The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook

by Rickky Rooksby (Editor)

(Guitar Chord Songbook). This great collection features all 194 songs written and sung by The Beatles, specially transcribed here for strumming guitarists, from the actual recordings, in the original keys. Each song includes chord symbols, guitar chord boxes and complete lyrics. Also features a helpful playing guide and a full discography.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference, Art

400 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

Reviews

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want accurate chords to every Beatles song you can think of, get this book! My only complaint is that the binding stinks. I'm taking it to Kinko's to have the binding replaced with a spiral bound so the book can lay open flat. Other than that - it's GREAT!

[Michael Hirsch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far the best Beatle book I have ever read for guitar chords. I have a lot of piano/guitar Beatle books, and the all are terrible. I didn't realize that until recently, but many of the songs in those books have been transcribed to piano keys. I always thought the beatles used weird keys until I got this book. They are all in E, G, A, D, etc. Not Eb.

You need to already know what the song should sound like, as the book only supplies the chords, not melodies, signatures, rhythms, etc. But if you do know, then when you play these chords you sound really good! The chords are not complete--they leave out some of the incidental changes, but there are enough there that you get that Beatle sound.

Some songs don't use any strange chords and can be played by beginners. Others will teach you new chords, and almost all of the songs use unusual progressions.

Highly recommended. 6 stars. (Mitchell, if you're still playing guitar, this is the book to get.)

[Alfredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hace muchos años que no me divertía tanto tocando la guitarra.

[Jaramy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually written with the musician in mind. I love how it's arranged!

[Aran Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my most used music books. It is like one of those cookbooks that just includes brief directions assuming you already know how to do most techniques.

This book assumes you already know the melody of whatever Beatles song you want to sing. Or, at the very least, it assumes you can find the song and learn the melody that way.

Second, the book just places chords on top of lyrics. It doesn’t give a time signature or even any guide about where the beats are in a lyric.

So, if you are new to music and the Beatles this might be a frustrating book.

But in exchange for the lack of musical notation we get a very compact book that is able to fit almost every song on either one or two pages.

I love the challenge of coming up with my own accompaniment patterns and rhythm.

To make it even better, I went to my local office store and had them convert it to spiral bound so it would sit flat against my music stand.

[Silas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as a gift, and it was a great one. I have been playing the guitar for decades, but had only learned a few Beatles songs, because they have this reputation for having challenging chords. Having this book cuts through all that. There are a few unusual (sneaky) chords here in some of the songs, but not any more than a Christmas carol, really, and they are clearly laid out in the chord diagrams. The chords are, in general, relatively easy to play, and the better you know the songs, the easier it is to play from chord books like this, because you need to remember the rhythms to make it sound like. I thought I knew every Beatles song intimately, but it turned out there were quite a few I didn't know. I was a bit disappointed that it didn't have the two new Anthology songs, but that's somewhat understandable... and I wouldn't be surprised if there were some other songs missing, but most other songs I tried to spot check were there. I took the time to play through every song in the book, including the ones I didn't know well (and had to brush up on), and the transcriptions all sound on the money. There are occasional songs that use capos or down tuning, but for the most part, they are just in standard tuning. Having a good bit of guitar experience, I was often able to pick out little riffs and descending bass lines when they weren't written in (the bass is sometimes, but not always represented in the chords), which was a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to learning Abbey Road straight through as a project, but for now, I've finished playing everything once, and heartily recommend this book if you enjoy the Beatles, because it's a great resource to learn the chords to some songs, and to start to learn more if you are interested.

[Jacob Foidl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great songbook, can’t complain about the content since I can’t remember any most chord structures in their discography.

This will probably be the only time I complain about the layout of a book. Who thought a paper spine would be a good idea, it just automatically closes itself! Did they expect people to read this like a normal book lol. Can’t use it to play off of without having a paperweight on the song I want to play or go to some place that binds books.

[Dominic Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for skilled guitar players and fans of The Beatles that want to get up on stage and be John Lennon. The book is filled with so many different chords for songs by The Beatles. So if you ever want to jam out to some Beatles on your guitar, I suggest this book.

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the best chord songbook of any band I've found. The chords and lyrics are described, but not strumming patterns or notes on technique. I'll be going back to this for years to come

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Playable versions for guitarists of any level of virtually every Beatles song they wrote and recorded. My teacher and I got through this in about two years.

[Bobpritch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy guitar chords BUT some songs were missing - WTF?

otherwise, great

[Shawn T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to play some of these songs on the guitar. Hopefully will do this in 2026

[Thomas Cavanagh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great easy to reference beatle song book. excellent for just taking it with you in your case and jamming. Very accurate.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dude this is going to be in my currently reading FOREVER. How awesome is it to learn piano by playing Beatles songs? Not exactly the kind of book to include in Goodreads...but what the hell!

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only book for people who do not know how to play the guitar but want to play Beatles songs. Main complaint is that it cannot easily be held open to a page because it is so thick.

[Jamie Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the chords for us amateur players with crappy singing voices who dont care what the neighbors think. Seriously, I don't care what they think.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here is the fab fourmost of guitar songbooks. Almost 200 song scores with guitar tabs. Also contains an intro by Ray Connolly and those amazing colour + b/w pop art pages.

[Trey Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

IIIIII LOVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEE PLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGUUUUUUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

a little bible.

[Bartholomew · Rating 5 out of 5]

...because knowledge is power.

[Conrado Bojórquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best book I own, accurate chords. It's fun to play The Beatles.

[Nick X · Rating 4 out of 5]

it's not complete. 'Please Mr Postman' is not in this complete book.

[Laurence Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb guitar chord book... I learnt to strum with this! I don't need to say anything else!