Is Bob Segar’s “Turn the Page” a good beginner song?
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Sandy, what would make a ‘good beginner song’? I think if you like the song and have learned the chords then it is a good song for you. Depending on the song you may begin playing it super simple and slow. Then over time come back to the song to build on the rhythm, add chord embellishments, and speed it up.
Also a good idea to pick songs where you can find a quality lesson. This being JustinGuitar you can search for songs that Justin has produced lessons for. And on the Songs page on the website you can filter for songs that are suitable for your current grade and use the chords you know. There are of course many other quality sources.
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@Sloveless It would be ideal if you know Em, D, A and C chord shapes.
Hope that helps.
Cheers 
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide
How do people even memorize songs? I have been trying but can’t at all.
Also I think Justin mean to memorize the song as in which chord to play? How do I do it?
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Rohit @itsthistime
Sounds as though are like me just getting to the end of Grade 1, unfortunately I don’t have any easy answers, for me it was a lot of hard work and plenty of practice, over quite a long period of time.
Songs with repetitive chord sequences, like Brown Eyed Girl, are good to have, but if they don’t such as Take me Home Country Roads they are more difficult, however I am attempting to sing as well and I find I associate chords with certain words and that helps, but don’t underestimate the difficulty in playing and singing.
Do a search of the community as there are a number of topics with similar issues you describe.
Keep at it, it is the only way.
Michael 
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Lots of good tips here…
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I am really struggling to memorize songs 
Is there a way that I can at least export or somehow obtain the chord/tab chart of songs which shows up on justin guirar app with lyrics on a piece of paper so I can see them and memorize?
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Rohit @itsthistime
I have moved onto Justin’s Tabs App but when I started out I got the lyrics off the internet then using the Songs App marked all the chords above the words. It takes a bit of time but actually I think it helps to get the chord sequence in your mind.
Hope that helps
Michael
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I don’t know which method is intended with the course- memorizing the chords by letter progression, or learning to predict the next chord by ear/listening to the song and hearing the next chord in my mind as I am playing…probably either one, but I tend to find myself using the latter method. It’s how I play piano, so its probably going to be how I play guitar too.
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Stacy @artax_2
Wish I could do your later method, but my skills are just not up to that, hopefully it will be in the future my first foray into music was only at the beginning of the year.
Having said that there are certain parts of some songs because I am singing as well I just know what the next chord has to be, so perhaps my skill is starting to develop, at least I hope so
Michael 
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@MAT1953 because I am singing as well I just know what the next chord has to be, so perhaps my skill is starting to develop, at least I hope so
I’ve been playing my Hallelujah today…two whole verses from memory without mistakes! 
It’s like a huge victory for me…this skill does develop, I wasn’t able to do it! I go easy on myself, I don’t expect to be able to play the song, I don’t look at the chords and at each mistake I allow my ear to try and lead the way. I agree, relying on singing helps really a lot!
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Perhaps your skill will develop there! I can’t say my skill is fantastic, and even if it were, I’m not finding it easy to memorize right now. I think my brain is trying to do to many other things at one time. I haven’t gotten one song memorized. I can’t remember the starting chord on the ones I thought would be easy to memorize. I’m finding I’m getting distracted by thoughts about my bad beginner technique too much.
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Stacy @artax_2
I essentially memorise songs by rote following Justin’s 10 point plan How To Sing And Play Guitar At The Same Time - 10 Step Method Guitar Lesson Singing Tutorial - YouTube ( the lesson is on YouTube but seems to have disappeared from the web site)
Which means there is a lot going on changing chords, strumming, singing and tapping my foot, although I am only just starting now to be able to do the foot tapping on some songs. As you say there is a lot going on.
Once I have learnt a song I go through it just about every day, doesn’t always come out perfect but at least I know what wasn’t right.
Michael
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@MAT1953: “Justin’s Tabs App” Are you referring to Official JustinGuitar Products | JustinGuitar.com?
or something else? How does it help in memorizing songs?
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Rohit @itsthistime
Not sure of the context you mean. but the Tabs will be the paid for addition to the songs on the web page.
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I’m really struggling with practicing (and memorizing) songs. I’ve been playing rhythm guitar for years, and while I can busk pretty much any song given a chord sheet and someone to “follow”, I struggle on my own. I went through the beginner course at least partly to try to get better at songs, but I feel like I’m still hitting all the same old problems.
In terms of practice, I’m not sure what to do apart from just play the song through over and over. Should I be focusing on difficult passages, or separating out strum patterns from playing chords? In general, my playing just feels “sloppy” - I don’t feel like I’m hitting the beat as well as I should, and I can’t get a pattern that feels like it works with the song, so it just doesn’t feel like it comes together at all. As I say, I can follow someone else fine if they are playing, but I don’t know how to learn to “carry” the song.
Maybe it’s that I don’t know the song as well as I think I do? I struggle with singing, but I’ve always assumed that’s simply down to the fact that I don’t actually like the sound of my singing voice. I really need to look at Justin’s “how to sing and play at the same time” video. Maybe that will help?
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Hi Paul, I’ll follow the answers to your question, interesting for me too… You’re not alone. I think, there’s a big difference between playing a song all the way through, maybe supported by a backing track or play along, or playing a song by yourself beeing responsible for your rhythm, timing strumming, chords, as you say, to “carry” the song etc.
I’m on Grade 2 now, but still struggle to get a song played well beyond a certain grade. What I think is, that it needs a lot of work and effort to play a song reasonnably good, respectively that it sounds really good (at least for me). There is a whole bundle of songs I can play fluent, but the last 20%, which give the song energy or momentum sometimes are missing. For me, the way will be to get into the songs much more detailled to analyse structure, transitions, strumming more on point, chord changes 100% accurate,… . Playing a song on and on and on doesn’t take me further. I’ll have to work on this during my consolidation. As long as it doesn’t come easily to me, I have to work on it. Sometimes, I think I have to play and analyse every song to death. When it finally works, I’ll be completely sick of the song 
Hopefully it gets better with growing experience 
.
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As a beginner for what it’s worth here is my two pennies worth:
From reading your opening paragraph it sounds like you have not memorized the songs that you play. I would tend to learn the song in chunks (intro, verse, chorus, bridge). Only moving onto the next chunk once I have the preceding chunk memorized.
Practice what you can’t do more than what you can do. So if you have now memorized the song and can play it from start to finish from memory but find a part in the song that you struggle with then focus on that part to nail it.
It is always good to learn a song using simple down strums on the beat familiarizing yourself with the song structure before applying strumming patterns. If you are having trouble with chord changes or getting certain chords to ring out true then add some chord perfect practice and perfect chord changes to your practice routine. At the same time practice the strumming pattern on muted strings.
This is a good one for your best friend the metronome to help you out with. Start of at a reduced bpm and gradually increase the bpm only when you can comfortably play in time to the bpm set until you can play to the bpm of the song.
put on the record for the song, mute the strings and strum along feeling the groove. Justin has a lesson called feel good strumming and a lesson for finding the strumming pattern for a song.
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As a beginner I agree w/ @Socio. Great tips.
Learning in chunks is what helps me memorize songs. But for some reason I still struggle with learning the bridge parts.
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Thanks, those are awesome tips, I’ll definitely give them a go!
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