Lucky 13: Great Classic Rock Guitar Songs for Great Air Guitar Players – Like Me!

I was many things in my younger years – lean, broke, clueless, hungry, totally at sea much of the time. And a world-class air guitar player. No seriously, it’s a fact.

If you were to rank the world’s top air guitar players from the late 70s and into the late 80s, I’m pretty sure I landed in the Top 10. I could shred the air guitar like a bossman and bend the notes to perfection, getting just the right lick in at just the right moment, hours on end, with the stereo blasting, late into the evening, bringing joy to anyone within earshot – including the neighbors.

I was so good at air guitar that I didn’t matter that I couldn’t play a real guitar, even though I tried, I tried.

My freshman year in college I roomed with a guitar player named Tommy who played in a band. Tommy was a very capable Stratocaster axeman, long-haired and skinny – the perfect look for a 70s rock n’ roller, right out of central casting – who worshiped at the altar of Jimi Hendrix. He was a nice Southern boy from Greenville, South Carolina. He tried to teach me how to play the guitar. It did not go well.

My incompetence at playing the guitar was a sight to behold. If you were to hire a team of MIT engineering grads to design a robot that sucked at guitar, it would not suck as suckly as I sucked. My fingers fumbled around the frets like they were blindfolded and drunk, and had stumbled into a dark, slippery cave, with bats flying all around. I’m not sure I got a single chord right in several months of trying.

I played left-handed, which complicated things. Luckily my roommate Tommy played left-handed as well – like Hendrix! – but that didn’t necessarily make me any better. Tommy tried to teach me, and I tried to learn, and even though Tommy was a kind and patient hippie dude, I’m pretty sure more than once he wanted to bash my head in with his beloved Strat for not being able to do the most basic things on the guitar.

Well, no matter. I was aces at air guitar! Still am – probably.

*****

In the olden days, there were certain songs that practically begged me to play air guitar. They were almost always classic rock/blues songs, because that’s what I mainly listened to back then. This blog is dedicated to those songs. I don’t listen to classic rock as much as I used to, not even close. But I still know all the standards by heart and always will, until they lower me into the ground.

As usual with my occasional music blogs, these Classic Rock guitar songs reflect only my own personal tastes and have nothing to do with what anyone else holds dear. All songs are linked to YouTube videos. They are in no particular order of importance. Descriptions are free of charge…..

Blue Sky, Allman Brothers Band: I have probably listened to this song 300 times or more, and every time I hear it I fall in love all over again with the dual guitar interplay between Duane Allman and Dickey Betts.

Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix: The Guitar God was known for his pyrotechnics, but I much prefer when he eased off the gas a little and let his soul take over.

Like a Hurricane, Neil Young: The guitar work on this song sounds like a hurricane, building momentum before blowing down your house eight minutes later.

Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits: They don’t give a damn about any trumpet-playin’ band….

Go Your Own Way, Fleetwood Mac: The latter-day Mac were known for selling zillions of albums full of well-crafted pop/rock songs, but guitarist Lindsay Buckingham could shred when he wanted to, like on this hit. The video I included doesn’t capture Lindsay’s best playing — go to the recorded version for that — but it’s cool to see the whole band in concert during their glory days.

The Thrill is Gone, B.B. King: In which the King of the Blues produces a surprise hit during the Psychedelic Era. I went with the live version here with Gladys Knight on The Midnight Special, because wow….

Lonesome and a Long Way from Home, Eric Clapton. I’ll admit to not being as enamored of Clapton’s playing as others, but his playing here kills it.

Loan Me a Dime, Boz Scaggs: Duane Allman was the session player on this underrated blues classic, and his guitar tells an eternally sad story.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps, The Beatles: The Beatles were an obscure rock n’ roll combo from Liverpool, England, who put out a series of albums in the 1960s that sold poorly but are now considered cult classics among certain musicologists. This song was written by Beatles member George Harrison, but the lead guitar was provided by Eric Clapton, who later romanced George’s wife.

Jesus Just Left Chicago, ZZ Top. And he’s bound for New Aw’leans….

Freeway Jam, Jeff Beck: The only instrumental on this list, from Beck’s classic jazz/rock/fusion album, “Blow by Blow.”

Sweet Child O’ Mine, Guns & Roses: I wasn’t a huge fan of the 80s hair bands, but man, Slash’s guitar work sticks to your ribs. Powerful and melodic.

Whole Lotta Love, Led Zeppelin: Baby I ain’t foolin’……

Photos: Google