easy guitar songs

Being able to read guitar sheet music can prove an invaluable asset in today’s market. We all know that becoming a pro guitarist means entering a very competitive field. You need every advantage you can get, and then some. Before we go any further let’s first answer one basic question: isn’t being able to read guitar tabs good enough? If you’re looking to make a name for yourself or earn a living as a guitar player then the answer would be “no”. This by no means negates the importance of tab, but in a world that is often oversaturated with guitar players, knowing how to read guitar sheet music can make the difference between success and failure. Let’s break things down so we can understand them better.

Guitar Tab

While tablature or tab seems to be a rather recent invention that came along with the electric guitar, the truth is that it has been around for hundreds of years. Even before the invention of the instruments we know today as “guitar”, we see examples of tablature being used usually with fretted instruments such as the lute. Examples of tab in the Western world today date as far back as the 1300’s. In Asia tabs was used even before that.

In today’s world guitar tab is composed of six lines that represent the six guitar strings, four in the case of the bass guitar on which numbers are placed which correspond to the frets on the guitar. Most tabs, tablature, tab formats today do not show you the rhythm. The information presented gives you a clear picture of what strings and frets should be played. The tablature format does not give you information in regards to the notes (pitches) that are being played.

Sheet Music

The sheet music for guitar on the other hand provides you with rhythmic as well as note (pitch) information. This is very important becauseit is like getting a detailed blueprint of a hotrod car. It allows you to see “inside” and understand exactly how the parts work. This is fantastic because you can use this information to fix your hotrod if it breaks down, or build yourself a new one. In much the same way, knowing how to read sheet music allows you to understand and break things down, analyze your favorite artists or composers and use those techniques when building your own material, songs.

The ability to “see” inside the music gives you a huge advantage by allowing you to manipulate and direct the musical flow of your ideas in such a way as to achieve maximum impact. To put it plainly, the ability to understand sheet music will allow you to create and juggle musical ideas with skills far beyond what other musicians posses.

In reality, I don’t think that all can be reduced to a question of guitar tablature versus notation. Traditional guitar sheet music does have its problems when it comes to marking strings and frets to be used. Traditional notation for the guitar does allow for the string to be identified. This, when used in conjunction with the indicated note gives you the fret number. However this tends to fill up the visual space making the notation much harder to read and follow. A combination of sheet music with tablature attached seems to be the best answer. Notation will also allow for the indication of the finger that needs to be used for certain note.

While a combination of notation and tablature will yield the best results, we will focus more on sheet music in this article because of the simple fact that most guitarists know how to read tablature, so it’s the learning of sheet music notation that will set you apart from the rest of the herd.

Learning to read notation… hell or heaven sent

If you understand the benefit of being able to read sheet music but are intimidated by the look and feel of sheet music notation, then take a deep breath and relax because always seem worse than they are. I know the feeling of looking at notation and feeling like you are looking at ancient hieroglyphs. In truth music is not nearly as complicated as it seems at first glance. It just takes a little patience and perseverance to learn but the results are definitely worth it.

You might be thinking that you will never be able to crack the code of notation. Guess I’ll just have to prove to you that it’s not nearly as difficult as you may think by showing you some notation basics right here and now.

Say hello to the musical notes

Sheet music is usually written on staff made up of five lines. You can write notes either on the line or in between the lines. One easy way to remember the notes that are on the lines of the staff is by recalling the following acronym: Every Good Boy Does Fine (E G B D F). This corresponds to the notes on the lines of the staff as read from the bottom up. In order to remember the notes that are in this space is between the lines, just remember FACE (F A C E as read from the bottom up). So now, if you have to tell me what note resides on the fourth space of the staff, as read from the bottom up, you can easily think of FACE and figure out that E is the note we were looking for. There you have it, less than a minute and you already know all the notes that are on the staff. If you just put a blank staff in front of you and quiz yourself over what note lies on a particular line or space, you’ll soon be able to recall them without thinking of the acronyms listed.

