So what's the easiest song for a guitar novice to play?

[eauclaireliberal]

My guess: Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.

[3.14158675309]

1. We Are One In The Spirit

Em-Am

Alter lyrics as necessary.

[BurtWorm]

3. Hard to beat a two-chord song with the chords Em and Am for easiness.

I can't think of any songs that are just Em.

[guitar man]

2. Horse With No Name

about as easy as it gets...

[SacredCow]

7. I can't think of one easier than this..... n/t

[bamacrat]

4. Wild Thing, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Come As You Are...

Nirvana songs are mostly easy and fun.
Easiest:
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Come As You Are,
Rape Me,
Been A Son,
Polly,
Lithium,
About a Girl.

[Mike 03]

29. No, that's not true. Nirvana is not as easy as people say.

"About a Girl," I agree.

You have to tune down a step for many Nirvana songs.

Be honest.

Also "Come as your are" is a ridiculous suggestion for a novice.

[bamacrat]

58. Its what I learned first when I was 14.

Yes most of their songs are half a step down, and some are in drop D. THe intro to COme As You Are is easy. Sex and Candy is easy too, not Nirvana I know.

Well you just made me feel like a better guitar player than I probably am I have been playing for about 12 years, just dicking around usually. Been learning some Pink Floyd, Money isnt terribly hard, but dont even try Dark Side of the Moon. David Gilmour is god man.

[Tikki]

5. "Dirty Water"...Standells...

but "Smoke on the Water", yeah..that one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBD8SObQYD0
"Dirty Water"....Standells

Tikki

[BurtWorm]

14. I love that Dirty Water,

Boston... You're my home.

(You once were, anyway. Sigh...)

[jmowreader]

6. Iron Maiden's Infinite Dreams

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM1NS11FBeg

This is just a little above "Smoke on the Water," but it's not "Wasted Years."

Another fun song would be NOFX' "Drugs Are Good." Lots of examples of it on YouTube.

[Symarip]

8. Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes

You learn the intro, you learn the song.

[Iggo]

46. Ah, Violent Femmes.

Acoustic guitars. Now THAT's punk!

[SacredCow]

9. As mentioned above- A Horse With No Name is about as simple as they come....

but once you get the concept of 5th (aka power)chords down, you can fake your way through a HELL of a lotta tunes.

[Iggo]

43. In fact, you can bang your way through...

...the entire New Wave Of British Heavy Metal + Scorpions.

EDIT: That's the 80's version of Scorpions. You ain't touching Uli Roth.

[MissMillie]

10. Surfin' USA

3 chords, maybe 4

[BurtWorm]

11. Sister Ray by Velvet Underground

It's just a three chord vamp--no chorus, no bridge, just G-F-C over and over and over until you get sick of playing it.

[Mike 03]

33. Velvet Underground: This is not a bad suggestion. NT

[JitterbugPerfume]

12. Smoke on the Water

before my grandson acually learned to PLAy the guitar I thought he would drive me nuts. He also did some Pink Floyd back then.

[unpossibles]

13. Jane Says - Jane's Addiction nt

[backtoblue]

60. one of the few songs I can actually play!

nt

That and behind blue eyes

[Bertha Venation]

15. Tom Dooley. Two chords - G and D7.

[Rhythm]

16. Louie Louie

3 chords... even i can play it.

[Richardo]

17. The lead guitar solo from 'Cinnamon Girl'

:)

[OmahaBlueDog]

18. "Lilly Was Here" by Candi Dolpher

Most of the guitar part is 4 notes, repeated over & over

The chord progression in "Hey Joe" isn't too hard for a beginner

[DBoon]

19. "Know Your RIghts" - The Clash

one chord - G# minor

[DarkTirade]

20. Are you looking for solo or chords?

What I used to first learn was Metallica for solo stuff and Beatles for chords.

Hide Your Love by the Beatles was the first song I ever learned from start to finish.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

21. Used to be

G l o r i a ...........GLORIA! :party:

[Z_I_Peevey]

64. Love what Dave Barry says about that song...

that if you heaved a guitar over a cliff, as it hit the rocks going down it would spontaneously play "Gloria."

[no name no slogan]

22. "Spirit of Radio" by Rush

:headbang:

[Zavulon]

26. Rush has easier songs to play than that one.

Fly By Night is one example. :hi:

[no name no slogan]

32. I know. It's a joke.

:)

[Zavulon]

63. Sorry, I didn't get it.

Despite how it may sound, Spirit of Radio is actually not hard to play at all (even the solo is quite easy), so I had no way of knowing it was a joke.

[jmowreader]

47. The entire Rush catalog is easier to play than The Spirit of Radio

[trackfan]

23. The Beat Goes On

Just play any 7th chord. The song is just a 7th chord that never resolves.

[rcrush]

24. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

25. Neil Young's solo from "Cinnamon Girl"

And on the subject of "Smoke On The Water"...coincidentally enough...I just finished watching "VH1 Classic Albums: Machine Head," in which Ritchie Blackmore says the reason most guitar players get the riff WRONG is that they STRUM it instead of PLUCK it with their fingers. For what it's worth, current Purple guitarist Steve Morse strums it.

