Favorite 3 Chord Songs

[DeathTöngue]

I've been working for the last few weeks doing a project for a video surveillance place. They work all night watching car dealerships... The owner is pretty permissive, and one of the guys there practices his guitar all night. He's just learning how, and after listening (OK, and gritting my teeth) for a few nights I started showing him a few things.

But it got me thinking. A lot of the stuff I play regularly is a little complicated for a beginner, so after I'd worked him through "Hide Your Love Away", "Wish You Were Here", and a couple others like that I started running out of easy ones.

So my question is, what are your favorite 3- and 4-chord songs? What do you show people who are learning how to play? I've been playing since I was nine, but I am emphatically not a guitar teacher.

[Mother]

Pigs (3DO) is more or less three chords for a lot, erm.... I can think of a load of three chord songs, but most of them are shite, and are just three bar chords over and over in a riff.

[legspin]

Here are some straight off the top of me head

Paul Kelly - To Her Door
Paul Kelly - Bradman
Paul Kelly - How to Make Gravy

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir (Not 3/4 chords, but basic anyway)
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant song

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower

[DeathTöngue]

Thanks, gents. Should be easy to find tab for those.

[chopperz]

The first one I was show the base line for was "LOW" by cracker
D, C, E & G 2 strings an 2 frets. The lead looks pretty simple too, not that I've even tried it though.

[Wing'd Icarus]

I started with stuff like WYWH, Pigs On The Wing, and Imagine. I don't claim that anything I play is really hard, but those particularly are pretty simple. Anything blues is pretty standard, as well.

[Tower Of Faith]

"Two Steps Behind" by Def Leppard.

It's mostly all A, D, G and E, although there is an F#m chord in there.

[Paranoid Android]

I like "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones. I also taught my sister how to play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana.

[Piper@Gates]

Does you're fellow worker play electric or acoustic?
If acoustic, then there's Mother, Pigs on the wing, WYWH, and tons of Beatle stuff (ticket to ride, daytripper, yesterday (chord version), rocky racoon, blackbird, etc etc etc.)
If electric, then anything by B. B. King, or some of today's music like the Peppers. Of course, anything by Jimi Hendrix is easy.

[Ilúvatar]

A lot of Bob Dylan's stuff is fairly easy to learn on the acoustic.

[goofball]

just the simple chord pattern of wonderful tonight by clapton was one of the first things i learned. once he gets a little better you should show him is there anybody out there?

[Paranoid Android]

How the hell did i forget AC/DC?? All of their songs are three chords!

[DeathTöngue]

Dylan, yah... "Knocking on Heaven's Door" was one of the ones I showed him. Never thought of AC/DC... Ramones, that's good - I'll have to show him "I Wanna Be Sedated" next. Even with the key change, it's pretty easy.

Some excellent suggestions, here.

BTW, I'm not getting into teaching anybody to play - I just couldn't stand one more rendition of the opening of "Stairway to Heaven". There'd have been blood, I tell you...

[Mother]

I almost forgot - plenty of stuff by Bowie, for instance The Man Who Sold the World.

[Jimi James]

Got to teach him "Gloria"
E-D-A over and over again, LOL
Old Iggy and the stooges would work too...
Try "1969 or "I wanna be your dog"
"just my imagination" by the stones is barely 3 chords
A-D then the bridge A-A-A-A-A-E then back to A-D

"Free Four" Might be good too