Final note

So as you can see learning how to read music is not that difficult, and while it may take a little bit of time to take it all in, the benefits are huge. Stick with it and you will soon see yourself standing head and shoulders above the crowd of guitarists out there.

Ben G. Dressen
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/guitar-sheet-music-and-guitar-tab-which-one-is-better-1214913.html

Country music is about stories, and if you are going to learn country songs from guitar tabs, you will need to have a grip  on what kind of stories you want to tell and how you want to get your musical message to the people. So we are going to take a look at the basic stories you will find in the annals of country music. The degree of playing difficulty of your songs will be an issue we need to look at but lucky for us the gritty human dramas do not require rocket scientists to translate them into music. Also I would like to leave you with a list of songs that can establish your credentials as a country guitar player.

First let us take a look at some real country guitar players. Legends who have inspired listeners with the depth of feeling expressed in a simple rhythm and catchy tune. I will not include biographies, just a list of famous names you can do a search for if you are not familiar with their work: Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, Merle Travis, Albert Lee, Maybelle Carter, Hank Garland, Doc Watson, Norman Blake and Tony Rice.

Country music songs are about the stories that are the fabric of human interaction. The birth of country music is in the relationships developed between the cowboys of the old west. These guys rounded up and branded cattle, sat around campfires, drank whisky and formed close personal relationships with rattlesnakes, horses, women and each other. Rich material for songwriters. Guys end up in prison or at the end of a noose because of the fickleness of women and best friends. They become legendary after saving their friends from raging torrents, train wrecks and collapsing mines. Country   music is also about the way of life of the wanderer. The lone wolf who travels from town to town.

Women are often the protagonists in country songs because we all know a woman’s life is full of sorrow. That is about it, really. No cow poking, wandering or stopping train wrecks, just sorrow. That is your reward for standing buy your man. But then much country music is celebrating the joy of being in love, having your freedom or living in Texas. One the constant elements of country songs is humor. From the whimsy of the guy who has enjoyed a life of travel and adventure thanks to Pamela Brown to the story of the man whose ex’s live in Texas. Then there’s the innocent weirdness of “Dropkick Me Jesus Through The Goalposts Of Life”.

The key to each one of us expressing ourselves through country music is learning chords. Fortunately we do not need to learn too many. G, C, D, E, A and E for starters. D7, A7, E7 and B7 are about all you need to complete your requirements for country guitar chords.

Here is a short list of country songs you should definitely find the tabs for to begin your career as a country guitar player: Coward Of The County, Bonaparte’s Retreat, Deep In The Heart Of Texas, Jambalaya, Folsom Prison Blues, Green, Green Grass Of Home, Am I That Easy To Forget?, Achey Breaky Heart, King Of The Road, Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, Wabash Cannonball and You Are My Sunshine.

Ricky Sharples
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/country-music-guitar-tabs-you-need-588557.html

Learning to play guitar could possibly be the wisest thing you ever decided to do. But it will not be easy. Whether you aim to be a professional guitarist or a campfire guitar strummer, there will be pitfalls to cross. This article will touch upon a few of the more common bumps on the guitar playing road with the hope that you will benefit from being warned about what lies ahead.

The reason Learning to play guitar can be one of life’s disappointments is that many people do not know how to start. Spending a week or so stumbling through the first chords to “Blackbird” by the Beatles and laboriously picking out the “Iron Man” riff, then putting the guitar away in a cupboard is one of your classic urban tragedies.

If you are interested in just playing the guitar informally at parties or round the campfire, the best course of action is first, to learn what tabs are and how to read them, and second go online and pick tabs for songs that you know and like, and try to play them.

Usually I would not recommend lessons from your local guitar teacher because they are far more expensive than even the best courses on the internet, but if you are not going too deeply into guitar playing, a few lessons will eliminate some of the uncertainty from the first steps in Learning to play guitar.

One of the big issues for almost everybody who has started Learning to play guitar is which song to learn first. Your own preferences in music will help, of course but the best songs to start on are the ones that will impress other people at parties. “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, or “Smoke On The Water”. Something instantly recognizable. The thing with metal is the heavy use of power chords which only need three fingers to play. Twelve bar blues is good – you can learn different lyrics using the same chords.

