There are many easy guitar songs available on the radio daily that beginners can try to play. Easy guitar songs for beginners are those songs that have few chord progressions and changes, as this presents the most trouble for those first starting out. Songs that have less than 4 chords are considered easy guitar songs. So listen to the radio and find a song you enjoy playing, and start from there. Here are a few ideas on easy guitar songs.
Country Songs
The Chair- George Strait
Who You’d Be Today- Kenny Chesney
Suds in the Bucket- Sara Evans
Pop
According to You-Orianthi
Don’t Trust Me-3Oh!3
Rock Songs
What It Takes-Aerosmith
Ain’t Even Done With the Night-John Mellencamp
Bring Me To Life-Evanescence
Easy Listening
Call Me Al-Paul Simon
New Kid in Town-Eagles
There are many different songs, not just those listed above that offer a beginner a great place to start. Think about your favorite song, and listen to the chords being played and not the difference in the voice singing. Count out how many different chords are being played, and this will tell you how hard a song will be to play. If you count more than 4 chords, it will be a difficult song for you as a beginner. However, if you have a little time under your belt, songs with 5 chords are a bit easier to accomplish. If you are a beginner and do not have problems changing chords regularly, you can try harder songs. But be warned that if you learn the chord changes incorrectly you will not only make the song unrecognizable, but you will set yourself back trying to relearn the proper way.
If you need help learning how to play easy guitar songs there are many things you can do. You can seek help from a friend who plays the guitar or you can find a guitar instructor in your area who offers private lessons. Another great option is to look up some online guitar lessons geared toward easy guitar songs. Online guitar lessons are often free and they are available all over the internet. Taking online lessons can help you progress from beginner to intermediate where harder songs will not be as difficult to learn. Although many look down on these lessons, they are easy to fit into your schedule and do not have to be done outside the house.
R.E.M. songs are great for learning about song structure – intro, verse, chorus. These lessons feature songs by R.E.M. that we think beginners can learn easily and turn into nice solo arrangements.
Here are some thoughts about which songs to learn. If you’re a beginner, the chord progressions and songs you may be playing now are only a glimpse of what you will be able to play if you stick with it. You’ll want to have a large repertoire of different kinds of songs to help you grow as a musician.
Having a large repertoire can invigorate your playing, as can studying jazz. Jazz is all about playing things in a new way, and in a way that encourages individual expression. Mark Levine’s excellent Jazz Theory book drives this point home, and offers many, many ways of adding variety to playing the changes. There’s an entire section devoted to chord substitution. This section shows how to swap the V for ii, ii for V, precede the I with its V, and many other approaches for substitutions.
How many changes and songs to play?
Edwin Gordon, the great music educator, says learning as many songs as possible is important to building true musicianship. The more variations you can get in your ear, the more possibilities you can hear. So, the more interesting your playing will be to you and others.
It’s interesting when you’re playing along on one song that you half remember, and another song intrudes, and you start playing the two songs combined. This shows one way in which knowing lots of songs can reinforce your performance and fill in memory gaps.
Which changes to play?
Which songs and chord progressions should we play? Obviously, if you’re in a band you need to learn what the band is going to perform. But what do you do when you’re able to choose which tunes you’ll perform?
I choose tunes I like and that swing. There may be lots of songs I like that no one will remember ten years from now, but if learning these tunes keeps me interested in playing, I’ll go with the favorite tunes.
It is helpful to reach beyond yourself, and learn a tune you wouldn’t normally choose to learn. A good time to select such a tune is when you’ve just finished learning a tune you do like. You’re feeling great that you can play a complex tune you’ve loved to listen to for years, and you’re feeling like you could learn anything. Choose a tune that makes you stretch as a musician. You may surprise yourself by becoming interested in it, and even developing an affection for it. Start with a tune that grabs you, a song you can make sound good.
Here are some tips for picking out a song to build your skills with:
Pick a song you like
Pick a song that has changes that can be found in many songs. When you
do this, you’re learning many songs for the price of learning one.
How do you know if a song’s chord changes are found in lots of other tunes? There are lots of books and web sites that can answer this. If you look on the web, your search term would be “popular chord progression.” Doing a little research will help you dig up chord progressions that appear over and over in many tunes.
So you want to start to play guitar, well there’s nothing wrong with that. It has to be one of the coolest jobs out there. All you need is a guitar and a few other bits and pieces and you could be on your way to stardom. But where to start…….
