Songs for beginners
he.who.forgets
Posts: 4,593
I'm only a few months into playing the guitar and wanted to compile a list for us beginners of familiar songs that are relatively easy to play. I know there's a ton of them out there but it's kind of hard doing all the digging to try and find them. So, if you're so inclined, list some songs that you think are appropriate for a beginner to learn. Here's a few I've learned or am learning so far:
Pearl Jam - Down
Pearl Jam - Thin Air
Green Day - Good Riddance
Smashing PUmpkins - Disarm
Pearl Jam - Down
Pearl Jam - Thin Air
Green Day - Good Riddance
Smashing PUmpkins - Disarm
We were but stones your light made us stars
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Pearl Jam : Small Town
Pearl Jam : Last Kiss
Pearl Jam : Long Road
Bob Dylan : Knockin' on Heavens Door
Neil Young : Rockin' in the Free World (a must have ofcourse)
Foo Fighters : Times Like These
Ofcourse there are many more!
Just a tip ... http://www.justinguitar.com/ left column ... "songs"
Düsseldorf 21-06-2007, Nijmegen 28-06-2007, Werchter 29-06-2007.
London Shepherd's Bush 11-08-2009, Rotterdam 13-08-2009.
Nijmegen 27-06-2010, Berlin 30-06-2010, Arras 04-07-2010,
Werchter 05-07-2010, Manchester 20-06-2012, Amsterdam 26-06-2012, Amsterdam 27-06-2012, Werchter 29-06-2012, Berlin 04-07-2012, Amsterdam 16-06-2014, Amsterdam 17-06-2014, Werchter 05-07-2014
Here are a few others that come to mind, and if any of them have a solo I don't mean that's easy to play, just the main song.
Lukin - Pearl Jam (very simple as long as you can strum fast)
Smile - Pearl Jam
Ghost - Pearl Jam
Sway - The Rolling Stones (don't even attempt the solo)
Come Together - The Beatles
Tyler - The Toadies
The Passenger - Iggy Pop
Anything by Bush. I like them, but they weren't very talented musicians.
Learning Tab From GP is WAY More Intuitive Than Reading Stupid Tab Files.
You Get An Immediate Way To VIEW The Rythm And See All The Parts Interact.
Pearl Jam - Not For You
Doesn't really get any easier than this as a simple Echord fingering based "riff" for almost the whole song.
Ramones - I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
Only A Modicum Harder Than Not For You.
Pixies - Gigantic
good little "solo" to get you appregiating notes (on 2 strings only), and nothing but power chords otherwise.
Jane's - Jane Says
Watch this guy's lesson. The tabs all suck for this. it's easy as pie, and shows you how to "mix" between chords and scales while only requiring you to know and fret 2 very easy chords (G and A). [I happen to think this guy is wrong about the chorus though. Try just fretting a normal G chord, then lift your ring finger off of D with your pointer already placed on the C#, lift it off to B, then back to C# on the b string.]
Creedence - Up Around The Bend
Not really a "beginners" song, but its one to "grow into". If all you ever try is songs that are easy to play, you'll never learn nothin new. It will help you learn how to finger efficiently, that little solo is a good way to learn fingering and bends, and the intro riff is probably something you can start off playing. The chorus is a good little chord progression (G-D-A) to learn. Don't forget to start hammering that F# off and on at the D string when you are hitting the A in the chorus ... a little blues line, most tabs leave it out for some reason.
Zeppelin - Over The Hills & Far Away
Really not *nearly* as hard as you think to play the main lick, and a song *every* guitarist should learn ASAP.
Mad Season - River of Deceit
Again, not nearly as hard as you would think, but challenging enough to give a beginner something to practice for a while, I would think. Also not boring as shit (like not for you). Have fun with it.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
Green Day and Nirvana have many three chord songs that are a lot of fun to play as well. I suggest you find the songs that you really enjoy listening to and learning them so that you can hear and feel the music that you are playing. Once you get a couple of songs down you will be surprised how many songs have very similar chords and it will open more doors for you.
Yeah and the power chord songs that Green Day and Nirvana provides as was mentioned. Try to be the first guitarist whose first song is NOT Smoke on the Water!
Eight Days A Week is a good beginners song.
Every Little Thing She Does - probably not for drop-dead beginners, but it would be one to grow on. Again, help you learn fingering to pick out the intro riff, learn a few simple parts that involve sliding your finger position (chorus), and the Bm to E to A part going in to the chorus involves a little walk down on the Bm if you want to add it, with the option for some cool alternate picking at the high and low side of the strings.
Help - really nothing but chords, and strummed at a moderate pace. Good little fingering changes in the chorus. Same thing as in Every Little Thing with the Bm having you lift the pointer finger off the B to A on the A string. Changing the G in the G chord to F#, and then you get to hammer on 7th (d on c string) during the E chord at "Won't you PLEASE" ... and then this cool little decending riff leading out of the chorus back to the verse which should have you stumbling for a while as a beginner to learn it. ;-)
I have found that not all Beatles songs are very fun guitar songs, because they rely so heavily on studio effects and the combination of a great many very simple (and often non-guitar) parts to create a complicated whole out of very simplistic pieces. If you are looking for straight guitar songs, i think a lot of beatles songs fail in this respect, honestly.
