There are literally thousands of chords you could learn how to play on guitar. You could spend years learning them all! On the other hand, what if you just want to play a few easy guitar songs? Do you really need to know all those chords?

Absolutely not.

In fact, most songs only use three to five different chords. That’s it! Plus, if you pay attention, you’ll notice that many of the same chords keep popping up.

The chords on this page are among the most common chords you’ll ever use on the guitar. They all are easy chords to play -with B7 being the hardest of the lot.

“So, What Are These Magic Chords?

The best part about our 9 chords is that they are all open chords. That means you don’t have to know barre chords in order to play these songs. This opens things up for those of you who fall under the beginner category or have physical problems that keep you from forming barre chords.

So, without further ado, here are the 9 chords (and then I’ll tell you about the songs):

A Small Disclaimer…

Just knowing these chords does not mean that you’re going to be able to play 50 songs note for note. No, we’re talking more of a slimmed-down version of the songs. The underlying chord progressions in the songs use one of our 9 chords: A, B7, C, D, E, G, Em, Am, Dm.

Examples

“Lucky Man”

Take, for example, the song “Lucky Man” by Emerson Lake and Palmer. The verses just go back and forth from G to D. In the chorus it switches to Am, G, and D. That’s just 3 different chords to play all the verses and choruses from the song:

If you’ve heard the song enough times and have a good mental picture of how it goes then, in theory, you should be able to strum through it.

“Leaving On A Jet Plane”

This John Denver song is the epitome of an easy guitar song. It’s in the key of G and just uses the I, IV, V chords from that key: G, C, and D. Give it a try:

“A Horse With No Name”

Here’s the bare core of the verses to the song from the band America. In reality they jazz up the D chord a little in the actual song, but you can play it like this (if you don’t know another way):

“Heroes”

How about the song Heroes from David Bowie (R.I.P.)?  This snippet has 5 different chords in it, but they’re all the familiar kind:

Songs That Just Use Our 9 Chords

So, here’s our list of 50 songs that you use only the 9 chords we talked about.

1. A Horse With No Name – America
2. Leaving On A Jet Plane – John Denver
3. For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield
4. Rockstar – Nickelback
5. Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People
6. Bad Moon Rising – CCR
7. What I Got – Sublime
8. Rockin’ In The Free World – Neil Young
9. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – Green Day
10. Heroes – David Bowie
11. Wild Thing – The Troggs
12. Twist And Shout – The Beatles
13. Working Class Hero – John Lennon
14. I Want To Hold Your Hand – The Beatles
15. Hound Dog – Elvis Presely
16. Walk Of Life – Dire Straits
17. Stand By Me – Ben E. King
18. Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show
19. Mrs. Robinson – Simon And Garfunkel
20. Honky Tonk Blues – Hank Williams
21. With Or Without You – U2
22. Glory Days- Bruce Springsteen
23. Yellow – Coldplay
24. Up Around The Bend -CCR
25. Jolene – Dolly Parton
26. Lucky Man – Emerson Lake And Palmer
27. Tulsa Time – Eric Clapton
28. Fire On The Mountain – Marshall Tucker Band
29. Collide – Howie Day
30. Jambalaya – Hank Williams
31. I Used To Love Her – Guns N Roses
32. Authority Song – John Mellencamp
33. You Are My Sunshine – Johnny Cash
34. Louie Louie – Kingsmen
35. Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles
36. Dead Flowers – The Rolling Stones
37. I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty
38. Red Red Wine – Neil Diamond
39. No Rain – Blind Melon
40. Nebraska – Bruce Springsteen
41. Hey Good Lookin – Hank Williams
42. Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
43. Rock Around The Clock – Bill Haley and the Comets
44. Kansas City – Fats Domino
45. Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
46. What I Like About You – The Romantics
47. Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins
48. Going Up The Country – Canned Heat
49. Spirit In The Sky – Norman Greenbaum
50. The Middle – Jimmy Eats World