Beginner guitar packsare an excellent way to get everything you need to start learning to play. In one box you will receive everything required (actually you need hard work and I’m afraid you have to provide that yourself).
Beginner guitar packs are available in electric, acoustic, electro-acoustic and bass guitars. The contenst does vary slightly form maker to maker but they basically consist of a beginner/intermediate level guitar, amp & lead(if required), travel bag, stand, spare strings, tuner, a few picks, a tuition book/DVD. The cost can range form around 50 – 150 pounds depending on quality (you do get what you pay for).
Where can you buy Beginner guitar packs?
Beginner guitar packsare available virtually everywhere that sells guitars. They are available in guitar shops on and offline, amazon and Ebay also have listings for beginner guitar packs.
Can you feel confident buying from the Internet?
Yes, you can. Take Ebay for example. If a seller is selling low quality rubbish different to what they advertise they will have a lot of bad feedback, and also the guitars sold on Ebay can be found elsewhere on the internet so more info and reviews and the beginner guitar pack you are looking for can be found and then brought for the best price on Ebay.
Can i try before i buy?
Yes and no. You will not be able to try before you buy on most internet sites, but you can go to a shop, tell them what your looking for and use there expert advise to find the guitar you want and fell confident with and then find it cheaper on the internet. You have no obligation to buy from the store if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Just a note about shops, make sure they show you what you want to see, not what they want to sell you(only true of a handfull of shops)
The beginner guitar player has a new look with a reworked theme. I hope you agree that its a much more inviting theme now with the header size being a much better size.
So you are learning to play the guitar and the time has come to replace your strings.
Guitar strings are like ink cartridges, from time to time they need to be replaced and like ink cartridges there are many different varieties. Choosing new strings for the first time can be quite daunting because there is so much to choose from.
First things first acoustic guitars require acoustic guitar stings and electric guitars require electric guitar strings so this narrows it down a little.
Gauge
Next to think about is what gauge of strings you want. The gauge of the strings will have an effect on the sound you produce whilst playing. A fuller tone is created by thicker gauged strings, whilst thinner strings produce a lighter sound. For a beginner medium or thinner gauge strings are the best choice because thicker strings are harder to play. String gauges are shown as a series of numbers showing the thickness of each string measured in thousands of an inch e.g. 0.10 . The gauge of a set of strings is usually shown as the gauge of the thinnest string(10) of thinnest & thickest (10-46).
As a beginner i would recommend that after you have decided on the gauge you want, the only other decision is what make to buy. There are other factors that determine the sound produced but for a beginner they will just lead to confusion. Find the right gauge and then move on to the other factor.
These extra factors are concerned with the materials used to make the string and the winding on the strings.
Material
The majority of strings used on acoustic and all used on electric are made of metal, they are either plain strings or wound strings. A plain string is just that, plain, round usually steel and used for the thinnest strings. Wound strings are used for the thickest strings.
On an acoustic guitar usually the two thinnest strings (string 1 & 2) are plain steel strings, the other thicker four are wound with either bronze, phosphor bronze or silk steel (steel core wound first with steel and then a metal wire).
Nylon strings are used on classical or flamenco guitars. They have 3 plain nylon strings as the thinnest strings and nylon wound with silver wire as the 3 thickest strings.
Electric guitars generally have 3 plain and 3 wound strings. The thinnest strings are plain and thickest are wound. The core is either round or hexagonal steel wound usually with nickel wire.
Winding
Wound strings are produced in three varieties.
Round wound -- This is the most common and cheapest type. They have a round or hex core and are tightly wound with a round wire.
Flat wound -- These have the same core construction but the winding material has a rounded square cross section which reduces the squeak when sliding fingers along the string and reduces the area for dirt and oil to build up so extends the life of the string.
Half round -- This type of string is a cross between flat and round. They are made of round winding wire and afterwards ground and polished to give the outer surface a flat feel.
It will take a while before you find the strings you can say are perfect for you but it’s fun experimenting.
So your child has said they want to play guitar, but your not sure if this is the start of a fulfilling past time or a fleating passion. It is a well know fact that you learn easier and faster when you are young but the strength required in the fingers means around 9 or 10 is the youngest a child should start. At this age a 1/2 size or 3/4 size guitar should be used depending on the size of the child. A full size guitar can be played when getting into the teenage years.
