Acoustic Guitar Songs to Play / Learn

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

I'm starting to pick up my 6 string more often now that its been given an overhaul. Its my grandfathers, classical set up, the neck is shorter than regular guitars.

I cant play a full song, lol, so far just intro's or the basics. Heres what i have been fumbling around with lately.

Nothing else matters - Metallica (acoustic intro). pretty much have this dialed in.

Stairway to Heaven - Led Zep. Intro, working on more.

Under The Bridge - RHCP, intro, basics

The Needle & The Damage Done - Neil Young. intro

Angie - The Rolling Stones - intro

Tears in Heaven - Clapton, butchering intro

a few riffs here and there of other songs, but im a noob. I'm starting to plug away at I'd love to change the world - 10 years after, and burn one down - ben harper.

Any other suggestions? i like melody or classic tunes that are easy to moderate to play.

[[THANATOS].Metal]

Anything by Doyle Dykes, Duane Eddy.

Wish you were here - Pink Floyd.

Classical Gas - Mason Williams*



*Not as difficult as you think, break it up into chunks and master each part before learning the next. This one is time consuming, but will get you sounding like a pro.

[Spluff]

[towlie]

I'm going to have to agree with Spluff on this one. Stairway to Heaven is too perfect to ever be covered, by anyone.

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

towlie Wrote:I'm going to have to agree with Spluff on this one. Stairway to Heaven is too perfect to ever be covered, by anyone.

i look at this like i do a lot of things. kung fu taught me that everything, every technique is like a letter to an alphabet, of which you can take many techniques, interchange them, and create words, sentences, and therefore improve your overall abilities. i take the same methodology to learning guitar. stairway to heaven has some good techniques and rythym built into it. i have no desire to play cover songs...ever. this is recreational.

if you look at my list of songs, or can play them, most of them involve finger plucking or something similar.

-- Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:01 pm --

[THANATOS Wrote:.Metal"]Anything by Doyle Dykes, Duane Eddy.

Wish you were here - Pink Floyd.

Classical Gas - Mason Williams*



*Not as difficult as you think, break it up into chunks and master each part before learning the next. This one is time consuming, but will get you sounding like a pro.

classical gas will be added to my guitar tab folder, i know this song, its perfect for what im trying to learn. wish you were here is in there too. i will have to look at doyle dykes.<br /><br />-- Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:57 pm --<br /><br />attempting Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Zepplin

at least the intro. its fuckin outstanding

[[THANATOS].Teo]

gay

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

[THANATOS Wrote:.Teo"]gay

its common knowledge to us older folks, that dissing zepplin causes you to burn in hell for eternity, forced to listen to Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice.

[[THANATOS].Shiver-]

"Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is super fun to play. Awesome to rock out to at the "25 or 6 to 4"-esque descending chord sequence too.

[[THANATOS].Homebrew]

towlie Wrote:I'm going to have to agree with Spluff on this one. Stairway to Heaven is too perfect to ever be covered, by anyone.

Too bad Stairway to Heaven is rip off. So are many other Led Zepplin songs. Well, the music part of it anyways.<br /><br />-- Thu Jan 29, 2009 10:33 am --<br /><br />Also try Brain Damage from Pink Floyd. Sounds better with the electric and effects , but acoustic is cool too. The begining is simple to learn.

[[THANATOS].Wolvie]

towlie Wrote:I'm going to have to agree with Spluff on this one. Stairway to Heaven is too perfect to ever be covered, by anyone.

[Hamish]

Desecration Smile - RHCP is quite fun to play

[[THANATOS].HaVoC_GT]

over the hills and far away

learned the basics of it today. such a wicked riff

[[THANATOS].Pommiewog]

ode to joy absolutely rocks!!!!!!

seriously, i recently tried to teach myself guitar, starting with the individual notes rather than the chords. Only got up to basic songs like oh when the saints etc. Because i used to play the sax i find it easier to read music (quite rusty though) than read tabs

So any hints/tips/words of wisdom that you can pass on would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you and good night

[[THANATOS].Metal]

The main downside to sheet music vs tablature is sheet music doesn't tell you where to play the notes, only what notes to play. Because of the way your strings are tuned, and the fact that the instrument spans 4 octaves, there's multiple ways to play the same note (hint: much more than 4). String girth plays a role in the actual timbre of the note, and can give it a whole different feel depending on where you play it. Best to stick with tabs starting out. The staff on a tab is similar to the treble clef you're probably very familiar with. Low notes on the bottom, high notes up top. If you rotate your guitar from playing position, into your lap with the fretboard facing the sky and look down at it, that's what a tab sheet represents. Low E on the bottom, high e on top. Opens are written as 0, and anything is assigned it's fret #.



As far as tips go, learn PROPER TECHNIQUE. Everything from how you hold the pick*, to how hard you're fretting effect how you sound. EX: If you're fretting too hard, you're playing your notes sharp. You don't need to push very hard to get a note accurately, and the string should never actually touch the wood of the fretboard. You should also be placing your fingers just behind the fret wire of the desired note to get it with good intonation. Putting your fingers in the middle of the frets causes flat syndrome, and most players will push harder to get it to ring true (that's if they even hear the difference). This is a bad habit that you don't want to develop because it's a sure fire way to problems (like carpel tunnel) down the road -- especially when you start getting fast. Not to mention the added wear and tear on your instrument that results. Be nice to your hands, and your wallet, and take the time to play it right.


* This is the most efficient and proper way to hold a guitar pick.

That's it for now, not trying to hijack Havoc's thread here, just wanted to clear up some stuff for ya, Pommie.

Anything else you wanna know, just hollar.

[[THANATOS].Pommiewog]

[THANATOS Wrote:.Metal"]The main downside to sheet music vs tablature is sheet music doesn't tell you where to play the notes, only what notes to play. Because of the way your strings are tuned, and the fact that the instrument spans 4 octaves, there's multiple ways to play the same note (hint: much more than 4). String girth plays a role in the actual timbre of the note, and can give it a whole different feel depending on where you play it. Best to stick with tabs starting out. The staff on a tab is similar to the treble clef you're probably very familiar with. Low notes on the bottom, high notes up top. If you rotate your guitar from playing position, into your lap with the fretboard facing the sky and look down at it, that's what a tab sheet represents. Low E on the bottom, high e on top. Opens are written as 0, and anything is assigned it's fret #.



As far as tips go, learn PROPER TECHNIQUE. Everything from how you hold the pick, to how hard you're fretting effect how you sound. EX: If you're fretting too hard, you're playing your notes sharp. You don't need to push very hard to get a note accurately, and the string should never actually touch the wood of the fretboard. You should also be placing your fingers just behind the fret wire of the desired note to get it with good intonation. Putting your fingers in the middle of the frets causes flat syndrome, and most players will push harder to get it to ring true (that's if they even hear the difference). This is a bad habit that you don't want to develop because it's a sure fire way to problems (like carpel tunnel) down the road -- especially when you start getting fast. Not to mention the added wear and tear on your instrument that results. Be nice to your hands, and your wallet, and take the time to play it right.


Anything else you wanna know, just hollar.

Thank you for the advice

Ill stick to tab music then, for the time being. What would be an easy song to start with?

My biggest problem is have is that i struggle to position my fingers, i find it hard to reach the E string in chords. I think my fingers are to short and stubby? maybe i could use my penis pump to help!!! =)) =))