What are the 11 best beginner guitar songs to learn to play? These easy to play songs use a range of open string chords and simple strumming patterns making them a great set of tunes for beginner guitar players to get under their fingers.
These well known 11 beginner guitar songs from the 50s, 60s, 70s. 80s and 90s are listed in order of difficulty to play.
1. Wild Thing – The Troggs / Louie Louie – The Kingsmen
The 3 chords of A D E major make up 2 very similar songs from the 60s Wild Thing by The Troggs and Louie Louie by The Kingsmen. To play a simple version of these songs simply down strum on each chord twice in the following order of A D E D and then repeat. For tips on how to play and change between these chord shapes check out this video lesson.
2. High & Dry – Radiohead
High & Dry by Radiohead is one of their earlier 90s songs. While it sounds like a lot is going on in this song the core of it is only 3 chords – G Em and D. To play these chords in the same key as Radiohead you need to add a capo behind the 2nd fret. This is labelled as Capo 2 in sheet music and on guitar tab sites. A capo enables you to easily change the tuning of the guitar to fit different keys and still use easy open string chord shapes. For further info on using a capo view the video lesson.
An easy strumming pattern to play along with High & Dry would be “down down down up down down” for each bar with one bar of E minor, one bar of G and 2 bars of D making the song work. Check out the High & Dry guitar video lesson below to hear how the strumming sounds.
3. Horse With No Name – America
Horse With No Name was a big hit by the band America in the 70s and no its not sung by Neil Young even though it sounds a lot like him! This is one of the best beginner songs around as it uses only 2 chords E minor and an easy 2 finger variation of D called D69/F#. Each chord is played for a bar of 4 beats which then repeats for the entire song.
The strumming pattern for this song is a “down down down up down up” pattern on the E minor chord followed by a more complicated strumming pattern of “down up down up up down up” for the D69/F# chord. Listen closely to intro of the song and you will hear this strumming rhythm of the acoustic guitar.
Watch the guitar video lesson for how to play Horse With No Name below.
4. Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
This uptempo Creedence Clearwater Revival tune is a classic using just the D A G chords. In the verses there are whole bars (4 beats) of D and a half bar of A and G (2 beats each)
The easy way to play the verse is to strum “down down up” for every 2 beats so in the case of a whole bar (4 beats) of D you play “down down up down down up”. On the A chord you only play “down down up” with the same happening for the G chord before going back to D.
For the chorus of Bad Moon Rising there are whole bars of G, D and A. For simplicity at this stage stick to the same strumming pattern used for the verse.
5. Stand By Me – Ben E King
Stand By Me was originally recorded by Ben E King in 1960 but was also famously recorded by John Lennon in the 70s . The song uses 4 chords G E minor C and D. To play in the same key as the Ben E King and John Lennon a capo is need to be placed behind the 2nd fret (labelled as capo 2).
This song is slightly harder than the previous ones mainly due to the change from E minor to C and C to D. For the E minor to C change play E minor using fingers 1 and 2 so when you change to C you keep finger 2 on the fret board and rotate the other fingers around to the C chord shape. Watch the video to see how this chord change is played.
For C to D there’s no real trick except to make all the fingers jump together from the one chord to the next. A suitable strumming pattern here is “down down up down up down up” for each bar of the song.
6. Love Me Do – The Beatles
This early Beatles hit is one example of he many songs using the chords G C and D. The intro with the harmonica melody is the same as the chorus using a bar of G followed by a bar of C that repeats. The verses are very similar except for the end of them where it stays on C for a while before going to the chorus. The bridge where they sing “someone to love” is D followed by C and G. With lots of G C chord changes here the tip is to change from G to C leading with the 3rd finger first to train all fingers to land the C chord shape at once. Watch the video lesson for an example of how to practice this chord change.
A strumming pattern that works for this son is the “down down up up down up” strumming pattern which is used for heaps of songs including Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison and Take It Easy by The Eagles. Check out the video to learn how to play this pattern.
If you’re looking for even more easy to play beginner songs on the guitar check out
The Great American Campfire Songbook. Perfect for singing around the campfire and other locations this book contains 80 well known songs with lyrics notes and chords and is great value at only $12.95US.
Plus don’t forget to check out for Part 2 of the 11 Best Beginner Guitar Songs
All lyrics and chords on this website may only be used for educational purposes, private study, scholarship or research.
