Best Artists/Tracks at Chord Changing

Petty often favors those ringing open major key chords. There are lots of others who bark up that tree, but rather than listing them here (one LONG list), I'd suggest that you might check out Pandora. Create a "Tom Petty" channel and Pandora will seek out similar music. It's far from perfect, but the odds are pretty good that you'll find a lot of what you're after.

BTW, Petty's songwriting is so archetypal in so many ways that I always joke to my wife (a huge Petty fan and a huge Pandora fan) that - no matter who you enter in Pandora - it will eventually end up back at Tom Petty.

Marty

I agree that Petty plays a pretty straightforward rhythm guitar. IIRC, Petty often plays a major chord thru a measure and susses either the second, the fourth or both of those beats - very simple but very catchy. It's not difficult or unique, but it's a distinctive feature of his songs and I understand the appeal.

Mike Campbell OTOH has chops and plays the tricky (i.e. lead) parts in The Heartbreakers.

Marty