Easy Guitar Songs for Beginners: Learn to Play and Sing Along with These Classic Tunes
5 Guitar Songs For Beginner Guitarists
You’ve got a song in your head, you know what style and genre you want to go for. Now it’s time to start choosing chords and a strumming pattern. Knowing some music theory will help a lot with this process too.
Luckily for you there are some great guitar songs for beginner that will make this easy. Here are a few to start with.
Bluest Traveler
This uptempo song is fun to play and a great one for beginners to practice their strumming pattern. It uses a simple chord progression in the key of G. The chords are arpeggiated in the beginning, but they can easily be strummed as well.
This classic tune from the rock band Weezer is another easy guitar song for beginners. It’s a great uptempo tune that will have people singing along. It also utilizes a simple chord progression in the key of C.
While Tom Petty and Bob Dylan songs probably wouldn’t be considered beginner songs, this uptempo song is an exception. It only uses a few simple chords and is a great song for beginners to practice their strumming patterns.
Brown Eyed Girl
This Van Morrison classic is one of the most popular songs to learn on the guitar, thanks in part to its easy chord progression and sing-along chorus. The song also showcases a simple lead guitar part that beginners can play along with.
The main riff of the intro is made up of dyads (three-note intervals) over a G chord. Using dyads like this in your soloing can add some harmonic weight to your playing, so it’s definitely worth checking out the technique.
Once you’ve got the chord progression and strumming pattern down, it’s time to start learning the verse and chorus of Brown Eyed Girl. Practice playing through the chorus a few times until you can play it comfortably. Then move on to practicing the lead guitar part. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be able to play this classic in no time.
Thinking Out Loud
Thinking out loud is a technique you can use to organize your thoughts & make sense of them. This process might seem like a social faux pas, but it’s actually super beneficial & is an essential part of proper cognitive functioning.
The song won two Grammy awards, including Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, and has been streamed over 2 billion times on Spotify alone. It is a ballad about love, commitment & long-term relationships. The lyrics are reminiscent of traditional wedding vows, with references to “for better or worse” & a promise to support one another through whatever life throws their way.
In 2014, a lawsuit was filed against Ed Sheeran by the heirs of Marvin Gaye’s estate over similarities between his song Thinking Out Loud and his 1973 classic, Let’s Get It On. The plaintiffs argued that musical elements, such as chord progressions, were too similar and constituted copyright infringement.
Ho Hey
Ho Hey is a very popular song by The Lumineers. It is a folky sing-along with a distinct sound that makes it stand out from the crowd. It begins with a group of people singing “ho” and “hey” while a guitar plays a steady tune. A tambourine and banjo are also used for an additional sound effect. At the end of the chorus, a beat is added from the stomping of feet to add to the overall texture of the song.
This is a great song to learn to play as it has a unique sound and is easy to understand. It has become a cultural phenomenon since it first appeared on the CW show Hart of Dixie in 2011. Although the song has been played over and over again, it still sounds fresh and exciting. It is a great example of how to make an old song sound new again. It is definitely worth checking out if you have not heard it yet.