I love Angel Beats and the soundtrack that comes with it. If you didn’t know, the band that made the songs is named Girls Dead Monster (GiDeMo), and they actually have quite a few songs. This album was one of the first Japanese albums I had, and I listened to them daily for a good year and some.
I was originally going to base this article on lead difficulty, but then I realized, this band is quite rhythm focused. Even the lead is doing rhythm a lot of the time. A lot of other anime songs I’ve started learning on guitar tend to be quite power chord based, so if you’re looking for something more interesting and challenge to work on your rhythm playing, Girls Dead Monster is a great band to cover.
The songs below have various strumming patterns, use of many types of chords (power, barre, 7ths, suspended etc), lots of opportunities to work on your muting, and you’ll get to practice a few lead riffs and arpeggios as well.
If you’re looking for other anime songs to learn, be sure to check out my other articles at the bottom of my Japanese Music Learning Resources page. And if you’re interested in learning and understanding more about Japanese Music, join my Facebook group “Let’s Study Japanese Music!”
Note that in this list, I am only covering the 13 songs from the Angel Beats soundtrack, and not any other GirlsDeadMonster songs.
Medium Difficulty
…Sadly, no GiDeMo songs are what I would consider easy or beginner songs. The songs below will require knowledge of barre chords and 7th moveable chords. Strumming patterns are generally 8th beat, but may include some complexity.
Crow Song
You get to be the start of this song as the chords and strumming patterns play a heavy role. It has quite a few open chords, but also a key change during the chorus so you can work on your barre chords. It has some muting and other unique aspects which will definitely give you a workout without being too difficult or fast.
23:50
If you want a bit more of a strumming challenge without going into 16-beat strumming, this is the song. Almost every other bar has a different strumming pattern! The tempo is a bit slower, so it’s also a great way to practice your barre chords and other triads.
Morning Dreamer
If you’re looking for a song to really practice your arpeggios, what better than this song? This song is pretty much all arpeggios with a handful of barre and power chords. Depending on your current picking speed, it may be easier or hard, but you do get the whole song to work on your transitions.
Brave Song
This is one of the slower songs on this whole list. The first half is mainly power chords with a lot of palm muting. You then have some power chords with pretty easy going strumming (half, quarter notes). There is some lead picking and arpeggios, but with the speed, I think it’s a great place to start and practice these techniques.
Rain Song
This song does have a few lead riffs, and it does have some elements that may be new to you like harmonics, but the rest of the song is mainly a mix of power and barre chords with some muting. There are slower strumming patterns that may challenge you but won’t wear you out.
Ichiban no Takaramono
The first half of this song is fingerstyle, or will require. There are some arpeggios as well, and then it goes into some 16th note strumming patterns. Because the song is 60BPM, it is slow enough for anyone to take on these skills if you haven’t practiced them much in the past.
Hard Difficulty
These songs will require a knowledge of various kinds of chords (barre, 7ths, triads), 16th note strumming, and may include some lead picking as well.
Alchemy
The strumming pattern isn’t too complex for this song, as it uses 8th note patterns the majority of the time, but there are a few 16th note patterns which is great if it’s new to you. This song will allow you to practice palm muting and also precision, as you may only need to play the bottom or top strings for a chord. There are a few licks, not too much, but a few.
My Song
Ahh yes, the song that truly made an impact on all watches. This song is great if you’re looking for an acoustic song, but you can also play the full version where the band comes in. It’s slow enough (77bpm) to be a medium level song despite the 16th (and occasional 32 note) note strumming patterns, but due to the types of chords used (barres, 7ths, suspended), I think this is definitely a song that requires more time to play really well. There’s also some arpeggios at the very end for that added challenge.
Little Braver
If you’re looking for a challenge without too much difficulty, definitely check out this song. It is mostly open chords with a handful of barres and 7ths, and it has some slower lead parts for you. The 16th note strumming pattern isn’t too fast or complicated, so it’s definitely a great introduction if you’re new to it.
My Soul Your Beats
This song has it’s levels. The power chord 8-th beat strumming section gives you a nice break before the 16th-beat barre chord chorus. There are also some lead licks and precision playing.
Thousand Enemies
Now here’s a truly hard song compare to the few above. You start off with your own lick, and then go straight into 8th and 16th note strumming patterns with muting. This song is quite up beat, with a combination of various skills and chords, so it’s definitely a challenge.
Run With Wolves
This song can appear to be in the Medium category initially, especially since it is mostly 8th beat strumming, however, with a bpm of 204, a bunch of barre chores, muting, and lead licks on top of that, you better be ready to take on this monster of a beast. Will your hands last? You’ll have to check it out and see.
Shine Days
This happy sounding song is actually quite of a challenge. Thankfully, you do get quite some breaks early on, but don’t let that fool you. Open chords, barre chords, power chords, 7th chords, a huge mix of strumming patterns, licks, arpeggios, slides, muting, harmonics, everything you could possible want haha Imagine moving from the open D chord to a barre chord on the 7th fret..that’s what you’re dealing with here. If the BPM was any faster, it could be an extra hard song.
Conclusion
Hope this helps you find a place to start for Angel Beats songs! The music is amazing and a great place to learn new skills. If you’re interested in playing other anime music on guitar, be sure to check out my other articles on my blog 🙂
If you’d like to discover other Japanese music and artists, or would like to see more anime performances, check out my playlists on Youtube! And if you’d like to understand Japanese music more, join my Facebook group “Let’s Study Japanese Music!”