Guitar audition songs (recommendations)

I guess this belongs in here.

In a couple of months i'm going to be auditioning to get into a music school. I need to perform two contrasting pieces of music on the guitar with or without accompanyment. I've already chosen Lenny by Stevie Ray Vaughan, so i need something that contrasts that, but also something that could sound good with just guitar since i can't say if i'll be able to get a backing track for anything i choose.

They can certainly be prog, but they by no means have to be. I'm just after some suggestions as i can't seem to find anything i particularly want to play. Nothing too difficult. No Eric Johnson or Steve Vai. Well, thanks for any ideas.

A couple of months is not long to prepare anything of any depth. I am interested in the reply to Mike's query about accoustic. This would better suit a solo presentation. Do you have any training? Can you read manuscript?

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Why no Vai or Johnson? I guess you don't want to play anything by Satriani either ... must it be electric / lead guitar or can it be acoustic, too?

Well maybe i was too hasty with the Vai and Eric Johnson stuff. It's just in my experience, EJ and Vai are often ver hard to play. If i could get a backing track to it i would probably consider Die To Live as that's not that hard. But i know what it's like to try and getting backing tracks without paying for a whole bunch of others. I can get the Lenny backing track from one of my friends which is cool (i just hope it's in E :P)

Regarding Satch... well i'm not really a fan of his music. I played "Always With Me, Always With You" for music in highschool, but i don't really want to play that again. I suppose if i can't find anything in time i'll just go with that *shrug* I also played Sisters by Vai, but that doesn't contrast, and originally was going to play Cliffs of Dover by EJ (i actually like that song) but i just couldn't get that down in time and i doubt i could now either. I might start practising it anyway.

I can't play acoustic songs because i don't have an acoustic guitar (apart from crappy my beginner one), and i get the feeling most acoustic songs won't contrast enough with Lenny.

When i say a couple of months i'm talking end of November, which is fine unless i go for something too hard. It doesn't have to have too much depth, they just need to know that i can play the guitar well enough and i'm not wasting their time.

penguin, i can't say i'm that familiar with Clap or Howe actually. I have heard Howe but it was a while ago and i can't remember what he sounded like. I'll check them out. Thanks!

I just thought i'd ask here as it's one of the most musically diverse boards i know of. Thanks for your replies so far guys.

Speaking of Page, you could try the Rainsong. This suits either electric of accoustic- should be easy to find in tab. It is not too diffiult and also enjoyable as a solo guitar piece- shorten it up.

Another Steve Howe song is Mood For a Day. It's somewhat of a Spanish Guitar-esque song. You can get the powertabs here. If you don't know about powertabs it's a free download of the net, just search google. You can also get the tabs from Ultimate-guitar.com or here.

A good contrasting piece would probably be something harder. Hm, you could try Icarus--Borne on Wings of Steel if you can find it. Or just have one of these other people tell you.

Reverie wrote: Thanks for the suggestion CalamityDaemon. Cool song but i've just decided to settle for Die To Live by Steve Vai. It's pretty simple and i've discovered there is a backing track for it. Thanks for all the suggestions everybody.

 Great choice! The song is very emotional, and it's not too difficult - but it's not really simple to get it to sound right.

BTW: Could you post the backing track (via Yousendit.com)? I'd greatly appreciate that, because I have only half of it (the end is missing). 

^ Do you have the DVD? It's very helpful to watch him play the song.

"Anthem" by Ralph Towner?

Edit: Actually, it's a number for solo classical guitar. Maybe I should do some thinking before posting. I doubt it...

Edited by Eetu Pellonpää

^^ friend played it for with me it sounds awesome
you are