Music

Learn to play with these easy guitar songs

Playing the guitar could be made easier and more motivating if you add easy songs to your first few lessons. In other words, leave those complicated exercises for a moment and enjoy a bit of the power that the guitar has in the world of music. For example, there are songs by Bob Marley, Pink Floyd, Oasis or The Beatles whose chords are very easy.

How to read guitar chords on the Internet?

Before starting with easy guitar songs you need to understand this point. The guitar chord is presented according to the letters of the alphabet, so that in any country in the world you can understand it. In other words, even if you travel to France and you don’t understand the language, you will be able to read the encryption without problems.

Next, we present the following table with the American encryption and its meaning.

American Cipher Meaning
C Do
D Re
AND Me
F Fa
G Sun
TO The
B. Yes

Also, keep in mind that the American cipher is accompanied by numbers and other letters. Therefore, in the following table we present the most common chords that you can find in various songs.

chords Meaning
C C Major (when there is no letter or number it means it is C Major. This rule applies to all major chords).
em The “m” means that it is a minor chord. In this case, the full meaning would be “E minor”.
A9 When it has this number it means that we are talking about a ninth chord. In this example, the translation would be “The Nine”, as simple as that.
F# All chords with the “#” are sharp. For example, F# (F sharp), C# (C sharp), G# (G sharp), etc.
F7M These chords are major sevenths. In the present example we see a Fa with a major seventh.
E7 When the chord has only one “7” it means that it is a dominant seventh. Do not confuse major seventh chords with dominant sevenths. The latter are widely used in rancheras, boleros, corridos and different traditional genres.
G4/B It is a G4 (G four), but with the bass in B (Si). Chords that have a note after the slash tell us that the bass will not be the center key. In this sense, G is not the bass of the chord, but B.
bb If you find a “b” next to the chord, that means it’s “flat.” For example, Bb (B flat), Db (D flat). Eb (E flat), etc. On the other hand, you should know that all electric guitar chords are the same, that is, they are played with the same positions of the left hand.

Here are 5 guitar songs that you may be able to learn very quickly, as they have simple chords.

Mana’s Thorn Heart

This song only has two chords and, although the original version is in Bm, you can play it in a lower tone, Am, since the first chord has a capo, being more complicated to learn.

If you are in a beginner guitar course and want to play a rock classic in Spanish, learn this song by the Mexican band Maná. You only need to know the positions of Am and E, that is, A minor and E major.

“No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley

If you really want to learn Spanish guitar, you should start with quiet songs like “No woman no cry”. Bob Marley was characterized by having very entertaining songs, but at the same time slow and easy to learn.

This track has basic guitar chords, including C, G4/B, Am, and F7M. We call them basic or easy because they don’t require the complex capos with the index finger.  

“Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd

This is one of the most played easy Spanish guitar songs by beginner guitarists, since it has simple chords without barre. Also, changes from one chord to another are easy to do, because the song is slow. In other words, it gives you the possibility to more comfortably switch to the following chords.

Pink Floyd presents us with this song a nostalgic theme inspired by the loss of a friend. In the choir, the band tells you what it feels like when a loved one, whom you have known for years, leaves for another world.

The chords are A9, Am, C, D, Em, and G, so you should practice them before playing the song.

“Love Me Do” by The Beatles

The chords of this song don’t need complicated capos either, on the contrary, they are one of the easiest for beginners. The Beatles have many songs of this type, so if you like their music you can learn this and other of their classic songs. These are all the chords you need to learn to play the theme: C, C9, D, D7, G, G7, Gsus.

“Don’t look back in anger” by Oasis

This is one of the most emblematic songs of the British band Oasis, but we have sneaked it into position 5 because it has F and Fm, that is, chords that require a capo. In other words, this song requires more stamina and dexterity in the left hand, so we recommend that you play it after learning the other songs well. Here are your chords for acoustic or electric guitar: Am, C, E7, F, Fm and G.

Tabs vs sheet music, which is better?

Without a doubt, there are several easy guitar tablatures. Thanks to them you will be able to play the melodies of some songs that you like. The advantage of tablature is that it teaches you which frets and strings to use for each note in the song. However, it does not tell you how long each note takes, so you must have a certain musical level or the innate talent to perceive the rhythm of the music with your ear.

On the other hand, guitar sheet music is more difficult to read, but it does show all the details of playing, including how long each note should take, nuances, finger to use for each string, etc.

So, is it better to play guitar with tablature or sheet music? Well, the most recommended is to play with both. You can even find free and paid sheet music with tablature on the Internet, you decide which options to use for your musical learning.

By the way, one piece of advice we give you is to always write the ciphers, scores or tablatures in pencil. That is, even if you have the best eyeliner or pen, we do not recommend using it to annotate music.

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