably wouldn’t have it any other way, and while we’re cheating a bit by calling this an acoustic song given that it ranges from the gentle to the over the top electric, it’s the acoustic parts of the song that really stand above all else for us.

If you ever see one Radiohead song live, make it this one.

Cannonball

The most recent track of our top 5 proves you don’t have to be steeped in history to have a classic track, it is perhaps an example of how it is difficult to top your early work. Damien Rice won’t mind that he hasn’t hit the commercial heights since the release of Cannonball, however, and lovers of the track are simply grateful they ever got to hear it at all.

Image Author: Dylan Adams