Working on a single chord removes a lot of friction. If you already know G, C, and D, then the only thing you need to practice is moving to and from Em.Īnd there are thousands upon thousands of songs to help you practice. That’s a fuck-ton of music – from just 4 chords.Īll these new tunes are exactly one chord away from being playable. When added to G, C, and D, this one new chord allows you to play 12,000+ songs. And after running an analysis, E minor (Em) was the clear winner. The same logic used to create a searchable song index could also be used to determine the Next Best Chord to learn. But it was tedious work.įortunately, there was a faster way of figuring this out.
#Are you sleeping chord trial#
Trial and error got me closer and closer. When first trying to figure this out, I took the chords I already knew and did different search combinations: Period.īut how do you know which chord unlocks the most new songs? The more hours you log, the more you’ll improve. Music theory, private lessons, online courses, better gear – all of these things will help. This translates to more time spent on the guitar.Īnd that’s the single most effective way to improve – i.e.The more playable music you find, the more music you’ll play.It’s worth repeating that last point again: And as a result, you’ll spend more time on the guitar. This increases the chances of finding songs you know and like. Ideally, it should be whichever one allows you to play the most new music. The hard part is knowing which chord it should be. As an added bonus, you’ll walk away with a larger repertoire.Īnd soon, you’ll be ready to tackle new music.īut for that, you’ll need at least one new chord.Īnyone can learn just one more chord – even if you’ve never touched a guitar before. Practice these songs to get really good at those chords. Maybe not.įrom this huge list of guitar tunes, you’re guaranteed to find 10 or 20 that you like. La Poupee Qui Fait Non | Michel Polnareff.No Particular Place to Go | Chuck Berry.Here are the ones I used to lock down G, C, and D: With just 3 beginner chords, you can do a lot of damage. You can practice Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door if you want to. And there are thousands of them (3,959 to be exact). These are songs you can start playing right now – without having to learn anything new. 2-chord tunes that use G+C or G+D or C+D.If you’ve never seen this video, it’s worth watching.ĭo a search of G, C, and D, and you’ll see songs that use those 3 chords and only those chords, including: Instead of doing endless repetitions of the same song, I could spread my practice across many different tunes.īut why stop there? An even longer list would provide:Īnd after talking to more guitar friends, I found dozens of nursery rhymes, country ballads, and folk tunes that used G, C, and D exclusively.Īnd that’s when I discovered the Axis of Awesome's viral video – a montage of popular songs that all use the same chords. Why should there be one (and only one) path to mastering G, C, and D? Surely there must be other songs I could use to lock down these 3 easy chords. Maybe you should take up a different hobby.” If you’re not willing to invest the work, perhaps guitar isn’t for you. But not enough to play it the gazillions of times needed to get good at those chords. And it’s why so many of my guitar friends recommended I start with this song. This is the literal definition of Folk music. A genius composer, Bob Dylan gifted the world with one of the greatest protest anthems ever – Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.Īnd "technically" playable with only 3 simple chords ( G, C, and D), Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door is accessible to anyone and everyone.