Looking for a list of the best Halloween guitar songs to learn for October 31st? You’ll find a ton of the most evil tracks in this article, complete with tabs and chords!
Halloween isn’t too far away, so you’d better get cracking now to make sure that your spooky setlist is ready in time for the big day!
Or maybe you just need a good playlist to fire on when you’re carving your pumpkins or hosting your annual Halloween party. With over 2 hours of tracks on this page, you should definitely be sorted. Head to the end of the page for a link to the playlist!
There are 13 absolute classic Halloween songs in the list below, but make sure to read all the way to the end, as I’ve included some additional honorable mentions.
Halloween Guitar Songs
1. Highway To Hell – AC/DC
What better way to start off this list of Halloween guitar songs than this absolute classic from AC/DC!
In a 2009 interview, singer Brian Johnson revealed that the song was about being stuck on their tour bus on a long and desolate road between Syndey and Perth in Australia. When the sun is setting on that road it looked like a fireball, almost as if they were driving straight to Hell.
Famously, the notorious serial killer Richard Ramirez (aka the Night Stalker) claimed that it was this album that drove him to commit his murders. He maintained that AC/DC stood for Anti Christ/Devil’s Child.
The song features one of the most well-known and iconic guitar riffs of all time, and luckily, it’s super-easy to learn. Try it out at the link below! Be careful not to play it too often at your local guitar store as it is one of the forbidden riffs!
Click Here For Highway To Hell Tabs
2. Runnin’ With The Devil – Van Halen
Let’s keep the high-energy vibes going with another fiery track, this time from Van Halen.
Although the title may suggest otherwise, the song is not actually satanic at all. The band has never revealed the true meaning of the song, although it is generally thought to be about life on the road as a band.
Still, it does have ‘Devil’ in the title, so it’s more than welcome in this list!
Unfortunately, it was during the month of October that we sadly lost Eddie. So what better time could there be to learn this killer track and pay homage to one of the greatest guitarists of all time? Check out the tabs below.
Click Here For Runnin’ With The Devil Tabs
3. Psycho Killer – Talking Heads
Unlike the first two tracks on this list, this next song does actually revolve around themes of evil and murder.
The song’s lyrics transport us into the mind of a psycho killer, so the title is definitely on point!
The lyrics were inspired by the character of Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho.
The song was released in 1977, around the same time that the infamous Son of Sam murders were taking place. As a result, this track has become largely associated with these killings.
In terms of guitar parts, the song is very straightforward and not hard at all to learn. Check out the tabs below!
Click Here For Psycho Killer Tabs
4. Sympathy For The Devil – The Rolling Stones
This classic track helped to identify the Rolling Stones as the more edgy, bad boys of rock by implying an association with the occult.
The song’s lyrics were inspired by a Mikhail Bulgakov book titled ‘The Mater and Margarita’. Within this novel, the Devil is portrayed as being a ‘man of wealth and taste’, a civilized and knowledgeable socialite.
Although commonly thought of as being a celebration of Satanism, Mick Jagger has actually revealed that it is about the dark side of man.
This is another fairly easy-to-learn guitar song if you fancy having a go yourself. Find the tabs below!
Click Here For Sympathy For The Devil Tabs
5. Werewolves Of London – Warren Zevon
This track was the only top 40 hit that was released by Warren Zevon, reaching number 21 in the Billboard Hot 100. It features Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass.
The song tells the story of a well-dressed werewolf who is ‘preying on little old ladies in the English country of Kent.
If you believe the legends, when there is a full moon a werewolf will transform from a man into a wolf. The single method to kill a werewolf is to use a silver bullet to shoot it through the heart.
The song received a resurgence in popularity in 1986 when it was featured in the Tom Cruise movie The Color of Money.
If you’d like to have a jam along to this novelty song, take a look at the tabs below!
Click Here For Werewolves Of London Tabs
6. Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr
I couldn’t very well make a list of Halloween songs without including this absolute belter, could I? This is one track that is 100% guaranteed to get your audience involved!
This was the theme song for the 1984 comedy-horror Ghostbusters, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, and Sigourney Weaver.
Ray Parker Jr, a well-known session musician played the majority of the instruments on the song.
He found it difficult to write a song with the word Ghostbusters in it, but once he figured it out the tune was completed in just a few days.
There are a lot of fun guitar parts in this theme song that are all fairly easy to learn. Check out the tabs below!
Click Here For Ghostbusters Tabs
7. Pet Sematary – The Ramones
Pet Sematary is a single from the 1989 album Brain Drain by US punk rockers The Ramones. It became their highest charting song in the US, reaching number 4 in the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.
The song was originally penned for the 1989 supernatural horror film Pet Sematary, an adaptation of the 1983 Stephen King novel.
King is a massive Ramones fan and invited the band to his home during a US tour. It was during this brief visit that bassist Dee Dee Ramone wrote the lyrics to the song.
The track is fairly easy to learn on guitar, consisting mainly of simple power chords and arpeggios. Find the tabs below!
