Undoubtedly the number one goal when starting out to play the guitar is to learn to play a complete song right through from start to finish. Actually, it is not as difficult as you may think; not only that, there are many world-famous easy acoustic guitar songs that are more than suitable for a beginner to learn.  To achieve this goal you need to know three things: one, how to form three major guitar chords such as G, C and D; two, how to shift from chord to chord; and three, how to strum. These techniques are achievable in the short term. Once you master these basic guitar techniques you will find many well-known easy guitar songs to play.

Some popular three-chord guitar songs

Some of the most popular songs to emerge last century that require only three chords include: Bob Dylan's Blowin in the Wind, Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wild Thing by the Troggs, Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Brown eyed girl by Van Morrison to name a few.

Tip One - How to frame a chord

Let's assume you have a guitar; it doesn't matter if it is a new or used acoustic guitar, you need your own to play at your leisure. Then you need to learn how to frame a major chord. Three of the easiest chords to learn are D major, C major and G major. A quick Google search for guitar chord images will give you sufficient information to work out how to frame each chord. As a beginner you need to develop the right muscles in your fingers and hands so that you can frame the chords with ease. One exercise you can try is this: frame the D chord using the first, middle and third finger, press harder than you need to, hold the note for the count of four, then release the chord; that's one repetition. Repeat this several times for each chord shape. Very soon you will develop the right strength and memory in the hands and fingers.

Tip Two - How to shift between chords

Shifting from one chord to another chord will take some practice. One exercise you can try that will help you to frame and shift between chords is this: frame the chord, say the D major, as per the previous exercise, then without strumming shift to the next chord the C major, then without strumming shift to the third chord, the G major, then back to the D major. Do this exercise several times without strumming and in time. If you don't have a metronome either play along with a song such as Sweet Home Alabama to get the timing right, or you may be able to download an app to help with the timing, or frame each chord to the count of four before shifting to the next.

Tip Three - The art of strumming

Strumming in time is an art and requires a lot of practice; the hours you spend practicing will pay off in the short and long term. Get yourself a soft pick and learn how to hold it – check out a youtube video to learn this. Strumming is part wrist and part arm action; and sometimes it is just in the wrist or all in the arm. You will work out what is best for you as you experiment and progress in your playing. The most basic strum that is found in many songs is simply: down stroke (D), down stroke (D) and upstroke (U), upstroke (U) and down stroke (D). This strum looks like this: D DU UD where you have a single down stoke, followed by a down and upstroke together and the last pair an upstroke and a down stroke. Practice this strum just with your hand first without the guitar. When you think you have the strum practice it with the strings muted. Finally you can practice by playing each chord. With each chord you need to complete the sequence of D DU UD before you move to the next chord. Once you master this first strum you can move on to other forms.

Once you have learnt your three major chords, the art of a basic strum and can shift easily between each chord, then you can learn to play some easy acoustic guitar songs referred to above.