You Can't Always Get What You Want: Lead Sheet

This lead sheet collection captures 167 songs across nearly a decade of creative output, giving guitarists access to the entire early Stones catalog in a single, study-friendly format. The inclusion of pivotal guitar riffs and solos in TAB notation makes this far more than a chord chart book; it's a working resource that connects melody, harmony, and signature instrumental figures to actual performance practice.

Opening this book is like holding a document of creative risk-taking. Early blues-rooted grooves sit alongside more experimental arrangements, showing how a band refined its voice over less than a decade. The interplay between melody, riff, and rhythm creates songs that feel both immediately catchy and endlessly rewarding to deconstruct.

Guitarists studying rock songwriting, arranging, and performance from the 1960s will find this an indispensable reference. This works equally well for self-directed learners seeking to master the Stones' canonical works and for educators building curricula around rock music history and composition.

• Use the fundamental instrumental riffs as written to anchor your understanding of how each song sits rhythmically and harmonically; these figures are not decorative but essential to the songs' identity.
• Cross-reference the TAB section when learning the 29 songs that include solo notation; playing the written riff before improvising teaches you the song's DNA.
• Study the full-color reproductions of early sheet music covers and album art to contextualize when each song was recorded and how production techniques evolved across the 1963-1971 span.
• Work through the introductory essay before diving into individual songs to understand the stylistic arc from blues covers through psychedelia.

Use this collection to teach rock songwriting through a single, deeply influential artist. Assign individual songs as case studies in composition, melody, and harmonic structure. Guitarists can program concert sets around era-specific selections (early blues covers, mid-period classics, late psychedelic work) to demonstrate stylistic evolution.

• Reading lead sheets with embedded instrumental riffs and figures
• Understanding rock song structures across blues, psychedelic, and experimental contexts
• Connecting tablature notation to standard notation and harmonic analysis
• Developing awareness of rhythmic and melodic evolution across a 1963-1971 creative span
• Learning how signature guitar riffs function as compositional anchors within song arrangements