[Guest Teacher]

Some nice suggestions!

I particularly like to use:

Singing in the Rain – A and E7 (or G and D7 and riff on open strings)
Johnny B Goode – A, D and E7 + whatever basic blues riffs you want to throw in. Leads nicely into learning the pentatonic and blues scale, too.

[Guest Teacher]

Hi Dave,

Your choices definitely are great options as good easy songs. A few more ideas:

Superstition main riff-Is a really good one to learn how to mute strings with the left hand to get that extra percussive element.
Highway to Hell- Very well known,open chords and great for reinforce pulse.
Sabbra Cadabra – Every beginner metal head is very keen to learn this one and is a good riff for introducing hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Gael

[Guest Teacher]

I’ve got a couple in particular that I really like to use, depending on the student:

Nelson’s Blood (traditional) is great because it’s a simple melody, minor but can be quite lively as it’s a sea shanty. There are also some easy harmonies that lead straight off the main melody so it’s a good one for easing people out of their comfort zone.

Son of a Gun – remembered this beauty a few months ago, an old favourite that Nirvana made famous. Two very simple melodies but a key change between verse and chorus plus room for some nice, slightly harder harmonies focusing on the 3rd above.

Thanks for the other suggestions, made a note!

[Guest Teacher]

Hi Eliza

A lot of the time I let my students pick their songs. Obviously if it’s too difficult for the level that they are at I give them a couple other choices, but a couple of songs that are relatively simple or easy to simplify are:

Make you feel my love – Adele
Let her go – Passenger
Roar – Katy Perry (recently found out that this is in the Grade 1 Rockschool book)
Hero – Enrique Iglesias
Holiday – Green Day
Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Clean version obviously) – Green Day

I know that they aren’t all up beat but they have worked quite well for me.

[Guest Teacher]

My favourite song of all time to get beginner singers thinking about pitch accuracy and scale practice is Frank Ocean’s ‘Thinkin’ Bout You’. It’s worked wonders with about 5 of my regulars and they absolutely loved that they could pick out the major scale from the melody.

It’s my secret weapon for any students who run away from the idea of scales.

My other secret weapon is the sax line from George Michael’s ‘Careless Whisper’ that features the Phrygian scale ascending. Another sneaky way to get students singing scales when usually they get frightened of them.

Hope this helps,
L x