20 Songs That Made an Entire Generation Want to Play Guitar

There are plenty of great guitar songs. Then there are the songs that make somebody stop what they're doing, look at a six-string, and decide they have to figure it out.

That moment can come from a riff, a solo, a sound, or simply the attitude of the player behind it. It is rarely about technical difficulty alone. A beginner can spend months chasing three chords because those three chords carry a world of possibility. A more advanced player can hear one bend, one palm-muted groove, or one blast of feedback and remember exactly why they started.

This is not a list of the 20 hardest guitar songs, nor a straight ranking of the greatest solos ever recorded. It is a countdown of songs that turned listeners into guitarists — records that made the instrument feel essential.

1. "Johnny B. Goode" — Chuck Berry

If rock guitar has an origin story, this is the opening chapter. Chuck Berry made the guitar sound like motion: bright, sharp, playful, and impossible to ignore. The intro is direct enough for a young player to attempt, but its feel is the real lesson. Berry's double-stops, bends, and rhythmic drive gave generations a first blueprint for how rock 'n' roll guitar is supposed to speak.

2. "Eruption" — Van Halen

"Eruption" did not just introduce a new guitar hero; it changed the expectations of guitar players overnight. Eddie Van Halen packed tapping, dive bombs, harmonics, whammy-bar chaos, and astonishing control into a compact instrumental that sounded like the future arriving early. Thousands of players bought a cheap guitar, a tremolo bridge, or both after hearing it. More importantly, Eddie made experimentation feel like the point. Full breakdown in Eruption: The Solo That Changed Guitar Forever.

3. "Whole Lotta Love" — Led Zeppelin

Jimmy Page's riff is proof that a few notes can carry a stadium. It is heavy without being complicated, bluesy without sounding traditional, and full of the swagger every new guitarist wants to borrow. "Whole Lotta Love" teaches a simple lesson: tone, timing, and conviction can make a riff immortal. More in History of the Riff: Whole Lotta Love.

4. "Purple Haze" — Jimi Hendrix

Before "Purple Haze," plenty of players could make a guitar loud. Hendrix made it feel alive. The song's chord voicings, fuzz, octave color, and controlled chaos opened a new vocabulary for rock guitar. For countless players, it was the first clue that guitar could be art, atmosphere, and pure electricity at the same time. See History of the Riff: Purple Haze.

5. "Sunshine of Your Love" — Cream

Eric Clapton's tone on "Sunshine of Your Love" is a rite of passage: thick, singing, and just rough enough around the edges. The riff is approachable, but it carries enormous weight, while the solo showed young players how blues phrasing could become arena-sized rock language. It remains a perfect first step from learning riffs into learning feel.

6. "Comfortably Numb" — Pink Floyd

David Gilmour showed that a guitar solo does not need a hundred notes to say something enormous. The lead playing on "Comfortably Numb" is patient, melodic, and emotionally precise. It has sent players chasing sustain, delay, bends, and vibrato for decades — not to copy every note, but to find that same ability to make a guitar sing. Read the full solo story in Comfortably Numb: The Greatest Guitar Solo?.

7. "Sweet Child O' Mine" — Guns N' Roses

Slash's opening figure sounds like a warm-up that accidentally became one of the most famous intros in rock history. Then the song keeps raising the stakes: chiming arpeggios, huge rhythm guitars, and a solo that feels written to be sung back by a crowd. It gave an entire generation a modern guitar-hero anthem — and it still does.

8. "Panama" — Van Halen

Where "Eruption" made players want to push technique, "Panama" made them want to sound dangerous. Eddie's rhythm work is the star: muscular, bouncing, and packed with personality. The brown sound here is not simply gain; it is touch, muting, movement, and a sense that the guitar is grinning while it plays.

9. "Enter Sandman" — Metallica

"Enter Sandman" brought heavy guitar into millions of living rooms with a riff that is dark, simple, and instantly playable. The arrangement is a masterclass in tension: clean opening, huge distorted entrance, and a rhythm part that makes a beginner feel powerful the moment they get it under their fingers.

