8 Easy Beginner Guitar Songs

This chord is easy, but it can be even easier! Go here to find out more: Em Guitar Chord 4 Easy Ways To Play This Essential Chord

C Major

Our standard C major is a little complicated, it uses 3 fingers across 3 frets.

We can change this voicing to a C major 7.

C Major 7

To play this chord you :

• Place your 2nd finger on the 3rd fret of the A string.
• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
• Strum from the A string!

The sneaky ones amongst you will notice that this chord is exactly same as a G6, but this time we start from the A string, not the E string.

This chord can be a little tricky, find out how to play other versions of this chord here: Easy Ways To Play The C Guitar Chord

The D Chord

The final chord we’re going to look at the D chord.

This voicing can be a bit of a squeeze. Here’s an easier one!

 

Dsus2

To play this chord you :

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
• Place your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the B string.
• Strum from the D string.

Here’s what it sounds like!

There are loads of different ways that you can play a D chord, find out how here: 3 Easy Ways to Play the D Chord on Guitar

Now here’s what all of these chords sound like together:

In the video below, Andy demonstrates how to play ‘Stand By Me’.

G6           |                | Em          |                | Cmaj7        | Dsus2         | G6          |              |

Note that the strumming pattern is: down, down… down up down, down…

See if you can copy it.

 

Easy beginner guitar songs #2 ‘The Joker’ by Steve Miller Band

This is another fantastic beginner guitar song.

Here’s why:

• It uses 3 quick and easy guitar chords.
• The strumming pattern is really simple.
• This song is a crowd pleaser!

What are the chords?

You’ll be pleased to know, this song uses the chords:

• G
• C
• D

Or, the simpler versions:

• G6
• Cmaj7
• Dsus2

We’ve already learnt these chords. So we don’t need to learn any new chords, all we have to learn how they fit together to form the song.

G6           |Cmaj7         | Dsus2          | Cmaj7           |

In this video Andy shows you how to play this song.

Note that the root note (the lowest note) of each chord is played twice, and then the full chord is played once.

Think of it like this: “root root chord; root root chord; root root chord; root root chord…”

Easy beginner guitar songs #3 ‘Get Lucky’ by Daft Punk

This one is a modern classic by those funky dudes in Daft Punk, what many people don’t know is that it is super easy to play on guitar.

Here are a few reasons why it is awesome to learn:

• It uses the same four chords all the way through, so it’s REALLY easy! 
• It’s funky fresh. 
• It’s so popular. If you played it a party you would have EVERYONE on the dance floor.

The chords in this song are

• Am
• C
• E minor
• D

Fortunately for us we already know three easier versions of these chords:

• C major 7
• E minor
• Dsus2.

However we need to learn one more chord if we’re going to master this funk classic.

That chord is A minor. Here’s the full version!

The version we’re going to play is an A minor 7.

To play this chord you :

• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
• Place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the B string.
• Strum from the A string!

IMPORTANT POINT!

To play this song with the track you will need to use a capo on the 2nd fret!

If you don’t know what a capo is, go here: How To Use A Capo

Now we know the chords, let’s take a look at how they fit together in the song.

Am7         | Cmaj7           | Em         | Dsus2        |

In the video below, Andy shows you how to play this funky tune.

Note that the strumming pattern is: down up down up down… down up down up down… down up down up down… down up down up down…

Say this rhythm to yourself as you strum. It may help.

 

Easy beginner guitar songs #4 ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift

This song is a modern classic, when it was released in 2014 it was all over the charts!

Here’s a few reasons why it is SO awesome for beginner guitarists:

• It’s easy to play.
• It uses 3 super-simple chords all the way through.
• The strumming pattern is loads of fun to play. 

What are the chords?

Luckily for us, it uses just three 3 chords.

Those chords are :

• A minor
• C
• G

For this song we’re going to change the chords slightly. So the chords we’re going to play now are :

• A minor 7
• C major 7
• G6

Now we know the main chords, let’s take a look at how they fit together.

Am7       |              | Cmaj7       |                | G6         |              |               |              |

In this video, Andy demonstrates ‘Shake It Off’ by Taylor Swift.

Note how the strumming comes in short bursts of: down down up… down down up… etc.

Try and copy it by ear.

 

Easy beginner guitar songs #5 ‘Before You Accuse Me’ by Eric Clapton

This is a blues classic! Not only does it sound awesome, it only uses three chords!

Here are a few reasons why it’s awesome to learn:

• The chords are SO easy.
• This song will make you sound amazing.
• The strumming pattern has a fantastic blues feel to it.