Another simple solution is to think of albums that you like to play. Are there tracks that have stand-out guitar parts? Write down the names and hunt for the tabs on the internet. Failing that, just look for easy guitar songs. “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd or “Horse With No Name” by America are good ones to start with. Go to about.com for a list of easy songs.

Let us move onto a problem that strikes the learner guitarist who manages to set a practice routine and actually learns two or three chords. Learning to make the changes between chords is one of the loneliest ways in the world to spend your time. Every day you seem to make a little progress, and the next day you always seem to be back to square one. Without an experienced guitar player to guide you, this is the time you could easily lose all hope of learning to play guitar. This is the beginning of the uphill climb that confronts all people who learn a new skill. Swimming, driving, guitar playing, they all need regular practice. If you do not have a friend who can help you with your guitar playing, seek advice from guitar forums or places like Yahoo Answers.

Finally, let us talk about the physical discomfort that can befall new guitar players. One of the first things you should ask an experienced guitarist about is how to hold the guitar. If you do not get it right, you are only going to make Learning to play guitar painful. Then there is the matter of making your fingertips hard. For a week or two, every time you start playing the guitar your left hand fingertips will hurt. Usually just for the first few minutes. This is a process all guitar players go through. Do not try dipping your fingers in stuff that is supposed to make the pain go away, just let it go away by itself.

Ricky Sharples

Have you come to a point in your guitar-based hobby where you can’t get motivated to play? The thought of pulling out the guitar and going through songs just seems like too much to organize.

Well, you might be caught in a slump, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t kick yourself out of it. Here are some very simple strategies to jump start your guitar practices and get yourself some guitar motivation.

1. Have confidence in yourself. A lot of the problem to not wanting to pick up your guitar is because you might be beginning to feel like you can’t play. Tell yourself that by doing a little bit at a time, you can eventually become a guitar-playing machine.

2. Schedule time to practice. If you don’t make a conscious effort to interrupt the normal layout of the day to fit in some guitar practice time, you might never get your guitar motivation back. Plan out, in your mind or on paper, when and for how long you can spare time to practice the guitar. Even ten or fifteen minutes can get you into the groove again.

3. Find a quiet space to practice. It’s pretty unbearable to practice the guitar where there are all sorts of noise and distractions to keep it from being enjoyable. Find somewhere that you know is to yourself for a half hour at least and just jam.

4. Practice what you want. Maybe you didn’t want to play again because the thought of another scale or practice riff just sounded terrible to you. Then don’t play them! If you sit down to your next guitar practice knowing that you can play whatever you want, you’re almost guaranteed to get your motivation back.

5. Reward yourself when it’s over. Another thing that guitarists miss out on is a little reward to themselves for completing their agenda. It can be small like buying an ice cream cone or going to the movies, but the purpose is to let yourself know that you did a good job.

Gaining that old guitar motivation again can be a bit tough if you’ve been forced to practice on things you didn’t want or more than you wanted. The next time you sit down with the guitar, make a pact that you’re going to play on your own terms.

Kyle Hoffman
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-motivation-easy-tips-to-get-back-on-track-with-your-guitarplaying-1222765.html

Learning to play the acoustic guitar is great. Acoustic guitars bring the notion of uniqueness to a whole new level. Just give it a go and you will see. Just to see what you look like holding one. You are convinced that if you have the time to learn, you would be fine? You do not know whether it’s easy or hard to play the acoustic guitar but you have a musical ear? It’s time for you to take the step and begin your musical journey.

It is some achievement to learn to play the acoustic guitar and most of my friends who have never tried it do not know where to start. It is as if they were getting all shy when seeing one. When you start playing your first notes, you feel like there is no limit to it. It is only a mental cap to pass. Being able to step out of the comfort zone to challenge yourself is something you can do too.

