100 Most Popular Songs for Fingerpicking Guitar: Solo Guitar Arrangements in Standard Notation and Tab - Guitar Sheet Music Book for Beginners and Advanced Players

Great selection of popular songs from the past few decades. The difficulty level varies a bit, but most songs I would rate as intermediate level of playing. For me, it’s enjoyable because I can flip through, find a song, and start whittling away at learning to play it, as opposed to spending time learning theory, instruction, etc. I especially enjoy the tabs feature.

This book was a leap in the right direction on my guitar playing journey. Prior to buying this book, I had gotten a few of the more advanced barre chords under my fingers and would just strum my way through popular songs and hymns. I was was struggling to find ways to practice and improve with discipline and rigor. Moreover, just printing and playing random lyrics and chords off the internet would sometimes lead to getting confused about rhythms and timing.At my level of experience there is very little here that I would call basic or humdrum. Most of the picking will follow the chord shape but there is plenty of variety between repeated verses and there are some very challenging and delicate passages.I also disagree with several individuals who have mentioned not having proper cues about left hand finger placement. There are clues on the staff above the tab with small numbers next to the notes to give suggestions for left hand finger placement with notes that stray from the chord shape. A small 4 would indicate the fret to be pushed down with the pinkie finger.Most of the songs span across four or even six pages and this can be cumbersome especially when you consider you are skipping around with codas and repeats. It will take some creativity to play through. One option would be making copies of pages to span across a couple of music stands. Its a little annoying but I think its the downside of having the lead part printed along with the TAB and I think its worth it to have that part available.Being able to read sheet music or at least understand how to read rhythms would be very helpful before picking up this book. That being said, most of it looks to be somewhat simplified from original scoring in a way that I think anyone could pick it up with daily practice, hard work, and dedication. In conclusion, I highly recommend this book for someone at the beginner to intermediate level who wants to get more serious about their solo guitar playing.

I’m an intermediate guitar student more interested in playing guitar solos for my own enjoyment than accompaniment for vocals. This book is a goldmine of appealing selections and arrangements that are faithful to the originals ( not simplified, but not outrageously challenging ) and are really helping me grow in my technical development as a competent guitarist. My guitar teacher, a very talented professional guitarist, loves this book. I like that it includes tablature as well as chord identification and some fingering suggestions. My only idea for improvement would be that it would be easier to handle the book if it were spiral bound. I’ve already broken the binding from propping it open to play the pieces.

Check out my in-depth YouTube video review ("Guitar Books Review #10: 100 Most Popular Songs for Fingerpicking Guitar by Hal Leonard" by Joe McMurray) in which I objectively go through the book and play through many examples. You can also hear the full review on "Guitar Books the Podcast" - Review #10. For context, I’m a professional player and teacher with a background in jazz, I’ve released two fingerstyle guitar albums, and I’ve written my own book on arranging for fingerstyle guitar.Hal Leonard’s 100 Most Popular Songs for Fingerpicking Guitar is a repertoire book filled with solo fingerstyle guitar arrangements of popular songs from mostly the 1960s through present day. Genres covered include classic and modern rock, pop, folk, jazz, theme songs, Spanish classical, and more. There are songs from the Beatles, Ed Sheeran, Duke Ellington, Metallica, Aerosmith, Imagine Dragons, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, etc. Most of the tunes are suitable for intermediate fingerstyle players, although there are some easier tunes for late beginners as well as some tunes that are significantly more difficult. If you are looking to build out your repertoire for local gigs, this book is incredible!Overall, the arrangements are in guitar-friendly keys, they stay below the 5th fret, and they sound good. You can always simplify or add to the arrangements to suit your tastes and skill level. Most tunes are in standard tuning, although there are some tunes that use drop D tuning. Tunes are arranged utilizing a variety of techniques including simple melody and bass, alternating bass, and arpeggiation. The book doesn’t get into the modern percussive techniques used by modern players like Michael Hedges, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Mike Dawes, etc. No thumb slaps, guitar body percussion, or tapping.Although this book is a repertoire book and not a method book, there is a single page in the back providing an “Introduction to Fingerstyle,” which is probably worthless to anyone who is attempting to play the tunes in this book. The rest of the book is just filled with song arrangements in alphabetical order, and there is no background information for any of the tunes. The music is presented as a treble clef lead sheet with the main melody and the harmonizing chords written above, and the solo guitar arrangements are presented in treble clef and tablature. Occasional left-hand fingerings are provided.Although this book has great tunes for your gigs, it would be difficult to bring the book to a gig and play from the pages. The book is 430 pages and has a softcover binding, so you need binder clips to hold the pages open. Most tunes require multiple page turns, which is a disaster if you are holding the pages open with binder clips. Your only options would be to photocopy pages or memorize the tunes.For most of the tunes you could use an acoustic steel string or classical nylon string guitar since most arrangements don’t require using your fretting hand thumb over the top.1. Extensive song selection. You are bound to like at least a few of the tunes if you like popular or rock music.2. Great arrangements that generally feature melody and bass, alternating bass, and/or arpeggiation.3. Provides treble clef lead sheets (melody with harmonizing chords written above) as well as treble clef and TAB guitar arrangements.4. Some fretting hand fingering is included, but there isn’t any picking hand fingering.5. Hard to hold pages open, lots of page turns.6. No audio access. However, arrangements generally sound similar to the original tunes.

Great selection of songs. Regular notation, shows the chords, picking patterns and lyrics AND with the spiral binding it stays open on my music stand with no extra effort to whatever page you select.

Lots of songs but impossible to keep open while playing. Should have had a spiral binding

When I first started learning guitar I was barely able to play anything out of this book, but by slowly working my way through the songs that were just in my reach I have improved dramatically. The arrangements are generally very well done and fun to play, and there is a wide enough range of difficulties that you could probably go from absolute beginner to fairly proficient with this book alone.

This book shows tablature and notes. I like this book because it allows me the opportunity to learn both ways of playing.