LA School of Guitar

Here is a list of songs that I commonly teach to beginners.  These songs only have 3 or 4 chords and use relatively easy strumming patterns.  The goal is to get you playing some fun music early on to help encourage your practice and your progress.  You can find the tabs for these songs on a multitude of sites online, but if you have questions about how to play any of these songs specifically, please don’t hesitate to ask!  My goal is to constantly update this list so please check back frequently.

Bon Iver, Flume, G C Em F Am
Rolling Stones, Satisfaction, E A D B7
Troggs, Wild Thing, A E D
Iron and Wine, Flightless Bird, C G Am F (capo 3rd fret)
Violent Femmes, Kiss Off, Em C D
Taylor Swift, Change, D A Em G (capo 3rd fret)
Taylor Swift, Fearless, D A Em G (capo 3rd fret)
Taylor Swift, I’d Lie,  D A Em G (capo 1st fret)
Taylor Swift, Picture to Burn, G Am C D
Guns ‘n Roses, Sweet Child ‘O Mine, C D A G
The Beatles, Yellow Submarine, D G Am
The Beatles, Love Me Do, G C F
Bob Dylan, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, G C D Am

What Gage Strings Should I Use?

This is a question I’m often asked by my students. String size is a personal choice and is dependent on various factors including your playing style, the tone you’re going for, and your finger strength.  I’ll try to shed some light on what string sizes are best for what playing styles and help you make the best choice next time you find yourself staring at the hundreds of colorful packages behind the counter at your local guitar store.

In a nutshell, I tell students to get the heaviest strings that their fingers can handle. Why heavy strings?  Heavy strings = More mass, More mass = More sound.  One key ingredient to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s huge sound was that he generally used .12 or .13 gage strings.  Since heavy strings create more tension across the fingerboard he detuned the whole guitar down a half step to help with the stiffness and thus was still able to achieve those monster blues bends. On the other hand, if your preferred style is shred guitar, you’ll probably want to go with a lighter gage (.9’s or .10’s) in order to execute those sweep picking and two finger tapping licks.

Jazz guitarists often choose heavy strings in order to achieve a smooth, round tone.  The stiff tension is not as much of an issue because traditionally jazz guitar style doesn’t involve as much bending as rock or blues.  Jazz guitarists sometimes prefer flat-wound or half-wound strings because they produce a darker, mellower sound.

For total beginners I recommend sticking with fairly light gage strings to make it easy on your hands.  Once your hands get stronger you’ll probably want to move to a heavier gage.  If you’ve never thought about your string size and have been having an especially
hard time pushing down the strings without getting buzz, you may need to switch to lighter strings and/or see about getting your
guitar set up. I offer this service to my students.

Personally, I like to use .11’s on my tele’ for playing rock music.  They give me a big sound while still allowing me to execute bends.
For jazz, I string my archtop with .12’s with a wound ‘G’ string.

Wound  ‘G’ vs. Unwound ‘G’

Some string packs come with a wound ‘G’ string and some come with an unwound ‘G’.  What’s the difference?  For some reason,
the ‘G’ string is the hardest to keep in tune and having a wound ‘G’ seems to help with this.  It will also produce a bigger, darker sound.
The tradeoff is that it’s much harder to play bends with a wound G.  Conversely, an unwound ‘G’ will be much easier to bend,
but won’t stay in tune as well.

David Irelan helps guitar students prepare for music school auditions and college level classes.
Cultivate Your Talent · Challenge Yourself · Audition Brilliantly
503.381.2808 ·  david.irelan@gmail.com · www.laschoolofguitar.com