Songs by women, good for beginners?

When there's a particular song I want to do that happens to mention the female gender, I just change it to the male gender. For instance, I do "Don't Think Twice" by Bob Dylan. The actual lyrics are:

"It ain't no use in callin' out my name, girl
Like you never did before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, girl
I can't hear you any more
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I'm told
I gave her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right"

I sing it:

"It ain't no use in callin' out my name, boy
Like you never did before
It ain't no use in callin' out my name, boy
I can't hear you any more
I'm a-thinkin' and a-wond'rin' all down the road
I once loved a man, a child I am told
I gave him my heart but he wanted my soul
But don't think twice, it's all right"

Just a thought...... :D

Rob Thomas' (fairly current) song Ever the Same is not gender specific. I posted it to the GN Easy Songs database a while back.

https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25927

Margaret

Rob Thomas' (fairly current) song Ever the Same is not gender specific. I posted it to the GN Easy Songs database a while back.

https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25927

Margaret
I don't know that one, but I like the lyrics. I'll see if I can find a copy to listen to. I have trouble hearing anything remotely recent around here. We can't pick up any top 40 radio stations. Its all oldies or country. Occasionally, I'll get to listen to new stuff at the hair stylists or tanning salon or something, where they have satelite radio, but that's it. Pitiful, huh?

EDIT: I just downloaded this at Napster and I like it. I'm going to give it a try. I'll have to replace that Bm barre chord with XX0432 for now, but I think that will work. Thanks!

When there's a particular song I want to do that happens to mention the female gender, I just change it to the male gender.

Yeah, that does work great on some songs, but not on all. For instance, I'd like to do Patience by GNR but replacing "sweet woman" with "sweet man" just doesn't work there. And I really like Try by Bebo Norman but "But somewhere inside is the will of a man" and "someone to love, and to live like a man" just don't transate, especially since man needs to rhyme in this one. Seems like most of the songs I want to play are like that. Why do guys get all the good songs, LOL?

I just sing songs as they are. It's just easier. It's not uncommon for songwriters to write songs in the point of view of characters. Like Polly by Nirvana. It's from the perspective of a torturer who kidnapped a girl. But Kurt Cobain never kidnapped anyone.

If I'm infront of people I know, I tell myself they know me and know I'm playing the song just because I like it. If it's people I don't know, they might take some love song about a girl as I'm gay but I doubt it. Even if so, it's someone I don't know and will never see again.

I would suggest Nico's songs for The Velvet Underground:
'I'll be your Mirror' and 'Femme Fatale'. Lovely songs ,almost lullabies, and quite easy.

When there's a particular song I want to do that happens to mention the female gender, I just change it to the male gender.

Yeah, that does work great on some songs, but not on all. For instance, I'd like to do Patience by GNR but replacing "sweet woman" with "sweet man" just doesn't work there. And I really like Try by Bebo Norman but "But somewhere inside is the will of a man" and "someone to love, and to live like a man" just don't transate, especially since man needs to rhyme in this one. Seems like most of the songs I want to play are like that. Why do guys get all the good songs, LOL?
What about something non-gender specific? "baby" instead of "man" or "woman"? You don't have to use the literal opposite if you want to fit syllables or rhymes, and you don't even have to do that. Pull it about a bit, make it your own, no one will mind :wink:

If I'm infront of people I know, I tell myself they know me and know I'm playing the song just because I like it. If it's people I don't know, they might take some love song about a girl as I'm gay but I doubt it. Even if so, it's someone I don't know and will never see again.
I like that though, challenging assumptions :)

In Green Day's Basket Case one section of the lyrics is:

"I went to a shrink,
To analyse my dreams,
She said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down,
I went to a whore,
He said my life's a bore,
So quit my whining 'cause it's bringing him down".

When you look in the case notes, they're handwritten and the 'he' and 'she' have been written bigger and bolder than the rest of the text to make the point. Just listen to 99% of the fans singing along though, both genders, and they'll just buy the stereotype every time.

I've not played this song in front of people to date, but it's on my list, and when I do I'll be sure to leave the genders in that section exactly as they are.