Polythene Pam is another good beginners song, though.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
but
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
is pretty pathetically easy.
lol.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Songs that do NOT suck.
This one is, again, not for drop-DEAD beginners but you can grow in to it.
No crazy solo to skip, no parts too hard for you.
Fun song, great chords, really nice.
Led Zeppelin - Hey Hey What Can i Do
make sure you use THAT tab version, because there is one based around an E chord that sucks dick (and is flat wrong, imho) and a BUNCH of other ones that use non-1st-position chording to do the G, E and D chords ... which makes no fucking sense to me.
Knock your self out, impress your friends.
Its fun.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
is also pretty easier to play.
Easier than you may think.
EVEN the solo.
Have at it.
You can't fuck it up worse than these two piles of shit:
Celine Dion ruining it with some other waste of breath
Shania Twain making you want to kill ACDC
... sigh.
ACDC with Steven Tyler -- A Slight Redemption
rofl
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Easy as fucking pie.
1 guitar is playing these chords
F Fsus4(?) and a plain old C chord
1 1
1 1
2 3
3 3
0 0
x x
Second guitar is Capo on 3rd Fred
just playing D - G, G - D - A
if you want to get "advanced" you can hammer on and pull off 7 to 5 on the "A" chord (really a C) when you get to it.
ROCK THE FUCK OUT.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Not hard at all, really.
As with just about EVERY GnR song ever written (and a shit load of Aerosmith, and pretty much every Alice In Chains Song, and a lot of Sabbath) ... if you want to play along, make sure your guitar is dropped down a half step on every string.
woop woop.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
at least, the Whale part is real easy picking based around a 1st position G chord slid up and down the fret board.
The Wasp part requires some pretty heavy effect pedaling to sound good, but is simple if you're just going for the general feel of the melody line, probably hard to pull of accurately the way Jerry does it though. Still fun to learn.
Alice In Chains - DON'T FOLLOW
pretty easy finger picking song, simply beautiful.
I used to spin Jar of Flies a shit ton in high school while smoking dope in my parent's basement.
Good way to kill a week day. lol.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
see below.
sorry
If I opened it now would you not understand?
A E B if you have guitar dropped down half step
Capo on 1st and G D A if you don't want to detune.
woop woop.
Bruce Springsteen and Mike Ness rocking Bad Luck the fuck out!
Mike Ness (Social Distortion) - Prison Bound (Acoustic)
In standard tuning it's just these barre chords
Gb Db Eb Cb
Mike Ness (Social Distortion) - Story of My Life (Acoustic)
Capo on 1st fret
G C D
easy as shit.
fun to play.
sing a long.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
Live Forever by Oasis is pretty easy too. And if you're interested in learning to sing along, it's pretty manageable (and fun!) too.
Always remeber a beginner starts from zero!
Düsseldorf 21-06-2007, Nijmegen 28-06-2007, Werchter 29-06-2007.
London Shepherd's Bush 11-08-2009, Rotterdam 13-08-2009.
Nijmegen 27-06-2010, Berlin 30-06-2010, Arras 04-07-2010,
Werchter 05-07-2010, Manchester 20-06-2012, Amsterdam 26-06-2012, Amsterdam 27-06-2012, Werchter 29-06-2012, Berlin 04-07-2012, Amsterdam 16-06-2014, Amsterdam 17-06-2014, Werchter 05-07-2014
For the PJ fan wanting to learn. Not for You, Satans Bed, and Corduroy are pretty easy.
If You Like Crunchy Guitar Riffs, Powerful Vocals, Melodic Guitar Solos, And Meaningful Lyrics..then you need to check out one of the most refreshing new hard rock bands in quite some time...-->The Liberty Underground<--
Walking the Cow; Trouble; Millworker, No Woman No Cry -- none of those too esp hard
Wish you where here
Along with Eldery, Smile, Drifting I'd toss in Black is actually quite easy and Release (hold a chord and sing!)
SOLAT is fun on acoustic! Hail Hail ain't too much. Crazy Mary pretty simple.
KISS's Rock N Roll All Nite (GGD GG D A E A E D E GGD GGD)
A little more adventurous -- Bowie's Space Oddity. A little less, Kravitz I Wanna Fly Away (he has a solo acoustic version out, just like PLUSH another nice acoustic).
Both Space Cowboy and Take the Money and Run are fun and easy - Steve Miller Band.
I actually do a medly morphing Beatles' Octopus's Garden into The Stones' Hang Fire (yeah, transposed one to the other) -- and it's a pretty funny back and forth between those two songs!
Learning the chord progression to Hendrix's LIttle Wing is quite easy, figuring out all the freakin little riffs is a lifetime of work. (And by extension, yeah, Yellow Ledbetter Chords are easy, riffs ... they'll come!)