8. King Diamond – Halloween
One for the metal fans, and one with Halloween baked right into the title!
King Diamond is a Danish heavy metal band, formed back in 1985 and still touring to this day! Albeit with only two of the original members…
Everything about King Diamond just screams Halloween. I mean, just look at the thumbnail from the video above. It’s no wonder their fans dub them the Patron Saints of Halloween.
There are plenty of meaty riffs to get stuck into on this track, so make sure to check out the tabs at the link below.
9. Little Ghost – The White Stripes
Little Ghost features on The White Stripes’ 2005 album Get Behind Me Satan.
There are many theories as to the meaning behind this song. The one I liked the most was that it is about someone that is so lonely that they manifest an apparition of a beautiful young girl that they fall in love with. How romantic!
A line from the song ‘because of my condition’ could then refer to the fact that the man is going insane from loneliness. The ghost is entirely made up.
What do you think?
This is another very simple song to learn on guitar as you only need to know 3 easy chords to master it!
Click Here For Little Ghost Tabs
10. (Ghost) Riders In The Sky – Johnny Cash
Let’s add a spooky country song to the mix as well. Check it out in the video below for an awesome live version from country supergroup The Highwaymen.
The song tells the story of what is deemed to be cowboy hell. In it, we learn of a group of cowboys (riders) who are doomed to eternally chase the Devil’s cattle.
It was originally recorded in 1948 by Stan Jones, a forest ranger who also wrote music in his free time.
The track went on to become a cowboy standard and was subsequently recorded by a series of well-known artists, including Bing Crosby, Gene Autry, and most famously, Johnny Cash.
At its most basic, only 4 chords are required to strum along to this classic song. See the tabs below to learn it today!
Click Here For (Ghost) Riders In The Sky Tabs
11. Burn The Witch – Queens Of The Stone Age
Here’s one which is a little more modern, although it was still released over a decade ago!
The song itself revolves around the events of the Salem Witch Trials, where people that were accused of witchcraft were tried and often burnt at the stake for being in league with the devil.
Josh Homme has also revealed that the song is a metaphor for the social abuse he received after firing the band’s bassist (and his best friend) Nick Oliveri.
Fun Fact! ZZ Top frontman Billy Gibbons is on lead guitar and backup vocals duty on this track.
Learn his parts, as well as the rest at the link below!
Click Here For Burn The Witch Tabs
12. Fear Of The Dark – Iron Maiden
Fear of the dark is one of the most common phobias, so is probably something many of us can identify with!
The song revolves around a man who is obsessed with horror movies and the occult. He is constantly paranoid and fears that something is lurking in the dark, watching him, waiting to pounce.
Fun Fact! Nyctophobia is the medical term for the fear of the dark.
There are obviously a ton of other Iron Maiden songs which revolve around similarly evil and spooky themes. Check out ‘Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter’ and ‘The Number of the Beast’ amongst others.
Probably one of the most challenging songs to learn on this list. You’ll find tabs at the link below if you’re feeling up to the challenge.
Click For Fear Of The Dark Tabs
13. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
You didn’t think I’d forgotten about Black Sabbath, did you? I mean, the band name comes from a horror movie after all… Ozzy and company are obviously heavily associated with Satanism and the occult.
Black Sabbath is the name of a 1963 Boris Karloff movie, directed by Mario Bava, an Italian filmmaker. Ozzy and Geezer were both fans of this movie and decided to write the song using the title.
The song is based on a supernatural experience that the occult obsessed Geezer Butler had where he saw a tall black figure staring at him from the end of his bed. Oh, and this was in his matte black apartment decorated with crucifixes and satanic imagery. Did I also mention he fell asleep reading a book on the occult which he claims the shadowy figure then stole? Jeez!
Fun Fact! The band actually wrote the song before they were called Black Sabbath. They were originally named ‘Earth’, but had to find a new name when they discovered another band had already used the name.
The slow tempo of this creepy song makes it very easy to learn on guitar. You’ll find tabs and chords at the link below.
More Halloween Songs
I stopped at 13 cos it’s y’know, it’s spooky… But just in case these weren’t enough to satisfy your craving for Halloween guitar songs, here are 13 more!
- Mr Scary – Dokken
- People Are Strange – The Doors
- Halloween – Stephen Lynch
- (Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult
- Thriller – Michael Jackson
- Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Halloweenhead – Ryan Adams
- South of Heaven – Slayer
- Monster Mash – Bobby Pickett
- Abracadabra – Steve Miller Band
- Living Dead Girl – Rob Zombie
- Enter Sandman – Metallica
- Halloween – Misfits
You will find a few beginner-friendly creepy tunes in my easy guitar songs article as well.
Halloween Party Song Playlist
Check out the link below to listen to all 26 of these songs back to back on Youtube in my handy playlist.
YouTube Halloween Party Playlist
Further Spooky Reading
Here are a few more spooky and evil articles that you may also enjoy!
