What is the easiest music to play on the guitar?
The Tree of Folk, Country and the Blues...and a few others.
As a guitar instructor, I've been asked many of the same questions by hundreds of students. One of the most popular questions is: "What are the easiest songs to play on the guitar?" To answer this, let's first take a brief look at the American music tree and its roots in the blues and branches of country and folk.
“Like what you are reading? I truly enjoy writing these articles for you. My goals as a writer are to teach you about the things I know as a musician and guitar instructor, and to have a lot of interesting articles and lessons available for you to read. Please consider supporting my efforts by becoming a paid subscriber today. Thank-you for sticking around and being a loyal subscriber.” ~ Dave
The Blues.
American music goes all the way back to the infancy stages of the blues. The blues is quite literally the trunk of the tree of American music with deep roots in the south and the Mississippi river valley all the way up to the great lakes. New Orleans blues, Mississippi delta blues, St. Louis blues, Chicago blues are all part of that tree trunk. It is a very large, very expansive tree; and once you've climbed up that tree, it becomes an array of seemingly endless branches of many other genres of American music.
The blues is one of the easiest genres of music to play on the guitar, as the structure of blues music is relatively basic. Most blues music requires three chords in the structure of a song: I, IV and the V. In the key of C, those chords would be: C, F and G. In the key of G, those chords would be: G, C and D. You can also alter all or some of those chords into variations of "dominant 7th's" to give a true blues sound and feel. For example, two of the most common keys in blues are the key of E and the key of A. Add 7th's to those keys and you would have: E7, A7 and B7, or A7, D7 and E7.
Most blues music is played in what is known as a "12 bar" structure:
The I, IV and V represent the chords in any of the twelve keys used in most music.
As a regular practice, every guitar player should learn how to play the blues in as many keys and as many tempos as possible. The blues also allows for very forgiving renditions of improvisation, which is why so many beginner guitarists are attracted to the blues. The blues lets you learn how to improvise playing a lot of the wrong notes in a scale, and yet, still being able to get away with making those mistakes. The blues is all about feel and moving to the rhythm.
Country and Folk.
Folk music comes from one of the many branches on our music tree. Country is another branch that splits from folk. If you go back to the 1950's and 1960's, folk music was exceptionally prevalent in those days. Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, The Kingston Trio were among some of the most popular and influential of their day. Folk music incorporated lyrics and storytelling melodies and chord structures that were easy to play on the guitar. Adding one or more extra chords from a key to the blues structure, made these songs a bit more interesting and colorful.
Country and Western and Bluegrass.
Country used to be called "Country and Western". This may be where the term "cowboy chords" actually came from. Songs that were played on the guitar in the 1930's and 40's by legendary artists such as Roy Rodgers and Gene Autry, personified the use of mostly open-string, easy, beginner chords. These chords are generally located next to the nut and utilize the first position of the neck/fretboard on the guitar. These chords are almost always the very first chords every guitar player learns. One of the many variations of country and folk comes in the form of bluegrass. This style of music is frequently played in a 2/2 time signature opposed to the more commonly used 4/4 time in country and folk music. John Denver was notorious for writing and singing many of his songs with a bluegrass feel. Songs like "Take me home country roads" and "Thank god I'm a country boy" are both written in 2/2 time.
Rock and Roll.
Rock music comes from the blues. Just ask the guys in Led Zeppelin. Contrary to popular opinion, Zeppelin is not just a rock band, they are a blues band. Crossover blues artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan incorporated fast blues guitar improvisation over driving rock rhythms to create a much more energetic version of blues. Rock music got its start in the 1950's with artists like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and of course, Ray Charles. When the Beatles and The Rolling Stones took over the 1960's, a new style of rock and roll emerged. Rock music has taken on numerous variations and genres - from theater (progressive) rock to punk rock, from top 40 pop rock to new wave and metal. Rock music has changed into so many forms for every generation since the 1950's, but no matter how you break it down, rock music originates from the blues - the trunk of the American tree.
So, no matter what type of music you like to play on your guitar: Country, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass or Rock, all of it can be fun to play no matter what level of accomplishment you are as a guitar player. Keep in mind, if you play any of these genres of music, you gotta sing too. Maybe that's why when so many people go camping and they sit around the campfire, they usually like to sing and play folk, blues and country songs. The acoustic guitar doesn't need to be plugged in.
Try learning how to play some of the classic songs from artists like John Denver, The Eagles, America, Dan Fogelberg, Emmylou Harris, Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Joni Mitchell, Peter, Paul and Mary; Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, James Taylor, Alison Krauss and yes, even the Beatles.