easy songs to learn for a beginner?

im a newb and working on scales and playing with cord changes for practice. but. i want to learn a song. i dont mean to run before i crawl but there has to be a song out there, besides twinkle twinkle, that i can practice on for timing and such.

i was working on "she talks to angles" but it was a different tuning and at this stage i dont want to retune (and dont wanna play the off tune version). plus the stuff i was referencing seemed to have a note or two missing...prob me though.

any fun songs out there? maybe like tom petty, john denver, jack johnson, neil young, ted nugget.... you know soemthing easy?

thanks in advance all.

You should try Christopher Schlegel's lesson on "Take me out to the Ballgame". Its mostly the C major scale in the open position with a couple of extra notes thrown in. I know it a long time 'til Christmas but if you play that same C major scale in the descending direction and think of the "Joy to the World" rhythm, thats pretty easy too. The rest is not quite as easy but I think most of it can be found in those scale notes.

I also found "Ode to Joy" entertaining and do-able as a beginner.

I was spending a lot of time on scales and exercises and found I wasn't progressing or having as much fun after a while. Like you, I decided I needed to learn a few songs to bring the fun back. It was a real break-through for me and now I add a song or two every week.

The key for me was just using the basic open chords and playing rhythm. Rather than just practicing the chords, when you do it while learning a song it just becomes that much more fun. Pretty soon you'll be able to play a song from first reading of the tab. It's been a blast for me.

With a little practice, you'll start moving easily between all the most popular chords: G, C, D, F (a little tougher - of course - but easier after a while), A, Am, E, Em. With those chords there must be thousands of songs you can play. Throw in a few easy variations like E7, A7, C7, G7, and Dm, then a few "sus" chords such as Asus4. All of these are easy variations to learn and they add some more colorful options to the songs.

I bet many of your favorite artists have songs that can be played in the open chords above. Just think of a song or two you really love and get on the net to find the chords/tabs. Look at a few varieties to find one that may be a bit simpler for you to play.

My list now includes Neil Young (Heart of Gold, Needle and the Damage Done, etc), Lucinda Williams (almost anything is G,C, D, etc), Beatles (Let if Be is a great and easy song), Van Morrison, Jason Mraz (I'm Yours is easy with a capo), and several others. I just added Alberta by Eric Clapton, which is a great easy and fun song.

A lot of people put House of the Rising Sun on the list. It's on mine now but the D to F change is not the easiest for beginners so I'd put it a bit further down the list, but then it's a good one for some basic arpeggio playing.

Finally, I don't know if you're into the blues, but I love the basic 12-bar form and get a lot of joy out of just strumming them in several keys. There are some good lessons on here if you aren't familiar with it. I can sit in my chair and just mess around with a blues in E (using E, A, B), or easier A (A, D, E) for hours. Even basic chords only are fun, but then throw in a few variations, vary your strumming, learn some base note walk-ups, a few easy lead riffs, etc. there's just lots of easy stuff to learn in here and then improvise while sitting on the porch with your dog and a glass of scotch (or whatever floats your boat!)

That's what got me over the first hump, but I'm sure I've got several more in my way. I've been playing for about 15 months now.

Hope this helps,
Bruce

Just try anything you think sounds easy. There are sites where you can get tabs such as the one I use:

911tabs.com

I recommended you to try out this song "Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution" from ACDC. The tab can be easily download.

Hiya!

In terms of the old favourites, try something like 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door', which is about as easy as it gets. Then there are bands out there whose entire catalogues are easy to play (the Ramones come to mind), and you can pick and choose from them.

Other classics that are really easy to try out include Wild Thing (the Troggs), and 'Wish You Were Here' by Pink Floyd.

Recent tunes like 'Seven nation Army' by the White Stripes or 'Time of Your Life' by Green Day are a good way of boosting your confidence by learning something simple. It certainly beats me as a 12 year old trying to figure out 'Hangar 18' by Megadeth and failing miserably ;) I'm 31 now and I still have trouble with it...lol

Oh yeah, the Johnny Cash version of Nine Inch Nails' 'Hurt' is fun and simple to play too- try that one on for size :)

Clapton's "You Look Wonderful Tonight" can be played in basically, G, D, C, D and repeat pattern. There's a slight variation here and there, but you get the idea pretty quickly. Nice song

I am with everyone on here. I tried to play 30 years ago and quit because my instructor couldn't get past making me learn Twinkle twinkle. It helped with my fingerpicking and I enjoy playing notes, but I am into the blues not kids songs. I am 46 now and I can still play twinkle twinkle from heart but I would have much rather learned some cool songs...hence the reason I quit, what sixteen year old wants to play that. UGH!!

