I teach kids as young as three years old to play guitar. One of the keys to teaching really little kids, besides knowing how to spontaneously burp, wiggle your ears, and listen to that orange/banana knock-knock joke 3,000 times without going AWOL, is choosing the right material.
Kids this young can barely pick their own nose, so there’s no way I’m going to try to get them to fret chords. Instead, I teach them a lot of melodies and bass lines on either the first or sixth strings (the easiest ones to pick).
By the way, I have lots more ideas for teaching kids guitar in my handbook for guitar teachers.
Riffs and Melodies On One String
Smoke on the Water
Deep Purple
“Smoke on the Water” is God’s gift to guitar teachers. I believe it’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as The Easiest Cool Riff Ever. Normally played on the 3rd and 4th strings, I transposed to the 6th string to make it easier.
The “Riffs and Melodies On One String” are all available in one Guitar Pro file here. Don’t have Guitar Pro yet? Learn more.
Mary Had a Little Lamb
I promised myself I’d never teach this song, until I was in a pinch during a lesson with a 5-year-old and played this for her. Her look of delight at recognizing the melody cured me of any prejudice I had against this cute children’s song.
Louie, Louie
The Kingsmen
If a child’s dying to learn a particular song, I’ll often figure out a way to play the bass line to the song on the 6th string of the guitar. Here’s “Louie, Louie,” still recognizable because of its distinctive rhythm.
For What it’s Worth
Buffalo Springfield
This is my all-time favorite beginner’s song. The whole thing can be played with just two chords, E and A, if you skip the C and D in the chorus. I have kids learn both the bass line for the song, simply playing quarter notes, and a fretted version of the harmonics that are played during the intro. Once they learn harmonics, they can play the real thing (12th fret harmonic, then 7th fret harmonic).
What’s really cool is when I get a couple kids to play the part together. Here’s a video of Emma, Axel, and Conner rocking out with me and some other students at one of the Coffee Shop Jams. Just wish their guitars were turned up higher…grr…
Songs With Simplified Bass Lines
If a child (or a total-beginner adult) wants to sing and play at the same time, I distill songs to their most simple form: Their bass line, played on the 6th string. Any song can be simplified this way. You just have the guitarist play the root note of each chord in a steady rhythm (usually quarter notes or eighth notes). Music is easier to read if you identify the 6th string fret number instead of the note name (A, B, C#, etc.)
Note that several of my young students have…shall we say…non-standard tastes. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend some of these songs to kids, but if they request them, here they are.
Bush – Glycerine
Cake – Love You Madly
Johnny Cash – Wide Open Road
Bob Dylan – I Threw It All Away
Robbie Fulks – Godfrey
Green Day – Good Riddance
Green Day – Holiday
Merle Haggard – Mama Tried
Lady Gaga – Paparazzi
Iggy Pop – The Passenger
Bruce Springsteen – Chicken Lips and Lizard Hips
Neil Young – Needle and the Damage Done
Strumming Songs
Once kids learn how to arch their fingers and gain some strength and coordination, they graduate to playing chords using my finest invention: The String Mute 4000. This state-of-the-art device employs military-grade hook-and-loop adhesive to minimize sonic vibritization.
Yep, it’s just a little square of Velcro, cut from a long strip I bought at a craft store. The “hook” side had an adhesive backing, which was a bummer until I realized I could stick my business card on it.
The String Mute 4000, in all its glory
Rip the velcro apart, and slide one half under the 4th, 5th, and 6th strings at around the 9th fret, being careful not to touch the 3rd string. Sandwich the other half on top. Now you can play a one-finger G (1st string, 3rd fret), G7 (1st string, 1st fret), and C (2nd string, 1st fret).
Get that edge lined up between the 3rd and 4th strings. Kids will need help with this.
Here are two great one-chord songs that kids can sing while strumming a G chord using the string mute. Just Google ‘em to find the lyrics:
Are You Sleeping, Brother John?
