I remember when I bought my first guitar, I was very excited to get started but it wasn’t that easy. As a beginner, I had a hard time knowing which songs would be good to learn and practice. There was much other stuff such as rhythm, time and more that I should have practice way more back than but didn’t know how important it was. I will list a few songs I believe is fairly easy but still very good songs which always are worth knowing.
Knocking on Heaven’s door by Bob Dylan is an all time classic which is really easy to play. It only contains four chords which are also played in a simple pattern. For this song you need to know G, D, Am and C chords. The song is excellent for practice your strumming skills and keeping the time, very beautiful tune. Good idea is to mix the rhythm up a bit and see if you still can nail the chord switches, will you give a lot by practicing that.
Wild thing by Troggs is an old song but is a must know for every guitar player. Few songs are so easy to play but still sounds this good. It’s a song with very specific rhythm pattern, try to use your ears and listen to it. The chords for the song are A, D and E. Once you get the hang on the rhythm of the song, you could try to play it all kinds of way like Jimi Hendrix did.
Smoke on the water is one of the most famous riffs in the rock history, and also one of the most easiest. This is the riff all new players learn, and so should you. It’s usually learnt by just using the thick E string, play it there and once you learn it well; you can try use power chords to put more weight behind it and make it sound more rude. It could be a good lesson to try to learn it by ear, but learn it if you need with a tab.
Another great song by Bob Dylan to learn is All along the watchtower. An amazing tune for two guitar players, one can do the rhythm guitar and one can do the lead guitar. The song is quite the challenge for new players when it comes to chord switches, especially because it involves the chord F. Could be wise to start with the “easy” F chord if you feel for it but my advice is to later on get the Barr F chord in later on. It’s a hard chord for beginners but only by practice will you ever learn it.