Hi all,
I just got a PM from another member who is just starting out on electric guitar. He's been playing an acoustic for quite a few months so probably knows a few basic moves. I don't think he's done much soloing, and may not be too strong on theory. Not sure. Anyway...
This is what he asked me:
you dont happen to know any cool easy song that i could start learnlng so i think im getting places do you?
Now I'd quite like to know the answer too. In fact I'd bet that's pretty much the exact question that everybody who ever bought an electric guitar wanted to know the answer to. We all want to feel that we're 'getting places' with our early songs. :D
Now, there is a an Easy Songs section here. But the trouble with most "Easy Songs" is that the information is often incomplete. For instance the chords are listed, but often no information about the strumming pattern, the rhythm or the general 'feel' and how you get it. And there are pages of suggestions to choose from, which can get a bit overwhelming.
There's also a lessons page where people can discuss specific lessons from the archives here. But there's a lot of choice there too, and many of David's Excellent lessons are not specifically targeted to electric guitar.
I'm a reasonably competent beginner-cum-intermediate 'campfire' style acoustic rhythm/chord strummer but I'm a complete newb to electric. So I'm wondering if we could run some sort of joint class that we could all join in? A little like the jams that Margaret and others have organised, but focused on learning a specific song instead. Something along these lines:
2. Get some song suggestions and choose one. This might not be quite as easy as it sounds, as we'd need something that most people are reasonably familiar with, but preferably doesn't infringe any copyrights if we get into detail.
3. Work out the issues that we'll be facing. Things like amp settings, chords (or not - it would be good to do some with just a solo melody line too), timing and speed, strumming patterns and so on. There's always a lot more to bringing a song to life than just the basic tab or chords.
4. Start trying to put it together. Maybe a few days of question and answer about bits we don't understand or are having trouble with.
5. Posting links to a few sound clips of bits and pieces to get some tips on how to improve. The clips from better players can help the rest of us.
6. After a few weeks, edit up the bits that seem the most informative and useful and post the 'best of' the whole exercise in the "Easy Songs" or elsewhere, so that others can benefit too.
What do you think? Possible? Too hard to do in practice? Already done somewhere else here? Any other newbies or more experienced players feel like chipping in? Any suggestions or comments?
Cheers,
Chris
I don't currently play electric, but this sounds like a good idea.
"Yes and an old guitar is all that he can afford,
when he gets up under the lights to play his thing..."-Dire Straits
http://www.myspace.com/misterpete42
Sounds like a new Forum: "Beginner Jam".
I would recommend Rock N' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution by AC/DC. It's a fairly simple, it's definately sounds great amped, and who doesn't like AC/DC?
"That’s what takes place when a song is written: You see something that isn’t there. Then you use your instrument to find it."
- John Frusciante
I would recommend Rock N' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution by AC/DC. It's a fairly simple, it's definately sounds great amped, and who doesn't like AC/DC?
Thanks for the suggestion. :) I'm ashamed to say that I don't really know any AC/DC, but is it a song that can successfully sound OK played on a single guitar?
Lots of so called "Easy songs" that I've seen turn out to be songs by bands - and are therefore usually played with something like drums, bass, rhythm guitar and lead, and probably a singer as well.
What we need is something that's both easy, and sounds reasonably satisfying on one guitar, as we wouldn't be jamming together, just learning together. One of the biggest difficulties facing a newbie guitarist is that nothing you play sounds anything like the song that you've heard on the CD or radio. And often that's because you have little chance of matching the sound of a whole band. :shock:
I'll see if I can hunt up that AC/DC song and have a listen. I've got a version of a couple of their songs in a book called "101 Australian Songs for Easy Guitar" but I don't know how we'd go with copyright issues trying to use it here. Also that's not one of the songs... :? So I'll see what the internet throws up.
I'm also hoping that one of the mods or team members here will chime and tell me things like whether such an idea has already been covered elsewhere here, how we go with the copyright stuff, which would be the right sub-forum, etc.