What are the chords?

For this blues song, we’re going to have to learn a few classic blues chords. Those chords are called ‘7 chords’. The chords we’re going to learn are E7, A7 and B7!

E7

To play this chord you :

• Put your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.
• Put your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the D string.
• Strum all the strings!

Make sure you let every string ring out!

It should sound like this:

A7

To play this chord:

• Place your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the B string.
• Strum from the A string!

It should sound like this :

The final chord we need to learn is a B7!

B7

To play this chord you :

• Place your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the A string.
• Place your 1st finger on the 1st fret of the D string.
• Place your 3rd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
• Strum from the A string!

That should sound like this :

In blues music, certain songs follow a specific chord progression. That progression is known as a ’12 bar blues’, this means that we play these chords for 12 bars.

Like this:

This progression is heard ALL the time in blues music, so once you can play this, you can play loads of other blues tunes!

Now we’ve learnt our chords, let’s take a look at the strumming pattern.

In this video, Andy demonstrates this song.

The strumming pattern is four downstrokes per bar, with a quick upstroke at the end of each bar.

Easy beginner guitar songs #6 ‘Budapest’ by George Ezra

This is a modern classic. George Ezra took the world by storm with this awesome acoustic number.

Here are a bunch of reasons on why it’s SO good for beginners to learn!

• It uses 3 really easy guitar chords.
• The strumming pattern will make you sound amazing. 
• It’s a crowd pleaser, EVERYONE loves this song. 

What are the chords?

The chords in this song are relatively easy. It uses the chords D, A and G!

We already know the chords D and G. 

We’re going to play the easier versions of these chords, these are :

• Dsus2
• G6

For the A chord, we’re going to use a slightly different version.

A normal A chord looks like this :

The version we’re going to play of this A chord is an Asus2. Let’s learn it!

To play this chord you:

• Put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the D string.
• Put your 2nd finger on the 2nd fret of the G string.
• Strum from the A string.

It should sound like this:

Now we know all the chords, let’s put them all together.

In this video, Andy demonstrates ‘Budapest’.

Note that you need a capo on the 3rd fret of your guitar to play this song.

Notice how the strumming pattern comes in short bursts of: up down up… up down up… etc.

Easy beginner guitar songs #7 ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ by Bob Dylan

This song is an acoustic classic, and it’s one of the easiest songs you can learn on the guitar.

Let’s give it a listen.

Here’s why it’s awesome for beginners to learn

• It contains four easy chords.
• The song is really easy to follow as it stays the same all the way through.
• It’s a great ballad, if you play this at a party you’ll have the room slow dancing in no time!

Learning the chords

The chords in this song are

• G
• D
• A minor
• C

Luckily for us, we already know easier versions of these chords.

We’re going to play

• G6
• Dsus2
• A minor 7
• C major 7

These chords will sound fantastic.

Here’s how the chord progression goes:

|G6    Dsus2 |A minor 7 |G6   Dsus2 |Cmajor7 |

So for G6 and Dsus2, we give these chords two beats.

For A minor and C major 7, we give these chords four beats.

How do I play this song?!

There’s a couple of ways we could play it.

In this video lesson, Andy demonstrates a simple way to play ‘Knockin’ On Heavens Door’ as well as a slightly more advanced way to play it.

‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ was voted into the top 500 songs of all time in Rolling Stone Magazine. Check out the others here: 500 Greatest Songs of All Time | Rolling Stone

Easy beginner guitar songs #8 ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz

Here we are, the final hurdle! Let’s finish with a strong one.

It’s ‘I’m Yours’ by Jason Mraz.

This one is awesome for beginners, let’s find out why!

• It uses the same chords ALL the way through.
• The strumming pattern is interesting and fun to play.
• EVERYONE loves this song, it’s the perfect sing along song.

What are the chords?

The chords for this song are :

• G
• D
• E minor
• C

But the chords we’re going to play are

• G6
• Dsus2
• E minor
• C major 7

These chords sound nice and chunky! This is perfect reggae.

Reggae strumming patterns

Reggae strumming patterns are slightly different to regular strumming patterns.

With regular strumming patterns we’re playing on all of the beats.

However with reggae strumming patterns, we’re only going to be playing on beats 2 and 4.

So if we have 4 four beats in a bar.

It’s going to go:

1 2 3 4

We’re going to strum on beats 2 and 4.

So these are the beats we’re going to focus on:

1 2 3 4

G6         | Dsus2        | Em         | Cmaj7        |

In this video Andy gives a quick demonstration of this awesome tune: