Easy Worship Songs For Guitar: Tips for Playing

• September 13, 2016
• Guitar Lessons

Most of the modern church friendly songs are 3-5 chord songs these days and are easy worship songs for guitar. The important thing in finding easy worship songs for guitar is finding a key that works for you as most “Worship Artist” are showcasing their range and ability on the recordings and even they lower the key for live to save their voice.

The other factor in doing easy worship songs for guitar is to pick a key the audience or congregation can sing in. For example, Chris Tomlin’s tune “How Great Is Our God” might have been recorded in Bb, but to make it more singable live and save the voice, he would do it in the key of A. It’s just a half step down, but it makes a big difference.

If easy is the goal, let’s pull a few easy worship songs and break it down.

Start With Something Super Easy

Like “Revelation Song” Kari Jobe and others have done it. It’s a 4 chord worship song that repeats over and over. Most do it starting on a “D” chord. The order of the chords is: D //// Ami7 //// C //// G ////. What key is it in? Well, some say D and some say G, depending on your ear I guess. If you look at the D as a 5 in the G scale, then the Ami7 is a 2, the C is a 4 and the G is the home chord or 1. However, if you look at it in the key of D, then the D is 1, the Ami7 is a 5mi7, the C is a 7b, and the G is a 4 in the D scale.

Get it? Our first big challenge is for you to learn your scales real well and the diatonic chords that go with each scale. Here’s the key of G - G Ami Bmi C D Emi F#dim G and here’s the key of D - D Emi F#mi G A Bmi C#dim D. Learn these basic chords on your guitar first and then tackle this very easy worship song. You will find that there are many other super easy worship songs that can be played with the same chords.

For Easy Worship Songs For Guitar - Stick to Choruses

If you’re looking for easy worship songs for guitar and a beginner, one way to take baby steps is to just do the chorus. The classic Tim Hughes song, “Here I Am To Worship” for example is 4 chords. If you do it in C, the chords are: C //// G/B //// Ami7 //// F ////. Ok so, 2 of the chords C and Ami7 you already know from “Revelation Song.” So, now you only have to add G/B and F. “G/B” is an easy one with your 3rd finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret and your 1st finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret and strum only the bottom 5 strings.

Remember to count your strings from the little “e” up to the big “E,” little “e” being 1, 2 is B, 3 is G, 4 is D, 5 is A, 6 is E. The “F” chords is a bit of a test. Most find it difficult, so while you work on holding down the first 2 strings on the first fret at the same time, just make it easier by playing an “FMaj7.” We call it the stair step chord. You put your 1st finger on the second string, 1st fret, you put your 2nd finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret, and finally you put your 3rd finger on the 4th string, 3rd fret. The fingers are at an angle like steps. Can you see it?

Nickname your chords and it’ll help you remember them. Just learning the chorus simplifies it a little more and also doesn’t wear out your hands, so you can play and sing longer as you're building the muscle in your hands to do the whole song.

Little Things That Make A Big Difference

Guitar player to guitar player here, make sure to keep your chord hand wrist down and thumb on the center of the neck in the back. Make sure you’re on the tips of your fingers and except for working on that “F” chord where you hold down 2 strings, try to make the chords sound clean open or ringing.

Tip - Don’t play the low “E” string on the C chord. Make sure you strum from the 5th string down. On G/B and Ami7 avoid the big “E” string as well. On the FMaj7 or F, avoid the top 2 big strings and just strum the bottom 4 strings. There are plenty of tutorials on how to make these chords and their families on prolessons.com. It’s a very affordable site to learn this stuff from the Pros. Join us there to learn tons of cool stuff on guitar.

Also, force yourself to strum a simple steady pattern with your strumming hand. Your goal is to keep time and strum 4 times for each chord if it’s a 4/4 time song like the above mentioned. So, strum 4 C’s, keep time and strum 4 G/B’s, then Ami7 and then F. Keep it slow at first and work your way up to tempo. If it sounds good, it is good. Build Some Medley’s - If you’re only doing simple choruses, you should put a little medley together you can sing and perform well.

I also like “The Enemy’s Been Defeated,” an older United Live tune because it’s basically 2 chords. To stay consistent with the key of C, you just an “FMaj7” and a “G/B.” Hey, you already know these two. The bass walks up from F to G, then A to B, but the acoustic guitar can just strum these basic 2 chords through the whole song. FMaj7 G/B The enemy’s been defeated… death couldn’t hold you down and so on.

Check this tune out here. It’s probably in a different key but once you get the sound of it, just print off the lyrics and sing along to these 2 easy worship chords. You can then make a beautiful medley of just the choruses of these easy worship songs for guitar. Start with “The Enemy’s Been Defeated,” then after 3 or 4 times through, go into “Here I Am To Worship.” Sing the chorus only for 6 or 8 times, then finally, modulate and start “Revelation Song” by simply strumming your D and off you go into a very easy worship songs for guitar medley.

Once you’ve got your first few easy worship songs for guitar in a medley you like or arrangement you have memorized, you need to wear it out. When you’ve played it the one hundred and first time and don’t ever wanna sing these songs again, that’s when everyone else will be amazed at your progress on guitar. When you stop looking at your hands and just look up and worship, that’s when you become believable as a guitarist / worship leader.

If you’re struggling to transition between chords and missing beats, you can’t successfully bring an audience along with you. Keep at it no matter what. The payoff is big.

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