Now at 46 I just picked up the guitar a month ago and I have been learning Lyin Eyes, Blowin in the wind, and have really started to get good at House of the Rising sun. I went on line and watched some youtube videos/lessons and put it together with the knowledge that I have picked up from here.

Once I started being able to play these songs I continue to work on them and each week or so I pick up another one to try. Some simple strumming and some fingerpicking and arpeggio. Now I am learning so much faster than ever. I still go through the scales, mostly blues and I run the scales and everyday I start from one string and list down the first 3 notes on those strings, saying them out loud so that I learn them.

When I don't have a lot of time it is less structured, I run through the notes for finger warming exercises and then I pick one or two songs and work on them.

Keep at it and combined with the net and the people here you will be learning songs in no time.

Keep us posted
Jaime

The easiest song I have ever learned was Stand By Me. It is simply 4 chords repeated throughout the song. Look it up on youtube, there is a guy that has a lot of song lessons on youtube, his channel is called guitar in a nutshell or something close to that. His lessons are superb, he not only gives you the notes but also gives you the strum pattern as well as pointers to get from note to note, he truly is a wonderful teacher.

Bruce,

Would you please share the strumming patterns on this song? It is very boring just learning the chord changes. All I can play now is Jingle Bell.

Thanks,

Sam

Originally Posted by: Bruce JClapton's "You Look Wonderful Tonight" can be played in basically, G, D, C, D and repeat pattern. There's a slight variation here and there, but you get the idea pretty quickly. Nice song

Sammy, take a look on youtube. Type in the song you want and you will find lots of people doing different variations of any song and usually there is at least one or two videos with someone teaching you how to play it. I wouldn't recommend it for sole learning purposes, this site is much better for that but you get lots of ideas.

For instance, I took what I had learned here with Chris on house of the rising sun which I had been practicing daily, then I went on youtube, watched the animals version of it which shows how he plays the song and there went the lightbulb. Now I practice the chord changes and pattern the way Chris shows it, but use the strumming/arpeggio pattern similar to the animals.

The net is a wonderful place and youtube is great for ideas about strumming and notes. Put this site and that together and it is like striking gold.

Play On my friend
Jaime

Sammy,

You might enjoy some of the song projects in this tutorial, specifically designed for new-ish players who are wanting to get into playing songs. The songs in here are public domain, but the strum patterns and chord changes are found all throughout contemporary music as well.

EASY FOLK GUITAR: ZILLIONS OF SONGS, JUST 3 CHORDS.
Discover how the chords G, C, ad D can open up a whole world of traditional music.
http://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=909

Keep us posted - Lisa

Im new to playing guitar and I found myself practicing Folsom prison blues. I bought the Easy tab song book and I couldnt really figure out all the tabs and the order to play so i looked on utube and found the song and then followed his lead. Ive got down the intro and cord changes although im slow at changing cords I can hear the song slowly coming out. The real problem Im having is the strumming technique. It is a strumming pattern 4 acording to the book. I know i just need practice but any other suggestions? Im just strumming slow for now.

dude a good beginner song is THROUGH THE FIRE AND THE FLAMES.

ha ha only joking i already learnt it its kinda easy.

some easy good songs are

kriptonite by 3 doors down

back in black by ac dc

all these small things by blink 182

holly diver by dio

euruption by eddie van heling it sounds hard but its very easy

but there you go some easy and great music for you

The D to F change in HOTRS is a tricky one indeed but it can be done. The way I play it is playing both D and F on 4 strings (D G B E). Hit the open D string with the D chord and hit the e string twice back to the open D. Hit the F on the D string down to the e string hitting it twice and back up to open A for your next chord.

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned "Wonderwall" by Oasis. Wonderwall and "The World I Know" by Collective Soul were the first two songs I learned. Wonderwall uses simple chords but was great strumming practice. The world I know uses a few unusual chords, but they are very easy and the intro/chorus is played between the first and seventh fret, which was a great change of pace at a time when barre chords were too hard and open chords were getting boring.

Knocking on Heaven door Bob Dylans version G D Am, G D C, Repeat.
one measure for G and D hold the Am and C for two

Last Kiss Pearl Jam G Em C D
this progression is in 1 of the F1 courses.Change strumming and timing a bit and its a song.

kriptonite by 3 doors down

back in black by ac dc

all these small things by blink 182

holly diver by dio

euruption by eddie van heling it sounds hard but its very easy

LOL

and if you can do barre chords,power chords and tap out scales try these as well

Big Me by Foo Fighters is pretty easy. Actually find a lot of Foo Fighters stuff easy..