For beginners starting to learn the guitar, the electric guitar may seem to be the most intimidating. It may seem as if starting on the classical guitar before the electric guitar is a good idea. But the truth is, the electric guitar is not that difficult to start for a beginner.
Electric guitars have thinner strings, making it easier on the fingers compared to thicker strings on an acoustic. Additionally, players with smaller hands may find the slimmer neck on the electric guitar easier to handle as it is easier to grip and has a shorter reach.
But if you feel intimidated by the difficult songs played on the electric guitar, we share 7 easy songs you can try playing on the electric guitar as a beginner.
Don’t Fear the Reaper
(Don’t Fear) The Reaper is a rock song by the band Blue Oyster Cult from the 1976 album “Agents of Fortune”. It is written and sung by lead guitarist Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, who was picturing his early death. He is still alive today and you can brush up on your arpeggio picking and palm muting with this haunting vibe of a song.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is both a single and album by the reggae band Black Uhuru. As a beginning electric guitar player, you can work on your reggae rhythm skills with the classic reggae backbeat that runs through the entire groovy tune.
Enter Sandman
The song Enter Sandman is an easy to play but iconic number from Metallica. There are various techniques such as palm muting, sliding and string skipping in this song. This allows the beginner electric guitar player to quickly learn a variety of guitar techniques.
Creep
Creep is the debut single from English rock band Radiohead released in 1992. It is one of the most popular songs from the group and is a great choice for practising rhythm and fingerpicking fundamentals.
Learning this song allows you to brush up your fingerpicking fundamentals, open and bar chord positions as well as chord transitions. Fingerpicking is definitely a less commonly used technique on the electric guitar. But if you can do this on the electric guitar, you will have no problem transiting to the acoustic guitar.
Last Nite
The Strokes revived the popularity of punk and garage rock with their debut single “Last Nite”. Their upbeat hit reached the American music charts reaching the no. 5 spot. Playing this song helps to get you familiar with chord anticipation and 16th note strumming patterns.
Smoking Gun
Smoking Gun is a 1986 song by American blues guitarist and singer Robert Cray. Cray is a master with the Stratocaster electric guitar and this song reached no. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Master this song by using the E minor and A minor chords to learn how to play classic blues jam on your electric guitar.
If you are thinking of taking up electric guitar lessons, get a free trial with us at Ritmo Music Studio.