Good songs to teach beginners

[Frank666]

Hi all, I've started to teach a few people gutar (mostly kids from 12 and up) and was looking for some basic songs to teach them. It'll be played on an acoustic and would like some open chord, modern stuff. I'm getting to the end of the usual kinks and stones type things and want to keep them coming back so they can keep paying me  :D

[Matt77]

Indiana Jones - theme is a winner for the absolute beginner

[psy]

Easy acoustic stuff I'd go with are...

Zombie by Cranberries
Time of Your Life by Green Day
Everybody Hurts - REM
Hurt - Johnny Cash's arrangement of the Nine Inch Nails song works well
With or Without You - U2 (that can be arranged quite nicey for acoustic.  D, A Bm, G if I remember corectly)

[gwEm]

Oasis, the kids love it. Not a big fan myself but some of the most fun modern stuff you can do on an acoustic.

[Roobubba]

Oasis, the kids love it. Not a big fan myself but some of the most fun modern stuff you can do on an acoustic.

Christ no. As a teacher you have the responsibility not to breed another generation of beatles-loving cretins who think oasis is good.

Roots bloody roots is nice and easy. For fun you can get them to try the vocals too. haha

[gwEm]

Oasis, the kids love it. Not a big fan myself but some of the most fun modern stuff you can do on an acoustic.

Christ no. As a teacher you have the responsibility not to breed another generation of beatles-loving cretins who think oasis is good.

I sympathise with your view point Roo.

[Ratrod]

Creedence.

If they don't like it or get it, they might as well trade their guitar for a turntable and become a DJ.

[Shag101]

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/ST-000-SongsTAB.php

scroll down the page for song list, there is a good mix of stuff here and each has a video if you are unsure how to play..saves time...

[_tom_]

I think it'd be better to find out what songs they like, then teach them their favourites.

[dave_mc]

I think it'd be better to find out what songs they like, then teach them their favourites.

+1

find someone who wants to learn and that's half the battle won, if you ask me.

obviously if they want to learn malmsteen they might need to rethink that, but yeah. Presumably somewhere they have some songs they like which aren't too hard.

[lulusg]

Here in Mississippi my wife gets the most request from her students songs by Elvis, Johnny Cash and Aerosmith for beginners!

[Afghan Dave]

I think it'd be better to find out what songs they like, then teach them their favourites.

+1

find someone who wants to learn and that's half the battle won, if you ask me.

obviously if they want to learn malmsteen they might need to rethink that, but yeah. Presumably somewhere they have some songs they like which aren't too hard.

I wholeheartedly second these comments!

I wish I could have had at least a 60/40 split in favour of songs I wanted to learn when I was taking lessons... Sure most would have been way beyond my skill level but it would have inspired me to practice the other 40% so much more.

[Frank666]

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/ST-000-SongsTAB.php

scroll down the page for song list, there is a good mix of stuff here and each has a video if you are unsure how to play..saves time...

That's very handy, must not let students find it  :lol:

I think it'd be better to find out what songs they like, then teach them their favourites.

+1

find someone who wants to learn and that's half the battle won, if you ask me.

obviously if they want to learn malmsteen they might need to rethink that, but yeah. Presumably somewhere they have some songs they like which aren't too hard.

I wholeheartedly second these comments!

I wish I could have had at least a 60/40 split in favour of songs I wanted to learn when I was taking lessons... Sure most would have been way beyond my skill level but it would have inspired me to practice the other 40% so much more.

Most of the time it's the parents who send the kids without ever asking them if they want to learn, not sure why they want guitar playing to be an extension of schoolwork

[JacksonRR]

Carol of the Bells. It's an easy intro to scales and pinky use as they already know the melody and can follow.

[38thBeatle]

As has already been said, find out what they are into and show them how to play the songs they love. I have taught many of my neighbours and friends kids. I get them to a standard where they can then go see a real teacher. Doesn't always work- some kids don't realise that it takes work and application and go back to their playstations but those who stick with it get a lot of fun out of it.