I’ve been teaching my friend’s 9 year old son to play guitar.
We’ve been working on chords for a while now and he’s gotten to the point where he’s pretty good with G Em C D. He even makes changes from one chord to the next fairly well.
So, I want to teach him to play through a song that uses those chords. A song with all four of those chords would be best, but a good G C D song would be a good start as well.
I’d like to limit selection to songs that are already in the key of G, so that he can better hear how what he is playing matches the song.
Preferably in 4/4 or 3/4.
A song that, as recorded, is strummed on an acoustic guitar would be great but that point is entirely unnecessary.
More important is to pick something he knows.[ul]
[li]Trendy Recent Stuff[/li][li]Beatles, he knows the Beatles fairly well[/li][li]The Monkees, he knows alot of Monkess songs as well.[/li][li]Bob Dylan, he’s pretty good in his knowledge of Bob Dylan but not nearly as much as the above.[/li][li]Bob Marley, again pretty good in his knowledge here.[/li][li]Anything you think a 9 Year old might know from simple cultural osmosis.[/li][/ul]
Octopus’s Garden by the Beatles and Every Breath You Take by the Police are pretty well-known I VI IV V progression songs. Octopus’s Garden may actually be in G, but I don’t think EBYT is.
I must apologize for my suggestions! My “home base” for the turnaround changes is in C as opposed to G and I misread your sequence to be a key change from C Am Dm G (I-vi-ii-V). So those tunes I mentioned would fit better with G-Em-Am-D.
Just want to note that choices needn’t be limited to the classic G Em C D progression, just that those chords be the only chords in the song. A song that might have a G C D verse or a G D C D verse, then with the Em appearing in the chorus would work.
Really anything with those chords no matter what order.
If “Octopus’s Garden” is in G (I’m not near an instrument right now), that might be perfect. I’m almost certain he knows that one. Zeldar, your wiki link is great- it’s just one click away from this one, which is the mother load.
Keep the suggestions coming- they’re very much appreciated!
Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ is simple to play and follows that progression. Problem is, you’ll need a capo on, I think, the second fret. It’s been awhile.
Indigo Girls’ “Joking” is that 4 chord progression throughout the entire song played at a frenetic strum pattern. Very easy (actually, all the rhythm guitar stuff written by Amy Ray is easy chords).
Dylan has a lot of great songs with simple chord structures. You can play “Mr. Tambourine Man”, “Blowin’ In The Wind”, and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit” with those four chords. I don’t know what key they’re in on his records, but hey… that’s what capos are for… really, I would introduce the young man to the capo ASAP, as it will greatly increase the number of songs he can play along to while staying in the key of G.
off the top of my head these dylan songs use those particular chords:
License to Kill
Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright (put the capo on 6)
Abandoned Love
Boots of Spanish Leather
Girl From the North Country
possibly It Ain’t Me Babe and When the Ship Comes In (but those may have a Bm)
song from other artists that come to mind:
Redemption Song - Bob Marley
Lodi - CCR
Handle With Care - Travelling Wilburys.
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (though there’s an Am)
Thanks everybody!
His mom cancelled this week’s lesson so I have another week to figure it out.
As soon as I picked up the guitar I realized “Octopus’s Garden” isn’t in G.
There’s got to be some Monkees songs, right? He loves The Monkees.
“I’m a Believer” is almost all G C D and would be great- but he’s not quite ready for the F Chord in the chorus.
Yeah, “Octopus” is in E. I know it’s a piano-based song, but “Crocodile Rock” is in G, and it follows G-Em-C-D in the verses and in the “La, la la la la…” part. The only time it changes is the “pre-chorus”, I guess you’d call it, the “Crocodile rockin’ was something shockin’…” part.