However, just keep one thing in mind: learning to play the acoustic guitar is not similar to magic. When you pick up a new language at school, you go through this period of assimilating new rules and new patterns. At the beginning you find it hard and then, little by little, you become more comfortable with the tools you possess. Then, you start broadening and improving your range of vocabulary, expressions and sentence structures. The same is true with learning to play the acoustic guitar

Once you’ve got the idea of how to play basic notes and -hopefully not long after- how to read guitar tabs, do a web search for easy acoustic guitar tabs and pick out a very basic song that you know well and play around with it. Although reading and playing acoustic guitar tabs does take some getting used to, you’ll be surprised how quickly you can learn to play the acoustic guitar.

If you have a favorite song, being able to hear the song that you’re working on always makes it easier to learn. Even if you think you remember how it goes, listening to it while you’re learning it will help you with rhythm and detail.

Keep in mind that acoustic guitars were created to be played. There are a lot of easy songs you can learn, whether it is from The Eagles, James Taylor or Joni Mitchell. You will never regret the decision you have made to learn to play the acoustic guitar.

Sophia MUNOZ
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/learn-to-play-the-acoustic-guitar-easy-tips-for-you-406292.html

It is easy to learn guitar tabs. Only one basic idea needs to be understood, the rest falls into place. To illustrate this idea I will be using tabs for a simple piece of music called Peter Gunn. Guitar tabs are seen by learning guitar players as an easy way to start playing guitar right away. That is true but it is wrong to think that guitar tablature just needs to be read. Like all languages it needs to be understood. So if you have an idea that you would like to become a guitar player and tabs would be a great way to sidestep any difficult learning, there are a couple of things you need to get straight.

For somebody who just wants to play along with the singing around a campfire, it must look like a fairly easy job to play the guitar. Lots of people can do it and many of them are idiots. But when you look at a piece of guitar tab it looks kind of scary. Well, look again. It is just a picture of a guitar. Visualize it in your imagination. The tuning end of the guitar is to your left, the body of the guitar is to your right. The thinnest string is on the top, the thickest string is on the bottom. Nothing scary about that.

Moving on, we see numbers on the guitar tab. What are they? The numbers running down the left side are the notes sounded when you play the open strings, the numbers that run along the strings represent frets. Frets are the metal strips on the neck of the guitar. You put your fingers a fraction behind the frets to alter the length of the string, so that when it is plucked, strummed or picked the sound is higher or lower depending on how far up the fingerboard you are. So the number one, for example, indicates that one of your fingers must be placed behind the first fret of the guitar. This is the fret closest to the tuning gear on the end of the neck.

Now let us look at a section of guitar tab. This is a short riff from a piece of music called Peter Gunn. It was written by Henry Mancini who probably wrote most of the orchestral music that most of us have ever heard, and it has been recorded by many artists, notably The Blues Brothers, Jimi Hendrix and Emerson, Lake And Palmer. The first recording of it was a hit for electric guitar pioneer, Duane Eddy.

All the notes are played on the sixth string – the thickest string, remember? If you play the piano, try it out, the notes are E E F# E G E A G# played as one bar in 4/4 time.

e——————————

B——————————

G——————————

D——————————

A——————————

E–0–0–2–0–3–0–5–4–

To play the tabs use down strokes with the pick or your thumb. Once you have played the notes once, go back to the start and play them again until you are tired. Congratulations, now you know first hand that it is easy to learn guitar tabs. Really you have all you need to go on and learn your favorite songs. Not many songs have not been put into tab form, so it is just a matter or searching on the net. As your technique gets better, you will find that there are symbols that represent any left hand guitar technique you will learn. If you find tabs for a song that you like, and it contains symbols you do not understand, the tab often has an explanatory key at the top or the bottom. Or you can just look on the popular tab sites for explanations of any symbols you do not know.

Ricky Sharples

Every student guitar player wants to learn easy guitar chords but is learning technically undemanding guitar chords going to fast track your progress as a guitarist? There are chords that only need one or two fingers but using these chords for a whole repertoire of songs is going to make for a very boring experience for your audience. If you focus on which chords to learn so that you can become a real guitar player and at the same time dedicate some energy to learning HOW to play chords you will actually be turning all chords into easy guitar chords.

