Today we’ve brought you a list of easiest Guns N’ Roses songs to play on guitar. Electric and acoustic, popular and less known, we have a bunch for you to choose from.
Guns N’ Roses is really a good band and you can’t deny that they have killer songs. But another major appeal to the band (at least for me) is the controversy that surrounded them over the years. First, there was a period when the members of the band extensively abused drugs and alcohol. They even composed a song about it titled Mr. Brownstone. Then, there was a period of tension between the band members, which led to several line-up changes and culminated with the exodus of founding members Slash, Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan. The lead vocalist Axl Rose remained the only consistent member of the band from 1985 until today.
Pamela Au/Shutterstock.com
In 2012 I had an opportunity to see the live show of, how I liked to call it, “Axl and his touring musicians” and it was mostly fine. Nothing spectacular, but at the moment it was the closest thing to original Guns N’ Roses you could get. Personally, I never thought that I will see Slash and Axl playing together again. The bad blood between them and all the controversy somehow helped the band’s cult status. However, money is a powerful thing, and for a hefty compensation, Slash and McKagan returned to the band and they are now selling out arenas all over the world. Trust me; they are in it for the money, so you can ignore the stuff about the “legacy” and “wanting to play together”.
Now let’s talk about playing their songs on guitar. Thanks to the touch of Slash, who is one of the most gifted guitarists of his generation, the majority of Guns N’ Roses songs seem really hard to play. They are solo and riff heavy and will make your fingers bleed. If you are inexperienced with complex guitar technics and you are making your first steps as a guitar player, maybe these 10 Easiest Acoustic Rock Songs to Play on Guitar for Beginners will be a better fit than the Guns N’ Roses.
In order to compile our list of easiest Guns N’ Roses songs to play on guitar, we turned to Ultimate Guitar. We browsed through the website’s catalog of Guns N’ Roses songs and narrowed down our search to the songs that had a “novice” difficulty level and their accuracy was rated with 5 stars from the users of the website. Then, we chose those that could be viewed as easy taking into consideration the number and complexity of the chords and simplicity of their progression. We pitched in links for the chords of each song, so you can get started immediately. Let’s take a look.
7. Sweet Child O’Mine
We will start with everyone’s favorite Guns N’ Roses sing-along. Sweet Child O’Mine may sound like a hard song to pull off, but it really isn’t. Slash figured the main riff during a warm up, so you know he didn’t put much effort into it. Also, the chords are fairly basic ones.
6. Don’t Cry
I really put some thought about including Don’t Cry on the list of easiest Guns N’ Roses songs to play on guitar, since this is a tricky song. There are painfully easy parts that most average guitar players could play blindfolded, but there are also lots of hard ones. This especially goes for few solos where Slash goes a bit crazy. Now, this version will be the easiest for you and won’t sound much different than the original. It is up to you to decide are you willing to compromise.
5. This I Love
Next song on our list of easiest Guns N’ Roses songs to play on guitar is a slow ballad from the post-Slash album, Chinese Democracy. This I Love has a really simple chord progression and it is repetitive. You will only have to tune the guitar -1, to really nail it.
4. One in A Million
If you are not a fan of acoustic guitar, but still don’t want to break your fingers too much, then One in A Million is the song to go with. There is just one barre chord and the rest are the basic chords. Also, once you get a hand of chord patterns, everything will go smoothly.
3. Patience
You will have some troubles with this entry on our list of easiest Guns N’ Roses songs to play on guitar if you are not accustomed to plucking the strings. After you get over the plucking intro, the rest of Patience is really about getting the strumming right. There is no solo to worry about.
2. Used to Love Her
Used to Love Her requires a faster strumming but believe it or not, it only has three chords: A, D and G. I know; I couldn’t believe it myself.
1. Knocking on Heaven’s Door
The last entry on our list of easiest Guns N’ Roses songs to play on guitar is the cover of Bob Dylan’s classic. The original song is perfect for beginners and luckily Guns N’ Roses didn’t decide to make it harder. Their version sounds different, but it is similarly easy to play with just 4 chords included. Slash didn’t pass on the opportunity to do a solo, but it shouldn’t pose much of a problem.