What type of guitar is best for a child and how much will it cost. Well acoustic, electric and bass guitars are all available in 1/2 or 3/4 size. The smaller size of the neck on an electric guitar will make it easier for smaller hands and the low action makes it easier for notes or chords to be played cleanly. They are more expensive to buy upto £100 pounds for a good quality beginner package. Acoustic guitars maybe slightly harder to play due to size, but they can be taken and played anywhere and for the same money you can get a better standard of guitar. The easiest guitar for a child to pay is the classical guitar due to it having nylon strings as opposed to steel, but it may be hard to convince a child that they want a classical guitar.
Money can often be a sticking point for a parent buying for their child beacause they do not know if they will stick with it or give it up after a month or two. That said it is important that the you give your child the best oppertunity to learn, and you really do get what you pay for. A cheap guitar is inherently harder to play and therefore it is much more likely the child will give it up. You should buy the best guiatr you can afford to give your child the best chance.
I would avoid a guitar with a TV character theme on the body of the guitar, although it may initially inspire their interset it could quickly become unpopular or uncool as the childs gets a little older and the guitar could be confined to the wardrobe.
A great choice of maker for a childs guitar is Squire who have a ‘mini’ range of stratocasters. They are made by Fender so the name speaks for itself. They are not to expensive, about £100 pounds, 3/4 size and are real good quality.
The word Capo is something you would not come across at all if you were not interested in guitar playing. It is from the Italian word Capotasto.
So what is a capo? Well a capo is a devise that attaches to the neck of the guitar and is used to shorten the length of the strings, which will in turn raise the pitch of each open string.
Jim Dunlop Trigger Capo
Capos are used to enable guitar players to play songs in a different key to which they were written. They want to do this for a number of different reasons. When playing with a band it makes it easier to play in the same key as the other instruments (piano etc) without playing complicated chords. It is also often used to change the songs key so that the plyaer is able to sing to song comfortablly without it being too high or too low.
Basically the Capo is placed at the required fret at the bottom of the fret just above the fret wire. The Capo forms a barre across all strings and effectively acts as the nut of the guitar, but a nut that can be moved up or down the neck. For each fret up (thats up in pitch/down from the nut) the capo is moved the chords move up half a step. So a Capo on the 2nd fret is 1 step up, this takes an A chord to a Bb or a D chord to a Eb. See the table below for more translations.
It is really simple to use a capo and can be very helpful for a beginner. Try it yourself, take a simple song you know put the capo on the 2nd fret (or any other) and play the chords exactly the same but below the capo. The song is now in a new key.
Capos come in different styles, a strap on style and a trigger style as in the pictue above. They are both easy to use but a trigger capo is very quick and very easy, just squeeze it and put it were you want it.
The Dummies series of books & DVDs is world renowned for their excellent content and understanding of each given subject, and Guitar For Dummies is no exception to the rule.The great thing about it is that right from the start you are treated as if you have never even seen a guitar before, let alone tried to play one. Due to this you never feel as if anything is being glossed over or forgoten.
The tuition starts by learning the parts of the guitar, tells you how to hold your guitar pick and soon leads on to showing you how to learn you first chord family. The great thing about the book is that it provides you with plenty of exercises and songs after each section for you to work on and are encouraged only to move on when you think you are ready to do so. The only negative thing i would say about this book is the songs you are given to learn, they are old fashioned and boring and to be honest i haven’t heard of some of them. This is probably to do with copyright, but the songs provided do not give you that much insentive to stay with them and you may be tempted to move before you are ready.
The flow of tuition of the book is very natural and even breaks into individual styles of guitar playing so it will last you past the beginner stages and beyond. The book comes with a dvd/cd which has every song or piece of TAB which is in the book so you can now that you are playing it right or wrong, which is very important for a beginner and builds confidence when it sound the same as the track.
Overall this book is an excellent strating point for the beginner and covers enough area to last through well beyond the beginner stage. It is clear, unassuming and has every essential technique and lesson you should learn. It is a book that i can really recommed from experiance as i used it when i started to play.
Learn to play the guitar with online video lessons
to convince a child that they want a classical guitar.
The tuition starts by learning the parts of the guitar, tells you how to hold your guitar pick and soon leads on to showing you how to learn you first chord family. The great thing about the book is that it provides you with plenty of exercises and songs after each section for you to work on and are encouraged only to move on when you think you are ready to do so. The only negative thing i would say about this book is the songs you are given to learn, they are old fashioned and boring and to be honest i haven’t heard of some of them. This is probably to do with copyright, but the songs provided do not give you that much insentive to stay with them and you may be tempted to move before you are ready.