You bought your first guitar, and you want to know the 10 easiest beginner guitar songs to learn? Well, you came to the right place.
In this article, we will give you all the necessary recommendations; you can work your way up, train your fingers and someday be able to play “Stairway to Heaven” like a pro. But first, you have to start from the bottom, to try less demanding songs. This doesn’t mean less demanding songs are not fun to play, they are, but their main feature is that even beginners can master them with a little practice.
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If someone told you he practiced 8 straight hours, playing just one song to nail it, it is probably true. But not everyone needs the same amount of time. There are people who have a natural talent for music and guitar is easy for them. For you, this may not be the case, but giving up shouldn’t be an option. Every musician will tell you that the practice is far more important than the pure talent.
When you look at the guys (or girls) on stage banging their guitars, it may look easy, but remember to look that easy, a lot of sweat and tears had to be shed. It may be easier to pass these top 10 easiest bar exams in the US than to perfection a set list.
Since we don’t want to scare you off, and make you put your guitar in the closet for eternity, we picked songs that have a small number of chords and consistent rhythm through the entire song. With these 10 easiest beginner guitar songs to learn, you will be a star when it comes to house parties. Hey, that counts for something, right?
t was a surprisingly difficult to find recommendations for easy songs since apparently those who made the lists didn’t consider that the songs that are easy for them may not be easy for the beginners. We took recommendation lists made by people who earn their living by teaching people how to play guitar like the ones from GuitarHabits, LearnGuitarFastTips and Beginners Songbook Bs. As an experienced guitar player, I’ve checked the songs for the number of chords you need to know to play the song, chord complexity and chords variations. The easy songs were the ones that had a small number of chords and those chords were simple basic ones that you can easily “catch”. Also, I looked for the songs that didn’t have big rhythm changes during the course of the song, and didn’t require for you to change chords very often. That all led to 10 easiest ones from them all, from my personal experience.
10. Beatles – Love Me Do
A fun song from Beatles’ that will turn into a big sing-along, once you’ve nailed it. To start practicing the song, you will need just three basic and simple chords: C, D, and G. The chords variation stays the same through the verse, where you only need G and C chord. In the chorus, you will play D as well, but there is no big change in rhythm that says almost the same through the whole song.
9. Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight
While Clapton is regarded as a true master when it comes to guitar playing, he sometimes likes to keep it simple, and this is where you step in. “Wonderful Tonight” has 4 chords: G, D, C, Em that go through the entire song in almost exact order. The song is slow, so there is no need for you to break your fingers.
8. Beatles – Eleanor Rigby
The Fab’ Four indeed liked to keep it simple. Two chords will be enough for you to get through this song. C and Em are repeatedly used through the entire song. The rhythm of the song is catchy and easy to master, and at the end, you can say you know how to play a Beatles song. Doesn’t get any better than that.
7. Bob Marley – Redemption Song
“Redemption Song” is perfect if you have troubles with strumming. This song will give you much-needed experience in slow strumming and hitting the right rhythm. Strumming is almost identical through the entire song, and all you need to do is sometimes change between G, C, D, Em and Am chords.
6. Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl
There are many recommendations for this song from experienced guitar players. The reason why is because the song is plain simple, and you will need just 3 basic chords to play it. Through all the verses, chord variation is G, C, G, D. In the chorus you will have to play Em, but that shouldn’t be a problem even for the ones who are just beginning to learn their first chords.
5. Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars
As we said before, the key for 10 easiest beginner guitar songs to learn is the simplicity. And you can’t go simpler with just 3 chords that are familiar to the people who don’t even play the guitar. For Snow Patrol’s hit ballad, just change chords: A, E, D through the entire song, slowly strumming them in the rhythm. And there you have it. You know how to play a popular tune.
4. Adele – Someone Like You
Since Adele is beyond popular now, we decided to squeeze one of her simple and easy songs in as well. It’s not “Hello”, but this song is also popular. For this song, you will need G, D, Em, C chords, and you will mainly play them in that order through the whole song. The speed of the strumming varies, but after few times, you will get a grip.
3. Coldplay – The Scientist
Coldplay is known for their simple, easy and slow tunes, and we brought you one of the simplest ones. To play The Scientist, you will mainly use Em, C, G, G chord variation through the entire song slowly strumming, except the chorus, where you will throw out Em and add D chords. Didn’t we tell you that it’s simple?
2. Jason Mraz – I’m Yours
If you think songs with few chord variations are still too much for you to handle at the moment, how about the song that sticks to the same chord variation from the beginning to the end? Yes, there is such song, from Jason Mraz. He thought strumming G, D, Em, and C chords repeatedly will do the trick, and for some reason, it works.
1. Proclaimers – 500 Miles
If you are a fan of How I Met Your Mother, this final song of our 10 easiest beginner guitar songs to learn will delight you. Remember how cool it sounded when Marshal and Ted sang it in the car? Now you can be the one who plays it. D, G, and A chord are the ones you need, and they just spin in a circle in that order. But it’s never boring to play it, especially if you sing while you are doing it.
