5 Easy songs to learn for winter

1-White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes

This little 4 chord beauty features those beautiful harmonies that Fleet Foxes made their signature. Play these chords in order: E, F#m, A, B (That’s a I II IV V chord progression in the key of E). First 2 chords get 4 bars, next 2 chords get 2 bars, making a 12 bar set (Kind of like a 12 bar blues, but this is a bit different with that II chord in there, and the progression not matching a true 12 bar blues). Strum pattern is D (M)   D U (M) U D U or 1 2 &   & 4 &

This super easy little tune just makes me wanna go out and play in the snow. Comfort music for those cold winter nights. Give it a try!

2-Long December - Counting Crows

Here’s a beautifully depressing piano tune for you, another super simple one. Only 5 chords in this one, and we are in the key of G so the only black key here is the F# in the D chord  . The easisest way to play it is using entirely root versions of the following chords. 

Verse: C G D Am, C G C C, Am C G D, Am G C C       

Pre-chorus: G C Am (Am) (truly you just hold this Am through this extra bar) play this 3 times

Chorus: G C Am C, G C Am Am

There’s a bridge using the chorus chords, and that’s it! That’s the whole song. And because the rhythm is also very simple, this is an easy one to try to sing along to. If you’re feeling really adventurous, see if you can transpose it to the key of C (or add difficulty by transposing to a different key!)

Lots of cool stuff can be done with this track.

3-Snow, Hey Oh - Red Hot Child Peppers

This impossibly catchy tune is one of the gangs lesser known hits, but it is a lot of fun to play and sing. Once again, what makes this one so easy is the simple 4 chord pattern. G#m E B F#

Now, to be fair, the arpeggiation is a bit tricky and there is a bridge (chorus?) and the end has a different progression, the song structure is not at all standard. But what makes the song is that Frusciante manic arpeggiated pattern using those 4 chords. It will be hard to describe, and it’s quite tricky to play it at speed, but you can make it work by strumming quarters and emphasizing the 3rd beat of each bar. 1 bar for each chord. Start singing the melody and it should sound just right!

4-Let it Go - Frozen Soundtrack

Another Piano tune here, and while this one is actually pretty complicated if you try to play the whole thing, with key changes and syncopation and all kinds of crazy stuff, if you simplify this one down to the opening melody line, it is easy, recognizable and a lot of fun to play. 

Check out this great tutorial for this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCPeOigAKek

5-February Stars - Foo Fighters

This one is on guitar, and it’s tuned to drop D (google that if you don’t know what it is). 

Another one with just a handful of chords. We’re looking at Dsus4, D, Dmaj7, G E for the most part (don’t forget to move those roots up 2 frets on your E string because of the drop tuning). These are easy and beautiful chords, and once again we have a very cool arpeggiation happening.

There’s also a section that goes Bm D E E, G D E E, G D E E

Then comes that oh so satisfying build to the big moment of the song. The massive guitar break. If you’re not playing this one at full volume, you’re not really playing it…

End part is big bad Drop D power chords, Look for the 5th fret (G) 4th fret (F#) 2nd fret (E) and open (D) for the “Feb-ru-ary Stars” part, then open D to F# (4th fret) to G (5th fret) E (2nd fret) ending with G and D (5th fret to open). 

This one sounds best on electric guitar, with a channel selector to some big overdriven distortion, or maybe some pedals to get you that extra juice.

And that’s it. 5 songs to learn this winter that may help you embrace the cold, or at the very least, escape it!

Enjoy!