The ability to play a guitar smoothly is one of the most rewarding skills you can master. Unfortunately, it isn’t as straightforward a skill to learn as you might hope. Learning to play a song with all the numerous chords and the multiple chord changes will take some time. You need to be prepared to work hard and use a systematic approach to learning chord progression well. But don’t worry! The following tips can help you boost your chord changing abilities and improve your overall guitar playing skills.

Focus on the Correct Form

First, it is essential to spend some time learning the correct form of holding the guitar as well as your fingers while you play. The Internet is full of great chord sheets that will help you capture the finger position for each chord. You should definitely check out the For Dummies series, which showcases the most common chords you’ll use when playing the guitar.

Consider spending some time at first just slowly learning each chord individually, before you even start worrying about changing from one chord to another. The key is to make the right kind of sound when playing each individual chord. If you learn to play the chords wrong right from the start, it’s going to be harder to correct it later on.

Look for ‘Connector Points’

If you’ve been playing the guitar for a while, you have probably noticed how similar some of the chords are. A clever way to improve your ability to change from one chord to another is by finding these ‘connector points’. For example, when you are playing the chord Em and the chord G after one another, you can keep your first finger on the same string during the change. The finger that doesn’t move is often referred to as the pivotal finger.

Another example is the chord change from A7 to C, where you are able to maintain the same position with your second finger. There are tons of examples like this for you to discover.

Look at the different chords and find these different connections. Once you have a few pairings, you can start practicing with them. Start playing the change a little bit faster each time.

Paste Magazine provides a list of great beginner songs for you to try out. You can listen to the songs, as well as find the chords, so perfecting the song won’t be too difficult. Start practicing with a few songs at first and remain focused even if you feel like giving up.

Rinse And Repeat

The key to mastering guitar skills is all about repetition. Don’t worry too much about being able to play a number of different songs right from the get-go. As mentioned above, pick a few songs and focus on finding the ‘connector’ points within songs. This will help you get faster as you play and therefore become better at playing the guitar.

You should also check out our blog for other great beginner tips. There is plenty of information available there from picking the right guitar to understanding different play styles. Learning to play the guitar well is going to be a journey that takes some time, but it will be worth it in the end!

When you first start playing the guitar you are probably inspired by all the amazing guitar songs out there. Perhaps you even got the urge to play the guitar because you were amazed at some of the guitar solos your favourite musicians are able to pull off. Although you might be a fan of Carlos Santana’s work, you should probably start with something a little bit simpler. Here are a few good starting songs that will help you get familiar with the different guitar chords while having fun.

Free Falling by Tom Petty

Tom Petty’s Free Falling is perhaps the most recommended song for beginners. It’s a simple song that also teaches you the basics of guitar playing. The song only uses variations of the chords D, G and A. Furthermore, it teaches you the Dsus and Asus chords, which are suspended versions of D and A. If you’re interested in knowing more about suspended chords, then read this blog post by Anton Schwartz.

Yellow by Coldplay

Coldplay also has a selection of songs that suit beginner guitarists. Yellow is an easy song to start with. The tune is catchy and you most probably remember how it goes even if you haven’t heard it for a while. Being familiar with the song can make learning it a lot easier as well; this was Coldplay’s first hit and as much most people do already know it well. Generally, it is a good idea to pick songs that you know, even if you don’t necessarily love them that much.

Yellow uses the chords A, Asus, E, Esus, D, D2 in the intro and the verse. During the chorus you also have to play the chords Dmaj7 and F#m.

Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

If you are looking to start with the classics, then this Pink Floyd song isn’t anything too difficult to master. The guitar solo at the start can be quite overwhelming, so it is perhaps best to skip it and go straight to the verses and the chorus.

The song uses a nice variation of chords. If you can master the chords Am, C, D, G and Em, then you can play this amazing tune as well. You can check out the full tabs at Ultimate Guitar.

First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes

As your skills progress, you can start moving on to songs that are a bit more complicated. Although this Bright Eyes song isn’t anything too difficult to master as a beginner, it will still give you enough of a challenge to further improve your skillset.

The chord progression is also a lot faster in this. But this is going to help you learn more about changing your chords without distracting the flow of the song. It is definitely a great song to add to your repertoire.

Come As You Are by Nirvana

Nirvana has a selection of simple to learn guitar songs and Come As You Are is one of the best of the lot. Cobain’s songs highlight the fact that a great song doesn’t require multitudes of chords or other such tricks. Just a few basic chords can make a great tune.

Musiclipse has a nice article about the song. It also has plenty of video tutorials to help you learn to play this song in an instant.

So there you go! The above are some of the best chord songs to play on the guitar as a beginner. You should also make use of the different guitar apps that make finding chords and guitar tabs a lot easier. These sorts of tools will help you get the skills you need in no time and bring added confidence to all of your guitar playing.