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Here’s a song from Peter Pan that sounds lovely sung over the C chord:
And once they get good at these 1-chord songs, they can graduate to some songs that just use C and G7:
Ain’t No Bugs On Me
The Hokey Pokey
OK, those songs should get ‘em rolling! Remember that young kids have the attention span of hummingbirds, so if you’ve gotten them to focus on a song for at least two minutes, you’ve hit a home run.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:44 am
“Easy Guitar Songs for Kids”…?
How about …for the Beginner? That would be me. I think this is right up my alley and will help me keep my faith in lessons and the guitar. Thanks for posting…
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:58 am
Awesome, Mike! Yeah, these are great for adult beginners. I thought if I billed the lesson for adults some would get touchy about being offered “Mary Had a Little Lamb”….
February 8th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Good first lesson stuff for all ages, isn’t it?
I use Smoke On The Water first, then Bad To The Bone ( without the damps) and Summer Love from Grease, then Sunshine Of Your Love for finding the 12th and other higher frets, and then move ‘em on to more than one string with Wipeout.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Your article is inspired. I teach classes of 3, 4, K, and 1st graders and a beginning/intermediate guitar class to 7th and 8th grade. Guitar is my tertiary instrument (voice and piano), so I need all the great ideas I can get. Keep them coming! P.S. Conner rules.
March 17th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Thanks for the feedback, Lauren! Yeah, I just saw Conner today. He’s learning the fiddle part to The Devil Went Down to Georgia on his electric–amazing.
March 28th, 2009 at 2:20 am
Thanks for posting the songs and for the advice. I am going to be teaching a friends son, this is awesome stuff.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
thanx heaps i’m only like 11 years old and this helped me alot with noticeing the music notes i do keyboard for about 5 years or so and now i’ve praticed gutair for about three years? anyway thanx heaps!
April 11th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Awesome, Jordan! Thanks for stopping by.
April 17th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Hey! Thanks for posting the website. You ROCK!
May 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am
You are fantastic. I am teaching guitar to some kids at an after school program and your ideas are really wonderful. Thanks!
May 8th, 2009 at 1:45 am
Nice one man, I’m teaching kids as young as six and it’s nice to hear I’m not the only one struggling with their attention spans! The velcro string mute is a great idea, I’ll be sure to try it with my new beginners next semester..
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Hey im 13 and this helped me so much .My uncle taught me smoke on the water when i was really little and now i want to learn guitar so im trying to teach myself a little before getting in to anything serious and this helped me alot ! thanks a bunchh
Any other tips you could give me would be greatly appreciated !
August 16th, 2009 at 10:25 am
i love there aint no bugs on me!
August 30th, 2009 at 2:33 am
You rock, thank you so much.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Some great songs here for kids to learn, have to teach a playgroup this week and will use some of these ideas,Thanks. P.S. I always use Three Little Birds, by Bob Marley. Great lyrics for the kids to sing and only three chords.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:04 am
Thank you so much for the ideas and songs. I have been working with my 5 year old daughter to help her learn guitar. I am a guitar teacher of 5 years and a player of 20. One of the hardest students I have had is my own daughter….
Anyway…. I would love to see what other lessons you have for kids…. please post more.
Thanks,
Brian
October 15th, 2009 at 4:58 am
Good luck, Brian! Teachng your own family members is tough!
My handbook for guitar teachers has lots more ideas for teaching young people.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Thanks for the tips and nice web site.
I just discovered that “You’re in the Army now” uses only three notes in a chord. Try it.
Start with the C chord and play G on the third string,
C on the second string, E on the first string and G on the first string. I’ve transposed the song into other chords and it still works with the three notes of the chords. If you would like a pdf file of the different keys that I arranged for “You in the Army Now”, email me.
December 5th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Thanks! Can’t wait to start learning the guitar! I will definitely practise these songs! I’m so sad
December 8th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Thanks for sharing your tips!!!!!!!!!
December 28th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Rob, I’m trying to teach myself guitar (using Mel Bay guides and now your site). Recently, I’ve discovered that my brother & his wife are trying to get my nieces involved in learning musical instruments. My seven year-old niece initially was trying to learn the drums but my brother is having problems finding an instructor. Meanwhile, my six year-old niece is having a great time learning piano. Naturally, the oldest niece is jealous and frustrated. So much that this has become a sore subject in their household. (They’re very competitive… the nature of sisters.)
