The Rolling Stones: Lyric & Chord Songbook: Guitar Lyric/Chords Book

This collection captures the essential Stones catalog in a format that serves working guitarists and serious students equally well. The inclusion of key riffs in TAB alongside full lyrics and chords makes these songs immediately playable, whether you're learning them for the first time or refreshing your grip on timeless arrangements.

These songs bristle with attitude and swagger. The guitar work spans delta blues grooves, country-tinged riffs, and raw rock swagger, creating arrangements that feel both urgent and immediately singable. Whether you're playing fingerstyle or with a pick, the material demands personality and conviction.

This book serves guitarists of intermediate skill who want to expand their repertoire with foundational rock songs, as well as music students exploring how blues-based songwriting and guitar arrangement function across multiple contexts. Teachers can use it as a reference for discussing rock history, song structure, and the relationship between rhythm guitar and vocal melody.

• Work the riffs first before adding full chord voicings. The guitar lines in songs like Jumpin' Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man are rhythmic anchors that shape the entire feel.
• Study how the Stones use partial chords and space. You'll notice they rarely play every note of a full voicing, especially in the verses, which creates room for dynamics and expression.
• Pay attention to the swing and groove in the chord progression rather than metronomic accuracy. Songs like Honky Tonk Women sit on the pocket in ways that feel relaxed but lock in tight with a rhythm section.

Use this collection in a rock or contemporary music elective where students learn the language of popular songwriting and guitar arrangement. It also works as a companion resource in music history courses exploring the development of rock music from blues and R&B roots. Individual songs serve well as warm-up material or as models for student arrangement projects.

• Reading chord symbols and TAB notation simultaneously
• Recognizing blues-based chord progressions and variations
• Adapting open position and barre chord voicings for different song contexts
• Understanding how rhythm guitar riffs interact with vocal melody
• Applying swing and groove feel to straightforward chord changes