Lauren BatemanGuitar Teacher; Founder of the 7 Level Guitar System

The 3-chord formula that plays 100+ songs

12 Oct 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:24

In this short instructional video, guitarist and teacher Lauren Bateman asserts that mastering just four basic chords—G, E minor, C, and D—enables a player to perform thousands of popular songs. She briefly demonstrates the claim by playing quick lyrical snippets from several well‑known tracks that can be rendered with those chords. The video concludes with a promotional call‑to‑action, inviting viewers to access her free guitar crash course via the link in her bio or her website.

Four chords, thousands of songs, and I'm not even exaggerating. The first four chords I teach students in my seven-level guitar system are the G chord, the E minor chord, the C chord, and the D chord. And you can literally, without exaggeration, play thousands of songs with just these four chords. And just to show you how, I'm going to play four quick examples right now.
It's in your head, in your head. Zombie, zombie, zombie. Hey, hey, hey, what if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us. Country road, take me home to the place I belong. Sweet Home Alabama, where the The skies are so blue.
Now that was just 4 quick examples of songs that you could play with those 4 chords. And if you are looking to take your guitar playing to the next level, then I highly recommend you check out my free guitar crash course by clicking the link in my bio or visiting laurenbateman.com.