Songs to play an on acoustic guitar - Progressive Rock Music Forum

Author

Message

Topic Search

Topic Options

StrengthandWisdom View Drop Down

Forum Senior Member

Joined: August 19 2009
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 104

Topic: Songs to play an on acoustic guitar
Posted: August 05 2012 at 19:07

Can you give me some suggestions for good and easy songs to learn on an acoustic?

Slartibartfast View Drop Down

Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator / In Memoriam

Joined: April 29 2006
Location: Atlantais
Status: Offline
Points: 29630

Posted: August 05 2012 at 20:58

Have you tried improvising? You never know you might make up some good stuff on your own. Big smile

Released date are often when it it impacted you but recorded dates are when it really happened...

Epignosis

Special Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: December 30 2007
Location: Raeford, NC
Status: Offline
Points: 32552

Posted: August 05 2012 at 21:16

StrengthandWisdom wrote:

Can you give me some suggestions for good and easy songs to learn on an acoustic?

"If the World" is easy. Wink

https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays

Horizons

Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: January 20 2011
Location: Somewhere Else
Status: Offline
Points: 16952

Posted: August 05 2012 at 21:29

Trains by Porcupine Tree.

Mystic Queen by Camel

Both come to mind, but i'm unsure about how "easy" you need them to be.

Snakes and Arrows (album) has great material too. You could pick out segments for training.

Triceratopsoil View Drop Down

Forum Senior Member

Joined: April 03 2010
Location: Canada
Status: Offline
Points: 18016

Posted: August 05 2012 at 23:07

The Trees by Rush was something I recall picking up without too much stress

Gerinski

Prog Reviewer

Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Offline
Points: 5154

Posted: August 14 2012 at 07:40

I used to play the following and I'm not a very good player:

Genesis (Hackett's) Horizons

ELP (Lake's) The Sage

Rush The Trees with Broon's Bane (the acoustic intro Lifeson plays in Exit Stage Left)

Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven (well only the first part is in acoustic)

Queen's White Queen

On YouTube you will probably find some useful videos, I remember having seen some for ELP's From The Beginning which is not difficult either.

TODDLER

Forum Senior Member

VIP Member

Joined: August 28 2009
Location: Vineland, N.J.
Status: Offline
Points: 3126

Posted: August 14 2012 at 11:21

A very easy piece would be "Juila" by the Beatles. The simple and easy way to play it would be to finger all the chords in the first position. Play it in the key of D major. The bar chords are easy for example F# minor and B minor. The A minor chord changes to an A minor 7th and that is accomplished in the first position. I eventually worked out different positions playing it more Classical style ..so that leaves you with an option to progress with the piece, but for now..try playing it in the first position. It's very easy.

lmaorofllollmao View Drop Down

Forum Senior Member

Joined: May 06 2012
Location: New Mexico
Status: Offline
Points: 113

Posted: August 14 2012 at 11:23

"Leaving Entropia"- Pain of salvation.

EATTTT YOUURRR BEEEEEETTTSSSSS!!!!!

irrelevant View Drop Down

Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: March 07 2010
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 13382

Posted: August 14 2012 at 12:45

TODDLER wrote:

A very easy piece would be "Juila" by the Beatles. The simple and easy way to play it would be to finger all the chords in the first position. Play it in the key of D major. The bar chords are easy for example F# minor and B minor. The A minor chord changes to an A minor 7th and that is accomplished in the first position. I eventually worked out different positions playing it more Classical style ..so that leaves you with an option to progress with the piece, but for now..try playing it in the first position. It's very easy.

Oh, it's also a beautiful song.

New album!
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=7385

AtomicCrimsonRush View Drop Down

Special Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: July 02 2008
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 14258

Posted: August 14 2012 at 16:14

Hey, I teach guitar to students at school.

I taught them lots of songs such as I can see Clearly Now, I'm A Believer, and show tunes

I have a complete Beatles song book and every song is easy to play on guitar. Just go for straight rock, rather than full blown prog at first. I can also play on guitar all of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. Also from Pink Floyd give Mother a go, very easy, as well as Wish You were Here - made for acoustic, esp 12 string. I also like to play RHCpeppers Under the Bridge and Bowies Space Oddity, Hotel California, Where do you go to my Lovely, Joanne, and the entire catalogue of Creedence Clearwater Revival is effortless and sounds great.

There are some really hard songs and most of these are prog or things like Paul McCartney's solo stuff like Blackbird, or Master's Apprentices 'Because I Love You', but only because they use very unusual chord structures.

The songs I struggled with were in unusual keys like Eb, or C#m, however I can play them easily now. 20 years ago when I started playing I was playing very easy songs in the key of G , C, or E; I avoided F and Bb.

Most of the songs I played were Creedence Clearwater Revival or country even though I am not a country fan, bit they were playable. Then I used to kanoodle playing chords like A, D, E, B7 to create blues.

One chord structure you can try is Em, C, D, G - or a fave of mine is Dm, Am, E, Am, Dm, Am, B7, Am

Just have fun or guitar becomes tedious. I love it and would never switch.

thellama73 View Drop Down

Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: May 29 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 8368

Posted: August 14 2012 at 16:25

Kumbaya!

AtomicCrimsonRush View Drop Down

Special Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: July 02 2008
Location: Australia
Status: Offline
Points: 14258

Posted: August 14 2012 at 17:01

thellama73 wrote:

Kumbaya!

Haha.....What key is it in? C?

I remember playing that in High School and I was playing Euphonium!

The Dark Elf View Drop Down

Forum Senior Member

VIP Member

Joined: February 01 2011
Location: Michigan
Status: Online
Points: 13216

Posted: August 14 2012 at 18:59

There are several easy songs to play that are also very cool. AtomicCrimsonRush was right on when mentioning Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" and "Mother", and you can throw in "Pigs on the Wing" and then "Fearless" when you get more adventurous . Also John Lennon's "Working Class Hero", and about 100 Neil Young songs, and also Cat Stevens.

...a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined
to take the place of the mud shark in your mythology...

kludge

Forum Newbie

Joined: August 15 2012
Status: Offline
Points: 9

Posted: August 15 2012 at 23:59

Good and easy? That's much of Bob Dylan's repertoire. Don't poo-poo it because it isn't prog... Dylan didn't become the most influential songwriter in the history of rock music for nothing. Learn lyrical structure and dynamic flow from him.

Why doesn't the Earth fall? How can you walk upon it? It's the music. It's the music of the Earth, and the Sun, and the Stars. It's the music of yourself, vibrating.

-Sun Ra

thellama73 View Drop Down

Collaborator

Honorary Collaborator

Joined: May 29 2006
Location: United States
Status: Offline
Points: 8368

Posted: August 16 2012 at 08:16

AtomicCrimsonRush wrote:

thellama73 wrote:

Kumbaya!

Haha.....What key is it in? C?

I remember playing that in High School and I was playing Euphonium!

No idea of the original key. I tend to play most songs in D because my voice sits nicely there.