Guitar Songs for Beginners

Today we thought we’d share with you some free and easy guitar songs for beginners. Throughout this post we’ve shared links to our other free blog posts, so if there’s any technique, note or chord you don’t know you can still easily learn to play these songs. To play these guitar songs for beginners you should know:

 Ode to Joy

This guitar song for beginners is the melody to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Instead of writing the strumming above each measure of music, it is easier to write it as a Rhythm Pattern. This indicates which strumming pattern to use in each measure throughout the song. In measure 8 there are two chords in the measure. Each one receives two counts. Remember to use the slide finger when changing between the G and D7 chords. To play this beginner guitar song you will need to know:

Guitar Song for Beginners Rhythm Pattern 1

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Ode to Joy 1

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Ode to Joy 2

Aura Lee

The easy guitar song, Aura Lee, contains quarter and half rests. Remember to count as you play to help you keep time. To play this beginner guitar song you will need to know:

Guitar Song for Beginners Rhythm Pattern 2

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Aura Lee 1

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Aura Lee 2

Rock Riff #1

This easy guitar riff is a pattern of notes that are repeated. The following example contains a two-measure riff played twice. The example is then repeated and ended by a whole note (semibreve). To play this beginner guitar song you will need to know:

Guitar Song for Beginners Rhythm Pattern 2

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Rock Riff 1

Marianne

The easy guitar song Marianne is a Caribbean folk song. It contains a whole rest in measures 4, 8, 12 and 16, and uses only the chords and notes you have learned so far.

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Marianne 1

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Marianne 3

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Marianne 2

Rock Riff #2

Play the following easy guitar rock riff using alternate picking. In alternate picking, use a down pick on the beat (the number count) and an up pick off the beat (the ‘and’ count). This guitar song for beginners uses only the chords and notes you have learned so far.

Guitar Song for Beginners Rhythm Pattern 3

Guitar Songs for Beginners - Rock Riff 2

You can continue to learn guitar songs for beginners using our free online guitar lessons, which expands greatly on this post. For even more guitar music lessons, why not check out one of our most popular guitar lesson books: Progressive Beginner Guitar.

– Thanks for learning with us today. You can continue learning with us at LearnToPlayMusic.com.