These chord songs provide beginner guitarists with a fun way to familiarize themselves with basic guitar fundamentals. Each track focuses on three simple chords with easily manageable stretches between changes – perfect for novice players!
Beginners should focus on open chords that do not require too much finger stretching or multi-string holding to prevent falling into bad habits that could hinder their musical journey later.
Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Learning easy guitar songs can be an excellent way for beginning players to gain familiarity with chords and gain the feel for playing guitar. While performing complex Van Halen solos or Cream riffs may be ideal, taking things slowly is perfectly acceptable.
Sweet Home Alabama, composed by Ronnie Van Zant, Gary Rossington and Ed King was originally written in response to Neil Young’s song of the same name which criticised Governor George Wallace’s racism as well as Southern stereotypes of racist rednecks. It quickly became a hit and remains one of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s mainstay songs today.
Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones
This acoustic version of Wild Horses by the Rolling Stones is ideal for beginner guitar players. This version uses easy beginner chords and includes an accessible B-minor bar chord for easy learning of barre chords.
This song boasts an intriguing chord progression that reaches for a chromatic chord during its chorus. This adds tension and drama that really grabs attention.
Note that this song requires tuning to open G, which may present additional challenges for new guitarists but will add extra depth and tone. For beginners, the 1-Guitar arrangement offers an introductory lesson with performance play thru video in standard tuning; full lessons also use Nashvilletuning and Open G tunings.
Mary Jane’s Last Dance by Tom Petty
Beginning guitar players may find this three chord song easy to learn and use, and is an ideal way to practice fretting and unfretting while familiarizing your fingers with being close to the frets.
“Tangerine,” by Led Zeppelin, is another excellent beginners guitar song with three chords that introduce sus2/sus4 chords for beginners to master.
Wonderwall by Oasis is an accessible four chord song suitable for beginners. The long pauses between changes provide guitarists an opportunity to develop their strumming techniques, while inverted chords may present additional challenges but remain manageable by beginners.
Wonderwall by Oasis
Wonderwall is an ideal song to learn if you’re new to rock music or need an update on chord progressions. Featuring an easy strumming pattern and open-position chord progression, Wonderwall makes for a fun musical challenge!
Oasis released one of their longest-lived hits in 1995: Wishing Stone. Originally named by Noel Gallagher as an ode to an ex-wife (later claimed as being about an imaginary friend), Wishing Stone quickly became one of beginner guitarists’ go-to songs.
Chord voicings are straightforward, so learning them should be straightforward. Simply make sure to practice strumming without looking at your fingertips until it becomes second nature.
When I Come Around by Green Day
Green Day’s classic song When I Come Around features Billie Joe Armstrong on lead vocals and features power chords and loud drums that bring this tune alive. As part of their third album Dookie and shipped to radio in December 1994 before becoming a single in January 1995. If you love Green Day or wish to learn how to play power chords this song can be learned without difficulty; its original key of F# can easily be transposed down for personal singing range.
Buddy Holly by Weezer
This song from Weezer’s 1994 debut album (The Blue Album) delves into the subject of gentrification. Written by Rivers Cuomo himself, this has since become their signature tune.
This tune’s acoustic version is straightforward and ideal for practicing strumming patterns. Additionally, this song presents an ideal chance to learn the fundamentals of slash chords – chords which contain notes other than root at either end of a slash – while simultaneously honing fingering skills for open chords; its chord progression appears arpeggiated on recording but can easily be strumming along to.