Need suggestions for begginer acoustic songs.

[TangledUpInRed]

Got my guitar, now I want to play some stuff. Give me some begginer level songs. Ill try anything.

[Chutist]

12 bar blues, learn this and you "know" hundreds of songs!

Here's a link to some easy songs, I like this guys FREE lessons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXzWaNZ7ygE

If you go to Justin's site he have a BUNCH of lessons, including the Blues.

Enjoy! :D

[hawgadi]

If you could name a few artists you like, I could maybe help point you to some easy songs you're both familiar with and would like to play.

[TangledUpInRed]

I love Bob Dylan (obviously) and already got Knockin on heavens door figured out. Really easy, I can do 12bar blues too.

[susitna]

Sounds like we're in a similar boat, maybe.

"I'm Looking Through You" by The Beatles is pretty darned easy and I think it sounds good strummed on an acoustic. There are 7 chords, but nothing tricky. I'm also working on "Blackbird" and "Across the Universe", which aren't too difficult. Haven't tried playing it yet, but "You've got to Hide Your Love Away" sounds very Dylan to me.

Almost all the songs on Jewel's "Pieces of You" album are playable by a determined beginner. "Who Will Save Your Soul" is 4 chords with the same picking figure repeated throughout. "You Were Meant for Me" is a little trickier. "Near You Always" is really pretty even without the singing.

[hawgadi]

I love Bob Dylan (obviously) and already got Knockin on heavens door figured out. Really easy, I can do 12bar blues too.

I found "Mississippi" both easy and rewarding as a beginner.

[camperman]

Got my guitar, now I want to play some stuff. Give me some begginer level songs. Ill try anything.

I found the following songs really easy when I started.

Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Norwegian Wood-The Beatles

[TangledUpInRed]

Now I got 3 songs in my repitore:

Knocking on Heavens Door-Bob Dylan
Yellow Submarine- The Beatles
Wild Thing- The Troggs

[skillet]

As already suggested, justinguitar.com is a great resource. You should also checkout the following:

Three Chord Guitar (http://threechordguitar.com/vids.htm) (although some of his videos do have more than 3 chords, heh) -- mojocaster is a frequenter of a lot of guitar forums (maybe this one too, can't recall) and explains things very clearly.

Guitar Noise - Beginner's Section (http://www.guitarnoise.com/easy/) -- I found this site to be very useful; they go into a lot of detail. Also, they have a Bob Dylan section (http://www.guitarnoise.com/artist/bob-dylan/) you might enjoy.

Chordie (http://www.chordie.com) -- good site for finding tablature to get you going.

YouTube is your friend -- if there is a song you like, it's quite possible that someone has made a 'how to' video on YouTube or at least a cover version that will give you an idea of how to play it. Quality varies greatly, but it's still a useful learning tool. I usually add "acoustic" and "lesson" to any search to narrow down what I'm looking for because if you type in just "tangled up in blue" you'll get 10,000 cover versions when what you want are the ones focused on explaining the chords, etc.

[throbbingfinger]

I have been playing for nearly a year. You can play along to so many songs. You won't be busting any hardcore finger work just yet. Look on the sites the other guys have mentioned. You'll find a wealth of ways of playing a song.
I found it easier to play my favourite songs as you already know the songs inside out, ie where the changes are etc.

[rhythmstrummer1]

If you learn your basic open position chords like A, G, D, Dminor E, E minor, C, B, and F you can play a ton of folk, rock, country, and blues songs.

We have a bunch of full length free beginner lessons here that you might be interested in checking out. No need to create an account or anything.

http://rhythmstrummer.com/free-easy-guitar-songs-techniques.php

[Snoopy31]

wind of change- scorpions
two steps behind- def leppard
Lots of oldies from 50-60s
Good Riddance- greenday
wonderwall- oasis

[Raystrack]

California Dreaming is popular and easy to strum.

I can't agree with the reference to Blackbird - that's a tricky picker that I (and also Macca) have to stare at the fingerboard to play while singing :) Strummed would be a travesty.

[susitna]

California Dreaming is popular and easy to strum.

I can't agree with the reference to Blackbird - that's a tricky picker that I (and also Macca) have to stare at the fingerboard to play while singing :) Strummed would be a travesty.

I figure if I start learning it now, by the time I'm a decent player I'll have it down. ;)

Plus, the guitar part alone is really beautiful. After a couple sessions of focusing on it, I can play the first verse kind of haltingly.

