Six String Fingerpicking Courses and Lessons

Top 60 Fingerpicking Songs of ALL TIME (Beginner – Advanced)

Here’s my list of the Top 60 Fingerpicking Songs of All Time. There’s an incredibly varied mix of artists, and it’s arranged by difficulty from beginner to advanced level. Whatever level you’re at, there’s something for you here. Click on each song for the full guitar lesson.

An important part of learning how to fingerpick is simply learning a whole bunch of great songs. Each and every one of these songs has something unique about them, and you’ll learn a huge amount from any you choose to have a go at.

I first started this list in December 2017. Since then I’ve moved and removed a few songs and added some others, so this list is now my updated Top 60. Don’t worry if you’ve seen my original YouTube Top 60 video as you can still learn all those songs on Six String Fingerpicking – just check out the Songs page to find the full list or to search for a specific song.

I really hope that you enjoy all the songs and I’m sure that it’ll give you plenty to work on!

Top 60 thumb

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Beginner Fingerpicking Songs:

If you're brand new to fingerpicking, then these first few songs are for you. You must be patient when you first get going because it's going to be a little frustrating, trust me! Your fingers will get mixed up and you're going to pick the wrong strings, but it's all part of the fun. Just remember that every time you make a mistake you're one step closer to getting it right.

1
1
Ain't No Sunshine

Bill Withers

2
1
Lost

Anouk

3
2
Fast Car

Tracy Chapman

4
1
Greensleeves

Traditional

5
2
Hey There Delilah

Plain White T's

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Complete Guide Beginner

Beginner-Intermediate Fingerpicking Songs:

The next group of songs are aimed at people that have got the foundational techniques down and are looking for some still easy but slightly more involved tunes to learn.

6
3
Guaranteed

Eddie Vedder

7
2
Freight Train

Elizabeth Cotten

8
4
Let Her Go

Passenger

9
4
Landslide

Fleetwood Mac

10
4
Dust in the Wind

Kansas

11
4
Jolene

Dolly Parton

12
3
Naked as We Came

Iron and Wine

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Intermediate Fingerpicking Songs:

The intermediate songs are where most of the really well-known ones live, hopefully you recognise the majority of them. There's an awful lot you can learn from these tunes.

13
4
First Day Of My Life

Bright Eyes

14
4
Heartbeats

José González

15
4
Detectorists

Johnny Flynn

16
4
Just Breathe

Pearl Jam

17
4
Yesterday

The Beatles

18
5
Blackbird

The Beatles

19
3
Is There Anybody Out There?

Pink Floyd

20
4
Be Good Or Be Gone

Fionn Regan

21
4
Everybody's Talkin'

Harry Nilsson

22
5
Road Trippin'

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

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Complete Guide to Fingerstyle Guitar Intermediate
23
5
Julia

The Beatles

24
4
Dear Prudence

The Beatles

25
4
The Boxer

Simon and Garfunkel

26
4
Homeward Bound

Simon and Garfunkel

27
4
More Than Words

Extreme

28
5
Fire and Rain

James Taylor

29
4
Don't Think Twice It's All Right

Bob Dylan

30
4
Don't Know Why

Norah Jones

31
4
Tears In Heaven

Eric Clapton

32
4
Queen of California

John Mayer

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Intermediate-Advanced Fingerpicking Songs:

If you can play these songs then you're really on the path to fingerpicking success. These tunes are pretty challenging and will certainly require some dedicated practice. Again, there's some real fingerpicking classics in here.

33
5
Why Georgia

John Mayer

34
5
Nothing Else Matters

Metallica

35
5
Solsbury Hill

Peter Gabriel

36
5
Old Pine

Ben Howard

37
5
Signe

Eric Clapton

38
5
Operator

Jim Croce

39
5
Time in a Bottle

Jim Croce

40
5
Angeles

Eliiot Smith

41
5
Shape of My Heart

Sting

42
5
Going to California

Led Zeppelin

43
5
Bron-Yr-Aur

Led Zeppelin

44
6
Stop This Train

John Mayer

45
5
Who Says

John Mayer

46
5
Romeo And Juliet

Dire Straits

47
5
One Of These Things First

Nick Drake

48
6
Angie

Bert Jansch

49
6
Windy and Warm

Tommy Emmanuel

50
6
The Entertainer

Chet Atkins

51
6
Never Going Back Again

Fleetwood Mac

52
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Classical Gas

Mason Williams

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Complete Guide to Fingerstyle Guitar Advanced

Advanced Fingerpicking Songs:

There's some really complicated stuff going on in all of these songs. Don't let that put you off though as they're all great fun to play.  You're doing really very well if you can play any of the tunes from this list, each one requires some serious practice.

53
7
Big Love

Fleetwood Mac

54
7
Lewis & Clark

Tommy Emmanuel

55
6
Deep River Blues

Doc Watson

56
7
Embryonic Journey

Jefferson Aeroplane

57
8
Mister Sandman

Chet Atkins

58
8
The Claw

Jerry Reed

59
8
Cannonball Rag

Merle Travis

60
8
Neon

John Mayer

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