While the last two blogs focused on easy riff songs for beginning guitarists, this time we’re going to look at easy strumming songs for guitar. The biggest challenge for beginning guitar players is transitioning between chords quickly. While riffs are good to start with because you are playing single notes at a time (and hence, using a single finger at a time) developing the ability to switch multiple fingers at a time to multiple locations is a necessity for becoming a guitarist.
The first song we will look at utilizes one of the easiest chords to play, the E Major (or E chord). As shown in the diagram below, to play an E chord you want to have your 1st finger on the 3rd string/1st fret, 2nd finger on the 5th string/2nd fret, and 3rd finger on the 4th string/2nd fret. Strum all 6 strings.
Here is a photo of the E chord
In our first song, titled “Juanita”, we are going to use the E chord and then slide the E chord up from the 1st fret to the 2nd fret to form a F/E chord (pronounced F over E and shown in the first chord diagram). Again you can strum all 6 strings to get a nice full sound.
Practice moving the chord shape back and forth between the two frets and make sure you are getting a clear tone when strumming.
Now, let’s put them together into our song! Below we have a Spanish style song I wrote called what else… Juanita! Play each chord for one measure and use the strum pattern shown!
If you are in the Orange County, Riverside, or Los Angeles areas and looking for guitar lessons or bass lessons, definitely check out Mark Hamrock at Hamrock Music Instruction , chosen by CBS Los Angeles as one of their “Best Places for Guitar Lessons in Orange County ”.
