All too often 'easy' guitar method books and study material are far too complex for the beginner guitar player; the key to great guitar playing is the players' ability to develop their awareness of rhythm.
The trick to learning to play the guitar is to use very simple chord shapes that require only a minimum of finger movement which in turn allows the guitarist to concentrate on the beat.
The first step to playing well is to practice taping your foot along with some of your songs, of course you would normally tap your foot without thinking about it; the problem is when you start playing the guitar there are so many things to think about and new skills to acquire that usually the guitarist stops tapping their foot altogether.
We want always be aware of our natural groove...
everyone has it it's just some people are more aware of their groove that others, the good news is anyone can improve their rhythmic feel with a bit of practice.
Three Easy Guitar Songs Song #1 - Horse With No Name by America You can play this song using just two chord shapes and minimum finger movement; here's the two chords Em -0- -0- -0- -2- -2- -0- D69/F# -0- -0- -2- -0- -x- -2- Don't worry about the complex looking chord names it's simply a musical shorthand way of writing down sounds.
The first chord is an E minor chord; the second chord is a D six/nine chord with an F sharp bass...
now that's an impressive sounding chord name to dazzle your guitar playing friends with! Here's the chord progression...
Horse With No Name Em /// | D69/F# /// | That's the progression for the entire song.
A neat way to practice is like this.
Em /// | (no chord) //// | By playing the E minor chord and counting the remaining three beats then omitting the second chord in the progression the player develops their 'groove' by tapping their foot.
play this two bar sequence over and over omitting the second chord until you can feel the beat with your whole body.
Song #2 - Last Kiss by Pearl Jam This song will introduce the beginner to the very popular 1 - 6 - 4 - 5 chord progression in the key of G.
There's the four chords shapes for this song...
G -3- -0- -0- -0- -x- -x- Em -0- -0- -0- -2- -2- -0- C -0- -1- -0- -x- -x- -x- D -2- -3- -2- -0- -x- -x- Notice how easy the chord shapes are? Here is the chord progression for Last Kiss.
G /// | Em /// |C /// | D /// | Again that's the chord progression for the whole song which makes it very easy to remember.
Song #3 - Before You Accuse Me by Eric Clapton (MTV Unplugged version) The purpose of this song is to introduce the newbie guitarist to a popular twelve bar blues chord progression.
E7 /// |A7 /// |E7 /// | E7 /// | A7 /// |A7 /// |E7 /// |E7 /// | B7 /// |A7 /// |E7 /// | B7 /// | Now for the easy chord shapes.
E7 -0- -0- -1- -0- -x- -x- A7 -0- -2- -0- -2- -0- -x- B7 -2- -0- -2- -X- -x- -x- When you are practicing a tune like "Before You Accuse Me" it's a good idea to select one chord and only play that chord for the entire song making sure to tap your foot in the bars where the chords have been omitted this will help you develop your sense of rhythm on the guitar.