I Need A New Song To Learn On The Guitar.

...any ideas?
been playin for 3 1/2 years

Acoustic or electric?

learn wonderwall by oasis it's fun to play and sing along to

never thought I could play DEE,by randy rhoades, but I can now. Great song to learn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7EpHxc7_EI&feature=related

Work on originals! Bring something new to the world. I never understood learning other peoples music. Sure it'll train the fingers, but I've also noticed it traps people into a certain way of playing/thinking. Cover artists are wary to step out on their own. Plus, once you've figured out said song, is there really a sense of accomplishment?

mouthmeetsoap said:

Work on originals! Bring something new to the world. I never understood learning other peoples music. Once you've figured it out there is really no sense of accomplishment. Not from me at least.

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Learning songs teaches chord structure, develops your ear,let's you see how a song is put together and it's good for practice.
I am self taught and play just for fun, it's fun when someone asks, do you know this song, and you can bust it out.

mouthmeetsoap said:

Work on originals! Bring something new to the world. I never understood learning other peoples music. Sure it'll train the fingers, but I've also noticed it traps people into a certain way of playing/thinking. Cover artists are wary to step out on their own. Plus, once you've figured out said song, is there really a sense of accomplishment?

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You can't start out on originals. You need to learn the fundamentals first. Train your fingers and ears and build certain skill sets. Running through exercises can teach you certain techniques (string skipping, bending, hammer-ons and pull-offs, sliding, tapping, vibrato, etc) but they don't really come together until you spend a lot of time on them, and it's very tedious running through the exercises alone. I get a huge sense of accomplishment from playing along to a cd and being able to replicate the song note for note. Makes me feel like i'm the big shot on stage ripping out awesome riffs and mind blowing solos. Then when I go to write my own stuff my chops are that much better.

VICTORYGARDENSHYDRO said:

Learning songs teaches chord structure, develops your ear,let's you see how a song is put together and it's good for practice.
I am self taught and play just for fun, it's fun when someone asks, do you know this song, and you can bust it out.

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I had a huge response for this, but ultimately guitar is about fun. If it pleases you to bust out songs to impress people, then more power to you. Writing your own music is better for practice. Chord structure isn't taught by listening. The only thing you hit was that it can help develop the ear.

mouthmeetsoap said:

I had a huge response for this, but ultimately guitar is about fun. If it pleases you to bust out songs to impress people, then more power to you. Writing your own music is better for practice. Chord structure isn't taught by listening. The only thing you hit was that it can help develop the ear.

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To me that's a bit like saying you want to be an author, but can't be bothered to sit around reading, you'd rather just start writing your own novels. How are you going to write a novel when you aren't familiar with at least some of the literary works out there?

Great song to sing along to...If you can bust it out that is....


[video=youtube;5bsT1OBJ5mA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bsT1OBJ5mA[/video]

one song that will always get people attention is nirvanas smell like teen spirit. they have many different ways to play it the easiest way is to power chord it. but its a good song to walk into a room and here someone play it

mouthmeetsoap said:

I had a huge response for this, but ultimately guitar is about fun. If it pleases you to bust out songs to impress people, then more power to you. Writing your own music is better for practice. Chord structure isn't taught by listening. The only thing you hit was that it can help develop the ear.

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Learning songs is good for way more than developing your ear. Learning songs from a wide variety of different artists in different styles reinforces whatever technical ability has been learned in context. If all you're doing is learning Metallica songs to rock out in your room, you're not really accomplishing anything, but taking apart songs, figuring out the chord structures and progressions, and looking learning the techniques/scales/arpeggios/whatever that particular band/artist uses in the song only increases a person's "musical vocabulary." That way when you go to write songs, you've got a big bag 'o ticks to pull from.

Think of learning to play guitar and learning to write music as two separate skills. Except for the less than 1% of people who are extremely gifted, you can't write great music on guitar without acquiring some ability on the instrument first.
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guy incognito said:

You can't start out on originals. You need to learn the fundamentals first. Train your fingers and ears and build certain skill sets. Running through exercises can teach you certain techniques (string skipping, bending, hammer-ons and pull-offs, sliding, tapping, vibrato, etc) but they don't really come together until you spend a lot of time on them, and it's very tedious running through the exercises alone. I get a huge sense of accomplishment from playing along to a cd and being able to replicate the song note for note. Makes me feel like i'm the big shot on stage ripping out awesome riffs and mind blowing solos. Then when I go to write my own stuff my chops are that much better.

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But he said he's been playing for 3 and a half years. By the time I was at 3 and 1/2 years, I was touring the country in support of our bands original cd. You can be pretty damn good in 3 and a half years. My friend showed me what a power chord looked like and I had a song within two days. I picked up pinch-harmonics, bending, tapping, etc. all along the way. I'm no virtuoso, just learned different than the way you're supposed to learn...?

guy incognito said:

To me that's a bit like saying you want to be an author, but can't be bothered to sit around reading, you'd rather just start writing your own novels. How are you going to write a novel when you aren't familiar with at least some of the literary works out there?

