Easy Guitar Riffs for Beginner Players to Practice with

Hopefully, we’ve influenced you enough to pick up an instrument after putting it off for however long, and maybe you’ve even gotten started with guitar. That’s great, but let’s put your new skills to the test. Don’t worry, it won’t be too difficult, but it’s always fun to play songs you love.

If you’ve been taking things seriously this whole thing should be a piece of cake and you’ll fly through it in no time. Even if that is the case, it’s always good practice to find your limits. That’s why I’ve chosen some existing riffs that are considered easy.

If you’re find these pretty easy then that’s great you’re well on your way. If not, that’s fine. Just keep practising! All the best guitarists were beginners once upon a time too.

Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple

I know, I know. Quite literally the first thing everybody that picks up a guitar does. You might have been doing it wrong though. The whole 0-3-5—0-3-6-5 thing on the E string? While that’s along the right lines, it’s actually done a little differently.

See the tab below, while it’s not what you may be used to it’s still reasonably straight forward. No need for any fancy tunings or anything though, this song is still in standard.

Paranoid – Black Sabbath

Another simple yet iconic riff, that a lot of people tend to play wrong at first. A lot of people start off with Iron Man but that intro riff to Paranoid is actually pretty easy and I thought it was a better starting point, personally.

Again, keep your guitar in standard and give this a try. There’s no tricks or fancy business apart from a few hammer-ons (if you haven’t mastered those ignore them for now).

Enter Sandman – Metallica

This intro is instantly recognisable whenever you hear it and I’ve seen many younger players that are eager to play heavy metal jump straight into it.

Once again – standard tuning – no funny business. Just play the notes in order until you got it! If you can pull of the intro, then you can probably do the entire song’s rhythm sections no problem.

Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes

Quite a common song to learn in the early days for both guitarists and bassists. This riff is simple yet striking and tends to get stuck in your head for days when you hear it.

Below is the intro but if you can play that without any struggles, then you may as well learn the entire song since it’s pretty much the same for most of it.

Green Day – American Idiot

To top things off, here’s something a bit more chordy and down with the kids (even though this song is over 15 years old now so… yeah…). The entirety of Green Day’s American Idiot album is good fun to play and relatively easy but let’s just start with that power chord introduction.

I know I keep saying it but I just don’t want you to get lost – keep your guitar in standard and just play the following in sequence. Start slow and build up the speed and you’ll nail it.

If you can play all of these riffs without any issues then you’ve earned yourself a serious pat on the back. You’re well on your way to mastering guitar so the next step would be to maybe learn the entirety of the songs listed.

Feeling extra confident? Try and include some of the lead guitar sections if you can! But don’t burn yourself out – one step at a time. Know any other easy riffs that are worth learning? Let us know in the comments and I’ll get it added to the list.