Five Songs To Learn On Guitar For Beginners

Hey everyone! I hope you are having a good day and are staying safe 🙂

So this is a post I’ve been wanting to write for a while now. I absolutely love to play guitar. Playing an instrument has a therapeutic effect, and just helps you feel better at the end of a rough day. It’s also a lot of fun, and learning something new is always great.

I’ve been playing guitar for over seven years now, and am so grateful that my parents wouldn’t let me give up. Because of that, I’ve been able to write songs and improve my skills. It’s given me a deeper appreciation for music, and songwriting is such a rewarding process.

But those skills don’t come to you overnight- you have to practice. And if you’re just starting out, finding the motivation to play can seem almost impossible. But you’ll regret it if you don’t, so keep working on it! And to help you out a bit, I’ve put a list together of five easy songs to play if you’re just starting. Even if you aren’t a beginner, these songs are still fun to play, and it’s always nice to play something simple and figure out how to stylize it. I’ll be doing an Instagram Live to show you how to strum and play each song, so keep reading till the end of the post to find out how you can make sure you catch it.

How to Read the image guides

So before we get into the songs and guides, I thought I’d take a minute to explain how to read the image guides I provided. As a beginner, I had a hard time with this, so I figured I should explain it to ya’ll so you don’t get as confused as I did.

I’ll use the guide that you’ll see in a minute for Shake It Off as an example:

So although you will see this again, I thought it’d be best to explain what each part is and how to use it.

At the top, you’ll see a diagram of the chords used in each song. There are six strings on a guitar, so the diagram shows that with six lines, and the columns represent the first three frets on the guitar. The dots on the diagrams represent your fingers and where to place them. They are numbered from one to four, as follows:

1. index finger
2. middle finger
3. ring finger
4. pinky

Below that is the strumming pattern for the song. The down and up arrows represent down and up strokes. A dash in between means a brief pause, and a shorter arrow means a smaller stroke.

I hope that helps.

Now without further ado, let’s get to the songs!

Shake It Off by Taylor Swift

You may know from some of my other posts, such as my take on the power of music, that I love Taylor Swift. What’s nice about her songs is that they normally aren’t difficult to play. Well, the majority anyways (London Boy I’m looking at you). The songs from her album 1989 are a great example. The lead single is probably the simplest off the album to play, with just three chords throughout the whole song: Am C and F. And you don’t have to play a full F chord, most of the time you can get away with playing an Fmaj7, which is super easy.

Here’s an image guide of how to play Shake It Off:

Dreams by Fleetwood Mac

I absolutely love Fleetwood Mac, and think they are fantastic lyricists. Dreams is probably one of their more popular songs, and is super easy to play on guitar. The lyrics to this song are dreamy in themselves, and paint a vivid mental picture. And having simple music helps those lyrics to shine. The entire song is two chords: F and G. And again, you can use the Fmaj7 instead.

Here’s an image guide of how to play Dreams:

Riptide by Vance Joy

This is one of my favorite songs to play because of how simple it is. I also love singing it as well, because you can have fun with the vocals and make them your own. It’s also easy to play on ukulele; it’s the same exact chords- Am C and G, just played differently on ukulele. The only thing to remember is that the Fmaj7 is only played during the bridge. It’s a nice way to break it up musically, and isn’t difficult to do.

Here’s an image guide of how to play Riptide:

Best Day Of My Life by American Authors

Another two chord song, just D and G. It’s so easy to play, and is one of those songs I can picture playing around a campfire with everyone singing along. The strumming pattern may seem a bit complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it’s super simple. And because it’s only two chords, you can focus on the strumming and not on having to play twenty different chords 😂. It’s a lot of fun and is a super happy and upbeat song to sing.

Here’s an image guide of how to play Best Day Of My Life:

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

Imagine Dragons are one of my all time favorite bands. Their music has gotten me through some tough times. Knowing about Dan Reynolds struggles with mental health, and how he has risen through it and grown, has helped me feel less alone and that if he can get through it, so can I. He’s just one of those people I’d love to give a huge hug to and say thank you, even if it’s just a digital one.

Anyways, enough with my Imagine Dragons rant. Radioactive is one of those songs pretty much everyone knows. It’s easy to play, since it’s the same chords throughout the song, Am, C, G, and D. Also, it’s great to play if you aren’t a beginner, because there are several ways you can change up the arrangement and play around with it vocally.

Here’s an image guide of how to play Radioactive:

Well that’s it for the post! I hope this was helpful, and that you have fun playing these songs! As I mentioned above, I’ll be sharing a more detailed description as to how to play each song over on instagram. I’ll be going live on Monday, November 23rd, 2020 at 2 pm EST, so mark your calendar to make sure you don’t miss it! Also, be sure to follow me @_theconfusedcraftgirl_ on Instagram. I’ll do a cover of each song as well. I can’t wait to share this with you guys.

SCHEDULED EVENT:

The Confused Craftgirl Music livestream, November 23rd, 2020 @ 2 pm EST

That’s it for now! Until next time 🙂