by Salvatore Rodrigo

Created on: December 12, 2008

One of the most difficult aspects of starting to play the guitar is finding music that is easy enough for a beginner to play, but that is still interesting and enjoyable at the same time.

One of the first things you should do when starting to play the guitar is to learn to read guitar tablature, often just called tab. Guitar tabs are readily available online for almost any song. They are very easy to read as well, but to play them, you have to already know the music, since they don't show rhythm. One of the best sites for guitar tab is

Ultimate Guitar. This site should have almost any song you want to learn. When looking for a tab on this site, try to find the version of the song that is rated the highest, since this will usually be the most accurate version of the song.

To read tablature, just look at each line as one of the strings of the guitar. The lowest line is the low E string, and the top line is the high E string. The numbers represent the fret you should play on that string. There are special symbols used to show hammer-ons and pull-offs, but these can differ. Usually, tabs will include a key to show what each symbol means.

There are many songs that are easy to learn as a beginner, but that are still playable. Here are some of my own recommendations:

Hurt - Johnny Cash

Dust in the Wind - Kansas

Classical Gas - Two versions: Mason Williams (the original), or the Eric Clapton cover

Layla - Eric Clapton, either acoustic or electric

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

Wonderwall - Oasis

Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple

Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynrd (original) or Shinedown (cover)

Blackbird - The Beatles

Hallelujah - many different versions: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

Fool on the Hill - The Beatles

House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

Nowhere Man - The Beatles

Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones

Sunshine of Your Love - Cream

Iron Man - Black Sabbath

Come As You Are - Nirvana

In Bloom - Nirvana

Heart of Gold - Neil Young

The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel

Knocking on Heaven's Door - Bob Dylan

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Turn the Page - Bob Seeger

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

In addition, any time you hear a song, either on the radio or by any other means, listen to the guitar part. If it sounds like it might be easy enough for you to play, go look up a tab for the song and give it a try. There are a surprising number of songs that do not have particularly difficult guitar parts. Some bands worth looking into for this reason are Nirvana, Coldplay, and The Beatles.

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