17 Easy Four Chord Songs for Guitar Beginners With G, Em, C and D7

December 02, 2018

17 Easy Four Chord Songs for Guitar Beginners With G, Em, C and D7

Guitar may take a lifetime to master–but unlike the harpsichord and trombone, beginning guitar players can start making beautiful and awesome music RIGHT AWAY.

These chords are huge. A guitar student who learns to pivot from G to Em to C to D7 has taken an exponential leap in guitar capabilities, because that combination of chords allows you to play all the major chords in the key of G, PLUS the relative minor. Now, that might not make sense if you haven’t yet learned music theory, but trust me–it means you can play A LOT of songs! In fact, in this blog post, I’m giving you 17 songs that you can start playing right away with these magic chords. And I’m even giving you links to the audio, tutorials, and music charts. These are guitar gems!

Learning these chords also helps to get you physically ready for more advanced moves. In fact, pivoting to the C from the Em chord allows a nice, safe, baby step way to practice the C chord–which for many beginners is a big-deal chord.

Q: “Dan, what is a pivot?”

A: “A ‘pivot’ is when you leave a finger tip down on a string while changing chords. For example, in these songs, when you change from G to Em, you can leave your 1st finger down; when you change from Em to C you can leave your 2nd finger down; when you change from C to D7 you can leave your first finger down; and even when you change from D7 back to G to start the whole series of chords over again, you can still leave your third finger down. Pivoting is a great guitar habit which makes changing chords more easy and efficient.”

By the way, there is one more shortcut worth talking about–the “third finger hover.” Here’s how it works: prepare for your Em to C change by keeping your third finger just above the fifth string, ready to drop down on the third fret when you change to C. I call this The Third Finger Hover, and it makes moving into a C chord SO EASY. Do NOT let your third finger be floating in some weird random place when you play an Em chord–no, no, no, instead keep it hovering in position to change chords.

Here’s a quick flow chart for what to do next.

If you DON’T know how to pivot from G to Em to C to D7 yet: Fear not, immediately either click this link for 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 G, Em, C and D7: You are golden! Grab your guitar and get ready to start strumming–remember, playing along with songs is one of the best (and most fun) ways to improve!

Keep in mind:

Sometimes I transposed the song in order to avoid chords like F, Bb, Qrelative, and Zsharp minor 7th! Let’s stick with our great beginner chords for now!
If that means that you need to transpose a chart, the notes on the song will tell you how many half-steps to transpose the song–sounds tricky, but it is easy, just hit the “transpose +” or the “transpose -” button on the song until you know all the chords.
If that means you need to use a capo, the notes on the song will tell you what fret to put the capo on.
And yes, sometimes the transposed chords are a little simpler than the “real” song. Don’t worry! That just means that later you’ll get the pleasure of learning these songs even deeper and better.

(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.)

***Every once in a while links break…please let us know if you notice a broken one! And sometimes we can’t find a good tutorial to share–let us know if you find one you like!

Despacito – Luis Fonsi

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbBsUe1pA_g

TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfolGuhSwqo

CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/luis-fonsi/despacito-chords-2062935

Em – C- G – D (capo 7)

Latin/Pop (2019)

Easy

Fast Car – Tracy Chapman

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrHwZyFN7M

TUTORIAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ-i5hK0vc0

CHART: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab/tracy-chapman/fast-car-chords-1044807

C – G – Em – D (capo 2)