Some of the coolest guitar songs are instrumental guitar tunes, which shine with their composition and ingenuity without the need for any lyrics. These epic compositions evoke amazing feelings and satisfy the guitarists intellectually with their inspirational licks, harmonies, melodies, and solos.
I tried to create the list as a mix of timeless classics of renowned guitar players and new amazingly-talented guitarists that became famous with social media like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. You can listen to any of them to get some inspiration and have fun with their jaw-dropping skills.
Entre Dos Aguas – Paco De Lucia
One of the most important guitarists ever is Paco De Lucia, who creates unbelievable sounds with the nylon strings of his classical guitar. His technical capacity is unmatched, and he is one of the best songwriters as he builds amazing musical sentences. He is the master of telling a story with his instrument.
Entre Dos Aguas is one of the most famous tunes of the virtuoso guitarist. And this version, with the other two virtuosos, John McLaughlin and Al Di Meola, is one of the best live guitar performances ever recorded.
For the Love of God – Steve Vai
The student of the grand master Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, is one of the most famous electric guitar players ever. The three-time Grammy Award winner has great knowledge of musical theory and attention to detail, creating very unusual harmonies and licks that are pure magic.
His most popular song is probably For The Love Of God, in which he solos beautifully on top of great arpeggiated progressions.
For the Love of God Guitar Tabs,
Apache – The Shadows
The iconic cowboy guitar song Apache by the 60’s guitar band The Shadows is another timeless classic song. The wild west-style song has amazing clean guitar tones with simple yet highly melodic guitar lines.
The clean guitar’s tone with reverb is simply impressive, and is a great instrumental guitar song for any intermediate guitarist to play and enjoy.
Classical Gas – Tommy Emmanuel
Tommy Emmanuel is one of the most unique guitar virtuosos with his peculiar style and experimental playing. He impacts listeners’ lives very deeply and enhances the music art with his innovative approach to the instrument. He mixes lots of genres in his music and creates unusual patterns with his acoustic guitar.
In this song, Classical Gas, you can feel everything I mentioned as Tommy flows from country and folk style to more Paco De Lucia realms and more classical styles, as well as modern percussive acoustic guitar playing.
Always With Me Always With You – Joe Satriani
One of the grand masters of electric guitar, the teacher of teachers, is the virtuoso Joe Satriani. Many famous guitarists today, like Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Alex Skolnick, and many more, are his students. He has been awarded for Grammy 15 times and sold more than 10 million albums worldwide. He is the best-selling instrumental rock guitarist of all time.
He collaborated with many rock stars like Mick Jagger and bands like Deep Purple in his career. His playing style is complete as he is a master of all techniques, including legato, two-handed tapping and arpeggio tapping, volume swells, harmonics, and extreme whammy bar effects.
This piece, Always With Me Always With You, is a more humble tune where Joe Satriani hangs around great melodies with a beautiful clean tone, creating amazing guitar passages instead of shredding his way through and showing off his skills.
Always With Me, Always With You Guitar Tabs
Wave Of Synergy – Angel Vivaldi
One of the newer guitar virtuosos is Angel Vivaldi from U.S.A. He is a highly prolific guitarist, who is known for his amazing guitar skills, many EPs and albums, as well as cinematic music videos.
This instrumental rock guitar song, Wave Of Synergy, is a killer song with amazing rock guitar riffs and heavy tones. Angel collaborates with Andy James, another virtuoso guitar player in the song, while the duo throws around amazing tapping partitions and rock-solid guitar licks.
Technical Difficulties – Racer X
Another super-skilled virtuoso guitar player is Paul Gilbert, who you might remember from the heavy metal band Mr. Big. He is considered one of the best shredders of all time as he is known for his highly technical fast playing style.
Technical Difficulties is one of his greates works with his heavy metal band called Racer X. The song has great heavy metal riffs and a shredding solo that shows all the skills of Paul Gilbert.
