Traditional Songs on Guitar: Play 136 Songs With 5 Easy Chords

Brad

2 hours ago

TJMLJSBW

Published Oct 15, 2026 · Updated Oct 15, 2026 · 5 min read

Traditional songs on guitar are the ones people actually sing along to, and these 136 cover every occasion. You’ll find hymns, holiday favorites, campfire classics, children’s songs and modern worship songs. Every one uses the same five open chords, so you can lead the singing with chords you already know.

136 Traditional Songs on Guitar

Every song in this list can be played with the same five easy open chords: G, C, D, Em and Am. No barre chords, no F, no Bm. Just five shapes most beginners learn in their first few weeks.

The list covers hymns and spirituals, folk and campfire songs, children’s songs, holiday favorites and modern worship songs, from Amazing Grace and Silent Night to Old MacDonald, Feliz Navidad, and worship songs by Chris Tomlin, Hillsong and Elevation Worship. Most songs use just three or four chords.

These are simplified “easy guitar” versions. They follow each song’s real chord changes, so they sound right, but they leave out the fancy runs and extra notes. Where a song has a well-known recording, we show where to put a capo so you can play along with it.

Why These Songs Fit Five Easy Chords

Songs that have been sung for generations tend to be simple, because simple songs are easy to share. Our guide to 794 popular guitar songs you can play with 5 easy chords explains why the same few chords show up again and again. It covers chord families, progressions written as numbers and how a capo moves the same shapes into any key. That last part matters here, because a capo is the easiest way to fit a song to your voice.

The Traditional Song List

Scroll inside the table to see all 136 songs. On a phone, swipe sideways to see every column.

