Black Summer is the hit single from Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s 2022 album Unlimited Love, the album that heralded the return of guitarist John Frusicante to the classic line up. Though not RHCP’s biggest hit Black Summer is a great song chart for steel-string guitar students, featuring open-position chords, some arpeggio picking and a mix of simple rhythms plus some syncopated chord phrases.

American Idiot is one of Green day’s biggest hits. From their 2004 album of the same name, American Idiot was a hit in many countries. It’s high-energy rhythms and intense sing-along style make for an exciting track for electric guitarists.

Locked Out Of Heaven is one of Bruno Mars’ big hits from his 2012 album Unorthodox Jukebox. A Top 10 hit in over twenty countries, and inspired by the Reggae-rock sound of The Police, Locked Out Of Heaven is great electric guitar track for developing bar-chords and syncopated rhythm work.

Yellow is simply the most popular song by the most popular band of the 21st Century, Coldplay - a band that has 10+ songs with over 1 billion streams on Spotify, and similar numbers on YouTube. From their debut album Parachutes, Yellow is a hypnotic song that works on all steel string guitars and is a great track to play along with.

Fast Car - Tracy Chapman’s original 1988 version was a Grammy Award winning hit in the USA and a hit in many other countries. The poignant, personal lyrics and gentle acoustic feel made it refreshingly different in the late ‘80s, and the 2023 remake by Luke Combs has introduced it to a new global audience. One of the big digital download hits of 2024, Fast Car is a perfect chart for acoustic finger-style . . .

Sinner by The Last Dinner Party is a great chart for electric guitarists. Although there are only two chords underpinning the whole song there are plenty of tasty lead riffs. From The LDP’s album Prelude to Ecstasy, it features clear, well structured electric guitar solos that even include string bending - lets get into it!

Crowd sing-along favourite Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond may be an old-school banger but it seems to be more popular now than ever! With the original recording being in B Major (yuk!) it can be trickier to play than you may expect.

Hey Brother by Avicii is a great song for acoustic steel-string players. Created by writer-producer Avicii, Hey Brother was the third single from the 2013 mega-platinum album True. From the opening guitar octaves riff to the full-on rhythm of the dance drop, Hey Brother makes a great song chart for acoustic guitarists.

Birthday by The Beatles is a perfect little rocker for developing electric guitarists! One of the big hits from their 1968 double-album The Beatles (often referred to as “The White album”), Birthday is a light-hearted, blues-based number with clear, distinctive guitar lines.