60 Easy Guitar Songs: 2 and 3 Chord Beginner Favorites

Learning guitar doesn’t have to feel overwhelming – especially in those early days.

Take it from me, one of the biggest mistakes beginners often make is spending too much time on riffs and drills and not enough time actually learning and playing full songs!

In my own personal practice – and as part of my kids’ homeschool days – songs are what start the memorization process and keep your motivation to continue learning high.

So if you’re just starting out on guitar (or are teaching guitar at home), this list of 60 easy guitar songs for beginners is a great place to start.

The songs below use simple open chords and slow or predictable progressions, which are ideal for new guitar players, whether they’re adults or kids.

There are also no barre chords or F chords necessary – when teaching, I’ve often found that students struggle with these shapes in the beginning, so I’ve modified my list to continue simple shapes like G, C, D, E, Em, A, and Am.

Whether you’re learning alongside your kids or picking up guitar for the first time yourself, you’ll find something here that you can play today!

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What Makes an Easy Guitar Song?

Not all “easy” songs are actually easy – especially for kids and those with small hands who often have a difficult time fingering full chord shapes.

For this list, I chose songs that:

Use 1 to 3 basic open chords
Don’t have any barre chords
Don’t have an F chord
Have simple strumming patterns
Include familiar melodies that repeat
Work well on acoustic and electric guitar
Are appropriate for families and homeschool settings!

Lyrics are a big deal for us, so everything below is squeaky clean – no bad words or questionable lyrics here.

woman playing easy song with g chord on guitar

Tips for Practicing Guitar Daily

Use these tips to streamline your guitar practice sessions.

Have a Chord Chart Nearby

If you’re still fairly new to playing guitar, I highly recommend keeping a printed chord chart nearby – I created a free printable basic chord chart that includes the 7 most important chords for beginners.

You can read the full post to learn how to read guitar chord charts too!

Get a Good Tuner

You also need to make sure that you use a tuner every time you practice!

An instrument that sounds good will be pleasant to the ear and keep you motivated while training you to hear what a proper chord should sound like.

This clip-on tuner is a good inexpensive option for beginners of all ages.

A note for parents: If your child has difficulty tuning their own instrument, you can easily do it for them using a clip-on tuner.

Remember to go slow and be patient as you both learn your string order together.

The guitar should be tuned to E A D G B E – I like the acronym Every Amazing Day God Blesses Everyone to help new guitar players remember their string order from lowest (thickest) to highest (thinnest) strings.

Always make sure your child’s instrument is in tune before they start practicing for the day!

Optional Tuner/Metronome Combo

If you have the budget for it, I highly recommend getting this instead of a clip-on tuner – I still use one myself and find it more accurate than many clip-on tuners.

Its a bit more complicated to use since it has more features but you can place it on a table or desk in front of you to use it as either as stand alone tuner, metronome, or both at once.

A metronome will train you to keep a steady beat and play in time, even when it feels like the music is starting to change.

korg tuner metronome in front of pink guitar

More guitar tips:

Get a Good Capo

I honestly didn’t know these things existed until a few years ago and it absolutely changed the trajectory of my guitar learning journey.

A capo allows you to change the key you’re playing in by moving the starting point of your guitar’s neck up so you can play familiar chord shapes in a higher pitch.

Its extremely useful for beginners because you can skip barre chords for now and use the shapes you already know to play songs that would otherwise feel out of a reach in your early days as a guitarist.

When I first tried to learn guitar as a teenager, apparently a lot of the music I listened to was riddled with B major chords, haha – and I really struggled with them then! Even today, I still think that this is one of the tougher barre chords for beginners to learn.

From my own experience, I recommend skipping barre chords in the beginning to limit frustration and make your practice sessions feel fun and productive by playing the songs you actually love!

A guitar capo is worth investing in one from the start, and is a real game change because it dramatically expands the number of songs you can play.

I keep our capos stored on the edge of a coffee cup (this is a really cute music themed one) filled with guitar picks at home!

Easy Guitar Songs Using Only 2 Chords

All of the songs below can be played using just two simple chords of one of these shapes: G, C, D, E, Em, and A.

These are perfect for absolute beginners and help build confidence fast so you can experience success early on!

