Top 5 Depeche Mode Songs for Fingerstyle Guitar (With Tabs)
I have been listening to Depeche Mode since I was a teenager. Strangelove was my ringtone in high school. There was something about the weight of their music — dark, atmospheric, impossible to explain — that I could not escape. I still cannot.
It might seem like an unusual choice for fingerstyle guitar. Their sound is built on synthesisers, drum machines, electronics. But underneath all of that, the songs are deeply melodic. Strip them back to a single guitar, and something unexpected happens. The emotional core becomes more visible, not less.
A few years ago I arranged Never Let Me Down Again, one of my favourite songs of theirs. When some of you asked for a new version with a tab, I started working on it — and it became something bigger. Five songs. The ones I kept returning to.
These are the five Depeche Mode songs I arranged for fingerstyle guitar, and why each one works.
1. Personal Jesus
Personal Jesus is built on a riff. On the original recording it feels electric, almost aggressive — and that energy does not disappear when you move it to acoustic. If anything, it becomes more physical. You feel the repetition differently when it is coming from your hands rather than a speaker.
Technique note: The entire intro is played with the thumb alone — no fingers. This is deliberate. Practice it slowly and you will build the thumb independence you need for Never Let Me Down Again, where a constant bass line runs through the whole arrangement in exactly the same way. Think of Personal Jesus as the preparation.
Tuning: E Standard
Capo: 2nd Fret
2. In My Room
In My Room is quieter, more interior. It asks for a different kind of attention — slower, more careful. It is the kind of song that suits a guitar played late at night, when there is no need to perform for anyone. The arrangement stays close to the original melody. The space inside the song is part of the point.
Tuning: E Standard
Capo: 2nd Fret
3. Enjoy The Silence
This is probably the song most people expected to see on this list, and they are right to expect it. The melody is one of the most recognisable in Depeche Mode’s catalogue — and it carries beautifully on a single guitar. The challenge with a song this well-known is not the technical difficulty. It is the emotional one. The listener already knows what it sounds like. Let it be what it is.
4. Strangelove
Strangelove was my starting point with Depeche Mode as a teenager, and arranging it was a personal thing. I was not trying to make it sound impressive. I was trying to make it sound the way it feels when you have been carrying a song since you were sixteen. Let the melody breathe. Patience is the technique here.
5. Never Let Me Down Again
This was the song that started the whole project. I had arranged it years ago, and when people asked for a tab, I went back to it — and found I wanted to rebuild it properly. It took longer than expected. Most things worth doing do.
Technique Note: The entire arrangement is built on a bass line played constantly with the thumb. If you practised Personal Jesus properly, your thumb is already more ready for this than you think. The two songs are connected — not just emotionally, but technically.
Watch the Full Arrangement
If you want to hear all five songs before deciding which one to learn, here is the video.