5 Tips To Start Playing Songs as Soon as Possible

It’s an exciting time. You’ve got your first guitar, your first songbook, your first chord book, and your first blisters (pain is progress!).

But how do we get this clunky instrument sounding like our favorite songs?

The first few months of learning the guitar can be slow and painful. The real fulfillment from learning the guitar comes from playing the music you love. Getting to that point will take time.

How do we shorten that time?

If your goal is to learn how to play your favorite songs, there are a few key things you should focus on to get you there as soon as possible.

1) Practice Your Chords.

Every song is made up of chords. Learn these chords. You’ll find some chords are used more than others.

G and C are two of the most difficult chords in learning guitar. They are also among the most common in popular music. Don’t skip these ones just because they appear to be too difficult.

Changing between chords quickly is absolutely crucial. The less “dead space” you have between chord changes, the better the song’s flow will be. Practice changing from chord to chord until you can do it quickly (without looking at your fingers).

2) Start with Simple Songs

There are millions of songs out there with 4 or less chords. Find the ones you like, and start with those. Learning to play songs properly is a delicate process. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many chords until you have gotten better at rhythm and timing. 

Examples of simple songs include:

- Bob Dylan - Knocking On Heaven’s Door (the same 3 chords over and over)

- Taylor Swift – Shake It Off (also the same 3 chords over and over)

- America – Horse With No Name (2 Chords)

- Radiohead – Creep (4 Chords, slightly more difficult)

You can find many more with a quick Google search.

3) Change Chords at the Right Time

Most chord charts have lyrics with chords written above. The placement of these chords on the chart is important. Chords are almost always placed above the word that is sung when the chord changes. 

For example, in the first verse of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” (yes, I like Taylor Swift), the chords are placed over the words “late” and “brain”. These chord changes happen while Taylor is singing these words.

Before you tackle the strumming pattern, go through the song and make sure you are changing chords in the right places.

4) Strumming Patterns (Rhythm)

Strumming patterns are crucial to capturing the feel of a song. You know how some songs make you want to get up and dance? (*Ahem* Taylor Swift – Shake It Off). 

It’s the rhythm of the instruments that ultimately leave that kind of impression on the listener.

Rhythm can be a hard thing to discover. Getting good at replicating strumming patterns and rhythm will take some time, but you can get a head start by learning a few songs with notable rhythms:

1) Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin

This famed guitar riff is made up of one single note, played in two octaves. F#, played on the E string 2nd fret, and the D string 4th fret. The rhythm of this riff is what makes it so recognizable. Learn it.

2) Bad Moon Rising – CCR

Another famed guitar riff. This whole song is made up of 3 chords; D, A, and G. Listen to the first few seconds of the song until you can play it strum for strum. This song works well because the vocals also follow this rhythm. 

3) Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash

This song carries a notable rhythm shared with many country songs. It is an offbeat rhythm. 

Offbeats are the beats that take place between downbeats. To keep it simple, we have 4 counts in each bar of music. When we play a song, we often count to 4 consistently over and over again to keep time (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4…). Do this out loud. Every time you say “1” or “3”, strum lightly, every time you say “2” or “4”, strum harder. This will get you started on this offbeat rhythm. 

5) Get Singing

Singing along to what you’re playing will help your chord changes and rhythms sync up properly. Don’t be afraid to sing out loud, it will help. 

Chances are, the vocal line of a song is the part you know best. Use it as a reference to make sure the song sounds the way it should.

Everybody wants to experience the joys of playing an instrument. Singing around the campfire, getting up on stage and feeling the applause after pouring yourself into a performance, or even just sitting at home playing songs you love over and over again. 

It’s quite the life; but not everybody can get through the first few months of hard work and toil. Get practicing these steps and you’ll have your first song down in no time.

With lots of practice of course ;)