The Easy Piano Songs Everyone Knows
When Starting Out
When someone first starts learning to play an instrument they might start with simple songs that they like. For instance, it’s a meme but a lot of new guitar players start with “Stairway to Heaven” or “Wonderwall” – or perhaps I’m dating myself with my examples. Learning by oneself gives one the added benefit of choosing the songs they’d like to practice. But for those who start learning an instrument in school, their song choices are a bit more restricted, perhaps even predictable.
In learning institutions, new players might follow a songbook that has many classic songs of various difficulty. The ones that beginners learn are often very basic but also very recognizable.
While some people may have dreaded memories of having to play songs like “Hot Cross Buns” over and over again until they got it right, that little tune served as a great stepping-stone to move on to more difficult songs — and so on and so on.
Below are a few easy piano songs that are commonly played by beginners. These songs don’t require chords, only single notes. They may seem basic and not like “real songs” but nevertheless they are, and for many they are held in a place close to their heart.
Written by Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893, the song “Happy Birthday to You” holds the Guiness World Record title for being the most recognized song in the English language.
It is perhaps the most useful song on this list as one may never know when they might be presented with an opportunity to play it for a family member or friend. This little tune is taught early but is never forgotten. If one can whip this song out on any old instrument available, that moment would be forever ingrained into the birthday person’s memory as a great gift.
How I wonder what you are…
The words to this nursery rhyme were written by the 19th-century poet Jane Taylor.
This is a song that we associate with putting babies to sleep but it’s also a good catchy song on its own. The music is simple and the lyrics conjure up images of outer space and the mighty sun.
Written by James Lord Pierpont in 1857, it is one of the most well-known and commonly sung American songs.
It is a classic song but it is pretty much only played during the holiday season. It’s a very useful song to have in one’s repertoire as it can lighten the mood and put everyone in the Christmas spirit. Funny enough, even though there is no reference to Christmas in the lyrics, the song has been adopted so by the holiday season.
This song is about a girl named Mary who takes her lamb to school and tries to hide it. It was written by writer Sarah Joseph Hale (1788-1879) but the music was not composed until the 1830s by Lowel Mason.
The lyrics to the song were the first words ever recorded on a phonograph in 1877.
While many dismiss this song because it is overplayed, it is simple to learn and belongs to one of the greatest composers that ever lived, Ludwig van Beethoven. It was composed in 1810 but not discovered and published until 1867, some 40 years after the composer’s death.
The song’s common title “Für Elise” translates to “For Elise,” but no one really knows who Elise was or what role she played in Beethoven’s life.
Anything with a simple melody
Any song with a simple melody can be learned easily enough if one has the ability to read music or play by ear. When we think of pop music, most of it in actuality uses very simple chord progression and time signatures. In other words, there’s nothing complicated about learning popular songs. The very act of the song being simple is probably what made them popular in the first place.
Final Thoughts
While some musicians may cringe at the thought of these songs like bad PTSD, they are songs that just about everyone knows and knows how to play. If they associate these songs with their early musical journey, then the songs should be respected, as these were the songs that paved the way for them to be where they are today.
Even though these songs are not the “coolest,” without a doubt many legendary musicians know how to play these. Do you think Keith Richards has ever played the song Happy Birthday to somebody? Most likely yes.
What all these songs have in common is that they are all very catchy and present very innocent lyrics. Some of these are very important to American culture and the fact that they are one of the first songs that everyone learns is a great way of keeping them alive.