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Ring of Fire, written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore, became one of Johnny Cash’s signature songs and is an ideal song to learn as an introduction to country music for beginner learners.
Easy
Ring of Fire is an accessible beginner country song featuring three simple chords and an accessible strumming pattern, perfect for anyone just beginning their country music journey. Even absolute beginners can quickly master its rhythm and count! With practice, even absolute novices can master this popular tune.
Strawberry Wine by Eric Clapton is an easy and accessible way to start learning country guitar. Boasting only two chords and an accessible strumming pattern, even novice guitarists will quickly be able to grasp this song’s intricate melodic qualities. While more advanced guitarists may wish to add in some hammer ons to give this classic more rhythmic flair.
Act Naturally by the Dixie Chicks is an excellent song to challenge beginner players while remaining accessible; using more chords than most beginner country songs on this list but remaining very straightforward for learners to pick up quickly. Plus, its faster tempo makes for a good workout for newcomers!
Intermediate
Our most popular guide will significantly hone your chord ability. You’d be amazed how many songs can be played using just these basic chords – learning these early will make picking up other three-chord songs much simpler in the future!
“T.N.T.” by AC/DC is one of the more straightforward songs in their catalog, featuring E, G and A chords with some simple strumming patterns alternating. Perfect for beginner guitarists just starting out!
John Fogerty’s “Bad Moon Rising” is another three chord song designed for beginners that’s easy to learn. A classic rock tune, this tune will demonstrate your chord progression skills while offering you an opportunity to challenge yourself musically by substituting chords with power chords for an alternative punk rock sound; an enjoyable challenge!
Advanced
Once you’ve mastered open chords and bar chords, it’s time to expand your knowledge. Most songs you will play require more complicated shapes than C, G and Em chords; there may even be chords with unusual names like Bm b6 add 11 or E minor seven; don’t let these unfamiliar-sounding combinations intimidate you; just play!
These chords can be found across genres including pop, jazz, funk and neo-soul music. You may have come across them before in RHCP’s Under the Bridge by John Lennon or Crazy by Gnarls Barkley for example.
Once you master these complex shapes, it will indicate a significant improvement in your rhythm guitar playing and provide great opportunities for soloing as well. A good way to practice them would be playing Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash; its acoustic version provides a good introduction with just three chords – teaching beginners strumming patterns and mariachi horn melodies along the way!
Fingerpicking
Ring of Fire, made famous by Johnny Cash, is an ideal song to practice your fingerpicking technique. The chords feature all open shapes making them easy to recognize while its comfortable tempo makes this tune ideal.
Tip: When fingerpicking, it’s essential to maintain a firm grasp with your thumb and isolate any movements from arm or wrist movements. By doing this, you can focus on developing picking hand muscles while controlling force applied to strings.
Act Naturally is an excellent song to practice your chord progression and strumming pattern as its chorus contains many different chords! Prioritize melodic notes when selecting chords around them for more natural-sounding guitar accompaniment of singers’ performances – making their song much more authentic sounding!