Easy Guitar Songs — Play A Song Using A Moveable Guitar Riff
Do you want to be able to play cool sounding songs that are easy to learn and memorize? Most guitar songs can sound overwhelming at first listen—it can seem as if there are many parts that are all moving by too quickly to grasp and learn easily.
Beginning guitar players can and should learn complete songs that can be played from memory. The best songs for you to learn right now will help you build your guitar technique, be easy to learn and memorize and sound cool when you play them.
Here are the top problems that beginning guitar players encounter when learning and practicing songs:
Problem #1: They quit the song before they even start because it sounds too “difficult.”
Problem #2: Trying to learn and play the whole song from beginning to end every time they practice it.
Problem #3: Not understanding how to break a song down into parts that are easy to learn and practice.
Problem #4: Getting frustrated and trying a new song without finishing the one that they started.
This lesson will show you how to play a complete blues rock song based around a simple riff idea that repeats. The guitar riff for this song is is cool sounding, fun to play and you can learn it in just a few minutes. I will show you how you can take one simple guitar riff and move it to different positions on the guitar neck so that you can play a complete song. It will be easy for you once you know how.
Watch the full moveable guitar riff lesson video.
Moveable riffs are very common in the world of rock, blues, pop and country music. They are the basis for thousands of songs. This lesson can help you learn how to recognize repeating, moveable riffs in other songs so that you can use this same system to learn and practice them on your own. Let’s get started right now!
The moveable guitar riff we are going to use is based at the 5th fret position. It is only eight notes long so it’s really easy to learn and memorize.
5th fret position riff:
Here’s how to play it:
Use your fret hand ring finger to play the note on the 4th string 7th fret. Index finger for the three notes on the 5th fret across the 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings. Your pinky finger for the 2nd string 8th fret, index for the 2nd string 5th fret, ring for the 3rd string 7th fret and index for the 3rd string 5th fret.
To learn this repeating guitar riff, start with just the first four notes. Always break larger guitar riffs and song parts down into smaller “chunks” that can be easily learned. You will want to memorize this four-note part before you start practicing it. Memorization is key—it is very difficult to practice something that isn’t memorized. Until you memorize it, you have to keep referring back to the tablature and are not able to focus on what your hands need to do to play the notes. So memorize the first four notes and practice playing them for a few minutes using the correct consistent fingering for them.
Get the moveable guitar riff lesson video.
Once you have the first four notes working, do the same thing with the next four. Memorize them and practice them using the same consistent fingering each time you play them.
If you have the eight note riff memorized, can play it consistently (you don’t have to play it fast, just consistently and evenly,) then you are ready to learn how to play a full song. Let’s do it!
Using the riff you have learned, move it to the 10th fret position. The tablature looks like this:
It is the exact same riff you learned in the 5th position, just moved up the neck. You don’t have to change anything, just the fret position. Make sense?
Now let’s move it two frets higher and play it there. Here is the tablature:
Same idea at the 12th fret—no changes to the fingering. Once you a comfortable playing the riff in these positions, practice playing it by playing it once at the 5th fret position, then the 10th, followed by the 12th. Practice it so that you can move smoothly between the three different fret hand positions.
Once you can play the riff and move it between the different positions, you are ready to play a song. You have all the parts you need.
Here is the full song:
Notice we are simply moving the guitar riff through the three different positions we practiced—it is one simple eight note riff fingering played in different places on the neck. A simple guitar riff idea used to create a whole song.
Does it sound familiar? This riff song idea is the basis for thousands of songs. You have most likely heard some variation of it—it is widely used. It sounds great and is easy to understand and learn.
Use this simple system to learn other songs you like. Break a riff down into smaller parts, memorize it, move it to different places on your guitar neck. You will be able to learn and play many songs on you own with it.
Get the moveable guitar riff lesson video with printable tablature.
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