Guitar lesson - easy songs with chords

Here are four well known songs, arranged in order of difficulty. They are all 8 bars long, which makes them easy to memorise - it's only the amount of info in a telephone number. The chords are in the key of C, but then some common added non-diatonic chords are added.

Non diatonic - chords that use notes not taken from the major scale.

If you are new to the guitar, try looking up Guitar Chords 101 and Guitar Chords 101 Part 2 for more info.

By the last example, we are in more jazz territory. Specifically, this is typical of 1920s Bessie Smith material - but this sort of chord progression was also used by Paul McCartney in his more old-fashioned 20s revival songs.

Every vertical line is one bar, or four strums on a chord. ./. sign just means "ditto" or the same.

Learning these chord progressions is good preparation for tackling Beatles tunes and most rock and pop ballads - the last one will help with more jazz -influenced songs, from the 1920s especially (notice the frequency of added 7ths in the chords.) Bar 5 in the last example is a diminished chord - look these up on my hub Guitar advanced and jazz chords.

Although this is guitar-centric, all this info works well on keyboard too - looknohands.com has the chord details if you need them.

The first set of chords is for Stand By Me. If you can't sing it easily in this key, try using the same chords but with a capo. For instance, a capo on fret 2 will change the key from C to D (C to D is two frets...)

A capo in fret 4 would change the key to E (C to E is 4 frets...)

If you're looking for a gift for a guitarist, this would be a good choice. Many internet bargains are available.