Looking for easy songs on guitar? Here's a list of tracks that are perfect for absolute beginners. Let's dive in! 🎸
In this guide you will learn:
10 easy guitar songs for beginners (we'll walk you through each one)
The 5 essential chords a beginner guitarist must know (they're super-easy)
73 easy songs on guitar that you can play with those 5 chords
2 iconic guitar riffs that sound fantastic (and are EASY to play)
4 useful strumming patterns
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If you're looking for easy songs on guitar you're in the right place. Let's do it.
Finding easy songs on guitar can be tough for beginners
Jack and I often see guitar beginners get frustrated because they feel they're not making progress as quickly as they'd like.
Often, there's a specific song they want to learn but they can't manage it.
This leads to frustration and a feeling that they are 'not talented enough'. Are you in this camp?
99 times out of a 100 this frustration is due to people taking on songs that are simply unsuitable for beginners.
If you were teaching a child to swim, would you drop them into the deep end of the pool? Of course not. You'd put them in the shallow end, with inflatable arm bands or water wings. You'd make it EASY for them to stay on top of the water and make progress.
And that's what we want to do for you in this lesson. Our motto as a company is: 'Make Things Easy & Fun'.
Finding easy songs on guitar is difficult for total beginners because they can't tell, at-a-glance, what will be easy or difficult. This is why so many guitar beginners bite off more than they can chew.And it's why we created this epic list; a free resource for guitar learners all over the world.
Learn the 12 EASIEST beginner chords with our famous FREE guide
✓ Stop struggling. Start making music.
✓ Learn 12 beginner-friendly versions of every chord.
✓ This is our most popular guide and it will improve your chord ability quickly.
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Here are 10 easy songs on guitar that are perfect for guitar beginners
For each track we'll give you a little context, teach you easy versions of the chords, and show you a few videos.
If you don't like these songs you will still find super-useful tips in the walkthroughs.Remember, these are tips that you can apply with any song in the future.
1. 'Shake It Off' by Taylor Swift.
The first song we're going to learn is 'Shake It Off' by Taylor Swift. This is an easy song on guitar because it only uses 3 simple chords.
This was a huge hit when it was first released. (This video has been played on YouTube more than a billion times!)
Why is this an easy song on guitar?
It only has 3 chords in it.
The chords can be played with just 2 fingers.
The chords are the same all the way through.
The strumming pattern is nice and simple.
What are the chords?
This is an easy song on guitar mainly because of the chords.
Important! The 3 chords you need to know for this song will be used in lots of other songs in this list too. (So we're going to spend a bit of time on each chord to make sure you learn the easiest possible way to play them.)
The 3 chords are Am, C and G.
FYI: The full names of these 3 chords are "A minor", "C major" and "G major". As guitarists, we often only specify when a chord is minor. (So if someone says "G" or "C" they are actually referring to G major and C major.)
The first chord in this song is an A minor chord. Am is usually played like this:
[If you don't understand this image you should read our guide: How To Read Guitar Chordboxes In 60 Seconds]
The super-easy way to play Am
We're looking for super easy songs on guitar, so we need to make this as simple as possible.
With that in mind, we're going to play an easy version of Am which is called Am7 (pronounced "A Minor Seven").
It looks like this:
Can you see that we only need two fingers? Nice and easy.
We need to use our first finger and our second finger. Fingers 1 and 2.
Our second finger goes on the 2nd fret on the D string, and our first finger goes on the first fret of the B string.
To play this chord we strum from the A string, and it should sound a little like this.
.
To learn other easy ways to play Am check out this beginner lesson in our easy chords section.
TOP TIP:Whenever you need to play Am you can use Am7 as an easy substitute.
The Super-Easy Way To Play C
The next chord we need to know is C. (Or to use its full name "C major".)
The standard C chord looks like this:
This is one of the most common guitar chords of all. But it's very hard for beginners to play because it requires 3 fingers, spread over 3 frets. We need an easier version of C.
My favourite version of C for beginners is Cmaj7 (pronounced "C major seven"). It looks like this:
Two fingers. Nice and simple! 🙂
Usually, we play this chord with fingers 1 and 2. But if we're moving to it after an Am7 then it's easier to use fingers 2 and 3 because finger 2 is already in the right place! Try this. It's a very useful tip.
Doing this means you don't have to take your hand off the fretboard and for beginners this is a big help.
Feel free to customise your chord transitions. There are multiple ways to play every chord. You don't have to use the 'recommended' fingers.
Can you see that part of our quest to find easy songs on guitar is about ADAPTING songs to MAKE them easy? This is a key point that we'd like you to take from this lesson.
If you strum from the 5th string your Cmaj7 chord should sound like this:
.
"Wouldn't it be better for me to learn the 'proper' chord versions? I don't want to take the easy way out, I want to learn properly!"
This is a response I've heard hundreds of times. 🙂
Don't feel that by using easy chord versions you aren't learning 'properly'. As guitarists we use different fingerings for chords all the time and we often use chord substitutions on the fly depending on the demands and feel of the track.
Chord transitions, voicings and fingerings are a fluid thingand we want you to develop dexterity and control in ALL fingers. So mix it up.
Using easy chord versions (or as I like to call them 'stepping stone' chords) is a progress accelerator.
The Super-Easy Way To Play G
The last chord we need to know here is G. As with our Am and C chords, there are lots of different ways to play G.
We usually play G like this:
But the version of G we're going to use to make this as easy as possible is G6. It looks like this:
Can you see this is the same shape as the Cmaj7, just lower down?
We usually play G6 using fingers 1 and 2, as shown here. But if you were playing Cmaj7 before it using fingers 2 and 3, then you can simply move those 2 fingers down.
You can use fingers 1 and 2 to play G6.
You can use fingers 2 and 3 to play G6.
It's up to you.
A great way to get faster at moving between chords is be like a pool player and think one shot ahead. Modify your chord fingerings if it makes it easier to reach the next chord.
Regardless of what fingers you use, the G6 chord should sound like this.
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It's time to play! How to strum 'Shake It Off'
Now we know the chords to this track we can look at learning the song and consider the strumming pattern.
Here's what the chords to the song sound like in time. (I just strum each chord once.)
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