PS: Was it you who didn't like Green Day? I vaguely remember someone who was into Nirvana mentioning that they didn't... I know it wasn't Rahul :wink:

Rob Thomas' (fairly current) song Ever the Same is not gender specific. I posted it to the GN Easy Songs database a while back.

https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25927

Margaret
I don't know that one, but I like the lyrics. I'll see if I can find a copy to listen to. I have trouble hearing anything remotely recent around here. We can't pick up any top 40 radio stations. Its all oldies or country. Occasionally, I'll get to listen to new stuff at the hair stylists or tanning salon or something, where they have satelite radio, but that's it. Pitiful, huh?

EDIT: I just downloaded this at Napster and I like it. I'm going to give it a try. I'll have to replace that Bm barre chord with XX0432 for now, but I think that will work. Thanks!
You're welcome. Glad you like it. It's a good song, IMO. It hits a spot for me, anyway.

Hey, are you aware that you can slow the speed of a song down with Windows Media Player (and some other players, too) as a help while you learn it? It has to be at least WMP version 10. Let me know if you need more details. Using that feature helped me as I was learning to make the chord changes in this song.

Margaret

Hey, are you aware that you can slow the speed of a song down with Windows Media Player (and some other players, too) as a help while you learn it? It has to be at least WMP version 10. Let me know if you need more details. Using that feature helped me as I was learning to make the chord changes in this song.

Margaret

Yes, that's what I'm doing, and it really is a big help. So far so good, except I'm having a bit of trouble with the bridge. THere's a change of tempo there or something and I'm not really sure I'm playing those chords in the right spots. And the Bm in the song sounds a bit off to me, but that is probably due to my singing along, and not getting them right with my voice, LOL. Anyway, with a bit of practice I think this song will be very do-able for me and I'm loving it already. Thanks so much for pointing me to it.

I'll be checking out some of the other new suggestions soon, too. Thanks for the help, everyone!

Rob Thomas' (fairly current) song Ever the Same is not gender specific. I posted it to the GN Easy Songs database a while back.

https://www.guitarnoise.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25927

Margaret
EDIT: I just downloaded this at Napster and I like it. I'm going to give it a try. I'll have to replace that Bm barre chord with XX0432 for now, but I think that will work. Thanks!
mmdm wrote: And the Bm in the song sounds a bit off to me,

That open D string doesn't sound quite right as the root of the Bm chord when it's played as X X 0 4 3 2, IMO

Maybe you could try:

X X X 4 3 2
or
X X 4 4 3 2

Either one gives a better sounding Bm chord, or at least one truer to the song.

Margaret

That open D string doesn't sound quite right as the root of the Bm chord when it's played as X X 0 4 3 2, IMO
Maybe you could try:
X X X 4 3 2
or
X X 4 4 3 2
Either one gives a better sounding Bm chord, or at least one truer to the song.

Margaret

Thanks, I will try those. I'm going to practice the barre Bm but I'm a long way from being able to play it decently in a song, so I need a version I can play until then.

Margaret or mmdm-

How does that slowdown feature in wmp10 work?

How about Dolly Parton. I just seen "The Kennedy Center Honors" and it reminded me of how really talented she is as a writer!

Carole King, Roseanne Cash, Alanis Morrisette, of course Joni Mitchell, and by the way, the reason she uses such strange tunings is because of a bout with polio when she was younger, the alternate tunings are actually easier to play. ("Both Sides Now","The Circle Game","For The Roses")

On a harder note, Joan Jett, Chryssie Hindes and The Pretenders, Lita Ford. (Joan and Lita were members of The Runaways!) Heart and Pat Benetar!

The women are out there, you just gotta look!

Margaret or mmdm-

How does that slowdown feature in wmp10 work?
If the track is on CD, you must first rip it from the CD and save it to your computer.

Open the track in Windows Media Player and click the Now Playing tab, then click View, Enhancements, Play Speed Settings. Then use the slider to adjust the speed.

If that doesn't work, we'll try again, but I'm pretty sure that's right.

Margaret