Folk lovers, we are bringing you 10 easiest folk songs to play on acoustic guitar so you don’t think we forgot about you.
Folk songs date from 19th century and had many definitions through the years. At first, the term “folk songs” included the songs that were transmitted orally through generations. Later, it included the songs that had unknown composers or those that were performed over a long time span by custom. After this, the emergence of new music genres saw folk music blending with them and giving birth to sub-genres like folk rock, jazz folk, neofolk and others. This evolution of folk music and the sub-genres that emerged are called contemporary folk music.
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Well, enough about the history and let’s get to the playing folk songs. Not every aspiring young guitarist wants to play heavy music, full of riffs and power chords. There is a particular beauty in the traditional sound that comes with folk music. Although it isn’t strange that electric guitar found its way into folk music, the acoustic guitar is a more fitting for the sensibility that comes with folk songs. Also, if you are still learning to play guitar, it is better to cover songs on an acoustic guitar because the transition from acoustic guitar to electric is a lot easier than vice versa. This is one of the reasons why we incorporated multiple acoustic songs on our list of 10 Easiest Famous Songs to Play on Guitar.
Folk songs are rather easy to play and great for sing along, so it doesn’t matter if you are a skilled guitarist or a beginner, it is always good to know some easy folk songs to play on a guitar. The best thing about the folk songs is that most of them use just a few simple chords like A, E, D, G7.
To compile our list of 10 easiest folk songs to play on acoustic guitar, we looked into Folk Alley’s 100 most essential folk songs list and checked each song for their complexity. Also, we supplemented this list with ones from Acoustic Music Archive and Susan C. Anthony. Our criteria for picking out the songs involved choosing songs that had fewer and simpler chords, didn’t require advanced guitar techniques or capo, and were aimed for acoustic guitar. Note that most of these songs are traditional and there are many versions including the ones that are harder to play. Let’s check them out.
10. Dirty Old Town – Ewan MacColl
Chords: G, C, D, Em
Although the song has 4 chords, they are easy to catch onto and the chord changes aren’t complicated. What makes it easy is the fact that you will only need to play one chord per each verse through the majority of the song.
9. This Land Is Your Land – Woody Guthrie
Chords: G, D, A
Woody Guthrie is an absolute legend in the world of folk music, and one of the reasons for that is that he kept his songs simple. They are easy for the ear and relatable for everyone. To play This Land Is Your Land you need to use G and D chords in the first verse while playing A and D on the next. This goes all the way from the beginning to the end.
8. You Are My Sunshine – Johnny Cash
Chords: A, D, E
Although the list of artists who covered this song seems to be endless, we picked good old Johnny Cash who didn’t it make it complicated for our list of the easiest folk songs to play on acoustic guitar . He kept it simple using just three chords and slow strumming that will be easy to your hand coordination.
7. She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain
Chords: G, D7, C
Another traditional folk song that’s been covered many times. The version featuring G, D7 and C chords is the easiest one to play on the acoustic guitar. You will only need to adapt to the song’s faster strumming.
6. Early Morning Rain – Gordon Lightfoot
Chords: G, D, A
Gordon Lightfoot was the one who composed the song, but he wasn’t the first one to record it since that honor belongs to the duo Ian & Sylvia. A year later, Lightfoot recorded his own version that is still the most famous one. It uses just 3 chords, but you will need to carefully listen to the song if you want to catch the tempo accurately.
5. Blue Moon of Kentucky – Bill Monroe
Chords: G, D, A
It looks like that you will really need to perfect G, D, and A chords if you decide to learn all the songs featured on our list of 10 easiest folk songs to play on acoustic guitar. This song has an interesting strumming pattern that will surely give you much joy. It also can be played on both ukulele and acoustic guitar.
4. Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver
Chords: G, C, D
This legendary song was recorded multiple times by many musicians, but the John Denver’s version is the one deemed to stand the test of time. His version uses G, C, and D chords and it is very easy to play. For the beginners, unaccustomed to the fast chord change, it may be a bit complicated on the start, but the effort will pay off. The song is great for singing and if you like folk songs, this is the one you have to learn.
3. Deportee – Woody Guthrie
Chords: G, D, A7
Another simple song from Woody Guthrie that you won’t have troubles playing on our list of easiest folk songs to play on acoustic guitar . This song was written in protest over media coverage of the Los Gatos plane crash. The plane was carrying deported Mexican farm workers from the United States back to Mexico when it crashed, killing all on board. The media only named the crew, and the workers mentioned as “deportees,” hence the name of the song.
2. Skip to My Lou – Pete Seeger
Chords: C, G
If three chords are too much for you, why not learn the song that has only two? The tricky part of this song is the strumming that is quite fast, but after a few tries, it shouldn’t be hard to catch the pattern. This song can be played on ukulele and acoustic guitar.
1. Tom Dooley – The Kingston Trio
Chords: A, E
This song deservedly sits on the top of our 10 easiest folk songs to play on acoustic guitar. Tom Dooley in The Kingston Trio’s version uses just 2 chords, A and E. You don’t need to break your fingers with this one since it keeps the same tempo all the way to the end. All you need to do is keep the strumming equal.