SONG	ARTIST	CHORDS	PROGRESSION	EASY CHORDS	EASY KEY	ACTUAL KEY	CAPO FRET
10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)	Matt Redman	4	4 – 1 – 5 – 6m	C – G – D – Em	G	G	0
Agnus Dei	Michael W. Smith	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m – 2m	G – C – D – Em – Am	G	A	2
Alive	Hillsong Young & Free	4	1m – b3 – b6 – b7	Em – G – C – D	Em	C#m	9
All Creatures of Our God and King	David Crowder Band	4	1 – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Em – C – D	G	D	7
Amazing Grace	Judy Collins	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	Eb	8
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)	Chris Tomlin	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 2m	G – C – D – Am	G	G	0
Angels We Have Heard on High	Chris Tomlin	5	1 – 6m – 2m – 5 – 4	G – Em – Am – D – C	G	G	0
Away in a Manger	Carrie Underwood	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 2m	G – C – D – Am	G	Eb	8
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep	Super Simple Songs	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Barbara Allen	Joan Baez	4	1 – 5 – 4 – 6m	G – D – C – Em	G	D	7
Battle Belongs	Phil Wickham	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	Db	6
Because He Lives (Amen)	Matt Maher	4	1 – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Em – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Better Is One Day	Matt Redman	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m – 2m	G – C – D – Em – Am	G	E	9
Bingo	Traditional	2	1 – 5	G – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Blessed Be Your Name	Matt Redman	4	1 – 5 – 6m – 4	G – D – Em – C	G	B	4
Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace)	Hillsong Worship	4	6m – 1 – 5 – 4	Em – G – D – C	G	G	0
Buffalo Gals	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Build My Life	Pat Barrett	5	1 – 4 – 2m – 6m – 5	G – C – Am – Em – D	G	Ab	1
Camptown Races	Traditional	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Champion	Bethel Music	4	1 – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Em – C – D	G	Bb	3
Christ Be Magnified	Cody Carnes	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	A	2
Come Thou Fount	Chris Rice	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	Eb	8
Come, Now Is the Time to Worship	Brian Doerksen	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 2m – 6m	G – C – D – Am – Em	G	E	9
Cornerstone	Hillsong Worship	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	C	5
Death Was Arrested	North Point InsideOut	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	B	4
Desert Song	Hillsong Worship	4	1m – b7 – b6 – b3	Em – D – C – G	Em	Bm	7
Do It Again	Elevation Worship	3	4 – 1 – 5	C – G – D	G	Bb	3
Down by the Riverside	Pete Seeger	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Even So Come	Passion	5	2m – 6m – 1 – 5 – 4	Am – Em – G – D – C	G	G	0
Fairytale of New York	The Pogues feat. Kirsty MacColl	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	D	7
Feliz Navidad	José Feliciano	4	2m – 5 – 1 – 4	Am – D – G – C	G	D	7
Firm Foundation (He Won’t)	Cody Carnes	5	1 – 6m – 5 – 4 – 2m	G – Em – D – C – Am	G	Bb	3
Forever (We Sing Hallelujah)	Kari Jobe	5	1 – 5 – 6m – 4 – 2m	G – D – Em – C – Am	G	Ab	1
Forever Reign	Hillsong Worship	4	1 – 5 – 6m – 4	G – D – Em – C	G	C	5
Frere Jacques	Traditional	4	1 – 5 – 4 – 6m	G – D – C – Em	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Glorious Day	Passion	4	1 – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Em – C – D	G	D	7
God of Wonders	Third Day	5	1m – b6 – b7 – b3 – 4m	Em – C – D – G – Am	Em	Em	0
Good Good Father	Chris Tomlin	5	1 – 4 – 2m – 5 – 6m	G – C – Am – D – Em	G	A	2
Good King Wenceslas	Traditional	4	1 – 5 – 4 – 6m	G – D – C – Em	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Goodness of God	Bethel Music	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	Ab	1
Goodnight, Ladies	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Graves into Gardens	Elevation Worship	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	B	4
Great Are You Lord	All Sons & Daughters	4	4 – 6m – 5 – 1	C – Em – D – G	G	A	2
Great Things	Phil Wickham	5	1 – 2m – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Am – Em – C – D	G	B	4
Happy Birthday to You	Traditional	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands	Laurie London	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	C	5
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes	Super Simple Songs	2	1 – 5	G – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Here Again	Elevation Worship	5	5 – 6m – 4 – 1 – 2m	D – Em – C – G – Am	G	D	7
Here for You	Matt Redman	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 2m – 6m	G – C – D – Am – Em	G	C	5
Holy Forever	Chris Tomlin	5	1 – 4 – 6m – 5 – 2m	G – C – Em – D – Am	G	Db	6
Holy Spirit	Jesus Culture	3	1 – 4 – 2m	D – G – Em	D	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Holy Water	We the Kingdom	3	1 – b7 – 4	D – C – G	D	D	0
House of the Lord	Phil Wickham	5	1 – 4 – 6m – 5 – 2m	G – C – Em – D – Am	G	Bb	3
How Firm a Foundation	Mormon Tabernacle Choir	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
How Great Is Our God	Chris Tomlin	4	1 – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Em – C – D	G	Db	6
How He Loves	John Mark McMillan	4	1 – 6m – 5 – 4	G – Em – D – C	G	B	4
I Surrender	Hillsong Worship	5	1m – b3 – b7 – b6 – 4m	Em – G – D – C – Am	Em	Dm	10
I Surrender All	MercyMe	5	6m – 4 – 5 – 1 – 2m	Em – C – D – G – Am	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
I’ve Got Peace Like a River	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
If You’re Happy and You Know It	Raffi	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Jesus Loves Me	Chris Tomlin	4	1 – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Em – C – D	G	C	5
Jesus Messiah	Chris Tomlin	4	1 – 2m – 4 – 5	G – Am – C – D	G	B	4
Jesus Paid It All	Kristian Stanfill	5	1 – 5 – 6m – 4 – 2m	G – D – Em – C – Am	G	B	4
Jimmy Crack Corn (Blue Tail Fly)	Burl Ives	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Jireh	Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music	5	6m – 5 – 4 – 1 – 2m	Em – D – C – G – Am	G	Eb	8
