Best easy guitar chord songs to play for beginners
Best compilation of popular easy guitar chord songs for beginners, the perfect songbook to learn to play the guitar in a fun way!
Getting started with playing the guitar
The best way to learn guitar is to find songs that you can learn to play easily. There are a lot of songs of only 2 or 3 major or minor chords, these are the perfect ones when you are starting to learn to play guitar. Beginner guitarists should start with easy chord songs such as these.
Learning to play songs on the guitar keep you motivated to continue studying and getting better and better. This article is a great songbook when you begin your journey in learning to play guitar. Boost your guitar study with an instructors, having lessons and practicing long hours, this way you will get soon develop your guitar skills.
Perhaps before mastering the chords, you would prefer to first learn the most famous and easy Riffs for beginners with Tabs.
Guitar Tabs and chord charts or pictures
Guitar tabs and chord charts or pictures are tools are easy-to-read, that show you what you have to play, where your fingers have to go.
How to read Chords Pictures or Charts?
Look at the following three open chords that you will find several times throughout since these chords are used in lot of songs. G Major Chord, C Major Chord and D Major Chord.
Firstly, the “X” indicates that the string should not sound, so you don’t have to play that string. The “O” means that you play the strong ‘open’, or without a finger on it. Finally, number “1” on the upper left side indicates it is the first fret on your guitar.
The numbers in the black dots indicates which fingers you have to use, showing you where they go on what string and the fret. So looking at a chord, we’ll look at D Major, your index finger is 1, your middle finger is 2 and your ring finger is 3.
There are a lot of songs you can start with. Starting with easy chord songs help you learn in a motivating and funny way. The first thing you have to practice and learn is how to switch between chords. Simultaneously, you have to learn the strumming pattern of the song, is quite easy and mechanic, although it can be a little hard at the beginning.
Simple easy songs on guitar for beginners: strumming pattern
Each song has its own strumming pattern, and they will differ based on the song you choose. It will be helpful if you are familiar with the song and its rhythm to get the strumming quickly.
The strum pattern that you use is fundamental, stressing the rhythm and the dynamic of a song. Mastering the strumming of the guitar is an art and can be the difference between making a song with different levels of intensity, trained or a monotonous and boring one.
Manage what will solidify you as a true guitarist. The rhythm is just as important as learning how to play the chords correctly.
Which is the best type of guitar for beginners
You can use either a classic, an acoustic or an electric guitar to suit your desired sound. Some instructor recommend that you begin on an acoustic guitar first, but as everything, it has their pro and cons. Go, try each type of guitar, see what do you feel with each one, and which type fits better with you music style.
Best simple and easy guitar songs that every beginner should learn to play:
- Wonderwall chords by Oasis
- Perfect by Ed Sheeran
- Wish You Were Here chords by Pink Floyd
- What’s Up chords by 4 Non Blondes
- I Wanna Be There chords by Blessed Union of Souls
- Love Me Do Chords by The Beatles
- Sweet Home Alabama chords by Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Brown Eyed Girl chords by Van Morrison
- Three Little Birds (Every little thing is gonna be alright) chords by Bob Marley
- Achy Breaky Heart chords by Billy Ray Cyrus
Wonderwall chords by Oasis
This is one of the best songs of the brit rock, and the most popular songs of Oasis. Everyone has their opinions about Oasis but no matter what they are, there is no disputing the popularity of this song. This is a wonderful song to play on an acoustic guitar. The strumming intro is so recognizable but at the same time easy to play on an acoustic guitar. Throw a capo on the 2nd fret, play Em, G, D, and A and that’s basically all. The chorus uses C, D and Em. A simple version of Wonderwall is perfect for a beginner. Bet you that you and everyone will love to sing along to.
Perfect by Ed Sheeran
This song released on September 8, 2017 is one of Ed Sheeran’s best known hits. The song “Perfect” is a song that the British musician dedicated to his partner, Cherry. The song is easy level, but it has some challenges like arpeggios, but you can play it simple with strums. In addition, it is one of the most popular songs today, ideal to play at campfires or in the privacy of your partner. Enjoy it!
Wish You Were Here chords by Pink Floyd
Wish You Were Here is one of the most known songs by the English rock band Pink Floyd. The song was released their ninth album also named Wish You Were Here in 1975. David Gilmour and Roger Waters write together the music, and Gilmour was the lead vocal.
This iconic song was ranked No. 324 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is one of the best songs to play on acoustic guitar by the campfire with your friends. It is a very easy song and it can be played by beginners. The chords used in Wish You Were Here are C, D, Am and G.
