Best albums to learn completely?

[Marc Morfei]

A couple times I have made the effort to learn an entire album note for note (or as close as I can get with my meager ability). I feel this is a good exercise, since you are forced to learn not only the parts that come naturally, but the parts that you might not get right away - and that's where learning occurs. Plus of course it gives you deep insights into one guy's particular style.

So I'm looking for recommendations for albums to do this with. Sit down and learn all the guitar parts all the way through. My goal is to be a solid guitar player with a well-rounded vocabulary in the blues/rock/country/rockabilly spectrum. To confirm, I am not looking for "good albums" with "good songs." I am looking for albums that would be good tutorials as part of a fundamental education for a moderately-skilled guitar player.

Here are some that come to mind. Please offer other suggestions. Thanks!

Black Crowes - Southern Harmony
Stones – Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed
ZZ Top – Tres Hombres
Hendrix – Smash Hits
CCR – Chronicle

 

[Red Ryder]

Side 2, Abby Road

 

[buster poser]

Deguello was one for me, lots of tasty solos and really tough parts (the breakdown in Manic Mechanic lawd)

Some others from my yoot:

Zep II
Are You Experienced
Perm Waves, Hemispheres
Electric (Cult)
Especially for You, Green Thoughts

Then I took 20 some years off and it's been a bit all over the map since

 

[EllroyJames]

Metal Machine Music.

 

[mr natural]

I met this guy once who had worked up a solo acoustic version of the entire Beatles White Album. It was crazy.

 

[CalebAaron666]

 

[TomBrokaw]

Appetite for Destruction. I always thought Stradlin's rhythm work was a great compliment to Slash's leads.

Heartbeat City. It's not guitar heavy, but what is on there is fantastic. Maybe The Cars (st debut) or a best of.

Brothers in Arms.

Back in Black.

Synchronicity or Regatta de Blanc.

The Joshua Tree.

Fashion Nugget (Cake)

 

[scook]

Do you play any tunings other than standard tuning or have a desire to learn them? The Black Crowes first album would be an excellent choice if you’re in to open tunings.

Is slide in or out?

I would also recommend sticking to bands and albums that you like and/or players you want to play like. It’s hard enough learning a song you don’t really care for but trying to do an entire album of material you don’t like or don’t care for the player I feel creates unnecessary pain and suffering. Unless it’s a job requirement, my opinion is to stay away from material that doesn’t resonate with you.

Lots of good choices above. I’d say any Allman Bros material with Dickie and Duane gives you tons of material to digest.
Are You Experienced?
Appetite for Destruction.
Delicate Sound of Thunder would give you a good cross section of Gilmour’s style through different eras.
Nashville West has some great electric Clarence White on it, pre-Bender and pre-Byrds.
Any Merle Haggard album would get you some solid country licks.
Stray Cats would get you some great Setzer playing.

 

[David Barnett]

Marquee Moon

 

[Lawdawg]

That's a pretty good list and plenty challenging even for a good guitarist -- which I am not!

When I decided to get semi-serious about guitar I learned (or tried to learn) every part to every song on The Stone Roses first album. The songs are approachable and seem simple enough to get started with, but there are plenty of challenging guitar parts to dig into -- John Squire is a fantastic player.

 

[buster poser]

Appetite for Destruction. I always thought Stradlin's rhythm work was a great compliment to Slash's leads.

Heartbeat City. It's not guitar heavy, but what is on there is fantastic. Maybe The Cars (st debut) or a best of.

Brothers in Arms.

Back in Black.

Synchronicity or Regatta de Blanc.

The Joshua Tree.

Fashion Nugget (Cake)

GREAT list

 

[johnny k]

Rockabilly psychobilly, country and a slow tune or 2. This is probably my favorite RHH record, made on 2 tracks.

 

[Dismalhead]

Never gave it much serious thought, but I ended up learning a Collective Soul album from front to back a couple of years ago, not that I thought it was that great of an album. It was fun to play along to at the beginning of the pandemic. I can probably do a couple of old Scorpions albums too, maybe an Offspring album. If I were going to do one deliberately, I'd probably do Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop or Rush Hemispheres.

 

[W.L.Weller]

There are a thousand worse records to study if you're looking for some phrasing and feel.

 

[Moonraker5]

Rolling Stone magazine voted this album the "Greatest Rock And Roll Album." John Lennon's first solo album "Plastic Ono Band"

It is the greatest album to learn beginning to end. Why?

- the ENTIRE album can be played by most bedroom players. Every single note from any of the instruments on the album can be done by any musician at home.

- all the instrumentation is pretty basic. Some quirky guitar lines here or there, but the album can be figured out and played through.

- the instruments on the album are just:
guitar
bass
piano
drums
And all of them are easy to figure out and play. You can work on bass one day. Do the piano another day or two. Guitar...do that. Drums...if you have a drum kit give a go to Ringo's drum fills.

Drums, guitar, piano, bass. All can be done for every song on the album. Lennon kept it raw and simple on this album. Great for us musicians who want to play the whole thing.

I am a player of moderate skill. I am not a bass player, nor a pianist...but I can figure out those parts and play them. It is a fun project learning to play this entire album - one of rock's masterpieces.

 

[ndcaster]

Any collection of Gene Vincent with the Blue Caps.

 

[loopfinding]

 

[Suproman]

Something by AC/DC would be good. Just make sure to learn all the guitar parts properly (most people don't), and don't use too much gain.

 

[421JAM]

Rolling Stone magazine voted this album the "Greatest Rock And Roll Album." John Lennon's first solo album "Plastic Ono Band"

View attachment 968861

It is the greatest album to learn beginning to end. Why?

- the ENTIRE album can be played by most bedroom players. Every single note from any of the instruments on the album can be done by any musician at home.

- all the instrumentation is pretty basic. Some quirky guitar lines here or there, but the album can be figured out and played through.

- the instruments on the album are just:
guitar
bass
piano
drums
And all of them are easy to figure out and play. You can work on bass one day. Do the piano another day or two. Guitar...do that. Drums...if you have a drum kit give a go to Ringo's drum fills.

Drums, guitar, piano, bass. All can be done for every song on the album. Lennon kept it raw and simple on this album. Great for us musicians who want to play the whole thing.

I am a player of moderate skill. I am not a bass player, nor a pianist...but I can figure out those parts and play them. It is a fun project learning to play this entire album - one of rock's masterpieces.

Good suggestion! You can get away with playing very few notes and very easy parts as long as you play with a great feel and great sensitivity towards the melody and song arrangement, and that’s where all these songs shine.

 

[Vibroluxer]

I would recommend Creedence Gold. You already know how the songs go, google the title for the tab. So easy, I just might have to do this myself!