Johnny Hiland Band

You, like most, picked up the guitar to play songs, but often when they realize it isn’t as easy as they expected. Of course there are a group of songs that require fewer chords and are great for beginners so I wanted to share with you three easy songs to play on the guitar.

These three songs only require open chords, so if you haven’t learned barre chords yet you’ll be able to play these.

Heart of Gold

This is a Neil Young Classic tune from his Har vest Moon album this song can be played quite simply with only four chords, Em, C, D and G. I won’t give you the tab or order of the chords, I think there’s more learning value if you listen to the song and try to pick it out knowing what chords you need.

a quick hint it starts on the Em, so take a listen and try to pick this one out.

House of the Rising Sun

This song is an older one but almost every beginner guitarist takes the time to learn it. The song was originally recorded by the Animals and you can find the track on YouTube, iTunes or maybe your own CD library. The pattern repeats itself, but it’s fun to play and you only need 5 chords, Am, C, D, F and E7.

One chord that may stick you here is the E7. To play the E7 simply remove your second finger when playing an E major chord from the second fret on the D string.

Wish You Were Here

One of many classics by Pink Floyd this is an amazing acoustic song to strum and sign along with and can be played with just six chords: C, D, Am, Em and G. The album version of this song has a nice lead intro but you can skip this for now to just strum and sing along with this classic.

If some of these basic open chords are still tough for you then maybe try a learning guitar dvd. These courses can get you up to speed quickly on a lot of the basics acoustic or electric guitar concepts. A popular course for beginners is learn & master guitar, a 25 disc set designed for beginner and intermediate guitarists with enough lessons for more then one year.

It’s the backbone of most licks and blues solos, the blues scale. I’m going to show you what the blues scale is, the difference between it and the pentatonic shape and also a few tips on how to use these scales in your practice and jams.

The A Pentatonic Scale

There are five notes in the pentatonic scale. Some of course are played more then once. Here is the A major pentatonic scale in tab (this is just one of the five shapes on the neck).

e———————–5-8-5——————————

B——————-5-8——-8-5————————–

G————–5-7—————–7-5———————

D———-5-7————————-7-5—————–

A——5-7———————————7-5————-

E–5-8——————————————8-5——–

Scale is played forwards and backwards in above example.

Adding the Blue Notes

There is only a 2 note different between the A blues scale and the A major pentatonic, these two notes are known as the blue notes. Here is the above A major pentatonic scale but with the blue notes added in.

e———————–5-8-5——————————

B——————-5-8——-8-5————————–

G————–5-7-8—————8-7-5—————–

D———-5-7————————–7-5—————-

A——5-6-7——————————–7-6-5———

E—5-8——————————————8-5——–

Added in are two notes one is the 8th fret of the G string and the other is the 6th fret on the A string. These notes are known as the diminished or flat 3rd and diminished or flat 7th.

When you play through the scale up and down again you’ll hear those notes stick out. Those notes do have a blue tone to them. This would be called the a major blues scale.

Using the Scale

Playing the scales up and down, up and down is good practice for your finger movements and speed but using this knowledge in every day jamming means creating and learning blues guitar licks. Blues licks are how you build great lead parts and solos.

The fastest method of learning blues this way is by practicing with jam tracks. Playing blues scales in a particular key over a backing track lets me experiment, come up with my own licks and incorporate other licks much faster.

To learn some more advanced concepts about the blues scale and in other keys you may want to check out some more advanced blues guitar lessons. With more understanding of the scales you’ll become a more versatile blues player.

Options to consider are private blues lessons, blues guitar dvd or even online video lessons available at some general lessons websites.