Joy to the World	Traditional	4	1 – 2m – 5 – 4	G – Am – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
King of Kings	Hillsong Worship	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	D	7
King of My Heart	Bethel Music	5	1 – 4 – 6m – 5 – 2m	G – C – Em – D – Am	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Kumbaya	Joan Baez	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Last Christmas	Wham!	4	1 – 5 – 6m – 2m	G – D – Em – Am	G	D	7
Lead Me to the Cross	Hillsong UNITED	5	6m – 5 – 4 – 1 – 2m	Em – D – C – G – Am	G	D	7
Lion and the Lamb	Bethel Music & Leeland	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m – 2m	G – C – D – Em – Am	G	B	4
Little Drummer Boy	Harry Simeone Chorale	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	F	10
Living Hope	Phil Wickham	4	1 – 5 – 4 – 6m	G – D – C – Em	G	Eb	8
London Bridge Is Falling Down	Traditional	2	1 – 5	G – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High	Rick Founds	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m – 2m	G – C – D – Em – Am	G	G	0
Lord, I Need You	Matt Maher	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	Bb	3
Mighty to Save	Hillsong Worship	4	4 – 1 – 6m – 5	C – G – Em – D	G	A	2
Million Little Miracles	Elevation Worship & Maverick City Music	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	E	9
Mistletoe	Justin Bieber	4	1 – 5 – 6m – 4	G – D – Em – C	G	A	2
My Darling Clementine	Traditional	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Nothing Else	Cody Carnes	5	2m – 4 – 1 – 6m – 5	Am – C – G – Em – D	G	C	5
O Come to the Altar	Elevation Worship	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	B	4
Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)	Hillsong UNITED	5	6m – 5 – 1 – 4 – 2m	Em – D – G – C – Am	G	D	7
Oh! Susanna	Traditional	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Old MacDonald Had a Farm	Raffi	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
On Top of Old Smoky	The Weavers	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Open the Eyes of My Heart	Paul Baloche	4	1 – 5 – 4 – 6m	G – D – C – Em	G	E	9
Our God	Chris Tomlin	5	6m – 4 – 1 – 5 – 2m	Em – C – G – D – Am	G	B	4
Polly Wolly Doodle	Shirley Temple	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Pop Goes the Weasel	Anthony Newley	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Promises	Maverick City Music	4	6m – 4 – 1 – 5	Em – C – G – D	G	Bb	3
Raise a Hallelujah	Bethel Music	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	Db	6
Reckless Love	Cory Asbury	4	6m – 5 – 4 – 1	Em – D – C – G	G	F#	11
Red River Valley	Gene Autry	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	Eb	8
Revelation Song	Kari Jobe	4	1 – 5m – b7 – 4	D – Am – C – G	D	D	0
Rock of Ages	Ascend the Hill	4	1 – 5 – 3m – 2	C – G – Em – D	C	E	4
Row, Row, Row Your Boat	Traditional	1	1	G	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Run Rudolph Run	Chuck Berry	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	C	5
Run to the Father	Cody Carnes	5	1 – 2m – 6m – 4 – 5	G – Am – Em – C – D	G	C	5
See a Victory	Elevation Worship	4	1m – b6 – b3 – b7	Em – C – G – D	Em	Gm	3
Shall We Gather at the River	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain	Traditional	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Shortnin’ Bread	Paul Robeson	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Silent Night	Bing Crosby	4	1 – 5 – 4 – 6m	G – D – C – Em	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Silver Bells	Bing Crosby & Carol Richards	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Simple Gifts	Judy Collins	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Sing, Sing, Sing	Chris Tomlin	4	1 – 6m – 5 – 4	G – Em – D – C	G	E	9
Skip to My Lou	Pete Seeger	2	1 – 5	C – G	C	D	2
Stronger	Hillsong Worship	4	4 – 1 – 2m – b7	G – D – Em – C	D	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot	Eric Clapton	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	E	9
The Blessing	Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	B	4
The Crawdad Song	Traditional	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
The Farmer in the Dell	Traditional	2	1 – 5	G – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
The Heart of Worship	Matt Redman	4	1 – 2m – 5 – 4	G – Am – D – C	G	Eb	8
The Hokey Pokey	Ray Anthony	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
The Itsy Bitsy Spider	Super Simple Songs	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
The Stand	Hillsong UNITED	5	1 – 4 – 6m – 5 – 2m	G – C – Em – D – Am	G	A	2
The Wheels on the Bus	Raffi	2	1 – 5	C – G	C	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
The Wonderful Cross	Chris Tomlin	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	D	7
This I Believe (The Creed)	Hillsong Worship	5	4 – 6m – 5 – 1 – 2m	C – Em – D – G – Am	G	C	5
This Is Amazing Grace	Phil Wickham	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	Bb	3
This Is the Day	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
This Old Man	Raffi	2	1 – 5	C – G	C	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Touch the Sky	Hillsong UNITED	4	1 – 4 – 5 – 6m	G – C – D – Em	G	A	2
Turkey in the Straw	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Up on the Housetop	Gene Autry	5	1 – 4 – 5 – 2m – 6m	G – C – D – Am – Em	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
Way Maker	Leeland	4	1 – 5 – 6m – 4	G – D – Em – C	G	E	9
When the Saints Go Marching In	Louis Armstrong	3	1 – 5 – 4	G – D – C	G	G	0
Who You Say I Am	Hillsong Worship	4	1 – 6m – 5 – 4	G – Em – D – C	G	F#	11
Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)	Chris Tomlin	4	1 – 4 – 6m – 5	G – C – Em – D	G	C	5
Yankee Doodle	Traditional	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	VARIOUS	VARIOUS
You Are My Sunshine	Johnny Cash	3	1 – 4 – 5	G – C – D	G	A	2
You Make Me Brave	Bethel Music	5	6m – 4 – 1 – 5 – 2m	Em – C – G – D – Am	G	Eb	8
Your Grace Is Enough	Matt Maher	5	1 – 4 – 6m – 2m – 5	G – C – Em – Am – D	G	Ab	1

