Learn How to Play Fourteen Easy Guitar Songs
Guitar Chords for Famous Songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, CCR & More
Sep 17, 2009
When learning to play a new instrument, a knowledge of which songs are the easiest to play is important. Someone taking up the guitar will have a nearly limitless song selection from which to choose, but many are complex and require months of practice to play proficiently.
Many take up an instrument with the initial goal of learning a few simple songs which they can play for themselves, their friends and their family. The quickest way to expand a repertoire is to pick songs with simple repeating structures. Each of the sections below lists a number of straightforward songs and provides a link to an article with detailed instructions on how to play them.
Five Easy Guitar Songs for Beginners
The songs described in this article feature some of the most famous and accomplished artists in rock. All of them, save one, can be regularly heard on radio stations coast to coast. They are some of the easiest rock classics to learn on guitar and can be played with only a few minutes practice. They are:
- The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals
- Helpless by Neil Young
- Rocky Raccoon by The Beatles
- We Used to Know by Jethro Tull
- Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan
To learn how to play these songs and gain a little knowledge of the songs themselves, check out Five Easy Guitar Songs for Beginners.
Three Easy Songs on Guitar
These songs are slightly more complex than those in the Five Easy Guitar Songs for Beginners. However, they are far from impossible and require only a bit of patience to learn the chord progressions and rythyms. The three songs featured in this article are:
- The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill by The Beatles
- Isis by Bob Dylan
- Dear Mr. Fantasy by Traffic
Of these songs, one is about marriage, one is about hypocrisy, and the other was recorded at 1 o'clock in the morning. To find out which is which, and learn how to play these three songs, take a look at Three Easy Songs on Guitar.
Learn to Play Three Easy Guitar Songs
Three more classics are included in this article. Two are original compositions by two of rock's most prolific creative geniuses. The other is a cover of a century-old folk song that has its roots in the hopeless despair and hardship endured by prison inmates in the American south. The songs laid out in this article are:
- The Midnight Special by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Working Class Hero by John Lennon
- Don't Think Twice, It's All Right by Bob Dylan
To learn the chord progressions to these songs and the stories behind them, check out Learn to Play Three Easy Guitar Songs.
All the songs in these three articles require no advanced knowledge of 12-tone theory or the intricacies of the circle of fiths. They are all classics that anyone can play using only a few simple chords.
The titles and lyrics to many of these songs have been a part of the pop culture lexicon for decades. Learning to play these famous tunes is a great first step for someone new to the guitar. They will help build confidence and allow for impressive demonstrations of skill in front of friends and family.
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