Hey, how you doing? Justin here.
Today I'm gonna share with you some awesome songs that have only 2 chords,
that are gonna be perfect for you to practice this week.
Get your chord changes between your A chord and D chord,
give you some experience playing songs.
I should point out even before I talk about the songs,
it is gonna be a little bit tricky.
Particularly like the first few days of practicing.
If you've only just learned your A chord and D chord and you're
struggling to change between them, playing the song's gonna be mighty difficult.
But it's well worth having a go at, okay?
Making sure you choose a song where it hasn't got too many chord changes,
or slow the tempo down if you're using my Beginner Song Course app,
which I'll talk about more in a second.
But keeping the tempo nice and easy,
just having a go at feeling what the pressure's like.
It'll really give you an understanding of why it's really important
to practice your chord changes, cos you'll find
that you play 1 chord and already you need to change to the next chord.
It'll help inspire you... don't find it frustrating.
Think of it as like an inspiration tool, not a, "oh god I can't even do it".
It's the first lesson. It's gonna be hard.
If it was really easy, everyone would be able to play guitar.
But you're special, you can stick with it, and go,
"oh god this is really difficult, I understand now why you're saying
that doing the chord changes is so important!".
After the 2nd day, and your chord changes are a little bit better,
and you have a go playing the songs you like "Oh, I'm nearly there!".
Maybe like 5/6 practice sessions in,
you'll actually be able to play along with a song.
And that's such a cool feeling when you get to that point.
So, do bear with it, even if it feels a little bit awkward
when you first have a go at playing along with the song.
Now, the song that I normally encourage people to get into,
is the song "Dance The Night Away" by The Mavericks.
It's basically D chord for a bar...2, 3, 4.
A chord for a bar...3, 4.
D chord...2, 3, 4.
A...2, 3, 4.
It's that...for the whole song.
Nothing different.
Really excellent song for practicing your chord changes,
your anchor fingers, getting your fingers in the nice position,
strumming on the 1.
It's got all of that stuff going on.
For the first few days, you'll probably find the chord changes are a little fast.
So you might need to slow it down.
Now, if you're gonna use my Beginner Song Course app,
available for iOS and Android, there will be a link in the description below,
you can change the speed of the songs.
Okay? So if you're finding it a little bit difficult at the recorded tempo,
you can just hit the little button on the side, and slow it down a little bit.
Of course, for some of these songs that have only got 2 chords,
like that song that have got the same chords bouncing from on to the other
all the way through, it can get a bit boring if you're just playing it on your own.
For 10 minutes which is how much practice time you've got on songs
in your practice schedule.
♪
10 minutes.
♪
It's kind of like some sort of Chinese water torture or something,
just doing exactly the same thing... for 10 whole minutes,
and your fingers are gonna be sore,
and you're gonna struggle to make the chord changes.
That's just not the right way to do it.
Okay? Using my Beginner Song Course app, we give you drums and bass,
and a melody played on the piano, so that gives you a thing to play along with.
It'll feel much more like you're actually playing a real song.
♪
I understand not everyone can afford to buy an app,
cos that is a paid for part of the thing.
It's not something I can give away. We have to pay royalties to the
songwriters and all of that stuff, and share app development costs.
So it has to be a paid for thing. Okay?
If you can't afford it, we include play-alongs like that on the website as well.
There will be links on the practice page. Actually that song is one of them,
where you can play along with me and the app.
Okay? So there is a way of doing it for free still,
but you will find the app is an incredible tool,
cos it's a lot more songs than just one or two.
There's a whole heap of different songs that you can choose from,
even at these early stages. I can't remember...
It's not hundreds for sure that have only got 2 songs,
but the ones I've got here in front of me that are great songs off that,
that are fantastic for beginners in this.. just with the A chord and the D chord.
"Born In The USA" by Bruce Springsteen. That one's possibly a little easier,
because you stay on each chord for a bit longer.
"Dance The Night Away" I mentioned already.
"You Sound Good To Me". Again, I think it's 2 bars on each chord from memory.
It's a simple kind of pop, catchy tune. Nice song.
"Silence Is Easy", Starsailor song
Again, it's got a little bit longer on the chords,
so it's slightly easier than "Dance The Night Away".
But really, I mean, they're all great songs,
they're great fun to play along with. There are more songs in that as well.
I'll put links on this page, on the website, as well, with any other songs.
If you've got any suggestions, if you encounter songs that just use
A chord and D chord, do let me know.
If they're not on my list,
Then I'll investigate and if you're right, then I'll add them into the course as well.
The important thing at these early stages, is just to pick a song,
or a couple of songs, and have a go.
Get used to the feeling of playing a song,
understand the importance of the chord changes,
start getting used to the feeling of the rhythm, maybe counting along,
going 1, 2, 3, 4. Strum 2, 3, 4.
Getting used to the feeling of playing music.
It is difficult at the early stages. I don't wanna sound like a broken record here,
just telling you the same thing,
but it's really important in these early stages, that you don't feel like,
"Oh man I just can't do it, I'm not made to play guitar, it's too hard".
Everyone feels like that in those, you know, the first few lessons.
Okay? Just get your head down, try and do it. Do your best,
but be forgiving of yourself all of the way through,
and you'll really enjoy the journey.