Technical Difficulties Guitar Tabs
Rebel Rouser – Duane Eddy
Known for his twangy sound, Duany Eddy is one of the iconic rock and roll guitarists of the ’50s and ’60s. He sold more than 12 million records in 1963, and Rebel Rouser was one of his best tunes. He influenced many guitarists with this tune, including George Harrison, Hank Marvin, Bruce Springsteen, and Mark Knopfler.
Ghost Of The Mountain – Justin Johnson
Justin Johnson is an amazing country-rock-blues guitarist of our time. He is one of the most vital guitarists of this generation, as he creates amazing acoustic and electric blues-country guitar partitions.
Ghost Of The Mountain is a great song where he shows his skills with a slide and fingerpicked arpeggiated liens with a double-bass Travis picking pattern.
Ghost Of The Mountain Guitar Tabs
Let It Be – Mateus Asato
One of the most talented guitarists today is the Brazillian virtuoso Mateus Asato, who became famous thanks to his videos on Instagram. After that, he toured with countless pop stars and became a signature artist of Suhr guitars.
His playing consists of his own fingerstyle method of picking, which heavily relies on hybrid picking. He likes to create unique jazz progressions, and he uses double stops and complex single-string and chord slides very often.
Asato does not have many instrumental full tracks as he collaborates with different pop stars and artists mainly. But, he has some, in which he shows his purse skills and creativity. This one is his take on the great Beatles tune, Let It Be. He makes it so jazzy with hints of soul. He is called a neo-soul guitarist, and that is for a reason.
Eruption – Van Halen
Probably one of the most iconic guitar solos ever is Eruption by the great Eddie Van Halen. It is the solo that made tapping famous among guitarists, and his tone became a classic after the song.
Eddie Van Halen uses many iconic techniques in the song, like two-handed tapping, gonzo whammy bar dips, and artificial harmonics. It is truly an iconic epic rock tune that makes the guitar erupt like a volcano.
Before The Beginning – John Frusciante
John Frusciante is known for his playing style with amazingly melodic great sounding lines full of emotions before The Beginning is his tribute to the Maggot Brain of Funkadelic, as the songs resemble each other strongly.
The song is quite slow-paced with long-lasting sentimental bends and slides as well as the unique pickings style of John. Also, hats off to John Frusciante’s tone on this one, as it is one of the sweetest tones he ever created, in my opinion.
Before The Beginning Guitar Tabs
Little Wing – Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
Little Wing is one of the legendary rock songs with great rhythm and blues inspirations. Stevie Ray Vaughan took the song to create an instrumental masterpiece with his great technical ability and unique Texas blues style, which won him a Grammy Award as the best instrumental rock song of the year.
Manhattan – Eric Johnson
Another well-known guitar virtuoso is Eric Johnson, with his jazz-rock fusion style. His playing style is very chill but highly technical. Another aspect Eric Johnson shines is his wonderful tones. He surprises every time with the amazing tones that he gets from his Strat.
Manhattan is a great guitar piece in that Eric plays great jazz fusion chord progressions with his inspirational clean tones.
Ocean – John Butler
John Butler is an American-Australian, highly talented acoustic guitarist who impresses audiences with his technical percussive style and the amazing compositions he makes. He reached number 1 on the Australian charts many times with his band John Butler Trio.
Ocean is one of the works of his solo career. The song has a beautiful melody before leaving place to a more percussive peak, where Butler uses many techniques like two-handed two-string tapping and percussive skills.
Nocturne – Julian Lage
Julian Lage was the American child prodigy who performed at Grammy Awards when he was just 12. He later became the master of jazz guitar, performing on many stages, and he teaches jazz in some of the best music schools. Right now, he is a member of the New England Conservatory of Music.
His take on Chopin’s Nocturne with his amazing jazz guitar tone, Telecaster, and fusion guitar licks and riffs is simply amazing. No wonder why many guitarists point to him as their favorite guitarist today.
Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers – Jeff Beck
When talking about guitar legends, it is hard to go without mentioning Jeff Beck, who is the main inspiration of many guitar legends like David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, and more. His way of creating musical sentences is unmatched, which is why he is called the guitarist’s guitarist.
Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers is a great song that shows his skills fully as it starts to slow with great bends and riffs before giving way to more blues-rock style licks and complex as well as fast licks.
Cause Weve Ended As Lovers Guitar Tabs
Bron-Yr-Aur – Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin’s legendary guitarist Jimmy Page is not known for his instrumental pieces but for his amazing and out-of-this-world composition skills. He is one of the most influential guitarists of all time, and his acoustic guitar tune Bron-Yr-Aur shows his versatility on his instrument. From folky country pieces to hard rock solos, Page can do anything with his guitar.
This instrumental Led Zeppelin song is a very sweet acoustic guitar piece in open C tuning where Jimmy Page amazes the listeners with his emotional playing with great dynamics.
Albatross – Fleetwood Mac
Albatross is another iconic instrumental blues-rock guitar tune composed by Peter Green of early Fleetwood Mac. The song still remains Fleetwood Mac’s only number-one hit in the UK singles chart. The band is mainly known for its late era with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham and the albums like Rumours, but Peter Green-era of the band has gems like Albatross.
El Farol – Carlos Santana
Another guitar legend is Carlos Santana’s 1999 instrumental tune from his album Supernatural. The song shows Santana’s uniqueness with his iconic, slightly gainy clean tone, Latin rhythms, peculiar phrasing, as well as great technical abilities.
Far Beyond The Sun – Yngwie Malmsteen
One of the fastest guitarists in history is Yngwie Malmsteen. With his unique sound and style that fuses classical music, especially Niccolò Paganini, Ludwig Beethoven, as well as Johann Sebastian Bach, with modern rock, as well as over-the-roof shredding skills, he is one of the most influential guitarists.
Far Beyond The Sun is one of his most popular songs, in which he mixes baroque music with hard rock shredding. The Swedish guitarist’s song is remembered for its distinctively Baroque, gothic compositional style and lightning-fast arpeggiated solo.
Far Beyond The Sun Guitar Tabs
Playing God – Polyphia
Playing God by the progressive rock band Polyphia, who is known for creating music that mixes virtuosic guitar parts with other styles of music. The band fuses hip-hop and electronic music sounds with metal, creating amazing progressive lines. Playing God is no different, as it features great beats, virtuosic guitar solos, and mixed melodies.
Watermelon In Easter Hay – Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa is another highly influential guitar virtuoso who inspired tons of musicians with his high music knowledge, unique playing style, and prolific character. Zappa is a master with his improvisational solos and instrumentals on the electric guitar. The impeccable guitar solos he creates have great details. You can find something new every time you listen to them.
Watermelon In Easter Hay is one of his most popular tunes, in which he creates amazing melodic licks and great lines.
Watermelon In Easter Hay Guitar Tabs
Steppin Out – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
Created by multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter John Mayall, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers is an English blues rock band that became an incubator for British rock musicians. The past members of the bands include Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, Mick Taylor, and Jack Bruce, among others.
Steppin’ Out is a great blues-rock instrumental guitar tune with lovely guitar licks and uplifting vibes.
Ascend – The Dooo
Ascen is a relatively new song by the YouTuber guitarist The Dooo. It is a great rock guitar tune accompanied by piano. The song has great shredding parts and is covered by many guitarists.
Rumble – Link Wray & His Ray Men
Rumble is another great instrumental composed by Link Wray & His Ray Men in 1958. The song became highly popular with its catchy and iconic riff. It was covered by many guitarists like Bill Frisell and was featured in many movies.
The song used many techniques of distortion and tremolo, then largely unexplored in rock and roll. It became a precursor of rock music that was going to be born in a decade.
Angie – Simon & Garfunkel
Anji is actually a great fingerpicking guitar song created by the folk guitarist Davy Graham in 1961. It is one of the best-known acoustic blues-folk guitar pieces ever composed and is covered by many artists, including Simon & Garfunkel.
