I don’t have enough experience to know whether these songs will work for all beginners, but I’ve enjoyed working on them and find that I’ve been able to pick them up and make them sound like “real” songs relatively quickly. (This last part is probably debatable!)

Here’s a list of some 3- and 4-chord (and maybe one 5-chord) songs I’m learning for guitar. Most of them include guitar chord diagrams (as opposed to just the chord names), which I find helpful in learning the chords/songs.

Van Morrison – Into the Mystic

Cranberries – Linger

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

U2 – Desire

David Gray – Babylon

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Joni Mitchell

I’ve also started learning some Joni Mitchell songs. These aren’t quite as easy as the songs above, but working on them has been very rewarding.

Open Tuning

Since they are all written for open tuning (non standard tuning of the strings), you have to be ready to commit time to re-tuning your guitar for each song you play. I use a Snark SN-1 Clip-on Chromatic Guitar Tuner which clips onto the headstock and uses string vibrations to display a digital readout of the tone. Turn your tuners very slowly as you’re retuning. If you turn them too fast, they can snap. Another thing I’ve learned is that it’s almost always necessary to repeat the tuning process once you’ve reached the 6th string, since the shape of the guitar neck changes as new levels of pressure are applied via string changes. Tune all six strings, then repeat. I’m using Martin Lifespan SP Phosphor Bronze Medium strings on my acoustic guitar. These are relatively heavy strings for a beginner, but they sound great. Note that I’ve already snapped a few of these very high-quality strings as I’ve re-tuned my guitar for various Joni songs.

Open Tuning and String Buzz

When I first started playing these songs, I was frustrated by what seemed like almost constant string buzzing after I re-tuned. Then I read Dave Blackburn’s tips for playing Joni and realized that this can be completely normal. And don’t worry about adjusting your tension rod. (I tried this, and it drove me crazy trying to find a sweet spot.) If your guitar is properly set up, just leave it as it is, re-tune for the song you want to play, and live with some buzzing.

Capo

Some of these songs also require a capo. Initially (before I knew better), I was using an old-fashioned strap-on style capo. These are hard to get on and off the bridge, and it’s difficult to position them to where they create even pressure across the strings. I recently switched to a G7th capo which I learned about via Dave Blackburn’s tips (link above). This is a super-strong cam-action capo that locks down hard and doesn’t damage the guitar.

Resources – Joni Mitchell Transcriptions and Tunings

JoniMitchell.com is a great repository for Joni’s music, with many guitar and piano transcriptions, and often several arrangements/transcriptions for the same song, so you can choose the one that sounds best or works best for you. All of these links are from that site.

The transcriptions listed below are my preferred transcriptions for a given song. I can’t read many chords yet, so I tend to gravitate to the transcriptions that include the chord diagrams that show where each string needs to be fretted (pressed) in order to create the proper note for the chord. Each of these transcriptions also includes instructions for string tunings. I’m including the tunings below, mostly as quick reference for myself, but maybe you’ll find them helpful as well. There isn’t any rhyme or reason to how I chose these particular songs, other than wanting to learn songs that I enjoy and ones that looked relatively easy for a beginning guitarist to learn.

Help Me | Lyrics Only
Tuning: DAEF#AC# / D77234 (tune low E string to D, then fret that string at the 7th fret, and tune the next string to that tone; then repeat for the next string in succession.

Coyote | Lyrics Only
Tuning: CGDFCE / C77374

Free Man in Paris | Lyrics Only
Tuning: DADGBD / D75543

Black Crow
Tuning: BbBbDbFAbBb / Bb123432
Note: This is a very low tuning for the lowest strings, so don’t be surprised if your strings buzz and flap around.

In France They Kiss on Main Street | Lyrics Only
Tuning: DAEGAD / D77325

Song for Sharon
Tuning: EbBbDbFAbBb / Eb73432

Cactus Tree | Lyrics Only
[Capo on fret 5] [Tune the guitar before you apply the capo.]
Tuning: DADF#AD / D75435

Night in the City | Lyrics Only
[Capo on fret 5] [Tune the guitar before you apply the capo.]
Tuning: DADF#AD / D75435
Note: This has the same tuning and capo positioning as the song directly above it – Cactus Tree – so you can roll from one to the other without having to re-tune.

