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Guitar Songs, Tabs & Lessons

Leonard Cohen

3 guitar songs · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Folk Rock

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Artist Overview

Leonard Cohen, the Montreal-born poet, novelist, and singer-songwriter, began his recording career in 1967 and became one of the most influential figures in folk and literary songwriting. While he's rarely discussed in the same breath as guitar virtuosos, Cohen's approach to the instrument is deeply instructive for guitarists who want to understand the power of simplicity, fingerpicking economy, and how a well-placed chord voicing can carry an entire song. His music spans decades, from the sparse folk of the late 1960s through synthesizer-heavy work in the 1980s and back to stripped-down arrangements in his later years. For guitarists, the early and late periods are where the real lessons live. Cohen was primarily a self-taught guitarist who favored nylon-string classical guitars. His right-hand technique is built on simple but effective fingerpicking patterns, often based around arpeggiated triads and open-position chords. He rarely used a pick, preferring the warm, rounded tone of bare fingers on nylon strings. What makes him essential for guitarists is not technical difficulty but musical intention: every note he played served the lyric and the mood. Learning Cohen teaches you restraint, dynamics, and how to make three or four chords feel like a complete universe. His use of unusual tunings (he was fond of dropping to D and sometimes used capo positions to shift keys) adds harmonic color without requiring complex fretting. The key guitar contributors across Cohen's career varied. On early albums, session players and collaborators like Ron Cornelius added electric textures, while Cohen himself handled the core acoustic parts. In his later touring years, guitarists like Bob Metzger provided tasteful electric and steel guitar accompaniment that complemented Cohen's baritone voice and minimal strumming. Overall difficulty for learning Cohen's songs sits at beginner to intermediate. The challenge is not in speed or complexity but in nailing the feel, the timing, and the subtle fingerpicking nuances that give his songs their hypnotic quality. If you can hold a steady arpeggio and sing over it without rushing, you're halfway there.

What Makes Leonard Cohen Essential for Guitar Players

  • Cohen's fingerpicking patterns are deceptively simple, typically using thumb on bass strings alternating with index and middle fingers on the treble strings. Mastering his steady, almost meditative right-hand motion is a great exercise in consistency and dynamics.
  • He frequently used a capo to shift keys without changing chord shapes, making his songs very accessible for beginners. Learning where he places the capo on songs like 'Suzanne' (capo on the 5th fret in many versions) teaches you how to adapt open voicings to suit your vocal range.
  • Cohen's chord vocabulary leans heavily on open-position major and minor chords with occasional suspended and added-tone voicings (sus4, add9) that create a folk-classical hybrid sound. These subtle embellishments are easy to add and dramatically improve your acoustic arrangements.
  • His rhythm playing relies on a slow, deliberate tempo where each strum or pluck has space around it. Practicing Cohen songs forces you to slow down and focus on articulation, which is one of the hardest skills for developing guitarists to internalize.
  • Cohen occasionally used alternate tunings, particularly drop D, to add bass depth to his fingerpicking. This is a low-effort, high-reward technique that any guitarist can experiment with to fatten up simple chord progressions.

Did You Know?

Cohen reportedly spent years studying classical guitar with a Spanish teacher in Montreal during the early 1960s, which explains his preference for nylon-string instruments and his right-hand fingerpicking approach rooted in classical technique.

The iconic fingerpicking pattern in 'Suzanne' is often played differently by fans than Cohen himself played it. He typically used a rolling three-finger arpeggio rather than a flat strum, and the song's deceptive simplicity has made it one of the most covered acoustic pieces in history.

Cohen tuned his guitar down a half step or more in his later years to accommodate his deepening baritone voice, a practical trick many gigging guitarists use to reduce string tension and ease vocal strain.

On his 1967 debut 'Songs of Leonard Cohen,' producer John Simon initially added elaborate orchestral arrangements, but Cohen insisted on stripping most of them away, preferring the raw sound of his guitar and voice. This decision defined his entire aesthetic.