[gimme789]

Hey Jude is an easy classic

[Acoustic Rick]

Learn three chords and you can play litteraly (sp) hundreds of songs. Learn to play G,C, and D.

[hurricanebob]

Figure out who you like to listen to--Beatles, Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, Van Morrison, Indigo Girls--it doesn't matter! Most contemporary folk/rock isn't that complicated. Getting a songbook of tunes you know and like, with chords written on the top, will put you on your way. Also, get a separate chord book so you can learn more chords as you go.

This is a great way to learn, by learning songs you always wished you could play. It's a built in motivator, and you'll see rewards sooner than later. Good luck!

[susitna]

I'm learning that the real secret is to play with a friend. Mine has given me a book with the chords for songs that she knows, and we've spent time jamming with her teaching me songs she thinks I can already play. She's also encouraged me to put together a similar book of songs that I know or songs I want to learn and give her a copy so we can keep feeding off each other.

When I went to her house Sunday, I had a repertoire of 2 songs. While I was there, I played 4 more and had a heck of a lot of fun doing it. I've spent the last 2 nights putting together my book, and I've found 5 songs that I *like* and never knew that I was only 1 or 2 chords away from being able to play.

[rcadian]

I'd sort of approach this the other way... Think of songs you'd love to play, then look up the chords/tabs for them on chordie.com and ultimateguitar.com and see if they contain chords you know...then as a previous poster said, check Youtube to see if there is a lesson on the song or a good cover that you can watch and learn from/copy...

When I started playing 18 months ago, I had ideas about learning a lot of Townes Van Zandt songs, but as I kept a classic rock radio station on in my car and in my apartment and kept hearing recognizable songs that I thought I'd like to play: Maggie May, Take It Easy, Helpless, Heart of Gold, Brown Eyed Girl, Patience, even Free Bird (very simple chords)...I did as I described above and found free lessons online. But I also discovered that some songs I'd like to play were beyond my ability: Wild Horses (I still struggle with the Bm barre chord), Melissa by the Allman Brothers, Sweet Home Alabama. So I concentrated on those that I wanted to play and could - with practice - and now I know a lot of songs I never 'wanted' to learn when I picked up the guitar, but that people know the words to and can sing a long with...I only know one Townes Van Zandt song and no-one I know knows it so I don't play it much.

No disrespect to a previous poster, but I found the problem with songbooks or chord books is that they contain only one or two that you want to learn and lots that you aren't interested in, and aren't cheap, whereas you can print off any ultimateguitar.com page or chordie.com tab for free and only for songs you want...

And check out the lesson sites mentioned by other people - I've found them all helpful...

Also feel free to check out my Youtube channel - which is just a collection of subscriptions of the best acoustic guitar teachers / amateur artists on there: http://www.youtube.com/user/rcadian

Good luck...

Rc

[susitna]

No disrespect to a previous poster, but I found the problem with songbooks or chord books is that they contain only one or two that you want to learn and lots that you aren't interested in, and aren't cheap, whereas you can print off any ultimateguitar.com page or chordie.com tab for free and only for songs you want...


That might have been me. I referred to a songbook before. I do buy some songbooks, but usually just for albums/artists that I particularly like. But the songbooks I talked about earlier were self-made, from tabs/chords from the sites you mentioned (as well as from commercial songbooks).

[rcadian]

That might have been me. I referred to a songbook before. I do buy some songbooks, but usually just for albums/artists that I particularly like. But the songbooks I talked about earlier were self-made, from tabs/chords from the sites you mentioned (as well as from commercial songbooks).

Nope, not you...I do EXACTLY what you do - put together a book - or in my case a binder - of songs, with the lyrics, that I can play and then take that with me to family get-togethers and let people flick through it and pick what they want me to play and them to sing. I last took it to my brother-in-law's wedding and after the reception we got through the nearly 50 songs in it as everyone was having such a great night... It is also at times like this that you realize (which you don't when trying to learn a song in silence by yourself) that the odd missed stroke or a muted or buzzing string on one chord in one part of the song just doesn't matter when you've got a bunch of drunk people belting out the chorus to Wonderwall, for example...

It is the books like Acoustic Guitar Songs for Dummies and the like that I don't advise people to buy (if you get given them as a present, that's a different matter). UNLESS you read music and want to read from sheet music when playing, OR want to get learn every song by an artist, then an anthology can be good, but you can still get pretty much any song's chord progression online, for free...and being Scottish, that's a plus in my book!

Rc