Easiest Songs to Play on Guitar - A Countdown

• October 19, 2016
• Guitar Songs

In reality, easy is relative to ability. The easiest songs to play on guitar list will include songs that are easy for one guitarist but maybe not for another.

A lot of that has to do with age, size, aptitude, and level of discipline. To make a countdown of easiest song to play on guitar, we’ll do a top 20. The list could be almost infinite. These are some of the classic songs that might be at the top of most list. If you’re just getting started on guitar, you will want to start with some of these for sure. Learn as many as you can and you’ll have a good start.

Traditional Songs - Easiest Songs To Play On Guitar

Our first seven easiest songs to play on guitar are traditional and very elementary or perfect for children. Even if you are a teen or an adult, your first songs on guitar may be these super easy ones. The reason is they are very familiar and don't require a lot of thinking.

Coming in at #1: Mary Had A Little Lamb (children’s traditional) This tune has just four notes in it. We won’t display them all but check this out -

e0 d3 c1 d3 e0 e0 e0 - d3 d3 d3 - e0 g3 g3 Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb - lit-tle lamb - lit-tle lamb -

e0 d3 c1 d3 e0 e0 e0 c1 d3 d3 e0 d3 c1 - - - - - - Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb - whose fleece was white as snow…

This is such an easy place to start. You can take these four notes and grab several easy songs to play on guitar. Now let’s look at the chords for this tune.

C G7 C

Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb - lit-tle lamb - lit-tle lamb -

C G7 C

Ma-ry had a lit-tle lamb - whose fleece was white as snow…

Okay, so you can hold the c1 note down and strum the first three strings and you have a simple C Major Triad or Chord. If you drop the c1 down to the first string on the f1, you get a G7 chord. This sounds a little like a ukulele but it’s an easy place to start learning to strum chords.

The next two songs use the same two chords. “He’s Got the Whole World” is strummed exactly the same as “Mary Had A Little Lamb.” “Down in the Valley” is irregular but it’s so easy.

#2: He’s Got the Whole World (children’s traditional)

#3: Down In the Valley (traditional)

#4: Ode To Joy (traditional)

#5: Amazing Grace (traditional hymn)

Using the Open Strings - Easiest Songs To Play On Guitar

“Amazing Grace” makes the easiest songs to play on guitar list because it uses 3 open strings and often. The open strings from the little string up to the big strings is: e0 b0 g0 d0 a0 and big E0. You should start by memorizing these.

Now, let’s lay this one out so you can give it a go.

d0 g0 - b0 g0 b0 - a2 g0 - e2 d0 - Am-az-ing Grace how sweet the sound d0 g0 - b0 g0 b0 - a2 b0 d3 ———— that saved a wretch li-ke me………… b0 d3 - b0 d3 b0 g0 - a2 g0 - e2 d0 - I once- was lost but now I’m found d0 g0 - b0 g0 b0 - a2 g0 ————- twas blind but now I see…………….

You can see how easy this song is. Just by starting on the first five notes, you can hear the song developing. We encourage you to learn all kinds of songs and really work on memorizing your fretboard. Learning these notes will help you so much later as you learn more complicated music.

#6: You Are My Sunshine (children’s traditional)

#7. Silent Night (Christmas traditional)

#8. Horse with No Name (America)

This classic from the group America, is as easy as it gets. It’s a two-chord song that just prances along in 4/4 time. Over and over you play four beats of Emi and 4 beats of D Major 7. You’ll want to pick up these two chords and others from our resources page.

#9. House of the Rising Sun (The Animals, Dylan)

Here’s an American classic by The Animals and others. In 6/8 time it simply goes:

II: Ami /// /// C /// /// Dmi /// /// Ami /// /// Ami /// /// C /// /// E7 /// /// E7 /// /// Ami /// /// C /// /// Dmi /// /// Ami /// ///

Ami /// /// E7 /// /// Ami /// /// Ami /// /// :II

Classic Rock - Easiest Songs To Play On Guitar

This next batch has some beautiful classic rock songs that are easy to play on guitar. They are all unique but some of them have similarities. Like, for example, “Tulsa Time,” “Louie Louie,” and “Wild Thing,” all have that root and 5th thing happening.

“Sweet Home Alabama,” “Free Fallin’,” Take It Easy” and the others have more chords and strumming as the meat of the song. Some of these have signature riffs like “Brown Eyed Girl,” but don’t let that throw you. Just strum along and learn the structure of the tune first, then you can venture into the riff world.

#10. Tulsa Time (Don Williams, Clapton)

#11. Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

#12. Louie Louie (The Kingsmen)

#13. Wild Thing (The Troggs)

#14. Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty)

#15. Take It Easy (The Eagles)

#16. Lean On Me (Bill Withers)

#17. Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)

#18. Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)

#19. Love Me Do (The Beatles)

#20. Proud Mary (CCR)

 

 

 

Again, there’s probably a few hundred more songs we could add to our easiest songs to play on guitar list. These are just the first ones that came to our minds. Here are some other fun songs to play that we wrote about.

You should jump on these and conquer each and every song until you can play them without the use of notes or charts. Show them to a friend. When you can teach something right, you really know it. Also, form a list of songs you’d like to play and take them on one song at a time.

If you’re looking for any other challenges in your guitar playing, you should think about taking guitar lessons. Even if you’ve taken a few and didn’t like them, every teacher is a little different. With online guitar lessons, you get to try different teachers all of the time without the awkwardness of rejecting someone face-to-face.

Click on the link below to find out how you can connect with our guitar professionals today.