I’ve made capo suggestions to match the record for those who want to play along to the version of the song I’ve suggested below.

Horse with No Name – America (Em D)
Jambalaya (On the Bayou) – Hank Williams (G C)
Dreams – Fleetwood Mac (D E)*
Achy Breaky Heart – Billy Ray Cyrus (C G)
Run Through The Jungle – Creedance Clear Water Revival (D)
Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles (C E)
Paperback Writer – The Beatles (G C)
Rivers of Babylon – Boney M (G C)
You Are My Sunshine – Traditional (A D)
Love Me Do – The Beatles (G C D)
Dream Baby – Roy Orbison (D A, Capo 3)
Coconut – Harry Nilsson (C)
All I Need – Switchfoot (G C, Capo 2)
Hooray! Hooray! It’s a Holi-Holiday – Boney M (G C)

*Dreams – Fleetwood Mac: If you’re feeling adventurous, you can experiment with playing a Dmaj7 to match the record more accurately! Its an easy chord that you can play like you do an A shape or as the easiest barre chord you’ll ever come across.

To play it as a barre, place your first (index) finger across the E, B, and G strings and play the D string open. That’s it!

This is what it looks like.

**Run Through The Jungle – Creedance Clearwater Revival: if you want to take your first shot at a power chord, this song is a great and simple choice. Since it can be played using just one chord, you can match the record by playing a D5 over and over.

Here’s what a D5 power chord looks like.

Easy Guitar Songs Using 3 Chords

Most beginners live in the world of G, C, D, E, Em, A, and Am, and that’s a good thing.

These songs build muscle memory without being overwhelming!

Ten Guitars – Engelbert Humperdinck (A E D)
Chasing Cars -Snow Patrol (A D E)
Don’t Fence Me In – Bing Crosby (D A E, Capo 1, Optional G chord)
Coat of Many Colors – Dolly Parton (G C D, Capo 3 Optional)
Bye Bye Love – Everly Brothers (D A E7)*
Don’t Worry Be Happy – Bobby McFerrin (G Am C, Capo 4 Optional)
Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver (D G C)
Sweet Child O’ Mine – Guns and Roses (A G D, Capo 4)
Wildflowers – Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris (G C D, Capo 1 Optional)
Daddy Sang Bass – Johnny Cash (D G A7, Capo 2 Optional)**
Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison (G C D)
Down on There Corner – Creedance Clearwater Revival (E A D, Capo 3)
The Middle – Jimmy Eat World (D G A)
Shambala – Three Dog Night ( E D A)
Bidi Bidi Bom Bom – Selena (D G A7)***
I Lived – One Republic (G C Em)
La Bamba – Ritchie Valens (D G A)
Further On Up The Road – Joe Bonamassa (G C D)
Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash (A D E)
Mr. Tambourine Man – The Byrds (D A G)
Massachusetts – The Bee Gees (G Am C)
Left It In The River – Jamie MacDonald (C Em D, Capo 1)
I Saw Her Standing There – The Beatles (D G A, Capo 2)
Brother Down – Sam Roberts (Am G D, Capo 5)
Truly Madly Deeply – Savage Garden (A E D, Capo 3)
Marry You – Bruno Mars (D Em G, Capo 3)

*Bye Bye Love – Everly Brothers: You can play this song with an E7 instead of an E chord for a pleasant bluesier tone.

Learning an E7 is quick and easy – simply fret an E chord and then lift up your third (ring) finger to play your D string open instead! That’s it.

**Daddy Sang Bass – Johnny Cash: You can play this song with an A7 instead of an A chord for the same bluesier feeling like I described above.

Let’s learn an A7: finger a regular A major chord and then lift up your second (middle) finger from the G string to play it open. Beautiful, isn’t it?

*** Bidi Bidi Bom Bom – Selena: Follow the instructions above to play an A7 in place of your A major chord for this song.

Easy Hymns & Praise Songs

Worship music is super beginner-friendly because of its slower manageable tempos, predictable repetition, and simple chord progressions.