Simon & Garfunkel’s version is the best version, in my opinion, as it has a great recording, and Paul Simon’s magical fingers create great sounds from his acoustic guitar.
Ethereal Feel – Ichika Nito
Ichika Nito is one of the most talented guitarists of recent years. With his signature Ibanez guitar, he plays great compositions with a unique combination of complex techniques and an easily identifiable signature sound.
One of his most well-known songs is Ethereal Feel, in which he uses complex tapping techniques with an ethereal clean guitar sound.
Electric Gypsy – Andy Timmons
Another highly-talented Satriani student, Andy Timmons, is known for his virtuoso technique, musical vocabulary, pace, and sense of melody. He experiments in different genres, from hard rock to soft jazzy tunes. Electric Gypsy is one of the blues-rock tunes of his, with tasty guitar licks and an amazing solo.
Third Stone From The Sun – Jimi Hendrix
The guitar god Jimi Hendrix rarely creates instrumental guitar tunes, but it is a joy to listen to when he does. One of the rare ones is Third Stone From The Sun, a more jazzy-bluesy tune with great drum grooves and experimental guitar licks that we do not often see from Jimi.
Third Stone From The Sun Guitar Tabs
Chasing A Beat – Tom Quayle
Another new-era guitarist who got famous thanks to YouTube is Tom Quayle. His mastery of rhythm and musical theory knowledge is mesmerizing as he reflects all that in his compositions. He started playing at the age of 15 as his dad was an amazing finger-picking guitarist.
Tom is an Ibanzez endorsing artist and has two signature models. He is a jazz fusion guitarist using complex chords and progressions in his music. Chasing A Beat is one of the best songs he made, without a doubt.
For Mom – Buckethead
Buckethead is one of the most innovative guitar players ever. His approach to music is highly versatile as he moves around different genres, including progressive metal, funk, blues, bluegrass, ambient, and avant-garde music. He collaborated with countless musicians like Iggy Pop, Les Claypool, Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, and more. He even played with Guns N Roses for a while in the 2000s.
His sentimental tune, which he wrote for his mother, is one of his best works as he goes around ethereal clean arpeggios on top of a great rhythmic groove.
James – Pat Metheny
The winner of more than 20 Grammy Awards, and owner of three gold albums, Pat Metheny, is one of the most famous jazz-fusion guitarists. He is one of the most significant and successful names when it comes to contemporary and progressive jazz. He is the only musician ever to win Grammys in more than 10 categories, which is an extremely hard record to beat.
His song James is dedicated to the singer-songwriter James Taylor, as he is one of the biggest inspirations for Pat Metheny. The song is a great jazz tune with an amazing tone from Pat’s guitar.
Guardian Angels – John McLaughlin
For most musicians, John McLaughlin is the best guitarist who ever lived. He is the pioneer of jazz fusion guitar, as he has a vast knowledge of many different genres all around the world, including jazz with rock, world music, Indian classical music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. His works with Miles Davis and his jazz-fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra are still considered some of the best jazz-fusion guitar works of all time.
As the owner of several “The Best Guitarist Of The Year Award” and “Best Jazz Guitarist” from many different authorities, John McLaughlin is a guitarist that you can hear a new detail every time you listen to any song of his. One of the greatest is the Guardian Angels, where he plays his guitar live with Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia. What a trio!
Cruisin’ – Al Di Meola
Another multi-faceted guitar virtuoso is Al Di Meola, who plays many different genres in world music and jazz fusion. His knowledge of different music around the world, from Latin music to Indian music, is amazing, and he perfectly applies that knowledge to his jazz compositions.
The American guitarist one of the lesser-known but one of the best songs is Crusisin’ where he plays licks like two guitars talking to each other. It is quite a fun and great song to listen to.
Conclusion
While there are countless amazing instrumental guitar songs that I could not add to the list, everyone would agree these tunes are some of the best ones. I tried to pick tracks from different genres and different artists as much as I could while building the list for you to explore different players and their approaches to music. So enjoy this guitar journey around the world of virtuoso players!
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