80s Pop Songs: 5 Classics Worth Learning on Guitar
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80s Pop Songs: 5 Classics Worth Learning on Guitar · Source: Alamy Stock Photo / David Lichtneker
80s pop songs have a lot to answer for. Karaoke classics, dance anthems, and overall era-defining tunes. Here, we’re looking at what guitarists can learn from these classic tracks.
80s Pop Songs for Guitarists
All About 80s Pop Songs
- 80s pop songs are rewarding to learn. They contain memorable guitar riffs, melodic lead lines and clean chord progressions.
- There are lots of styles to explore. Guitarists can blend rock, funk, pop, and blues when looking at 80s guitar parts.
- By learning 80s pop songs on guitar, you’ll craft your skills and improve your knowledge of various effects such as chorus, delay and compression.
The Power Of Love – Hughey Lewis & The News
As far as guitarists are concerned, the 1980s were a time for Kramers, Marshalls, and Floyd Roses. However, if you look towards the pop end of the charts, there are some fantastic guitar goodies to be had. Notably, the title track from the 1985 film, Back To The Future.
Chris Hayes is who we’re to thank for this golden track. For guitarists, the intro starts with a bunch of power chords, even adding in a slash chord that adds tension before a wonderful resolution.
However, it’s the *clean Strat tone that makes the verses in this song. Littered with suspended and inverted chords, the guitar work is the backbone of this particular song. Specifically, adding sus4 chords, whereby you add the 4th degree of the scale to a regular chord. Moreover, the rhythms are enough to keep any player on their toes! Plenty of syncopation to get under your fingers.
Kayleigh – Marillion
Sticking with 1985, we’re looking to Marillion for some guitar guidance. Similarly, the guitar part is what guides us through the track. This a great excuse to learn how to hybrid-pick and use some delay.
What is hybrid picking on guitar? This is where players use a combination of their pick and fingers to pluck the strings. With Kayleigh, the opening riff and main guitar part feature barre chords and arpeggios. Therefore, you need to strum the barre chord and pick the individual notes for the arpeggio.
You can also use this as an excuse to get nerdy about delay. Switched on and off, you’ll need a 430ms delay to capture the true feel of this track. Personally, I’ve found this time to be best. A delay unit from *TC Electronic should help with this. Although any digital delay should work.
Run To You – Bryan Adams
Our next choice in our look at 80s pop songs is from Canadian star Bryan Adams. Run To You is a fantastic beginner guitar track. Allowing players to use a *capo, memorise a catchy riff, and even try out some harmonies in the guitar solo.
What I love about this Bryan Adams guitar riff is that it is a real backbone to the song. Therefore, on guitar, it gives you plenty of value and allows players to practice it over and over while playing the track.
Furthermore, the guitar solo is a repeated pattern that descends down the fretboard. Easy to read via TAB, and easy to play. Plus, this guitar solo is played in harmony, giving you an extra opportunity to learn another part to explore how guitar harmonies sound. As 80s pop songs go, there’s a lot to learn from this one.
True Colours – Cyndi Lauper
Bear with me on this one. Cyndi Lauper for guitar work? Yes! The intro to True Colours is a wonderfully clean guitar part that every player should learn. A little bit of fingerstyle playing from this 80s pop song.
This is a great opportunity to try your hand at fingerstyle guitar playing. With this intro riff, you’re best to use your thumb to pick the bass notes, and your index finger to pick the others. Overall, you end up with a nice riff that’s good enough to play on its own.
Should you wish to play the rest of the song, there are some core skills to build on with chord changes, and yet more slash chords. We’re in the key of A minor, so the open chord shapes are fairly easy for beginners.
Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Tears For Fears
Concluding our look at 80s pop songs on guitar, we’re looking to Tears For Fears for one of the most era-defining tracks of the decade.
Grab your guitar and head towards the 7th and 5th frets on the B and high E strings. Along with some alternate picking, that’s all you need to master this iconic riff. Just like with some of our other picks, this riff comes back on and off throughout the track.
There are also some great barre chords to try with this track. Such as F#m, which is often overlooked by some players. It’s essentially like playing an Em chord on the 2nd fret but without a capo. Give it a try!
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