10 songs to learn on acoustic?

[RABid]

I'm looking for suggestions. I played guitar some in the 70's and 80's, then stopped playing. Took my first guitar lesson today and I am getting back into it as a retiree with time to burn. I'd like to compile 10 songs to learn and am looking for suggestions. YouTube links to the songs are also handy if you have suggestions. Note: I'm not asking anyone to list 10 songs, though you can if you wish, just help me compile a list of 10 songs with YouTube videos to learn by. I think this list would be helpful to anyone starting out, especially people like me who can already play another instrument. Anyway, the music I am most familiar with is Zeppelin, Eagles, America, etc... I somehow missed out on the 90's and that is my least familiar period. New degree, new job, no time for music that decade.

 

Thanks for any suggestions and helping me build a song list.

[desertbluesman]

I don't play acoustic anymore, it's been many years since I even had an acoustic, but when I did, I played Neal Young Songs, Beatles songs, and other 60's and 70's stuff. I did learn Zep's Stairway To Heaven back in the day on acoustic.

 

Some others who do play acoustic will chime in before long.

[KuruPrionz]

A big part of the fun of playing acoustic guitar is singing.

It doesn't have to be great for everybody to dig it, it just has to not be horrible.

 

Since I am not the best (or the worst) singer, I tend to pick songs that are easy to sing and that I like.

You choose a Led Zeppelin song you better be able to pull off a Janis Joplin imitation like Robert Plant.

 

Here's one, Just Like a Woman will teach you some basics about how chordal scales work and it's in C so that makes the lesson easier to absorb.

 

Here's another one I like to play, the band does this one and people like it.

 

I have more, will come back later.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Learn the live at Budokan version of Cheap Trick's "Surrender"- adapting to one guitar (maybe it's just the way it was recorded and mixed, but it sounds like there may be two guitars on the at Budokan version, Rick's AND Robin's, PLUS Tom Petersson's growling 12-String bass riffing away together there! But they're all alright... ).

 

Keep it simple- really simple; but pay attention to the relationship between the bass and the guitar chords, it can be a little puzzling at first- as, in the intro, the bass is pulsing out 'Bb' ("B Flat") while the guitar hammers first at an 'Ab' chord, then shifts up to join the bass with a 'Bb' chord. It can sound really cool to play that on guitar as Ab/B (A Flat Major w/ B in the bass); for example, barring an Ab/Bb with your 1st finger barring across the 5th, 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings together at the 1st-Fret, then up to a 'regular' Bb barre-chord with your 3rd or 4th finger across the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd strings at the 3rd-Fret.

 

(Recordings might be a little 'off' in pitch, maybe from different tape machine speeds muddling things, maybe they were just tuned a tad off? But, it's pretty simple and straightforward stuff.)

 

Then a Half-Step shift up to the Key of B with a B Chord as the verse begins. There's an additional incremental Key-Change shift of a half-step up later, too.

 

The chorus is primarily a B chord with a bass-line walking down, then an E chord. Good stuff.

 

It'll be a fun song that many will recognize but few will have been bustin' out on acoustic guitar.

 

[video:youtube]

[KuruPrionz]

Surrender is a great choice!!!! One of the all time great rock songs, the lyrics are fantastic and the song rocks out!!!!!

 

I saw Cheap Trick 4 times and they were great every time.

 

And I know Surrender so the band I'm in now should start playing it. The bassist and drummer know it too, just gotta get our other guitarist up to speed and we'll be golden.

 

Sometimes it sounds like two guitars because Tom Peterson has the crazy 12 string and he knows how to use it. Once when I saw them I was up high and there was a keyboard player off back behind a wall. Didn't matter, it was Cheap Trick.

[Caevan O’Shite]

Sometimes it sounds like two guitars because Tom Peterson has the crazy 12 string and he knows how to use it.

 

I love the growling sound he gets with that 12-String bass through, of all weird unlikely things, a bunch of cranked guitar amps!

 

Sometimes, live, Robin Zander also played on a Telecaster or a Rickenbacker; it varied, even among concerts within the same week, it seems, from watching videos from the same time frame. More often, I think, he didn't. But sometimes. I like the sound of live recordings when he did, on top of Rick's guitar and Tom's bass.

 

Especially with that 12.

[KuruPrionz]

Sometimes it sounds like two guitars because Tom Peterson has the crazy 12 string and he knows how to use it.

 

I love the growling sound he gets with that 12-String bass through, of all weird unlikely things, a bunch of cranked guitar amps!

 

Sometimes, live, Robin Zander also played on a Telecaster or a Rickenbacker; it varied, even among concerts within the same week, it seems, from watching videos from the same time frame. More often, I think, he didn't. But sometimes. I like the sound of live recordings when he did, on top of Rick's guitar and Tom's bass.

 

Especially with that 12.

