“Practice, practice, practice. Practice until you get a guitar welt on your chest…if it makes you feel good, don’t stop until you see the blood from your fingers. Then you’ll know you’re on to something!” – Ted Nugent
To develop your guitar playing skills, start playing songs!
This particular blog is to inspire you to learn guitar. The songs which I’m going to mention in this blog are by no means complete; also they are not arranged in any order. The whole idea of this blog is to give you the push so that you pick up your guitar and start practicing after reading this blog. These are some known songs loved by all and the best part is that they are easy to learn and will improve your guitar playing skills.
Practicing guitar with songs will help you with your chords, rhythm and strumming and picking, in fact it will help you with most of the basic guitar techniques. At the same time it will make playing guitar a lot more enjoyable.
So, let’s start with the list of songs for beginners…
House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
Nice easy song that everyone should know. ‘House of the Rising Sun’ is a well-known song available in the public domain which means that we can use it without violating any artist’s copyright protection. Don’t rush with the song; go slowly and evenly in the beginning. Don’t try to go faster than you can, while at the same time maintain an even spacing of the chords. All those who thoughtfingerpicking guitar was too difficult, think again. Just like everything else it only requires practice, time and motivation.
Horse With No Name – America
A classic rock song by America from 1972, ‘Horse With No Name’ is one of the simplest songs to practice. If you are a beginner and thinking to play songs on your guitar and have fun at the same time, then try this song. It will actually take you less time to learn this song then it takes to talk about the song. Just begin with the basic strumming and lyrics.
For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
‘For What It’s Worth’by Buffalo Springfield is one of the most familiar songs from the 1960s. It was from the album Retrospective and was written by Stills, Stephen. It is another simple song to play and practice guitar. Just like ‘Horse With No Name’, ‘For What It’s Worth’ also uses only two chords E and A.
I Walk The Line – Johnny Cash
‘I Walk The Line’ by Johnny Cash is anothergreat song for beginnersto learn. ‘I Walk the Line’ became the first number one Billboard hit for Cash.You can simplify the song down to just 3 chords – chord A, chord E and chord D.
Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
‘Three Little Birds’ is a song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. This song reached the Top 20 in the UK and is one of Bob Marley’s most popular songs. ‘Three Little Birds’ has been covered by numerous other artists.This song is for complete beginners and has only three chords – chord A, chord D and chord E and has a very simple strumming.
Love Me Do – The Beatles
‘Love Me Do’ is the Beatles’ first single and it peaked at No. 17 when released in the UK in 1982. This is a wonderful song for a guitar learner; it has only three chords, easy changes and easy rhythm.
So, what are you waiting for, grab your guitar and start practicing any of the above songs. Having said that if you feel that you want to improve your guitar playing skills further once you can play these songsand take your guitar playing to the next level, then contact me. I’m Rex Bell and I have been doing mobile guitar lessons for many years. I will come to your home and give you private guitar lessons at your home. Guitar Confidence covers over 30 cities in the East Bay and South Bay areas; including Danville, San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton.
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