The essence of learning guitar chords is learning how to move from one chord to another. If you learn one chord by itself and then move onto another chord and learn that one separately, you are going to have some problems when it comes time to learn to play songs. So you learn the fingering for the open version of two or three chords to some simple song that you like and you work on changing from one chord, to the next, to the next. Play the chords in different sequences, use your metronome, play slowly without the metronome. Create challenges for yourself so that you can play your chords at any time of the day or night.

So exactly how do we learn our separate chords? Take an easy guitar chord like the G major or C major chord in the first position, and without making too much tension in your hand or arm, place you fingers where your chord chart tells you. You have all the time in the world, no need to rush, no need to screw your face up or hold your breath. The only parts of your body that should be involved in the chord are your fingers and your attention. Now strum all the guitar strings with a pick or your thumbnail.

There’s a good chance that there will be a muffled string or two when you sound your chord. Usually on your first attempt at playing even an easy guitar chord, your fingers will not be exerting enough pressure on the strings to make a clean sound Or the sides of your fingers will be brushing the strings next to them making them produce a muffled sound. Don’t react with frustration, simply adjust your fingers and try again. If you want to make guitar chords easy you will be going through this process for up to a year from now. Of course it’s not always as slow and painful as the first time but you always need to apply your attention to how you are touching the strings.

Besides learning open chords you should be learning the bar chord versions of every chord you learn. You don’t have to get too intense about it but you need to be always contributing to your knowledge of chords and the guitar fretboard. You will be surprised at how few basic bar chord shapes there are. If you want all guitar chords to be easy, you can do it, but you must get into the habit of slowing down your mind so that you can really see what your fingers are doing wrong.

Ricky Sharples
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/easy-guitar-chords-are-they-born-or-are-they-made-755871.html

As the old adage goes, music is the language of the soul – it speaks what words cannot reveal. No wonder most people would love to hear or learn to play musical instruments such as the guitar.

Playing the guitar, in particular, is one of the best ways to express the sentiments or feelings of a person. It is also one way of expressing the artistic skill of an individual who loves music. That is why many people are enticed to learn how to play this instrument.

When somebody is playing the guitar, it is assumed that the person has taken some guitar lessons from an instructor or that he has learned to play the instrument all by himself. Whatever method of learning is employed, it is important to use the correct techniques in order to learn how to play the instrument properly.

One of the best ways of learning to play the guitar is to use some simple guitar songs that make it easier comprehend the guitar tablatures. If a person knows how to “sight read” a particular guitar song, it is easier for him to learn how to play the guitar. This is more appropriate in a higher level of expertise. Some experts assert that some guitarists have started by singing along with their favorite songs and trying to play it on the guitar as they go.

The importance of using easy guitar songs to learn how to play the instruments is broken down into different aspects. Here is the list:

1. It helps the beginner learn the proper pace and rhythm of the song.

Easy guitar songs initiate proper pacing and rhythm enabling the beginner to learn to play the guitar easier. Just by listening to the song, the beginner can easily make some use of the strings and try to associate it with the tempo and the pattern of the notes.

2. Creates an ear for music

Using easy guitar songs provides the chance to create an ear for music. Once the guitarist learns how to listen attentively, he will be able to distinguish the right note coming from the right tab from those that are wrong.

Indeed, using these easy guitar songs can really make a big difference in every beginner’s learning session. As the experts insist, it would be easier for a beginner to learn the instrument if he will use tools that are not hard to use.

Ian Williamson
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/good-songs-for-guitar-beginners-24975.html

When it comes to learning an instrument, practice always makes perfect. It’s not enough to understand the technical skill required to play; you must also integrate that technique into your playing so that it becomes habit. Only then can you begin to infuse your own personal style and personality into your playing. When it comes to playing the guitar, especially, learning important finger positions can prove tricky; but when you find an easy guitar song to learn, you can not only create the base from which all future learning can grow, you can quickly and easily boost your confidence as a fledgling guitar player.

