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AC DC

29 guitar songs · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide

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Thunderstruck - Guitar Tab Guitar Tab

Thunderstruck - Guitar Tab

YouTube Stats: 4.1M · 69K

Mr. Tabs Guitar Tab
You Shook Me Night Long - Guitar Tab Guitar Tab

You Shook Me Night Long - Guitar Tab

YouTube Stats: 15K · 385

StephLeGratteux Guitar Tab
Thunderstruck Pt.1 - Intro - Guitar Lesson Guitar Lesson

Thunderstruck Pt.1 - Intro - Guitar Lesson

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GuitarLessons365SongLessons Guitar Lesson
Thunderstruck - Guitar Cover Guitar Cover

Thunderstruck - Guitar Cover

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Kfir Ochaion Guitar Cover

Band Overview

History and Guitar Legacy

AC/DC formed in Sydney, Australia in 1973, built around the guitar partnership of brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. From raw pub-rock fury to global domination with 'Back in Black', one of the best-selling albums ever, AC/DC defined Hard Rock guitar. Their deceptively simple approach using open-position power chords, pentatonic riffs, and relentless rhythmic drive creates the sound of a freight train. This simplicity makes them essential study for every electric guitarist seeking to understand tone and feel.

Playing Style and Techniques

Angus Young's schoolboy-uniform image masks a Gibson SG tone rooted in minor pentatonic scales, delivered with aggressive vibrato and precise string bends. Malcolm Young's rhythm playing anchored the band with tight downstrokes, percussive muting, and groove locked with Phil Rudd's drums. Malcolm's hollowed-out Gretsch Jet Firebird through cranked Marshall occupied a different frequency range from Angus, preventing guitar clash. This partnership created one of rock's tightest rhythm sections and defines AC/DC's signature sound.

Why Guitarists Study Ac Dc

AC/DC teaches that tone, timing, and feel matter far more than complexity. The band proves convincingly that playing fewer notes with conviction beats shredding without soul. For guitarists, AC/DC songs demonstrate how simple open-position power chords and pentatonic riffs deliver maximum impact. Learning their material develops fundamental skills in rhythm, feel, and attitude. Angus's solos showcase that familiar box positions, when played with proper vibrato width, aggressive pick attack, and phrasing, create timeless music.

Difficulty and Learning Path

AC/DC songs range from beginner-friendly to intermediate difficulty. Tracks like 'T.N.T.' and 'Highway to Hell' suit players comfortable with power chords and basic rhythm playing. Songs like 'Thunderstruck' and 'Back in Black' introduce alternate picking, hammer-on techniques, and precise fretting demands. Angus's solos, largely pentatonic-based in familiar box positions, require dedicated practice to capture his signature vibrato, pick attack, and aggressive tone, but reward players with authentic hard rock fundamentals.

What Makes AC DC Essential for Guitar Players

  • Malcolm Young's rhythm guitar is a masterclass in right-hand discipline. His downpicking is tight and relentless, with precise palm-muting that gives AC/DC their signature chug. Study his parts in 'Back in Black' and 'You Shook Me All Night Long' to understand how dynamics and muting control the energy of a riff.
  • Angus Young's vibrato is wide, aggressive, and instantly recognizable. He typically applies it at the top of a bend, shaking the string with his whole hand rather than just his fingertip. This is critical to nailing his solo tone, without that vibrato, the notes sound lifeless.
  • The intro to 'Thunderstruck' is one of the most famous guitar riffs ever and is played entirely with hammer-ons and pull-offs on the B string using one fretting hand while the picking hand stays mostly silent. It's a fantastic legato exercise that builds left-hand strength and independence.
  • AC/DC rarely use barre chords in their classic riffs. Most parts are built on open-position A5, D5, G5, and E5 power chords, letting open strings ring and add fullness. This approach is beginner-friendly but demands clean fretting and solid muting to avoid unwanted string noise.
  • The interplay between Angus and Malcolm is a lesson in arrangement for any two-guitar band. Malcolm typically sits on tight, mid-heavy rhythm parts while Angus plays looser, more treble-heavy riffs and fills. Learning both parts to songs like 'Whole Lotta Rosie' or 'Shoot to Thrill' will teach you how two guitars can occupy separate sonic spaces without stepping on each other.

Did You Know?

Malcolm Young removed the neck pickup from his Gretsch Jet Firebird, leaving just the bridge humbucker. He did this because he never used it and wanted a cleaner look, but it also reduced electromagnetic interference and gave him a slightly tighter, more focused tone.

The iconic opening riff of 'Back in Black' is played with a subtle swing feel, not straight eighth notes. Many guitarists play it too rigidly, the original recording has a laid-back, almost shuffle-like groove that's essential to getting it right.

Angus Young has said he uses only the neck pickup on his SG for solos, which is unusual for a rock lead player. The warmer, rounder tone of the neck position is a big part of why his leads sound fat and vocal rather than thin and piercing.

Producer Mutt Lange insisted on layering multiple rhythm guitar tracks on 'Back in Black' and 'For Those About to Rock,' creating that massive wall-of-guitars sound. When you try to replicate the tone with a single amp, it will always sound thinner, that's studio magic at work.

The 'Thunderstruck' intro was originally conceived as a warm-up exercise by Angus Young. He was backstage doing hammer-on drills and the band realized it sounded like a great riff, which eventually became the song's signature opening.

