How to Learn Songs at Every Skill Level

Everybody who gets into guitar has songs they dream of playing, but they may not know if they are ready to play them. Below, there are types of songs that each guitar player should learn at their current stage.  It takes you from playing Mary Had a Little Lamb to Metallica.

It also shows what mastering a song at each level should look like.

Absolute Beginner

If you’ve never played guitar before this list is for you.  

1. When the Saints Go Marching in 

2. Batman - Neil Hefti

3. Jingle Bells 

4. Mary Had a Little Lamb 

5. Ode to Joy 

6. Three Blind Mice 

7. Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple

8. 7 Nation Army (Single-Notes) - The White Stripes

9. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 

10. Row Row Row Your Boat 

At this stage, your goal is not to play the entire song. You want to play the melody or riff. The melody is the tune you hum or sing. In Mary Had a Little Lamb, the guitar plays the melody. 7 Nation Army and Smoke on the Water have iconic riffs that aren't sung. The rest of the songs play the melody.

If you want more help in this section, you are ready for the Roxy Rockin' Guitar Gold Book. Click Here and Select "I’ve never played Guitar Before or I'm just getting started," to get it. 

4 Chord Wonders 

Once you’ve mastered those songs, you wanna move to 4 Chord Wonders. Ed Sheeran talks about being able to play any pop song with the chords G, C, D, and Em. So how do you play songs like this?

The first step to be able to do this is to learn those chords. Here are the chord diagrams for them. Play each chord 30 times a day for two weeks. Practice going immediately to the next chord. Once you can play the chord quickly and without looking you have it down.  

Once you have the chords down, you need to learn how to strum. For these 5 songs you can get away with 2 strumming patterns. A strumming pattern uses downstrokes and upstrokes to create a repeating rhythm

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 

D D D D 

This strumming pattern is strumming down on beats 1, 2, 3, and 4. This is the one everyone plays at first. 

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 

D  DU   UD 

The 2nd Strumming Pattern is Down on 1, Down on 2, Up on the +(and) immediately after 2. Up on the + of 3. Down on 4. 

Play this strumming pattern 30 times every day until it is clean. 

Once you can play those chords and strumming patterns you are ready to play the songs. Here are 10 songs that use these chords: 

1. Let it Be - the Beatles (Capo 5) 

2. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day (Play Slowly) 

3. Zombie – The Cranberries 

4. Wagon Wheel - Darius Rucker (Capo 2)

5. Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver (Capo 2)

6. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol (Capo 2)

7. Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison 

8. I’m Yours – Jason Mraz (Capo 4)

9. Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen

10. Perfect – Ed Sheeran (Capo 1)

Learning how to use a capo at this stage becomes very valuable. A capo allows you to play those 4 chords in any key. If a song requires a capo, it shows which fret to put the capo on.

At this point you want to learn to play complete songs. The reason you want to learn the complete song is so you can sing along with friends while playing guitar. Also, songs often change chord progressions. Learning when those chords change is a great tool.

If you want more help with this section, get your Roxy Rockin' Guitar Book and select, "I know a couple of chords, but I can't play songs yet."

Barre Chords 

Once you master those songs, the next step is to be able to play barre chords. Barre chords are chords that use one finger to play multiple strings. The F chord is the classic example of a barre chord. Here is the chord diagram: 

Looking at the diagram, you'll notice that your first finger is on all 6 strings. This is hard at first. Practice this chord 30 times a day for a week. Make sure to get a good sound.  

Most Barre chords are based off of 4 common guitar shapes: E Major, E Minor, A Major and A Minor. 

The F chord is a version of E major. You can make it an Fm by lifting up your middle finger. Can you do it without a diagram?

Then learn B Minor with the A shape. Can you make it major without a diagram?

Once you can play those shapes, the next step is to learn how to use those shapes to play ANY CHORD. The name of the chord is the name of the note on the low E string. If the note on the E string is G, you play a G chord.

You use the A shapes on the A string. If the Note your finger plays on the A string is C, you play a C chord. It can be minor or major depending on which shape you use. 

Memorize every note name on the E and A strings to play any barre chord.

Here are 10 songs that use Barre Chords 

1. Let it Be – The Beatles (No Capo)

2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana

3. 7 Nation Army (Play Chords for the Riff) - The White Stripes

4. Stay With Me – Sam Smith

5. Counting Stars – One Republic (Capo 4)

6. Talk – Coldplay

7. Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

8. Imagine – John Lennon

9. Come Together – The Beatles

10. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles

You are ready to move on when you can play the song without getting lost. You may play a wrong chord every now and then, but if you can get back with the band, you're set. If you get lost, keep practicing the chord progression until you don’t have to think about it.

Play each song at least 5-10 times a day. 

 If you want more help with this, click to get your Roxy Rockin' Guitar book and select, "I can play basic chords, but barre chords are still a challenge."

Guitar Riffs

Now that you have a solid chord foundation, let's learn more complicated songs. These songs use the chords, but they play riffs too.  

Tools like songsterr are fantastic for learning songs like this. You can get the entire song in a tab by searching for it. 

Here are 10 songs that work great for learning Riffs. 

1. Back in Black - AC/DC

2. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne

3. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin

4. Shoot to Thrill - AC/DC

5. Enter Sandman – Metallica 

6. Everlong – Foo Fighters 

7. Sweet Child O’ Mine - Guns N' Roses

8. Iron Man – Black Sabbath 

9. Can’t Stop – Red Hot Chili Peppers 

10. Beat It – Michael Jackson 

There are two stages to learning these songs. First go through and learn the iconic riffs. They will teach you a bunch and you will have to practice.  

Then you need to learn the entire song. A mistake a lot of players make at this stage is only learning the main riffs. These songs have so much more to offer. You can learn song structure, solos, other riffs, and more.

Once you learn the iconic riffs, go back and learn the rest of the song. Try and learn the chords, the other riffs and the solos. Some of these solos may be way too hard at this point, but you can still learn stuff from attempting parts of the solo.  

Learning songs is why musicians get into music. It connects us through a shared human experience.

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