What’s Up Chords by 4 Non Blondes
What’s Up? is a popular song by American rock group 4 Non Blondes. It is from Bigger, Better, Faster, More! , their 1992 debut album. This song was released as the second single of the album in 1993. It was successful in the United States, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and many countries more.
This song adds some difficulty, with a barre chord, the B. Perfect to move forward on your learning. The chords of the song are E, Am, G, D, and B. These chords can be easily picked up on the guitar. This is also one of those songs that everyone knows with great energy, perfect to share with friends everywhere, so it’ll be a big hit at parties or campings and get-togethers.
I Wanna Be There chords by Blessed Union of Souls
This song is perfect for beginners, it has just three simple and major open chords: G, C, and D. These are some of the easiest chords to learn first on the guitar.
The chord progression of I wanna be there goes like this: G | C | D | G. Practice switching to each, then learn how to strum the song and you are ready to play it. I Wanna Be There by Blessed Union of Souls is a very simple and easy song to begin with.
Love Me Do Chords by The Beatles
Love Me Do is the debut single by the epic English rock band the Beatles. When the song was originally released in the United Kingdom on October 5th of 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the USA in 1964, where it became a number 1 hit. Lately, in 1982, Love Me Do was re-promoted and reached number four.
This is another perfect song for beginners, it has three major open chords: G, C and D. This is alto one of the most popular song of all times. The first part of the songs has only two chords; so you can play most of the song with just a pair of chords. A great and very simple song with just the three open chords making it very easy to play for any beginner.
Sweet Home Alabama chords by Lynyrd Skynyrd
This is another anthem, but in this case an old rock country anthem. Sweet Home Alabama is one of the best song to develop your guitarist skills. This song can be played easily, or not, as you add technique. You can learn to play it super easy, just strumming three easy chords: C, D, and G.
Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival
This is an iconic song of the country music. It has a super simple chord progression of three easy chords: D, A and G.
The single was released in April 1969 and peaked at # 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and # 1 on the UK Singles Chart, where it spent nearly three weeks in September 1969. In 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Bad Moon Rising” at # 364 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Brown Eyed Girl chords by Van Morrison
Brown Eyed Girl is a song by Van Morrison, a Northern Irish songwriter and singer. Morrison is the author of the song and he recorded it in March 1967. Firstly, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. “Brown Eyed Girl” has remained a staple on classic rock radios, and hundreds of bands over the decades covered it.
This song is easily learned using only open chords: G major, C major, and D major, and E Minor chord. The chord pattern for this song is pretty simple and goes: G | C | G | D and C | D | G | Em.
Three Little Birds (Every little thing is gonna be alright) chords by Bob Marley
This reggae anthem is a perfect song to learn on guitar quickly and play it and sing it share with friends. Almost more known as “every little thing is gonna be alright”.
Three Little Birds only uses three major open chords: A, D, and E.
Don’t be fooled with the strumming on this song. Seems to be super easy, but it doesn’t. But if you dominate the strumming, this is a super fun jamming song that is continuous, and everybody loves.
Achy Breaky Heart chords by Billy Ray Cyrus
This is a classic country song of the 90’s. “Achy Breaky Heart” is a song written in 1990, Don Von Tress is the author. Firstly, the song was published by The Marcy Brothers in 1991, under the name “Don’t Tell My Heart”. A year later, it was recorded by Billy Ray Cyrus, father of Miley Cyrus.
“Achy Breaky Heart” was released on Billy Ray Cyrus debut album Some Gave All in 1992. The song is his debut single and signature song.
It is a super easy song for beginners. It just has two chords and simple strums. Furthermore, chorus and verses of this song have the same pattern!
The best easy songs to learn to play the guitar
The first step in learning to play guitar is get changing between open chords. After that, you can move forward adding barre chords. These songs are all great for beginners. Super easy chords progressions but yet great and popular songs. Afterwards, the fingering is following the next step.
There are many other popular songs out great to learn to play on guitar for beginners. The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, John Denver and many more artists have easy chord songs to play on guitar.
Practicing is the secret to learn to play guitar, so finding easy songs that you like is a great way to keep motivated. Additionally, these are good songs to share with friends, when going camping and play by the campfire, or in a home meeting. Playing along with recordings is a great way to practice with songs. Now, go ahead and play!
Find more about easy guitar songs for beginners here.
Related articles: How to sing and play guitar or bass at the same time: best tips.
