My Top 10 Easy Guitar Songs For Beginners

May 18th, 2010

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learn guitar chords My Top 10 Easy Guitar Songs For BeginnersBelieve it or not, when I first started playing the guitar, no one taught me a thing. I’m not saying it was easy at first, trust me I remember those days. My fingertips were so soar that it was painful to touch anything for weeks. Finally, once I got the hang of it, I figured out that it’s one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done! I still look back every day and smile when I think about learning to play guitar, it was a life changing event for me. Heck, my first guitar wasn’t even mine (I stole it from my big sister). She never used it though, and as it turns out, I enjoyed playing much more then her. Eventually, my sister gave me her guitar because she realized how good I was getting.

When I got good enough to play a few easy guitar songs for beginners, I decided to make a list of easy guitar songs for beginners that you can start with today. My list covers all sorts of different genres and the objective is to improve your guitar skills one song at a time. Here’s the criteria that I used to make my list of easy guitar songs for beginners:

a) Popular songs that most people will already have heard.

b) Easy guitar chords beginners – the less chords that are in a song, the easier it is to play.

c) Low number of barre chords – Barre chords require you to use your fretting finger to press all 6 strings at once. Barre chords are definitely not good for beginners!

1. Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
Chords – G, D, C, Em, Am

2. Come As You Are – Nirvana
Chords – Em, D, G, Am, C

3. I Remember You – Skid Row
Chords – G, C, D, Am, Em

4. Four Strong Winds – Neil Young
Chords – C, Dm, G, F

5. One – U2
Chords – Am, D7, FM7, G

6. Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan / Guns N’ Roses
Chords – G, C, D, Am

7. Every Rose Has It’s Thorns – Poison
Chords – G, C, D, Em

8. Leaving On a Jet Plane – John Denver
Chords – G, C, D

9. Horse With No Name – America
Chords – Em, F#m7sus

10. No Rain – Blind Melon
Chords – E, D, A, G

5 More Easy Guitar Songs For Beginners For You To Try

May 18th, 2010

Ok, I’ve just finished reviewing some more easy guitar songs for beginners and I’m happy to say I found some new ones for everyone! Here’s 5 more easy guitar songs for beginners that can be played with just two easy chords.

1. Born In The USA

Born in the USA is one of Bruce Springsteen’s best singles. This patriotic anthem tells the story of Vietnam from the viewpoint of a veteran. Born in the USA actually ranked #275 on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

To properly play Born in the USA, you need to alternate B and E chords for two lines each during the verses. The chorus of the song should be played in B for the first two, and then E for the third and B for the final one.

2. Hush Little Baby

Hush Little Baby is another popular song that’s actually really easy to play. It’s simply a traditional lullaby in question and answer format. The lyrics will literally put a child to sleep if they stay quiet long enough. To play this song simply use C and G chords with a up and down – 4/4 strum pattern.

3. Oh My Darlin’ Clementine

Anyone that’s seen Huckleberry Hound will remember this song. Known as an American western folk song of a lover that lost his wife in the 1800s California Gold Rush, Huckleberry sang this song and it’s actually quite an easy guitar solo for beginners. Play this song using the D and A7 chords. Also, make sure to use a 3/4 strum pattern. This song also sounds great with a bass strum, hit the 4th string on beat one of the D chords and then strum twice. After that pick the 5th string on beat one of A7 chords and strum two times.

4.Eleanor Rigby

It’s not only traditional songs that you can easily play with only 2 chords though, even the infamous Beatles had a few songs based around this formula. Even though the song has a very simple structure, it ranked #137 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 2004 list of the top 500 best songs of all time. The only chords you need to play this song are C and Em.

5. Paperback Writer

According to our friends at Wikipedia, Paul McCartney tried to make a song with a melody that included only one chord but fell short of his goal. This song was the 11th single for the Beatles in 1966 and went on to become ranked #1 in several other countries. Paul McCartney may have slightly missed his goal, but he did make it easy for beginners to learn and enjoy. This verse is played on the G7 chord most of the song and ends on a C.

Hopefully you enjoyed my list of beginner guitar chords and lyrics and easy guitar songs for beginners.