What Each Column Means

SONG and ARTIST: The song and the recording we matched. Many traditional songs have no single “original,” so we matched a well-known recording where we could. “Traditional” means no single recording.

CHORDS: How many different chords the song uses.

PROGRESSION: The song’s chords written as numbers. “1” is the home chord, the one the song keeps coming back to. “4” and “5” are the other two main chords. “m” means minor. You don’t need the numbers to play the songs, but they show you the pattern. Songs with the same numbers share the same chord pattern.

EASY CHORDS: The chords you actually play.

EASY KEY: The key those easy chords are in.

ACTUAL KEY: The key of the recording we matched (“m” means a minor key).

CAPO FRET: Where to put your capo so the easy chords match that recording.

0 means no capo. Just play.
High numbers (8 and up) work, but the frets get cramped. It’s fine to skip the capo and play in the easy key instead.
VARIOUS means there’s no single recording to match, or we couldn’t pin down the key of the recording listed. These songs are sung in every key, so play them in the easy key, or slide the capo to whatever fret fits your voice best.

Getting Started With Traditional Songs on Guitar

1: Learn the five chords: G, C, D, Em, and Am.

2: Learn the patterns that cover most of this list:

1 – 4 – 5 (G – C – D): the foundation of hymns, folk songs and children’s songs. Try Amazing Grace or Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
1 – 5 – 4 (G – D – C): the same three chords in a different order, as in Oh! Susanna and She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain.
G, C, D and Em together (for example 1 – 4 – 5 – 6m or 1 – 5 – 4 – 6m): the sound of Silent Night and of modern worship songs like Goodness of God and Living Hope.

3: Play along. Put your capo on the fret shown and strum along with the recording. For songs marked VARIOUS, just sing along in a key that’s comfortable.

4: Let it ring. Hymns and worship songs sound best with slow, steady strums that let each chord ring out. For children’s songs and campfire songs, use a bouncy, steady strum everyone can sing to.

Quick Tips for Leading a Sing-Along

To find a capo spot by ear, strum the song’s first chord along with the recording. Then slide your capo up one fret at a time until it matches.
Singing with a group? Try a few capo positions until the melody sits comfortably for everyone. The chord shapes stay the same.

What Makes a Song Qualify

Five easy chords. Every song can be played with G, C, D, Em and Am at a single capo position. We tested each song at every capo position and with every combination of the five shapes. If it still needed another chord, it didn’t make the list.

Simplified, not changed. We strip out the decorations, such as 7ths, sus and add chords, and skip passing chords that go by in less than a beat. But we never swap a chord for a different one just to make a song fit. Many holiday standards (like White Christmas and The Christmas Song) are built on jazz chords, and many hymns use extra chords too, so they’re not on this list.

How We Matched Every Record

Matching recordings. For songs with a well-known recording, the key and capo match that recording. For songs with no single recording, the artist says “Traditional” and the capo says VARIOUS. VARIOUS also marks songs whose recorded key we couldn’t confirm.

Checked against sources. We checked each song’s key and chords against published sheet music, chord references and other sources. If you hear something different, trust your ears, and please let us know.

One entry per song. Each song appears once. A few, like Amazing Grace, also appear in modern arrangements with new choruses, which count as separate songs.

Where to Go After These Traditional Songs

Once you’ve led a few of these traditional songs on guitar, try another genre. Modern worship songs lean on the same four-chord sound as pop, so the pop list is a natural next step. For a short starter set around the fire, try our top 5 campfire songs. And when the holidays roll around, our top 5 easy Christmas songs are ready to go.

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