Which easy songs should a complete beginner guitarist learn first?
Yash Tiwari11th Sample
12 Oct 2026 · 1 min read
Bhai so I finally got a second-hand acoustic guitar from my cousin, steel strings, a bit scratched but plays fine. I saw sara_f's post about sore fingertips and honestly I relate too much 😭
Right now I know three chords: Em, A and D. I can switch between them slowly, like 3 seconds delay each. I don't know how to read tabs properly, I just use chord names from random YouTube videos.
My problem is that I don't know what to learn FIRST. Every list says "10 easy songs" and half of them have chords I haven't touched (F, Bm, something called Dsus4). I don't want to give up in a week, I've done that with cricket coaching, gym, everything.
I like Bollywood and old English songs. I don't care if it's "cool", I just want something I can finish and play start to end so I feel good about it.
Questions:
- Which songs only use 3 or 4 basic chords?
- How do I know how fast to strum? Mine sounds like a wedding band that has lost the beat.
- Should I learn the barre chord F now or later?
Thanks yaar, I'll update after practising 🙏
13 answers & replies
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[+][–]Sara Fernandes11thSample· 7d ago
YASH hi 🙌 welcome to the sore fingers club.
You already know Em, A, D. Learn G and C next and you've unlocked a ridiculous number of songs. With G, C, D and Em you can play loops like G - D - Em - C, which is behind a huge number of pop songs. Some beginner-friendly ones with simple chords:
- "Knockin' on Heaven's Door": G, D, Am, C
- "Country Roads": G, Em, D, C
- "Stand By Me": G, Em, C, D
For strumming, don't start with a fancy pattern. Just do down-down-down-down, one per beat, slowly, and keep your right hand moving even when your left hand is changing chord. That's the secret: the hand doesn't stop, even if the chord is wrong for a beat.
[+][–]Harsh Gupta12thSample· 7d ago
Learn F first bro. Every song needs F. Get it over with, it's like removing a bandaid
[+][–]Sara Fernandes11thSample· 7d ago
please don't. F barre is hard on beginner fingers and a lot of famous beginner songs don't need it at all. do it later after your fingers are tougher. (also yash, don't listen to harsh, he plays dholak)
[+][–]Harsh Gupta12thSample· 7d ago
dholak is a lifestyle 😤 fine fine retracted
[+][–]Ishaan Bose11thSample· 7d ago
Seconding sara. Also the "Horse With No Name" thing: it's basically two chords, Em and a weird one (D6/9) that you can play with one or two fingers. Two chords! Great for training strumming and not feeling like a failure. And it sounds actually nice.
On speed: use a metronome app, set it to 60 BPM, and strum one down per click. When that feels dull, do two per click. Boring but it works.
[+][–]Yash Tiwari11thSample· 7d agoAuthor
bhai 60 bpm is sooo slow 😭 but fine I'll try. so after Em and D6/9 I go to the G C D songs?
[+][–]Ishaan Bose11thSample· 7d ago
yeah. and slow is the trick, everything feels slow at 60 until you try to actually change chords on time. you'll see
[+][–]Arjun Nair12thSample· 6d ago
One more thing on the metronome: it trains your ear more than your hand. Typing on my keyboard I learned the same, rhythm first, speed later. 60 feels slow only until you try to be exactly on the click.
[+][–]Aarav Kulkarni11thSample· 7d ago
Since you like old songs: try picking one that you already know the melody of, you don't have to learn it from scratch. If you can hum it, the chords will make sense faster. I did this with an old song my father loves and it was easier than learning an unknown song.
Also write your own chord chart on a sticky note, with the chord name above the lyric where it changes. It looks like a cheat but it helps a ton.
[+][–]Yash Tiwari11thSample· 6d agoAuthor
update: learnt G and C last night. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" first verse done, ek chord change per bar, it sounds like a real song 😭 maybe tonight I'll try the strumming at 60 like ishaan said. thanks everyone!!
[+][–]Sara Fernandes11thSample· 6d ago
YESSS. told you. when you can do the full song, record it and post on here, no one will judge (ok harsh will)
[+][–]Vivek Mishra12thSample· 7d ago
I don't play guitar but my cousin does. He said same thing: learn one full song, not ten half songs. He picks a song and plays it for one week, every day, 10 minutes. After 7 days he can play it even in sleep. Maybe try that.
[+][–]Tushar PawarDropperSample· 7d ago
Practical tip: there are free chord sheets and chord-diagram apps that can slow down songs. Also free tuner apps. Keep the guitar tuned, a slightly out-of-tune guitar makes every chord sound wrong and you'll think you're bad when you're not. I spent two weeks thinking my D was wrong and the B string was just flat.