If the idea is not really a goer, then at least we might have got some handy suggestions on songs to work on by ourselves. :)
Cheers,
Chris
I thik that songs that most people would know would be good. So I suggest a Rolling Stones song. Any easy one would be good. There is also Tangerine by Led Zepplin which is real easy. There are lots of early Beatles songs that are easy. Free Falling by Tom Petty is very easy.
I' m not kool ..
But my son plays a Greenday song mmmm whats it called .........
aghhh something about Broken Dreams aghhh
Told you I ain't Kool
He is a beginner like his dad .. Just dad has finer taste in music , Eagles , CCR ,
oh and Slade and AC/DC ..oops
.........double space ..........
I am aso known as Barnabus Rock ...Hilch ....ummmm yeah thats it
Free Falling by Tom Petty is very easy.
Great! Thanks Pearlthekat. That would be a good one to learn, and I'm sure I've seen a few lessons around the net that at least give a bit of the song. I'll check and see if it's already at GN here somewhere. :)
I don't know any Greenday, Trevor but I'm sure lots of people do, so I'll keep my eye out for that too.
I do like the idea of Free falling though, especially if it's not too hard. :)
Cheers,
Chris
EDIT:
Fantastic Pearlthekat, I found it at the Easy Song forum with a very detailed set of instructions by Mattguitar
Looks like there's actually already plenty of information there at the Easy Songs forum. :) It just takes a bit of wading through to find the right thread to suit. So maybe there's no real need to go through all the process I visualised - just give it a go, and ask either there or here for more details or help if required. Excellent! :D
Cheers,
Chris
This is a great idea chris would be fab if you pull it off could we have topics for acoustic and another for electric
it think the name of the green day song is good riddance trevor
looking around here "everybody hurts" look easy enough but again i think you need 2 guitars i may be wrong
oops "boulevard of broken dreams"by green day sorry
Nice simple songs for electric? Try "Hi-ho Silver Lining by Jeff Beck....
http://forums.guitarnoise.com/viewtopic.php?t=22850
Only four chords - G, A C and D - and a very easy strumming pattern....can't get much easier than four downstrokes to the bar!
Another one that springs to mind is "Heartache Tonight" by the Eagles"....can't be sure from memory, but I think it's just G, Em C and D....unfortunately, that one's not in the database....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Nice simple songs for electric? Try "Hi-ho Silver Lining by Jeff Beck....
http://forums.guitarnoise.com/viewtopic.php?t=22850
:D :D :D
Vic
Thanks Vic, :D
I was hoping you might drop by and suggest something. That's pretty much perfect - nice simple strum and thumpy beat which shouldn't be that hard to remember. 8) And it sounds suitably 'electric' too.
One of the big difficulties with doing something for the first time can be trying to work out several new things at once, and trying to pick which element you're getting wrong. But with a strum and beat that easy, and some very straightforward chords, that should be ideal for working on getting the overall sound of it right.
I've obviously greatly underestimated how much good stuff there is over at the Easy Songs section. If you know where to look, some of the threads have plenty of good information on them. I obviously wasn't looking hard enough. :oops:
I was also able to find videos of both Hi Ho and Free Fall on youtube, so I now know how they're supposed to sound too - which is always handy. :wink:
That's plenty to get started on - for me anyway - I'm outta here for a while to give them a try. But if anybody else wants to chip in with more questions/suggestions, please go for it....
Cheers,
Chris
Another EASY Song with mostly strumming and with.. uh-hum dare I say can be played with Power Chords is
Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way.
:)
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)
Another EASY Song with mostly strumming and with.. uh-hum dare I say can be played with Power Chords is
Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way.
:)
would you have the tabs for this song sounds like one for me
Another good Tom Petty song for beginners is "You Wreck Me," from his 'Wildflowers' CD. I can't find my TAB right now, but I remember thinking,"Wow-that's nothin!" It's actually on my "learn list" for this year.
"Yes and an old guitar is all that he can afford,
when he gets up under the lights to play his thing..."-Dire Straits
http://www.myspace.com/misterpete42
Another EASY Song with mostly strumming and with.. uh-hum dare I say can be played with Power Chords is
Joe Walsh - Rocky Mountain Way.
:)
would you have the tabs for this song sounds like one for me
Check your PM :)
Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. - Wernher Von Braun (1912-1977)