:toast:

[no name no slogan]

49. Same goes for Rainbow's "Man on the Silver Mountain"

he also plucks that one-- two-fingered, just like "Smoke". Incidentally enough, both songs are also in G, and use similar chord progressions.

[Richardo]

51. Hey!

I said that upthread :grr:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

53. I know, I noticed that about 30 seconds after I clicked "post message," and thought...

..."You know, Richardo's a cool dude, if he notices that I just innocently posted a dupe of his post he won't make a federal case out of it or punctuate his anger with the :grr: smiley, he'll just let it go..."

:rofl:

[Richardo]

56. OK I'm mollified

:rofl:

[Zavulon]

27. Norwegian Wood would be my guess.

[Roon]

28. I learned "little brown jug" on the guitar when I was a kid

HA HA HA! HEE HEE HEE!!!

[Mike 03]

30. Strangely enough, I started by playing R.E.M. I found that easy when I was just learning

Others:

Jesus and Mary Chain
Some Smashing Pumpkins
U2, in particular Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, and if you know how to do alternate tuning, Rattle and Hum
A lot of Bruce Springsteen, which is really simple. You will be amazed how simple his stuff is to play.

Two lies not to believe:

That Elvis Costello is easy
That Nirvana is easy

They are easy for people who are great at playing the guitar, but not for everyone.

[Mike 03]

31. I love this thread, and am kicking and recing it.

But we'll see who is being honest about this.

I was told it was "easy" to play Elvis Costello by someone who it turned out had never played any song other than "Beyond Belief."

Well, shit, yeah, it IS easy to play "Beyond Belief." But it's a keyboard driven song with four chords, unlike his other work, which is guitar driven and requires ten chord changes a minute.

[Inchworm]

34. Amazing Grace or Wildwood Flower

Too weird 'cause I just got strings for my guitar and ended up playing them both to remember wth I was doing. I'm still clueless, but they warm me up for my wee repatore. :D

:nopity: I priced fiddles today.. I can get a Jap one for 90ish dollars. I just wanna see if I can pick it up enough to please me and my dogs and anyone loony enough to listen :P

:woohoo:

:yourock:

[Mike 03]

35. The most important thing to build a passion for guitar is to Find The Song

You Yearn to Play, no matter what the chords are and work from there.

You will begin to get this sense of control and mastery once you can play those songs, and you can move on from there.

[Mike 03]

36. What bands do you like? That would be a much more sensible way to proceed.

Each of us will have a bias based on what we were listening to when we wanted to learn how to play the guitar.

[Left Is Write]

37. Everyone learns Smoke On The Water first, don't they?

[Inchworm]

38. I thought it was Amazing Grace

:crazy:

Guess it depends on your raisins.

:hi:

[Left Is Write]

39. My raisins learned Heard It Through The Grapevine.

[Iggo]

45. Not only that.

Truth is, most everyone learns it wrong.

It's inverted fifths, not regular ones.

[Mike 03]

40. Some Beatles, if you like them, and many John Lennon Songs.

You'd be surprised how easy some of these are, and you feel like you are moving ahead quickly when you learn them.

But I still stand by R.E.M., probably out of nostalgia, because that is how I learned.

Good luck. I know you can do this. And you will LOVE IT.

[Taverner]

41. Stairway - everyone learns it so you puke every time you hear it

[FarLeftRage]

42. Rock and Roll...

Velvet Underground: D C G... that's it.
Listen to the song once and you'll get it the first time:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsTFCA2zeMI

[Iggo]

44. Depends.

Power Chords? Get a copy of Judas Priest's Unleashed In The East and knock yourself out. You can fake your way through ALL the rhythm parts of the ENTIRE album by using 2-string 5th chords. Best thing that ever happened to me during my first year of playing (other than all the getting laid.)

(Mostly) Open Chords? Eagles Greatest Hits, specifically Take It Easy, Lyin' Eyes, Already Gone, and Peaceful Easy Feeling. If you have any kind of a singing voice, this is the shit for you. Eagles sing in multi-part harmonies. Pick one and go with it. (Also try Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. In fact, I wish you WERE here, so I could show you how simple it is...lol.)

[Xipe Totec]

48. One note Samba n/t

[RagAss]

50. Any and all Ramones songs.

[eauclaireliberal]

52. Especially Beat on the Brat and Rock 'n Roll High School

nt

[Tikki]

59. I might say...the single best way to work on your bass guitar...

is to follow Dee Dee's bass runs on just about any Ramones' recording..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNEdTy9nCdw
Ramones cover...bass



Tikki

[no name no slogan]

54. "Pablo Picasso" by the Modern Lovers

One chord, an Em, and that's it. If you can strum eighth notes, you're good to go.

[MrSlayer]

55. "Smoke" is generally the first thing anyone plays.

It's easy and fun. My son started with it about 15 months ago. He's a friggin awesome Thrash player now.

[Common Sense Party]

57. You're probably right. Even *I* can play "Smoke on the Water."

Not well, but I can play it.

[Reverend_Smitty]

61. Smoke on the Water is only easy once you master bar chords

When I Come Around by Green Day is only 4 chords and none of them barred...I believe

[backtoblue]

62. I'm don't know, but I can play the hell out of Bark at the Moon on guitar hero!!