Cohen's live touring guitarist Bob Metzger, who played with him from 1979 through his final tours, used a Telecaster-style guitar through clean amp settings to mirror the clarity and simplicity Cohen demanded. No distortion, no flashy solos, just tone and taste.

Despite being known as a folk artist, Cohen was deeply influenced by flamenco guitar. You can hear traces of rasgueado-style strumming and Phrygian-flavored chord movements in songs throughout his catalog.

Cohen once said he only knew about 'three or four chords' when he started, and that limitation forced him to focus on melody and lyrics. This constraint-as-creativity philosophy is one of the most valuable lessons any guitarist can take from his work.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Songs of Leonard Cohen album cover
Songs of Leonard Cohen 1967

This debut album is the best starting point for guitarists. 'Suzanne' teaches steady fingerpicking arpeggios over simple chord shapes, while 'Sisters of Mercy' and 'So Long, Marianne' introduce you to his signature open-chord voicings with subtle bass-note movement. The arrangements are stripped down, making it easy to hear and replicate exactly what the guitar is doing.

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Songs from a Room album cover
Songs from a Room 1969

Even more sparse than the debut, this album features 'Bird on the Wire' and 'Story of Isaac,' which are perfect for practicing fingerpicking dynamics and learning how to let silence do the work. Ron Cornelius adds some tasteful electric guitar parts that show how to complement an acoustic-driven song without overplaying.

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New Skin for the Old Ceremony album cover
New Skin for the Old Ceremony 1974

This record expands the guitar palette with fuller arrangements. 'Chelsea Hotel #2' is a must-learn for acoustic guitarists, featuring a classic fingerpicking pattern in a standard tuning. The album also introduces more complex chord changes and transitions that push intermediate players to think beyond basic open chords.

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You Want It Darker album cover
You Want It Darker 2016

Cohen's final album features haunting, minimal guitar work that demonstrates how modern production can frame sparse acoustic and electric parts. The title track uses dark, low-register guitar textures that are great for learning how to create mood with very few notes. A masterclass in less-is-more guitar arranging.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

Cohen was most associated with nylon-string classical guitars throughout his career. He frequently played a Conde Hermanos flamenco/classical guitar, a high-end Spanish-made instrument known for its bright projection and fast response. In earlier years he also used various student-grade classical guitars. For live performances in his later touring era, he sometimes used a modified classical with a pickup system for stage amplification. The nylon strings are essential to replicating his warm, rounded fingerpicking tone.

Amp

Cohen's own guitar sound was almost entirely acoustic and unamplified in the studio, captured with condenser microphones placed close to the soundhole and neck joint. For live performance, his classical guitar was run through a clean PA or acoustic amplifier with no coloration, aiming for the most transparent reproduction of the natural nylon-string tone. His backing guitarist Bob Metzger used clean Fender-style amps with the treble rolled back for a warm, supportive electric tone.

Pickups

On his acoustic instruments, Cohen used under-saddle piezo pickups when amplification was needed for live shows, though he preferred the natural mic'd tone whenever possible. The piezo systems provided reliable feedback rejection on large stages. His backing electric guitarists typically used single-coil pickups (Telecaster bridge and neck positions) for their clarity and definition, which sat well underneath Cohen's voice without competing for sonic space.

Effects & Chain

Cohen used virtually no effects on his own guitar signal. The tone was fingers, nylon strings, and wood, nothing else. His philosophy was entirely about directness and intimacy. Backing guitarist Bob Metzger occasionally used subtle reverb and a touch of chorus to add width on electric parts, plus a volume pedal for gentle swells, but the overall approach was deliberately minimal. If you want to sound like a Cohen record, plug straight in and focus on your touch.

Recommended Gear

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Bob Metzger's backing electric Telecaster provided clarity and definition on Cohen records without competing with the sparse, intimate vocal arrangements. Single-coil pickups and rolled-back treble created a warm, supportive tone that complemented Cohen's fingerpicked classical guitar and introspective lyrics.

How to Practice Leonard Cohen on GuitarZone

Every Leonard Cohen 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 Hallelujah - Guitar CoverPractice Hallelujah - Guitar CoverPractice Suzanne - Guitar Lesson