10. "Wanted Dead or Alive" — Bon Jovi

This one belongs because it proved that guitar aspiration is not only about speed or distortion. Richie Sambora's acoustic-driven introduction, wide-open chords, and melodic lead work made the instrument feel cinematic. It is the sound of a bedroom player imagining a bigger stage.

11. "Iron Man" — Black Sabbath

Tony Iommi made heavy riffs feel elemental. "Iron Man" is slow, ominous, and so memorable that a player can recognize it from just a few notes. Its genius is its economy. The riff does not need to race; it stomps. More in Tony Iommi: The Man Who Invented Heavy Metal.

“The song that makes you want to play is rarely chosen by a critic. It finds you at the exact right moment.”

12. "Back in Black" — AC/DC

Angus Young's rhythm guitar is one of rock's great arguments for leaving space. "Back in Black" is lean, mean, and perfectly placed. Every chord stab matters, every pause builds anticipation, and the solo burns without losing the song's pulse.

13. "Crazy Train" — Ozzy Osbourne

Randy Rhoads combined classical-inspired precision with hard-rock muscle, and "Crazy Train" is the perfect introduction to his world. The opening riff is instantly recognizable, the chord movement is unusual without being inaccessible, and the solo is a technical summit that still feels like a song. See Randy Rhoads: Still Ahead of His Time.

14. "Money for Nothing" — Dire Straits

That opening sound is a guitar tone people can identify before the riff fully arrives. Mark Knopfler transformed a strange, filtered, almost vocal texture into one of the defining guitar statements of the 1980s. It has inspired decades of players to explore tone, picking attack, and the idea that a signature sound can be as powerful as a signature lick.

15. "You Shook Me All Night Long" — AC/DC

This is rock rhythm guitar at its most joyful. The opening chord figure is crisp, confident, and built to turn a room into a singalong. Malcolm and Angus Young made parts that are deceptively difficult to make feel this good. For a new guitarist, it is an invitation to learn the difference between playing chords and making chords move.

16. "Sultans of Swing" — Dire Straits

Mark Knopfler's fingerstyle approach gave "Sultans of Swing" a voice all its own. It is clean, articulate, and full of details that reward players long after they learn the main parts. The song made many listeners put down the pick, study fingerstyle, and discover that lead guitar could be fluid and conversational without massive distortion. Dig in with the Sultans of Swing solo masterclass.

17. "Smoke on the Water" — Deep Purple

Yes, every guitar store has heard it. That is exactly why it belongs here. Ritchie Blackmore's four-note figure is perhaps the most universal invitation in guitar history: recognizable immediately, satisfying to play, and foundational enough to teach power chords, phrasing, and rock attitude in one shot.

18. "The Boys Are Back in Town" — Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy made twin-guitar harmony feel like a headline event. "The Boys Are Back in Town" has a swaggering central riff, brilliant lead interplay, and the kind of chorus that turns a guitar song into a communal experience. It nudged many players toward their first jam partner — and toward the realization that guitar is even more fun when two players lock in together.

19. "More Than a Feeling" — Boston

Tom Scholz built a guitar world that felt enormous: layered acoustics, soaring electric parts, and a sound engineered for escape. "More Than a Feeling" is equal parts songwriting and sonic architecture. It made players want to learn the intro, but it also made them wonder how a guitar record could sound that huge, polished, and alive.

20. "Pride and Joy" — Stevie Ray Vaughan

For many players, this was the blues song that turned practice into obsession. Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm playing is a full band in itself — percussive, swinging, and overflowing with touch. "Pride and Joy" gives players a mountain to climb, but it also teaches the right lesson: the magic is not in owning the right notes. It is in making every note mean something. More in Tone Decoded: Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The Song That Started Your Story

Every list like this leaves out somebody's personal number one, and that is the whole point. Maybe yours was "Stairway to Heaven," "Master of Puppets," "Barracuda," "Free Bird," "Layla," or a song nobody else in your town had heard yet. The song that makes you want to play is rarely chosen by a critic. It finds you at the exact right moment.

What song made you pick up a guitar for the first time? Tell us in the comments.

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