Easy songs for fans country music!

My band has decided to start learning more modern country songs, due to all the college girls asking for them, so I decided to do a blog post about country guitar songs for beginners based on the songs I’m currently working on.  I have to say that I’m quite impressed with the guitar riffs in these songs – in some respects they’ve really surpassed the originality of a lot of modern rock and alternative bands (with the exception of Muse).   It seems like a lot of the modern rock bands are more focused on lyrics and vocal melodies, whereas these newer country bands have a more “guitar melody” focus, which is great for guitar players who don’t sing.

So, obviously this is a huge subject to cover, so I’m going to focus on the songs that I currently play in my band or am working on, and discuss how they fit into my categories of songs for beginning guitar players.

Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy by Big and Rich: guitar riff, power chords, drop D tuning

5-1-5-0 by Dierks Bently: guitar riff, power chords and barre chords (F#min, C#min, and B maj)

I Love This Bar by Toby Kieth: B minor.  Has lots of lead guitar overdubbed, can be a simple strumming song for some or a complex study in country guitar riffs for others.

Truck Yeah by Tim McGraw: guitar riff song, drop D, some power chords.

Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show: Just G, D, Em, and C.  Very simple strumming pattern played at  a slower tempo.

Crazy Town by Jason Aldean: This song starts off with a riff played on the third string with the open fourth string – kind of like the “She Sells Sanctuary” riff.  Chords in the verse and chorus are D, G, and Cadd9.

The One That Got Away by Jake Owen: F song, strumming.  F, C, Am, G throughout most of the song.

Beer In Mexico by Kenny Chesney: Starts off with a guitar riff, rest of song is just strumming on D, G, Em, D/F#, A (not in that order though).

If there’s enough interest I’ll start posting more songs as we learn them.  The plan for the band is to be able to do a whole night of country if asked.