Ring of Fire / Folsom Prison Blues.
(GOOD CALL on the Passenger, though that's a tough sell around the campfire...)
Can't find my way home / Dear Mr Fantasy - Traffic .
With or Without You - U2
Rocky Racoon!
I just grab the chord progressions from CHORDIE, print em and throw a lyric sheet up on the opposite side of the binder -- one page chords, one page lyrics facing each other (unless you find chords with the lyrics added in already). Fun thread, found a few more I'll toss in my songbook!
Lol.
That's why i SPECIFICALLY mentioned on several songs, "not for DROP-DEAD beginners".
Everyone needs a few good songs to grow-up on.
I can't tell you how many songs i learned as a noobie where I could only play one little part of the song.
It was YEARS before I could play ALL of Paradise City or Sweet Child O' Mine or what not, but I started with the main riffs as soon as I was able to hold my fingers on the fretboard in position with any degree of stability ...
When I first started, my ABSOLUTE be-all-end-all goal was to learn how to play HUNGER STRIKE ...
i thought it was MIGHTY HARD ... "man that picking shit is crazy complicated", i would think.
I look back now and laugh at that to no end. Anyone who can actually play, you know Hunger Strike is easy as shit, right? Lol. I guess I "Have arrived".
My point is that songs like "Up Around The Bend" by Creedence probably are NOT "beginners" songs in the truest sense ... but learning to play that sliding intro riff is NOT that hard, truth be told. And if that is all a beginner can learn to play, and they can't even muster up the chorus chord changes ... then so be it ... at least they have learned the cool riff to the song, and can PRACTICE that riff ... then 2 months or 2 years later, they can com back and say , "man that is a really cool little solo part, let me take a stab at that now that my fingers are stronger" ... and you know what, they feel a sense of accomplishment because now they can rock on through the better part of a song.
I take your point, and it is a good one.
All i am saying is that learning to play Not For You and Lukin probably isn't going to help a beginner PROGRESS much. Taking a stab at some songs that are slightly beyond their technical ability will have them reaching and growing.
Thats all.
PS - those Social Distortion songs ARE ***absolute beginner*** songs ... 3 chords, repeat repeat repeat.
If I opened it now would you not understand?
And maybe the most important thing ... practice, practice, practice! :P
Düsseldorf 21-06-2007, Nijmegen 28-06-2007, Werchter 29-06-2007.
London Shepherd's Bush 11-08-2009, Rotterdam 13-08-2009.
Nijmegen 27-06-2010, Berlin 30-06-2010, Arras 04-07-2010,
Werchter 05-07-2010, Manchester 20-06-2012, Amsterdam 26-06-2012, Amsterdam 27-06-2012, Werchter 29-06-2012, Berlin 04-07-2012, Amsterdam 16-06-2014, Amsterdam 17-06-2014, Werchter 05-07-2014
You know I'd say that learning tab is probably a bad way to "learn guitar" though.
I honestly feel one of the biggest hindrances encountered in my playing has been the constant reliance on tab.
Lack of proper attention to theory, and to improvisational playing had me stuck on tab for way too long, and if you're not careful it can really ruin your creative ability.
For a while i was SUPER stuck in that box.
Give me a piece of tab, anything easy to moderate and I could pull it off.
Once i got a better feel for basic rock\blues scales I could even start pulling off the solos.
But ask me to "play" or "jam" with you, and I'd just stare blank.
You want me to do WHAT now?
Yeah, fool. PLAY with me.
Uh ...
uh-uh, nope.
Just starting to break free of that massive bad habit \ creative block as of the last 5 years.
Still feeling the pain of over-reliance on tab though.
At some point in your practice on a daily basis, QUIT staring at tab, and practice some theory (learn a new chord, or scale or read some actual music theory book), and then when you are done with that, just diddle around on your fret board for a while. Otherwise you'll be kicking yourself over the head with your guitar (is that possible?)
If I opened it now would you not understand?
I'm into PJ, of course, Ben Harper, JJ Grey and Mofro, MMJ, Black Keys, Band of Horses - bands like that. Thanks!
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
The verse for "Parting Ways" is E/Em and A/Am, and the chorus is just a typical F# and G bar chord, which is just the E layout moved up and barred on the second and third frets, respectively. It'd be good practice!
1996: Ft Lauderdale
1998: Birmingham
2000: Charlotte, Tampa
2003: Tampa, Atlanta, Phoenix
2004: Kissimmee
2008: West Palm Beach, Bonnaroo, Columbia
2010: MSG2
2012: Music Midtown
2014: Memphis
2018: Wrigley 1, Fenway 1
2022: Nashville
2023: Ft. Worth II
Yeah.
And when you've had fun with YLed for a while, don't forget to turn it in to DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY, for fucks sake!
Then move it in to Baba O Rielly!
and then if you want to just get stoopid,
you can try to move it in to Summertime Girls by Y&T ...
but ONLY if you want to get stupid.
If I opened it now would you not understand?