Anyways, I started to think that if my oldest niece was interested in guitar maybe she & I could learn together. My big concern is she’s a lefty. I was going to recommend that my brother purchase a “baby” Taylor etc. I know that left-handed guitars are hard to come by. I assume that a kid’s left-handed will be even more so.
Any recommendations? How hard do you think teaching her right-handed technique will be for someone so young?
Also do you think your e-book would be of any help in this endeavor. Thanks.
greg
January 8th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
Hey Greg,
I have a 5-year-old lefty who plays a 1/2-size “righty” electric that’s been strung for a lefty, a-la Jimi Hendrix. I believe the same thing could be done with an acoustic, though a baby Taylor may still be too big for a 7-year-old. If she’s interested in electric guitar, go with that–it’ll be easier to adjust it for playing lefty, and electrics in general are easier for little fingers (lower string tension, lower action, smaller body).
I wouldn’t recommend having her play righty. I used to, but have come to realize how important it is to have your picking hand be the dominant hand.
I discuss all these issues at length in my book. I think you’d find it to be a big help. Tell me which percentage of the book you find helpful and I’ll refund you the rest!
Rob
February 11th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I like to show kids “Scooby Dooby Doo” to start with. A D&E (the tabs online show Bm, but D works good for beginners)
February 25th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
This is great!!
At last I’ve found a great site that talks about teaching kids guitar. I’ve been playing for 20 odd years and teaching for 5.
I am very impressed by Conor the kid who released an ep. I also have a 12 year old that finished recording an ep. “Machine”, all her own stuff. She played guitar, bass , drums and sang on it. Shes great! Great to hear it’s for sale on amazon, how did you do that? My student might like to do that too.
Ok so better go now, by the way you’ve got great ideas for teaching the young 1s.
Cheers!!
March 2nd, 2010 at 9:21 am
i can play e b g on the guitar could you get soe with those notes
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:02 am
Hey Karl,
I’m glad you’re digging the site! And it’s great to hear about your young recording artist!
I’m using CreateSpace, a company owned by Amazon. You submit album art and either upload .mp3′s or send a CD, and they reproduce and distribute CD’s on-demand. It took a while to get things set up, but overall it’s been the perfect service for a young musician who wants to sell an album without making a big financial investment or deal with the hassle of distributing.
Hope this helps,
Rob
March 22nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Just make sure you never use numbers. Because if you learn that way and then go to a band offering and they just give you guitar music, you will not know what to do.
March 22nd, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I am done with all the strings. And I play like an expert. And all i know is your on the right track. So one rule in guitar never forget who you are.
March 25th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
I want to thank you for this site and your great work with kids. I have so enjoyed watching the videos and seeing the enthusiasm from these little guys…wowwee!
I teach guitar for free in our community and have 9-16 students…I know it’s crazy. We have done all of these suggestions and they are working great….I need more, and fast! I can’t keep up with their good work! Wish you were closer we would get you for a visit..but if you are ever in Maine, we live in Friendship, little town of 1000 people…so what kind of material could we get from you?
THANKS..Kat
March 26th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Great ideas-I just bought your book.excellent website
thank You,
Ken
April 21st, 2010 at 11:42 am
I have a question — I teach a 9 year old, and I’m wondering if his behavior is typical. He refuses to do anything that looks the least bit difficult – and I mean least bit difficult. He learned to play Skip To My Lou, which is two chords, on the soprano guitar we’re using (a ukelele tuned D, G, B, E, only 4 strings, nylon strings, easy to press down and play). Then, when we went to another song that added a third chord, he refused to play it. If I make a suggestion to improve his playing (like use your ring finger instead of your middle finger on that note) he refuses and argues with me about it.
Sometimes he sits there, sullen if I make any kind of a suggestion to him, and when I ask what’s wrong, he won’t talk to me.
Last time, I ended up with no material to show him because he refused to play anything from the well-written book we were using. One song, he agreed to learn, but only if he sings it. No playing.
But, if I suddenly turn to a game, like standing on strips of masking tape which represent the staff, after I gave a note, (such as B, for example). He perks right up as if nothing was wrong. He also perks up when give him something easier than what he’s already learning. He also perks up if I give him something from the dollar store if he’s practiced.