You Tube Videos for Learning These Songs

In learning these, I’ve also found it helpful to watch YouTube videos of Joni and others playing these songs. It’s particularly helpful to see someone actually playing the chord shapes. It can also be a useful way to learn the strumming patterns although I’ve noticed that Joni herself rarely uses the same exact chord shapes and strumming patterns twice for the same song. Actually, when she’s playing with a band, she usually just strums up and down with the beat. When I play these songs on solo guitar, straight beat strumming doesn’t sound as good as varying the strumming rhythm and direction to capture the overall feel of the song, although this makes it harder (but not impossible) to sing along myself.

Here is a classic performance of Joni playing “Help Me,” live in London in 1974. In this performance you’ll see the strong barre chord structure which is typical of many of her songs.

There was no shortage of sailboats on the Chesapeake Bay that day, from small ones to large ones and everything in between.

Sailboat in the bay at Annapolis

Sailboat in St. Michaels

There were engine-powered vessels of all sizes and kinds, too.

Trawler in the bay at Annapolis

This Bayliner Sedan Bridge looks like it’s been mounted with a sailing mast, but really that’s just the mast on a sailboat that’s hidden behind the vessel in the foreground.

Bayliner Sedan Bridge in St. Michaels

When we arrived at St. Michaels, a bagpiper was waiting on the lawn in front of the lighthouse. He was there to help a ferry guest celebrate her birthday.

Bagpiper at St. Michaels Lighthouse

Boston Whaler 16SL getting prepped for launch

It had a few family friendly features, including lots of seating and bow safety rail. It handled well on calmer lakes, but as any 16′ boat will, it got a lot trickier in bigger water like the Chesapeake Bay. Some of the nicer features included a bimini top, glove box, CD/Radio/Mp3 player, and swim platform with ladder.

Here’s a picture of us bouncing along a deserted Blue Marsh lake in 2010. Dad is driving, while Mom and Tara hold onto the kids.

Boston Whaler 16 SL on Blue Marsh Lake

As we started talking about spending more time on the Chesapeake, it became clear that we needed a bigger boat and, more importantly, a newer and more reliable one that would enable us to spend worry free hours on the Bay as a family. We decided on a 2011 Tidewater 196cc, a center console design with lots of room for the kids to move around.

Foxes in Chester County PA

To the rear of the shed is a large horse pasture where we’d see them playing in the mornings and at dusk. They also played down the hill in our side yard, less than 100 yards from the porch that our two dogs occupy.  They lived there for about 4 weeks before moving on.

The village’s original log house, its logs now plastered over, is to the east of the intersection.  Here is a photo.  Part of the plaque on the cabin reads “Land Grant from William Penn.”

The area was settled during the Revolutionary War.  Mills and agriculture were primary industries.  From the township’s website:

The water power of the Township provided industrial opportunities for early settlers. There were several mills in operation in the early to mid 1800’s. In addition, the early settlers found opportunities in agriculture. The land area adjacent to the Schuylkill River and Pigeon Creek provided exceptionally productive land for farming. It should be noted that a vast portion of these areas of the Township are still utilized for agricultural purposes.

Not far from Snowdenville is the modern ghost town of Frick’s Lock, which lies abandoned along the old Schuylkill Canal, in the shadow of the Limerick Nuclear Power Station.

It was no easy job, but we did end up converting the unfinished attic into a huge master suite, with large walk-in closet, cathedral ceilings (yes, 13′ at the peak), central air conditioning, a large bath, knee-wall storage, skylights, provision for a kitchenette, wiring for home theater and surround sound, and projector and screen mounts.  Here are some pictures we took just after it was finished.

Victorian attic suite window bay

The photo above shows the front window bay. We replaced the original 1913 windows with modern double-hung windows. The window molding we chose was a simple wide square molding, a departure from the rosette-based molding in the rest of the house. The full-width window seat (here and in the bathroom, which ran along the back of the house) hid the air conditioning ducts serving the 2nd and 3rd floors of the house.  Running the width above the windows is the box-in that hid a 77″ diagonal home theater projector screen.  The projector was mounted to a false beam that’s just outside this picture.

Victorian attic dormer

The dormers were tricky to frame and drywall, but turned out OK in the end.

Victorian attic suite bathroom

The bath ran the width of the back of the house. We ran the ceilings all the way to the peak for a big, open feel. We framed in a brick chimney that ran up the center of the back wall. We installed a 4-piece fiberglass shower.

Victorian attic suite sink

We installed a simple single bowl sink with drawer storage at the bottom, and a recessed triple-door mirror/medicine cabinet over top.