You can learn guitar in one of several ways. If you are serious about beginning on this particular musical journey and wish to become a skilled guitar player who has a repertoire of songs at their disposal, then it may be best to work with a reputable and experienced guitar teacher who will give you hands-on lessons at their home or yours. Guaranteed that one of the first things you will tackle – after proper finger placement – is identifying that first easy guitar song to learn.

If guitar lessons with a teacher are cost-prohibitive, or if you are not interested in taking guitar on as a serious endeavor, you can do much to teach yourself at home. There are reasonably priced books, sheet music, and videos that will help you learn the fundamentals of guitar and give you a choice of an easy guitar song to learn. If guitar is simply a hobby or you only wish to have one good song under your belt, this may be the way for you to go.

Choose an easy guitar song to learn based upon your personal musical style. Or perhaps you have a particular song in mind that you would like to play in order to surprise someone you love or impress a group of people at an upcoming event. In either case, find that easy guitar song to learn and then practice as much as possible. With guitar, the initial awkwardness comes from learning your finger positions. But once you get used to it, you will be able to play enough chords to tackle the song you have chosen.

Choosing from among the songs to learn – if you don’t have a particular one in mind – may seem overwhelming. Remember that an easy guitar song to learn often has a certain amount of repetition in its chords; that’s what you want to look for – something that can be mastered with ease – due in large part to the fact that you are often repeating the same chords.

Once you find an easy guitar song to learn, you can be well on your way to enjoying the guitar; you may even find that once you learn that song, you have a desire to start learning other songs as you continue your journey with the guitar.

Michelle Bery
http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/practicing-technique-with-an-easy-guitar-song-to-learn-128705.html

All beginner guitarists who want to play rock songs are itching to get started playing chords right away. So let us get some insight into the process of learning beginner guitar chords for rock songs. Naturally you can apply the basic ideas you find in this article to any genre, but the techniques for playing chords are mostly for rock guitarists. The best way to introduce you to guitar chords is to list some easy rock songs and the chords that you need to learn in order to play them. As guitar chords and tabs are easy to find on the internet, I will leave it to you to do a search for the songs you decide to play.

Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream – A C G D F

Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones – A D E B

Pink Houses by John Cougar – G C F D

Wild Thing – A D E

La Bamba – C F G

As Tears Go By – G A C D

Okay, that should be enough to get any beginner guitar player started. If you do not like the idea of playing the songs that I have listed, then just do a web search for easy rock songs. The songs listed above have these chords in common: C D E F G A B. So you have the seven major chords as your basic chords for rock songs. All of these chords can be played at the first position but in the F chord you have no alternative to playing a bar chord. Or do you?

This is the F chord as a bar chord:

e–1—————————-

B–1—————————-

G–2—————————-

D–3—————————-

A–3—————————-

E–1—————————-

You can play the F chord without the bar this way:

e–X—————————-

B–1—————————-

G–2—————————-

D–3—————————-

A–3—————————-

E–X—————————-

Simply place your left hand fingers to make the bar chord, then lift the first finger and place it at the first fret on the second string. The first and sixth strings are not played. If you move this chord up to the third fret you will have a G chord and at the fifth fret, the A chord. Any barre chord can be fingered this way, and some guitarists use these “internal” chords all the time. You use four fingers to play four string chords.

Of course, most guitarists will tell you that you should learn to play the bar chord fingering, and I agree with them. It takes a few weeks to begin to play the bar chords effectively and a few months before you are playing them with no problems, but once that is done, you are set up for a lifetime of guitar playing. The four string chords are just a way of enabling you to play more songs without too much delay.

Another way of moving chords up and down the guitar neck is by the use of power chords. Power chord is the name rock guitarists have given to a two note chord containing the root note of the chord and the note a fifth above the root. Common practice has become to play the root note an octave above, for example to play a power chord instead of E major you would play the notes E and B.

e–0—————————-

B–0—————————-

G–x—————————-

D–2—————————-

A–2—————————-

E–0—————————-

In the above example if you play with a pick you just damp the G string with a left hand finger and strum all the strings. Or you might prefer the effect when you do not play the top E string so that the E B E B ring out on the lower strings.

Ricky Sharples