by New Age Content

Created on: October 17, 2009

In order to expose yourself to some important chord progressions there are 10 songs that everyone should know how to play inside and out. I have ranked the songs from easiest (number 10) to hardest (number 1).

If you can master the chords, rhythm and feel of these songs, you will be well on your way to learning tons of new ideas. All of these songs cover the very basic first songs you should learn and combine all the popular aspects of guitar in an uncomplicated and approachable way. All of the songs have elements that make them bearable to learn and popular enough so that you can play them for your friends.

10) Wild Thing

9) Van Morrison by Brown Eyed Girl

8) What I Got by Sublime

7) Island in the Sun by Weezer

6) What's my Age Again by Blink 182

5) Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett

4) Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan

3) Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix

2) All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix

1) Black Dog by Led Zeppelin

When learning chords for a song, the listener must focus on what the bass is playing. Most often the bass is playing the roots of the chords. It becomes very easy to determine the chords within a song. The best technique to develop is called ear training. Ear training is defined as easily as it sounds. It is the process by which you listen to music and then either replay the notes you think you are hearing or sing them aloud to figure them out. Developing a good ear will allow you to become more versatile as a player because you can listen to music, hear the chords and figure them out. This improves your own chord vocabulary and songwriting.

For example, if you listen to one of these songs on this list and hear a root note in the bass, you can play that on a guitar and try to find the root. Once you find the root, then think to yourself, is the chord major (happy) or minor (sad) tonality and you can figure out hundreds of chords. Soon it is apparent that nearly all pop songs are easy to learn because they consist of very similar and common chord progressions. If you are going to take music to the next level you had to learn all of the common harmony and chord progressions that are standards. After all is said and done there are over 500 popular number one hit songs from the last 50 years that consist of the exact same 30-50 chord progressions.

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