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3 Easy Guitar Songs For Beginners To Practice

By Mike Hayes | March 24, 2010

All too often ‘easy’ guitar method books and study material are
far too complex for the beginner guitar player; the key to great
guitar playing is the players’ ability to develop their awareness
of rhythm.

The trick to learning to play the guitar is to use very simple
chord shapes that require only a minimum of finger movement which
in turn allows the guitarist to concentrate on the beat.

The first step to playing well is to practice taping your foot
along with some of your songs, of course you would normally tap
your foot without thinking about it; the problem is when you
start playing the guitar there are so many things to think about
and new skills to acquire that usually the guitarist stops tapping
their foot altogether.

We want always be aware of our natural groove … everyone has it
it’s just some people are more aware of their groove that others,
the good news is anyone can improve their rhythmic feel with a
bit of practice.

Three Easy Guitar Songs

Song #1 – Horse With No Name by America

You can play this song using just two chord shapes and minimum
finger movement; here’s the two chords

Em

-0—-
-0—-
-0—-
-2—-
-2—-
-0—-

D69/F#

-0—-
-0—-
-2—-
-0—-
-x—-
-2—-

Don’t worry about the complex looking chord names it’s simply a
musical shorthand way of writing down sounds. The first chord is
an E minor chord; the second chord is a D six/nine chord with an
F sharp bass … now that’s an impressive sounding chord name to
dazzle your guitar playing friends with!

Here’s the chord progression …

Horse With No Name

Em /// | D69/F# /// |

That’s the progression for the entire song.

A neat way to practice is like this.

Em /// | (no chord) //// |

By playing the E minor chord and counting the remaining three
beats then omitting the second chord in the progression the
player develops their ‘groove’ by tapping their foot. play this
two bar sequence over and over omitting the second chord until
you can feel the beat with your whole body.

Song #2 - Last Kiss by Pearl Jam

This song will introduce the beginner to the very popular 1 – 6 -
4 – 5 chord progression in the key of G.

There’s the four chords shapes for this song …

G

-3—-
-0—-
-0—-
-0—-
-x—-
-x—-

Em

-0—-
-0—-
-0—-
-2—-
-2—-
-0—-

C

-0—-
-1—-
-0—-
-x—-
-x—-
-x—-

D

-2—-
-3—-
-2—-
-0—-
-x—-
-x—-

Notice how easy the chord shapes are?

Here is the chord progression for Last Kiss.

G /// | Em /// |C /// | D /// |

Again that’s the chord progression for the whole song which makes
it very easy to remember.

Song #3 – Before You Accuse Me by Eric Clapton (MTV Unplugged
version)

The purpose of this song is to introduce the newbie guitarist to
a popular twelve bar blues chord progression.

E7 /// |A7 /// |E7 /// | E7 /// |
A7 /// | A7 /// |E7 /// |E7 /// |
B7 /// |A7 /// |E7 /// | B7 /// |

Now for the easy chord shapes.

E7

-0—-
-0—-
-1—-
-0—-
-x—-
-x—-

A7

-0—-
-2—-
-0—-
-2—-
-0—-
-x—-

B7

-2—-
-0—-
-2—-
-X—-
-x—-
-x—-

When you are practicing a tune like “Before You Accuse Me” it’s a
good idea to select one chord and only play that chord for the
entire song making sure to tap your foot in the bars where the
chords have been omitted this will help you develop your sense of
rhythm on the guitar.

Topics: Beginner Guitar Lesson, Guitar Chords | No Comments »

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