These are some of my favorite songs for worship at home as well as homeschool learning plans and church settings.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken (E A D)
How Great Thou Art (G C D)
I’ve Got a River of Life (G C D)
How Great Is Our God – Chris Tomlin (G Em C, Optional Capo 6 and D in chorus)
10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman (C G D)
Open The Eyes of My Heart– Paul Baloche (D A G)
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me – CityAlight (A D E, Capo 3)
Be Thou My Vision – Audrey Assad (A E D, Capo 4)
Here I Am to Worship – Tim Hughes (G D C)
My Promised Land – Josiah Queen (Am G C, Capo 2)*

*My Promised Land – Josiah Queen: Compared to other songs on the list, this one is significantly faster but it actually sounds great strummed slowly too.

If you want to play it with the record, simply play the song on your music streaming platform of choice and then slow it down to about the .80 to .90 mark so its still pleasant for listening.

For more beautiful songs, check out this post on the easiest worship songs to play on guitar.

Easy Guitar Songs for Kids

These simple songs are familiar, fun, and age-appropriate for small children – and they’re perfect for keeping younger siblings engaged too!

This Little Light of Mine (G C D)
If You’re Happy and You Know It (G D C)
Five Little Ducks (G C)
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (D G)
Mary Had a Little Lamb (A E)
A Sailor Went to Sea (G D)
Skip to My Lou (D A)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (G C D)
Peace Like a River (G C D)
Five Little Speckled Frogs (D G A)

More music and homeschool inspiration:

Tips for Learning Your First 10 Guitar Songs Faster

To memorize your first 10 songs on guitar, I recommend the following:

Aim for practice sessions between 20 and 45 minutes long five times a week
Practice the entire song – not just chord changes*
Play songs slightly slower than the recording to start
Use a capo to simplify keys and match records when you want to practice while listening to them**
Focus on enjoyment over perfection always!

Playing consistently matters far more than long practice sessions do.

*When you’re new to guitar, it can be tempting to simply go back and forth between the same two chords again and again until you’ve got it but honestly, this practice can make you resent the experience instead of looking forward to your next practice.

I strongly recommend practicing chord changes while you learn a song you like – no matter how rough it sounds! You could even sing along very slowly if this is something you enjoy doing.

Instead of endlessly repeating the same exercise, you’ll be working toward a clear motivating goal – and that’s playing an actual song from start to finish!

**As you get faster with chord changes and learn a couple of different shapes, you can work on your speed.

I’d recommend printing out chord sheets and lyrics and practicing with these before you attempt to play with the record. It can be really frustrating and discouraging to keep up with faster paced songs in the beginning.

Best Beginner Guitar Gear Picks

The right tools make learning guitar feel so much less frustrating and will help you become a better player from the start!

Training your ears to hear what being in tune sounds like and building solid rhythm from the get go will give you a huge advantage later on.

So, if you’re just starting out, here’s what I consider essential:

Acoustic guitar – Fender makes a great one for adults and I always recommend this one for kids ages 7 and up.
Clip-on tuner – this is a good one that’s reasonably priced too
Tuner Metronome combo (if you have the budget, go for this instead of the clip-on tuner)
Capo – I use this one but this is a less inexpensive option that works really well too
Guitar picks – start light! I like this size for beginners
Chord chart – you can grab my free printable one and hang it somewhere in your practice space
Guitar stand or hook – we use these wall hangers all over our home to prevent instruments from getting knocked over and damage. This is a good floor stand to keep your guitar safe if hanging it on the wall isn’t an option. The safety buckle helps keep your guitar from getting knocked over by accident.

These items make learning smoother and reduce frustration – especially for kids!

Final Thoughts on Learning Easy Guitar Songs

With as little as one or two chords, you can play real songs and that’s what keeps beginners excited to keep coming back and learning guitar!

So, choose a couple of songs on this list and start practicing simple open chords shapes today.

Don’t forget to enjoy the process and celebrate your wins – music is meant to be joyful so don’t rush through it especially when learning together at home.

I hope this guide has inspired with a few fun choices, maybe even a couple you forgot about until now, haha.

Happy strumming, friend!

– Nikki

About the author

Nikki

I'm a homeschool mom of two, wife, self-taught musician, and entrepreneur. I help moms and dads learn how to incorporate music into their home education plans while balancing daily lessons and building an online business. My goal is to help families spend more time learning, exploring, and creating together!