Up Tempo Crowd Pleasers

[electriclounge]

HI,

I'm looking for help from some of you who have been doing the live acoustic thing for awhile.

Can you suggest some up tempo tunes that aren't too difficult, but are good crowd pleasers. I'm hoping to have a mixture of some classic stuff, but also songs by newer artists that younger generations will relate to.

Any and all suggestions, tabs or anything else is much appreciated!

Best,

Eddie

[jstancil]

Sweet Caroline
Don't Stop Believing - Journey (I drop this down so I can sing it)
Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes
You never even call me by my name - David Allen Coe
Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi (or any 80's power ballad for that matter, a lot of people love 80's hair band stuff.)

This are all great sing along songs, even when the crowd is slow and talking among themselves I can always get a bunch of them to sing along with these. I have most of these with lyrics and chords in a word file if you have need.

[electriclounge]

Thanks for the suggestions!

Do you tune down for the Bon Jovi tune. I love that song, but it pushes my vocal limit to the max (and maybe then some in places).

Best,

Eddie

[jstancil]

I leave my guitar tuned down half a step all the time. I just use a capo when I want to play something up in standard tuning. The Jovi song is just half a step down, it is a reach but when you have gotten warmed up its easy to hit those high notes with the adrenaline the crowd provides! Other songs I will change the chords and/or capo up high so I can sing it lower.

[stegerman]

Glen Phillips wrote a great song called Fred Meyer....G..D..A chords...

[gjensen7]

Off the top of my head...here are a few:

Honky Tonk Woman
Tumbling Dice
Brown Eyed Girl
Wild Night
Me and Bobby McGee (starts slow...tempo increase and key change)
Bad Bad Leroy Brown

[slewis]

Top toe-tapper tunes from our set list:

Moondance (Van the Man)
Solitary Man (ND)
Lose That Girl (Fab4)
Amie (PPL)
Shooting Star (Bad Co.)
All I Want (Toad)

etc. etc....

[jackweasel]

"The Weight" [The Band]
Margaritaville {Buffett] T
Teachh Your Children [CSN&Y]
American Pie [Don McClean]
You Never Even Called Me by my Name [David Allan Coe. Worth mentioning again.]
Family Tradition [Hank Jr.]
Take it Easy [Eagles]

It all depends on the crowd.........and the degree of sobriety.

[Chicago Sandy]

"The Gambler" is always a safe uptempo choice, especially if the audience likes to sing along. Also "City of New Orleans," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Cherry, Cherry," "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Love Potion #9."

[Health Freak]

Here's a little medley that works well together with a little bit of tempo modification:

How Far We've Come/I'll Melt With You

Matchbox 20 and Modern English respectively.

Both in the key of C and are kind of antagonistic towrds each other. The first is a bit skeptical and cynical where the second is hopeful and positive.

Do the first verse of How Far... twice then go into I'll Melt.... When you get to the Em in I'll Melt for the "The future, open wide..." let it ring, then go heavy into the chorus of How Far....

Pulls it in an entirely new direction at that point.

[electriclounge]

I really appreciate everyone's input.

Those are some great suggestions. It seems easy to come up with acoustic ballads, but the uptempo stuff is a bit more difficult to think of.

Thanks all,

Eddie

[FLDavid]

Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" --> EZ chords, lots of "momentum" (for lack of a better term)

[klscott]

I did oldie medleys and mostly up in tempo. Something like the following. You'd have to experiment with keys and song order

Eagles - Heartache Tonight, Already Gone, The Long Run
Beach Boys - California Girls, Surfin' USA, T-Bird Song (Fun, Fun, Fun?)
Elvis - Don't Be Cruel, Jailhouse, Hound Dog
Beatles - Hard Days Night, 8 Days A Week, I Feel Fine

[FLDavid]

Originally Posted by klscott

I did oldie medleys and mostly up in tempo. Something like the following. You'd have to experiment with keys and song order

Eagles - Heartache Tonight, Already Gone, The Long Run
Beach Boys - California Girls, Surfin' USA, T-Bird Song (Fun, Fun, Fun?)
Elvis - Don't Be Cruel, Jailhouse, Hound Dog
Beatles - Hard Days Night, 8 Days A Week, I Feel Fine

Think about throwing "Little Deuce Coupe" in your Beach Boys medley as as an uptempo shuffle (I do it in G)

[fitness1]

I always got a great reaction out of "Ice Cream Man" by Van Halen, especially if you can pull of the vocal improv at the end.