14 Three-Chord Guitar Songs
For Beginners
With only three chords–D, G and A7–beginning guitar players can start playing guitar right away, with lots of amazing songs. In fact, if you know these three chords you can even start playing “Happy Birthday”–and that means you and your guitar can be the lynchpin of any birthday celebration for the rest of your life. That’s cool!
Of course, as a beginner, it can be hard to figure out songs which are simple enough to play along with. That’s why, in this blog post, I’m giving you a list of songs which can be played with only these three chords–D and G and A7. And I’m even giving you links to the audio, tutorials, and music charts. This is guitar gold!
D and G and A7 are super beginner friendly…plus they are the very first three chords we teach in the NYC Guitar School Guitar for Absolute Beginner Class–meaning that this extremely handy blog post is also companion resources to theNYCGS Beginner Class!
Here’s a quick flow chart for what to do next:
If you DON’T know D and G and A7 yet: Fear not, immediately either click this link for FREE and easy online tutorials on how to play those chords or sign up for a lesson or class right away at NYC Guitar School.
If you DO know D and G and A7: That is awesome. Grab your guitar–because one of the best ways to practice is by playing along with songs!
Now, remember, because you are a beginner, sometimes we will be using D and G and A7 to play songs even though the original artist used different chords.
Q: Wait, Dan–you mean even though we don’t know the chords that the original artist is playing, we can still play along? Using only D, G and A7? That sounds kind of crazy. Is that allowed? Can we do that?
A: YES WE CAN! SI LO PUEDE! But we’re going to need two special tricks, called capos and transposing. Don’t freak out! It’ll be easy.
First, we’ll simply place our capos on a given fret in order to play along with a song. For example, let’s say a song is played using the F# barre chord, like “Give Me One Good Reason” by Tracy Chapman (one of our potential 3 chord songs!) Wow…that is so inconvenient for a beginner who doesn’t know barre chords yet! However, using the miraculous properties of a capo, a beginner can play that song using the beginner friendly D and G and A7 chords, simply by placing the capo on the fourth fret. (If you need a capo, you can MAKE YOUR OWN with a PENCIL AND A RUBBER BAND or you can buy one–here’s a pretty good one.
Similarly, in some cases when you click on the link to the chord chart the song will be charted using chords you don’t yet know. Don’t worry, because in those cases we’ve listed how many half-steps to transpose the song–which in practice just means clicking the little “transpose” button on the chart until the only chords showing are D, G and A7. It’s that easy!
(And yes, you eager guitar player, as you learn new chords, you’ll get the pleasure of revisiting these songs again, only without the capo!)
One more quick tip: chunk it, baby! Whenever you have a big job to do, doesn’t it make sense to break it into easy to accomplish chunks? Yes, of course. Here’s a nice chunk for you to focus on–when you change from D to A7, your first two fingers are in identical positions! The only difference is that in a D chord your first two fingers are on the 1st and 3rd strings, and in an A7 chord they are on the 2nd and 4th strings.
So when you change between those chords, don’t get sloppy with your fingers, leading to confusion and delay in changing chords! Instead, keep your fingers in exactly the same shape, and just move them as a chunk over one string. Voila! New chord
Time to start rocking! Here’s a list of songs, along with where to place your capo (if applicable) plus links to the song, tutorials and charts. How convenient is that?
(And don’t forget: for broken-down step-by-step guitar skills, we invite you to join our friendly guitar community at NYCGuitarSchool.com. If you’re not in NYC you can still get the step by step goodness at guitarlessons.nyc.)
For super convenient playing along, grab your guitar, then check out our YouTube Beginners 2 playlist or our Spotify playlist.
***Every once in a while links break…please let us know if you notice a broken one!
Happy Birthday
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z-1fTlSDF0
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28Y51OxEsRc (use A7 instead of A)
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/misc_traditional/happy_birthday_chords_1084205 (transpose +2)
D – G – A7
Traditional (1893)
Easy
Gimme One Reason – Tracy Chapman
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6hQ9HSKlIE
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1MHovyGEdg
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/tracy_chapman/give_me_one_reason_chords_702441 (transpose + 8)
D – G – A7 (capo 4)
Blues/Rock (1996)
Difficult
Yellow Ledbetter – Pearl Jam
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs8y3kneqrs
TUTORIAL: (let us know if you find a good one!)
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/pearl_jam/yellow_ledbetter_chords_48566 (transpose – 2)
D – A7 – G – D (capo 2)
Rock (1992)
Easy
Helpless – Neil Young
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7rQvJgTQ9U
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4coS234FDCY
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/neil_young/helpless_chords_56558 D – A – G (no capo)
Classic Rock (1970)
Easy
The Tide Is High – Blondie
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htRwf9zNGlI
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOEmIkjlPi8
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/blondie/the-tide-is-high-chords-62181 (traspose +5)
D ; G – A7 (capo 9)
Rock (1980)
Easy
Satisfaction – Rolling Stones
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrIPxlFzDi0
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4B-s3QFzFA
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the_rolling_stones/i_cant_get_no_satisfaction_chords_4047 (traspose -2)
D – G; D – A7 – D – G (capo 2)
Rock (1965)
Medium
Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffet
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCcXqFCMSbo
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBa7aH0nkmQ
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/jimmy_buffett/margaritaville_chords_504642
D – A7 – D; G – A7 – D (no capo)
Acoustic Rock (1977)
Medium
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ClCpfeIELw
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED9cPFnzxSg
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/deep_blue_something/breakfast_at_tiffanys_chords_26901
D – G – A – A7; D – A – G (no capo)
Alt Rock (1995)
Medium
Little Ghost – White Stripes
YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0_IH6SKU-k
TUTORIAL: (let us know if you find a good one!);;
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the_white_stripes/little_ghost_chords_271806
D – G – A (transp. -5)
Bluegrass (2005)
Medium
Bad Moon Rising – CCR
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-UuJS560ZI
CHART:
https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/creedence_clearwater_revival/bad_moon_rising_chords_15892
D – G – A (no capo)
Rock (1973)
Easy
Twist and Shout – The Beatles
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RicaUqd9Hg
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO0-jT6dhNg
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/the_beatles/twist_and_shout_chords_122350
D – G – A – A7 (no capo)
Rock (1963)
Easy
I Wanna Get Better – Bleachers
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8twpQTna_9w
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxUUgo6k7BA
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/bleachers/i_wanna_get_better_chords_1466110
D – A – G – A (capo 2) (transp. +2)
Indie (2014)
Easy
Penny on a Train Track – Ben Kweller
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlKjwa0ygwc
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQEqWB6CCko (not really a tutorial perse)
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/ben_kweller/penny_on_the_train_track_chords_2325683
D – G – A (capo 4)
Folk (2006)
Easy
This Land Is Your Land This Land Is My Land – Woody Guthrie
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s
TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cswk48DCOY0 (use A7 instead of A)
CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/woody_guthrie/this_land_is_your_land_chords_1054304
Folk (1940)
Easy
