In the previous lesson we learned Em and Am, because those are probably among the easiest chords for a straight-up beginner guitar player to learn, however in this lesson we’re going to add three more: G, C, and D.
These three chords are quite possibly the three best chords you’ll ever learn, simply because of the range of songs you can play using them – AND because once you learn how to use a capo, nothing will be out of reach for you.
But first things first.
Here are the three chords:
Learn these well, my friend. Dream of them when you sleep at night.
I’m not going to re-hash everything here that I covered in the video, but I did want to give you a list of songs to get started with. All the songs below use a combination of the chords you’ve learned so far, G, C, D, Em, and Am. The links go to the song on youtube, so you can hear what it sounds like. Just a note on that though – sometimes recordings of older songs aren’t quite in tune, due to differences in recording techniques back then, etc.
- Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash
- Release – Pearl Jam
- Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan
- Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
- Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day
- Wanted Dead Or Alive – Bon Jovi
- I’m a Believer – The Monkees
- Sweet Child O’Mine – Guns and Roses
- Lively Up Yourself – Bob Marley
- Hound Dog – Elvis Presley
- Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Hank Williams
- All Summer Long – Kid Rock
- Royals – Lorde
- Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd (there is one F chord in here 🙂
- Tonight’s the Night – Neil Young
- Paperback Writer – The Beatles
- Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
- Lost Together – Blue Rodeo
- Undone (The Sweater Song) – Weezer (original is in Eb standard tuning)
That little list of 3 chord songs ought to keep you busy for a while – but just think what the possibilities are like once we start adding more chords!
I love all of these songs and I tried them all. They are all really easy and they sound really cool when you play them. I would recommend Sweet Child O’ Mine by Guns And Roses, it sounds cool and it has a great flow to it.