 

Tom's bass has separate pickups and outputs for the different strings in each course. He was one of the first to mix and match fat clean bass tones with dirty higher pitches. Geddy Lee and Doug Pinnick get the credit but Tom was doing it a long time ago. Great bassist, I will always regret not buying the Hamer Tom Petersen 12 string bass they had for a while at a music shop in Fresno. It didn't have the 3 separate outputs but everything else was to spec, a beauty.

 

I've seen Robin Zander play guitar a few times, and I mentioned a keyboard player one time as well. Rick Neilsen is under-rated in my book, he throws up a driving, melodic rock guitar like few can.

 

The first time I saw them, some of my friends were union stage hands at Selland Arena in Fresno. Rick put out notice that anybody who had anything interesting to sell could come backstage and he'd check it out.

I had my friends take an early 50's TV front Deluxe back there and a headless guitar that I designed and built from lumber. I got backstage with my girlfriend and Rick offered us a beer. We hung out and talked for a bit, he offered me $175 for the Deluxe and I took it (paid $15 for it at the swap meet, it was pristine condition until the cats used it for a scratching post). He told me he didn't have one of those. A couple of months later there was an article in Guitar Player magazine about Rick's guitar and amp collection - one of the finest in the world. There was a photo of a stack of Tweed Deluxe with one TV front on the top, the one I sold him. I should have kept that magazine, I'm not much of a packrat I guess...

[KuruPrionz]

Somehow, I magically made a duplicate post. Gone.

[Larryz]

For America: Horse With No Name

 

For Eagles: Tequila Sunrise

 

For Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven

 

These are classics that will be fun to learn from even if no one ever hears you play them, and throw in a little Edmund Fitzgerald LoL!

[KuruPrionz]

For America: Horse With No Name

 

For Eagles: Tequila Sunrise

 

For Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven

 

These are classics that will be fun to learn from even if no one ever hears you play them, and throw in a little Edmund Fitzgerald LoL!

 

Ahhh, the Edmund Fitzgerald. Every band needs a few "death songs", I know some cool death songs. Our bandleader gets requests for the Edmund Fitzgerald and we play it.

There are 29 horrible deaths in that song, it covers us for the entire evening and people sit there, smiling about the lovely drownings. Weird.

[Larryz]

"In late November 1975, Lightfoot read a Newsweek magazine article[32] about the loss of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which sank on November 10, 1975, on Lake Superior during a severe storm with the loss of all 29 crew members. The lyrics in his song, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", released the following year, were substantially based on facts in the article. It reached number two on the United States Billboard chart and was a number one hit in Canada. Lightfoot appeared at several 25th anniversary memorial services of the sinking, and continues personal contact with the family members of the men who perished in the Edmund Fitzgerald.[33]" Wikipedia

 

Gordon Lightfoot is a classic Canadian singer songwriter with many hit tunes. His material has been covered by many of our American greats. He would be an excellent choice for an acoustic guitar player to cover and learn from his material IMHO. Fitzgerald has an Irish ditty vibe. American Bandstand might say it's hard to dance to LoL! But I think anyone who can do a waltz should have an easy time with it. My Canadian buddy who played lead in my 1st band can still play the guitar parts just like the record...my favorite lines is when the cook says "fellas it's too rough to feed ya...and then fellas it's been good to know Ya!" Glad your band is keeping the tune alive...

[Shamanczarek]

I got a new acoustic guitar a few weeks ago which has inspired me to work on several acoustic guitar based songs.

 

If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot. I tried to to learn this finger picked guitar part many years ago and couldn't get it. Now with renewed effort I am finally getting it. Capo-ed at the second fret like all Lightfoot songs.

 

Mother Goose - Jethro Tull. This sounds like it could be finger picked but it's not. Lots of interesting varying patterns. Capo-ed at the fifth fret.

 

Sossity, You're a Woman - Jethro Tull. Ian Anderson's acoustic parts are among the best ever done and this one is probably my all-time favorite. Not easy to figure out and I've been refining it for years.

 

Ramble On - Led Zeppelin. It seems like nobody really gets this right. Some of the top Zep tribute bands I've seen don't get it. Here I am with a band I played with many years ago. Ramble On starts at 2:25.

 

Classical Gas - Mason Williams. I had most of this together several years ago and am relearning it with renewed effort. Not easy and there are a lot of chords changes.

 

Anji - Davy Graham. This a great finger style instrumental. Paul Simon's version is probably better known in the US. Davy was a big influence on Jimmy Page's acoustic playing maybe even inspiring a bit of Stairway. Capo-ed at the third fret.

 

Crazy on You - Heart. The acoustic intro is inspired by Anji. I am working on this because a band I'm in is doing it.

 

Dust in the Wind - Kansas. Great finger picking practice piece.

[Caevan O’Shite]

And how's it goin' playing new-to-you songs on your acoustic guitar, RABid?

[RABid]

Lessons are going slow. Had my first bass lesson today and it was better, but not much. I take lessons every Wednesday morning and go back and forth between guitar and bass. Trying to find a balance between boring exercises that help with muscle memory and agility, and learning songs that make it fun.

[hurricane hugo]

[font:Verdana]here's one:[/font]

 

[video:youtube]