Essential Acoustic Songs to Know How to Play

[kamikaze]

Hey guys. I've been playing guitar for about 4-5 months now. I'm progressing pretty quickly. What are some songs that sound good to play on acoustic when you CAN'T sing. I'm beyond awful. What songs are recognizable and easy enough to play for an intermediate player without vocal accompaniment? Thanks

- Scott

[JohnnyDes]

If you're just looking for recognizable, here are a few ideas:

Dust in the Wind (great intro to Travis-style fingerpicking).
Wunderwall (cool strumming pattern)
Time of Your Life (Green Day)
Wake Me Up When September Ends (Green Day)
Tears in Heaven (Clapton)
Fire and Rain (Taylor)
I'll be Watching You (Police)

If you want to explore purely instrumental acoustic music, there are a lot of directions to take. Check out players like Larry Pattis, Peter Janson, Al Petteway, and Simon Fox. Tabs can be found for most of these.

Good luck, there's a lot of fun things to learn.

JD

[Glennwillow]

Hi Scott,

I'm not sure that any guitar instrumental songs are essential, but here are a few I can think of that are recognizable:

1. Anjie (Davey Graham), but I play it as played by Paul Simon on his "Sounds of Silence" Album. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCdZnCG7OG8
2. The Water is Wide. There are a lot of good arrangements for this, but Mark Hanson's arrangement is one of the better known versions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWJk6HN7_2c
3. Embryonic Journey from Jorma Kaukonen http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IzoiqDaG4A is well known and not terribly hard and a fun song to play.
4. Classical Gas from Mason Williams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgUql7E7S-k is a very cool song to learn.

- Glenn

[emj]

Depends on what u like.
Stone temple pilots ...creep
Pearl jam...there are many of those songs
Poison...every rose has its thorn. Great beginner song
Skid row ...I remember you...another great beginner song
Kenny Cheney...el Cerritos place...really easy to play
Oasis....live forever....great song really any oasis songs are fun

[BobbyBadd]

Fingerstyle may be your answer. Try www.licknriff.com
He does some popular songs that may catch your fancy.
Good luck!

[justonwo]

EADGBE (aka the Tuning Song)