Praise and Worship Songs: Easy Keys for the Guitar

• August 31, 2016
• Guitar Lessons

For sure, there are many Praise and Worship songs that are easily played on the guitar verses piano. Many of the modern Praise and Worship songs are written on guitar and are in guitar keys. In fact, It’s a guitar generation and because it’s an instrument so portable and expressible,seems like everyone knows how to strum a few chords.

Guitar players think in sharps (#”). That explains why so many modern Praise and Worship songs are in the key of C, G, D, A, E, and B. Keyboard players think in flats (b’s). For beginner guitarist and even many who play quite well, It Is a difficult thing to play in flat keys like F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, and Gb.

Bar chords require hours of playing and strength building to really sound solid so the capo is the obvious fix. Plus the cap allows more open strings to ring out which has more natural resonance and beauty. Then there's the cut capo our friend Mitch Bohannon created for Kyser Capos. It allows even more open string possibilities and makes basic chords super easy, but requires a little effort to learn new chord shapes.

Easy Praise and Worship Songs in G

Take an old classic like “Lord, I Lift Your Name On High.” If you’ve learn the basic chords to say “Sweet Home Alabama,” you’ve got a good jump on playing a ton of modern Praise and Worship tunes. D, C2 and G5 are the 3 chords in Sweet Home. G5 is a basic G chord with the 2nd string, 3rd fret “D” note added into the chord. It just means moving your 3rd finger into that spot and adding your little finger on the little “e” string on the 3rd fret.

C2 looks the same and all you do is bring down the 2 low notes of the G chord a string each and don’t strum the big E string. This easy transition from G5 to C2 makes for quick movement and it’s a cool sound. I believe there’s and Emi in “Lord I Lift Your Name On High” too but that’s as easy as just using 1 finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. When you strum all the strings, it’s an Emi7.

You should go online and print off a key of G chart for this song. It’s goes… G5 C2 D G5 C2 D Lord, I lift your name on high… Lord I love to sing your praises… and it feels a lot like Sweet Home Alabama, so that might help with your rhythm a little. When you’ve got this worked out, take on more current songs like, “This Is Amazing Grace” by Phil Wickham.

Easy Praise and Worship Songs in D

The 3 basic chords or 1,4,5 in the key of D are D, G, and A. The relative minor or 6mi is Bmi and that’s the most used chords in the Key of D. You will often hear a 2mi or Emi used too, but these are the primaries. You can learn tons more about this on prolessons.com from many of the pros in the field doing this with top artist in the Praise and Worship market.

Chris Tomlin’s song “We Fall Down” is a classic example that also incorporates that C2 mentioned above. “Revelation Song” and more recently “Holy Spirit” by Brian and Katie Torwalt are all super easy songs you can voice in the key of D. The A” Chord might be your biggest challenge. It requires a 3 string bar chord or placing your fingers in a tight space on the 2nd fret. The 6mi or Bmi is also a bar chord, barring the 2nd fret and playing an Ami shape with fingers 2, 3, and 4, or you can simply play a Bmi7 which looks exactly like a G/B only adding your 2nd finger to the 2nd fret, 3rd string, and just don’t play the big E string.

There are many shortcuts to learning guitar and becoming an effective worship leader without being a pro. Still you should put the time in and study with us to become a skilled player. That would be rewarding for you and your audience and is most of all pleasing to the Lord.

Easy Praise and Worship Songs in C

“10,000 Reasons, Cornerstone, and Forever Reign” are 3 really great songs you can play in the key of C. You may not be able to sing the song in the key it was written and recorded in but that’s ok. Find a key that works for you and with or without a capo, you can find one of these easy keys for guitar that works for the song.

The key of “C” has an F chord in it which is tough for some people to get clear. “Forever Reign” would be a good one to take on because it is in C. “Cornerstone” is too. These are 4 chord songs that you can work up in C. Once you’ve done a couple of these Easy Worship Songs, others will be even easier.

The right hand or strumming hand has equal challenges as there are strings you leave out when you are strumming. I’ve mentioned this above but I hear a lot of young guitarist just strumming all 6 strings and the low end E and / or A are just rumbling in the background and it makes a very muddy rub in the low end. Sometimes the notes don’t even fit in the chord and it just sounds really bad. Practice strumming your C chord without the big E string, the F and D chords without the big E or A strings, and Ami and Bmi chords without the big E string. You’ll get better at striking the chord at the right string and start to sound better as a player. Keep it simple! Just play straight 1/4 notes or even 1/8 notes and don’t over play the rhythm pattern. Too much syncopation just clouds the groove and distracts from the song.

Finally, build a strong list of songs you can play in these basic keys and then add a capo to play other songs that might be in a higher register or just for a cool sound. For example, capo on 5 and play in G instead for the key of C. You’re still in C but you’re playing the G chord shapes. If the F chord just isn’t sounding right, do it up in G shapes. It sound higher pitched but still be in C and you’ll enjoy the ringing of the chords. Have fun and play often.

We’ve talked about Easy Praise and Worship Songs in the keys of G, D & C. If you would like to see how to actually play these by one of our pros click the link below and get started today!