Despite being one of the loudest bands in rock, AC/DC use almost zero effects pedals live. Angus goes straight from his SG into a Marshall head, no overdrive, no delay, no chorus. Every bit of his tone comes from the guitar's volume knob, the amp's natural breakup, and his picking dynamics.

Malcolm Young tuned his low E string down to D on certain tracks (like 'Whole Lotta Rosie'), giving the riffs a heavier, more open sound. This drop-D approach was relatively uncommon in the late '70s and predated the grunge and metal bands that would later make it standard.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Back in Black album cover
Back in Black 1980

This is the essential AC/DC guitar album. The title track teaches tight rhythm playing with swing feel, 'Hells Bells' is a lesson in building intensity from a clean intro to heavy riffs, 'You Shook Me All Night Long' features one of rock's greatest chord progressions, and 'Shoot to Thrill' combines chugging palm-muted verses with wide-open chorus chords. Every song is a clinic in tone, timing, and economy.

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Highway to Hell album cover
Highway to Hell 1979

The last album with Bon Scott and the bridge between AC/DC's raw early sound and their polished '80s era. 'Highway to Hell' is a perfect beginner riff, open A and D chords with a driving rhythm. 'Girls Got Rhythm' has a deceptively tricky rhythm part with syncopated muting, and 'Whole Lotta Rosie' features one of Angus's most ferocious solos with aggressive bends and rapid pentatonic runs.

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For Those About to Rock We Salute You album cover
For Those About to Rock We Salute You 1981

Often overlooked, this album has some of the band's heaviest rhythm guitar tones. The title track's main riff is a great exercise in controlled palm-muting dynamics, tight on the verse, wide open on the chorus. 'Inject the Venom' features more complex rhythm patterns than typical AC/DC fare, making it a solid intermediate challenge.

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Power Up album cover
Power Up 2020

AC/DC's most recent album proves the formula still works. 'Shot in the Dark' and 'Demon Fire' are modern recordings with familiar AC/DC riff structures, making them great for players who want to learn songs that sound fresh but use classic techniques. Angus's solos here are tasteful and well-phrased, perfect for studying pentatonic lead playing with attitude.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Angus Young is synonymous with the Gibson SG Standard, specifically a 1968 model that has been his #1 for decades. It's a lightweight, double-cutaway mahogany body with full upper-fret access, perfect for his aggressive lead style. He also uses Gibson SG Customs and has a signature Jaydee SG. Malcolm Young played a 1963 Gretsch Jet Firebird with the neck pickup removed and a single bridge humbucker, strung with heavy-gauge strings for that thick, percussive rhythm tone.

Amp

Both brothers ran Marshall amplifiers for most of their career. Angus primarily uses a Marshall JTM45 and 1959 Super Lead (Plexi) cranked to full volume for natural tube saturation, no master volume, just pure power-tube overdrive. Malcolm used similar Marshall Plexi-era heads. In more recent years, Angus has also used Wizard amplifiers and Marshall JMP models. The key to their live sound is running the amps loud enough that the power tubes compress and break up naturally, producing that thick, harmonically rich crunch without any pedal assistance.

Pickups

Angus's Gibson SGs are loaded with stock Gibson humbuckers, typically PAF-style pickups in the 7.5–8.5k ohm output range. These moderate-output humbuckers are critical to his sound: they're hot enough to push a cranked Marshall into overdrive but not so hot that they compress the signal and kill dynamics. He primarily uses the neck pickup for solos (warmer, rounder tone) and the bridge pickup for rhythm (tighter, more cutting). Malcolm's Gretsch used a single bridge-position humbucker, a Super HiLoTron or later a Filtertron-style pickup, which gave his rhythm tone a tight, focused midrange bark.

Effects & Chain

AC/DC are famously anti-effects. Angus Young's signal chain is guitar straight into the amp, no pedalboard, no effects loop, no overdrive pedals. His entire tonal range comes from the guitar's volume knob (rolling back for cleaner tones, full up for saturation) and the amp's natural breakup. Malcolm was equally minimalist. In the studio, producers like Mutt Lange added depth through multi-tracking and room ambience, but the core tone is always dry and direct. If you want to sound like AC/DC, invest in a good amp and learn to control your dynamics with your picking hand, that's where the magic lives.

Recommended Gear

Gibson SG Standard
Guitar

Gibson SG Standard

Angus Young's 1968 Gibson SG Standard is the foundation of AC/DC's signature tone, its lightweight mahogany body and full upper-fret access enabling his aggressive, fluid lead work. Stock Gibson humbuckers push Marshall Plexi amps into natural tube saturation, giving him the perfect balance of dynamics and crunch without relying on effects.

Marshall Plexi (1959 Super Lead)
Amp

Marshall Plexi (1959 Super Lead)

The Marshall 1959 Super Lead cranked to full volume is where Angus Young's power comes from, with no master volume control forcing the power tubes to compress and break up naturally. This thick, harmonically rich overdrive defines AC/DC's raw, unprocessed rock tone straight from guitar to amp.

Marshall JTM45
Amp

Marshall JTM45

Angus Young uses the Marshall JTM45 as his primary amp for achieving natural tube saturation at high volumes, where the amp's power tubes generate organic overdrive without any pedal assistance. This minimalist, direct approach captures AC/DC's core sound: pure, uncolored guitar and amp interaction.

How to Practice AC DC on GuitarZone

Every AC DC song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice Thunderstruck - Guitar TabPractice Highway to Hell - Guitar TabPractice Thunderstruck Pt.1 - Intro - Guitar Lesson