Mickguard Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Right, we're at a bit of a crossroads in my guitar lessons, because my teacher's having trouble finding material that will help me move forward. A big part of the problem is that I'm not very good at articulating to him what I'm looking for, partly because I don't really know much of what's out there in terms of acoustic guitar music. I'm a singer first, and as a guitarist, I really prefer rhythm to lead --no noodlin' solos for me. My goal though is to develop a rhythmic playing style that incorporates some lead type work. Too much of the acoustic music I'm finding is blues oriented, and I'm just not into that, especcially not for singing. I'm not really into the heavily folky stuff either. Also, I flatpick -- don't like to use my fingers. Like I said, I'm a singer-- so it really helps me to be able to sing a song while I'm learning the guitar part for it, the song has a better chance of ending up in my repetoire. (I have a pretty low voice, means I can't pull off a lot of singers, like Plant, Daltry, et al ). We hit on a few Jethro Tull songs -- One White Duck, Wondrin Aloud, Cheap Day Return-- which I really enjoy playing, because the guitar parts are relatively challenging and his voice remains within my own range. Since I'm a huge fan of Lou Reed, he came up with the tab of some of his songs -- Perfect Day, Caroline Says, The Bed. (He also gave me some tab from Vintersorg-- it's instrumental, but, damn after playing that stuff, I made a huge leap forward with my technique). Now I'm looking for other song suggestions -- particularly songs that will help push my technique forward a bit. Could also be electric guitar parts that lend themselves to acoustic playing. So what songs do you play that help push you forward? What do you play to impress the people at the music store? Thanks for any ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAK Guitars Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 I really like Tommy Emmanuel for acoustic stuff. Also Chet Atkins, really good music. Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 I really like Tommy Emmanuel for acoustic stuff. Also Chet Atkins, really good music. Good Luck Heh...I'm looking for tunes a little bit less virtuoso than Tommy Emmanuel ...unbelievable...watching him on youtube right now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Don't know if you'd like it, but Seether's "One Cold Night" album is acoustic versions of some of their songs. I don't know if you could find the TABs/sheetmusic for them but they are really well done. The acoustic guitars really mellow out the grunge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsair Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Al Stewart's Year of the cat, Time passages, On the border and Roads to Moscow; any of the Stones' acoustic numbers, and I like playing and singing some of the earlyish 'torch' songs like Rag doll, You don't own me, son of a preacher man etc. etc. etc. Most of these are good singer/guitarist songs and are always well received at gigs, in my experience!! have fun.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Here's a Dave Matthews song that's along the lines of the type of song I'm looking for... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYJ4rBW5yOU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Well, since you mention Dave Matthews (Although I can't see the video at work), I will mention Jack Johnson as a possibility. He's got a low vocal range, is fairly rhythmic as a guitar player, and most of his stuff is acoustic. Generally he's got an intro with a bit of 'blues-pop' flavor to it, but the parts while singing are much simpler and more chord oriented. I would recommend songs like 'Posters', 'Inaudible Melodies', and 'Taylor'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaycee Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Wish you were here - Pink Floyd, a agood all rounder that's fairly easy to play Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Take some acoustic songs you like, that are above your range, and transpose them down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 Take some acoustic songs you like, that are above your range, and transpose them down. The problem is more that I just don't know much about acoustic music. And I'm really looking for material that's going to make me stretch as a player. Most of the singer-songwriter stuff is really simplistic, which makes sense in its way. But it's not going to make me a better player. It's one of the reasons I like playing Ian Anderson's acoustic stuff so much -- it's pretty complex guitar work and he's usually singing at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted January 27, 2009 Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 How about some Newton Faulkner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 I saw The Church in Sydney a few months ago, one of their songs would fit the criteria you mentioned, have a go at Under The Milky Way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsair Posted January 31, 2009 Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 Wow - just to hijack the thread momentarily! - the Church are still going?! Whacko; boy I liked 'em when I was living in Aussie what seems like a century ago!! Anyway, I wouldn't class any of Al Stewart's stuff as simplistic by any means and the thing to remember about Jethro Tull is that Martin Barre plays most of the really tricky stuff on guitar!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Preston Swift Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) I don't know if this is what you're looking for cause it's more rhythm oriented but it's still got some lead elements to it. These guys are made up of the remnants of The Darkness. I dig it. The ending is so sweet. Edited February 3, 2009 by Mr. Preston Swift Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dash Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 how about angie - rolling stones hard luck woman - kiss lightning crashes - live i recently heard an acoustic version of creep by radiohead. its off their pablo honey album, sounded great. really though, do they have to be specifically acoustic? there are so many songs you could adapt just listen to a few unplugged albums, you could turn any song acoustic. cheers darren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 really though, do they have to be specifically acoustic? Actually no. We played a show the other night where the singer of the other band came out and did a solo set --just him and his telecaster. He played a bunch of covers (wish I remembered which ones-- one of them was Jessica Simpson by Adam Green), and it sounded really great. Right now my teacher has me working on a piece from Beppe Gambetta -- pretty interesting stuff, but not much in the way of vocals....(he grunts a few times at the end of the song...) And he's working up the tab for Molly Hatchet's version of Wild Horses -- there's some nice acoustic work there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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