🎸 Guitar Chords for Rock Bands from the 70s – Volume 1

This collection features guitar-friendly songs from standout bands like Atlanta Rhythm Section, Badfinger, Blues Image, and more.

Whether you're diving into power chords, tight riffs, or smooth melodic lines, each lesson is designed to bring the feel of the '70s right to your fingertips. From chart-toppers to cult favorites, you'll find a range of tunes that helped shape the sound of a decade.

Thirteen is a track from Big Star's debut album from 1972.

This song was released as a single but was mislabeled and called Don't Lie To Me. There is no mention if the song became a hit but Rolling Stone has it as #396 on their list of the greatest 500 songs of all time.

Burning For You  was the lead single from Blue Öyster Cult’s eighth studio album, Fire of Unknown Origin (1981), and marked a commercial resurgence for the band.

Sung by guitarist Buck Dharma, who also co-wrote it with lyricist Richard Meltzer, the track became their only number‑one hit on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart and reached #40 on the Hot 100, earning them a rare Top‑40 placement.

Its slick production, strong melody, and early MTV video helped cement it as a staple of early ‘80s hard rock radio.

Don't Fear The Reaper was originally released in 1976 from their album Agents of Fortune.

“(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” became Blue Öyster Cult’s highest-charting single, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Written and sung by Dharma, the song unites a haunting melody, philosophical lyrics contemplating mortality and eternal love, and a hauntingly memorable riff. Over the decades, it has become a rock music landmark—praised for its craft, featured in numerous films and TV shows, and forever memorialized in pop culture thanks to the legendary “more cowbell” Saturday Night Live sketch.

Hooked On A Feeling was from the Swedish band Blue Swede and this song was also the name of the 1974 album. BJ Thomas first recorded the song in 1969.

The Blue Swede version hit #1 in the US in 1974.