songs with slow tempo for beginners

[TBman]

One of the tricks I learned as a kid when learning a song with new chords in it was to form the bass note first and hit it with the pick and then strum the rest of the chord on the second beat.

This also breaks up the the strum strum strum strum monotony of a 4 beat measure.

[Songbook19]

Originally Posted by captain_jack

Hey all,

Does anyone know any good beginner songs that are actually written in a slower tempo so that it is easier to play along with the recordings? I'm open to pretty much any genre (just preferably popular songs, so that I might know them).

If you think it might help you're welcome to my personal songbook which I keep on-line and available to anyone who wants it. There's a "Lite" version just for beginners.

There's nearly 800 songs all in one place all indexed and hyperlinked so it's easy to move around. The Lite version has all the chord diagrams adjacent to the song title so you can see at a glance which chords you'll be dealing with. And many are further identified as "easiest to play" (no F or B chords). Each song is linked to a YT video so you can play along if you want. With so many to choose from I'm sure there are several slower paced songs to practice your chord changes on.

It's all free - no agenda - just my way of giving back.

Building up speed and proficiency when just starting out can be frustrating. Just stick with it and it'll come. We've all had that "Eureka" moment.

A.T.

https://songbook19.my-free.website/

[Brent Hahn]

Dock of the Bay is certainly slow, and the changes are either easy or very easy depending on the key. Can you whistle? :-)

[emtsteve]

"Wonderful Tonight" is a nice slow one.

[Brent Hahn]

The Joker is slow and incorporates some nice bass notes. If you have a problem with the drug references, you can always swap in "midnight poker" or "midwife stroker" or something like that.

[cliff_the_stiff]

Originally Posted by AndreF

Here's something you might want to try for this song to make the transition easier, and faster:
The song starts in D, and then goes to A and G for a few beats only. That's probably what's tripping you up. Try this:
When you play the A from the D, just play the A with a mini bar of your index finger, covering all 3 strings on the 2nd fret, and then grab the bottom notes of the G chord with your middle and ring finger. (Your index finger is already on the 2nd fret 3rd string when playing the D chord. You just need to flatten it out to play strings 4 and 2 for the A).
You really don't need to play the high E string notes for the A and G chords to get the familiar groove of that song. For the A, you just need to strum strings 5, 4, 3 and 2. For the G, strings 6, 5, 4 and 3, before getting back to D.
If you do that, you'll find that you not only are making a faster transition from chord to chord, but you'll make it sound better too.
Worth a try.

This is a good idea. Working through challenging changes will always be a part of the game. Im working on “Crazy Heart” and there is a A- Bm- G transition that I muck up consistently. But after consistently practicing, I’ll get it.
B chords seem to have my number.