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Do you know anybody that is unfamiliar with music? I'd say it's more like reading a bunch of books on a subject you dislike and then writing your own book about something you do like, only making it the way YOU want it.

I used to fuck with a guitar I found in my alley.I tried to learn raining blood on the acoustic but I gave up cause the strings snapped.

mouthmeetsoap said:

But he said he's been playing for 3 and a half years. By the time I was at 3 and 1/2 years, I was touring the country in support of our bands original cd. You can be pretty damn good in 3 and a half years. My friend showed me what a power chord looked like and I had a song within two days. I picked up pinch-harmonics, bending, tapping, etc. all along the way. I'm no virtuoso, just learned different than the way you're supposed to learn...?



Do you know anybody that is unfamiliar with music? I'd say it's more like reading a bunch of books on a subject you dislike and then writing your own book about something you do like, only making it the way YOU want it.

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Believe it or not, some people are musically inclined and some people are mechanically inclined. Some people need more practice then others, we all aren't learning to go on tour, just have fun. I learned to read tabs, cause I can't read music, thru doing this, I learn how to make different chords and play them in a way that is comfortable to me.

VICTORYGARDENSHYDRO said:

Believe it or not, some people are musically inclined and some people are mechanically inclined. Some people need more practice then others, we all aren't learning to go on tour, just have fun. I learned to read tabs, cause I can't read music, thru doing this, I learn how to make different chords and play them in a way that is comfortable to me.

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You know, you're absolutlely right. I was moody earlier but while I was smoking I thought, "We all play guitar for the fun of it. Period." Seeing that we all have that in common, I'd like to know what you all are playing through? I've downgraded considerably over the past couple years, but still have enough to gig with and mess around with whenever I'm bored.

Fender Bassman 1976
Emperor custom cab w/ Celestion G12 Greenbacks
Rickenbacker Dakota
and a couple of pedalboards full of pedals. haha

mouthmeetsoap said:

But he said he's been playing for 3 and a half years. By the time I was at 3 and 1/2 years, I was touring the country in support of our bands original cd. You can be pretty damn good in 3 and a half years. My friend showed me what a power chord looked like and I had a song within two days. I picked up pinch-harmonics, bending, tapping, etc. all along the way. I'm no virtuoso, just learned different than the way you're supposed to learn...?

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And your song probably sounded like it was written by someone playing power chords for two days. Song writing ability =/= guitar ability. I'm not trying to be a jerk because applying what you've learned to original music at every stage is an important part of learning composition on guitar.

There's not one way to learn guitar. I spent the first six years learning much like you did. But your claim that learning cover songs makes a person stagnant as a song writer and doesn't help someone improve in technical playing ability is wrong though. Learning songs is an excellent way to practice because it allows you to see theory in context.

mouthmeetsoap said:

Do you know anybody that is unfamiliar with music? I'd say it's more like reading a bunch of books on a subject you dislike and then writing your own book about something you do like, only making it the way YOU want it.

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This sounds like an argument for learning songs. This is why I've been trying to learn country songs on guitar. I don't regularly listen to country music or plan on playing it out, but I like the style of playing and want to incorporate some of those techniques into my style of music. Practicing them in the context of songs will only further my understanding of how they can be applied.

mouthmeetsoap said:

You know, you're absolutlely right. I was moody earlier but while I was smoking I thought, "We all play guitar for the fun of it. Period." Seeing that we all have that in common, I'd like to know what you all are playing through? I've downgraded considerably over the past couple years, but still have enough to gig with and mess around with whenever I'm bored.

Fender Bassman 1976
Emperor custom cab w/ Celestion G12 Greenbacks
Rickenbacker Dakota
and a couple of pedalboards full of pedals. haha

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nice collection, I have an epiphone acoustic/electric, and old fender power chorus amp and a couple cheap electrics.
What Kind of music did your band play? I got to drum roadie for motorhead a couple times years ago.Just a couple local shows,but it was fun.

mouthmeetsoap said:

You know, you're absolutlely right. I was moody earlier but while I was smoking I thought, "We all play guitar for the fun of it. Period." Seeing that we all have that in common, I'd like to know what you all are playing through? I've downgraded considerably over the past couple years, but still have enough to gig with and mess around with whenever I'm bored.

Fender Bassman 1976
Emperor custom cab w/ Celestion G12 Greenbacks
Rickenbacker Dakota
and a couple of pedalboards full of pedals. haha

Click to expand...

Ignore my tirade. Nice rig. I love a Bassman with a nice OD in front of it.

Sgt. Floyd said:

And your song probably sounded like it was written by someone playing power chords for two days.

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aren't most good songs only 3 power chords anyways?,lol