Most of the time, he practices only in the car on the way to the lesson, and never at home.
He was taught in group lessons before I took him on as a student, which he says were funner for several months, but in my view, he didn’t learn much, and can’t play anything musical after all those lessons. At least with me, he can play a few songs using chords and a couple simple melodies that I can accompany him with.
Any suggestions on how to teach a child like this?
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:33 am
hey thank you now my kid can get the hang of it <3 marry had a little lamb is her favriot song
<3
May 2nd, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Hi,
I’ve spent a short amount of time on your site and have already found it more than helpful. Unfortunatly I don’t have a whole lot of time to spend on here right now. I am starting to teach kids guitar and I had my first lesson a couple days ago. It was unexpected so I wasn’t entirely prepared but I also found out that I have no idea where to start with these 2 7 year old boys. Their fingers were hurtinng within the first 10 minutes and I talked to their parents about getting nylon strings. However, I have no clue what I should teach them or where to start. They’re having a hard time even making noise let alone play a song on even one string. I am a bit discouraged in teaching kids uner 10 and I remember how hard of a time I had when I started learning although I was 13. I would like some help on how to make it fun for them and still teach them something without them becoming discouraged with the realization that it’s not as easy as they thought it would be. I teach gymnastics to kids as young as 1 year old so I know children. i am having a really hard time coming up with a guitar lesson plan though and could really use your help. I know you’re busy with over 400,000 veiws to your site but if you could help me it would be so greatly appreciated. Please email me if you get a chance.
May 2nd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
Turns out a had a little extra time to check out your website. After reading about your book I couldn’t wait to purchase it. i am so strapped for cash right now but I decided it would be worth the investment. Then I found out it was an Ebook. I don’t have a computer. I’m using my grandpa’s right now. I can’t wait for your book to be in print! I would be willing to pay for the download but I don’t have a computer nor can i afford the ink and paper it would take. (pretty pitiful right?) I’m not giving guitar lessons for the money either which was something about you that I was drawn to. In my eyes, the sooner you don’t need be, the better! Anyways, please send me an email when the book is out. I would love to own one of the first copies
June 4th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Great tunes! I’ve been struggling with playing guitar after attempting for almost 3 years now, but now I’ve found easier material it’s much more encouraging! Thanks!
June 12th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
i think you should put more one string guitar songs like metallica
July 4th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for all the songs, im attempting to teach my girlfriend how to play, but i have 6 years of experience and was having dificulties finding songs to get her started where she is only able to play on one string.
July 23rd, 2010 at 9:28 pm
What a great website! I popped in via Google to find a few simple songs to teach my granddaughter on guitar. I am amazed to find a host of songs for myself: Gillian Welch and David Rowlings, Alison Krauss and many others. I will return; keep up the good work.
July 26th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Hello,
You might like to try using Asus2 on the: “For What It’s Worth” song verses and regular “A” in the chorus. Love this song, been playing and teaching since the 60′s and I now enjoy using Asus2 for the verses. So you have chords (E and Asus2) and of course ( E, D, A, C) for the chorus.
Have Fun!
John Bryant
August 13th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Another real easy 2 chord song. “How Much is That Dogie in the Window” can use only G and D chords. As you get better you can add an optional (D7) just before changing back to G
G D How much is that dogie in the window G The one with the waggly tail D How much is that dogie in the window (D7) G I do hope that dogie's for saleAugust 13th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Hey John,
Thanks! I formatted your chord chart for you so the chords line up with the lyrics.
Rob
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
This site is amazing! i am teaching twin ten year old girls that fight constantly. And this site made it so easy to get them to see there progress and stop fighting about whos better causing them to drop my guitars on the wood floors.thank you so much for such a great teaching tool. for young girls they really loved the smoke on the water and mary had a little lamb. i can never think of any songs to teach them because they just wont agree on anything if they are together.you saved me a ton of frustration and a ton of scratches and dings on my guitars. thank you again.
joe.
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Ha ha ha! Awesome, Joe. Glad I could help with the battling siblings.