Learn to Play a Song on Guitar for Valentine's Day

Whether you're with a girl or guy, woman or man, learning a song specifically for that special someone is one of the best ways to show you care. Everyone loves music, and going out of your way to perform a song for someone will quite possibly be the most touching gift that person has ever received. Don't you want that gift to be from you?

Even if you've never played guitar before, it's easy to get started. Thousands of popular songs use only a few chords each, and you'll find that after you take the time to learn the chords to your first song you'll be able to easily use most or all of the same chords to learn additional songs. For example, you can use the same five chords (C, D, G, E minor, and A minor) to play "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "Let it Be" by the Beatles, and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan.

There are several free, popular websites that provide chords to mainstream and underground songs; Google-search the name of almost any song with the word "chords" and you'll have no problem finding multiple user-submitted sets of chords for it, with the lyrics typed in as well. And you don't need to know how to read music notation to play guitar--in fact, many professional musicians have never learned to read standard notation. Beginner-friendly guitar tablature ("tab" for short) shows by simple illustration where to put your fingers on the fretboard to play the chords that make the music you know and love, and you can find it easily for free online.

To make your loved one feel special, you should learn something of special significance to her/him. Or, better yet, learn a song that means something to both of you as a couple. If the two of you have a song, learn it. Even if the professional studio-recorded version sounds complicated, you can usually find chords to a simpler acoustic version online. I once learned "I'm on a Boat" by the Lonely Island for my girlfriend, and she learned Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" for me--the radio version of each song sounded way too complex to learn, but we each found simple guitar chords online for them and they sounded great after a week of practice.

When choosing a song to learn on guitar, keep in mind your own vocal register and singing abilities. Pick a song that you can sing along to already--one you know all the words to, that isn't too high or low for your voice (although you can sometimes find good chord writeups suited to higher- or lower-voiced people than the original singer). Particularly if this is the first full song you've ever learned on the guitar, it will take much more practice time to be confident with it if you don't know all the words before learning the chords. Better yet, if you want to show off a little you can adjust some of the words for the person you're singing it to. Play around and try to fit your significant other's name into the song (e.g. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" becomes "Knockin' on Evan's Door", etc.). This will not only show that you learned the song specifically for him or her, but it will also make the experience of hearing it that much more fun, exciting, and memorable for your loved one. Be creative and have fun with it!