Favorite songs to strum and sing

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by jasbo49

So what brings instant joy to you?

Instant joy? That would be Clapton, "Change the World."

[AusTexMurf]

Had fun both of us playing and singing Going Down The Road Feeling Bad last night with the wife. On the porch with a glass of wine. We took turns making up verses on the fly. One of hers that made me laugh was "Going where the young studs feed me grapes..." Good times !

[Willie_D]

Neil - Like a Hurricane, Heart of Gold, Harvest Moon, Needle and the Damage Done, Hey Hey My My...

Bob - Hard Rain, Simple Twist of Fate, Tangled Up in Blue, She Belongs To Me, Love Minus Zero/No Limit

Fabs - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, Norwegian Wood, I'm Happy Just to Dance With You

Melissa, All Things Must Pass, Who Knows Where The Time Goes (all based on the same riff)

Row of Dominoes - Joe Ely
I Feel Alright - Steve Earle

[blacknblues]

George Harrison - Isn't It A Pity
Stones - Dead Flowers
Men At Work - Overkill

[DWKitt]

Yellow - Coldplay
Heart of Gold - Neil Young
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot
Drink A Beer - Luke Bryant
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Horse With No Name - America

[JackB1]

some of my fav strummers:

Melissa
Give A Little Bit
Tangled Up In Blue
Two Princes
Breakfast At Tiffanys

[IndianaStrummer]

Travis Meadows - "Sideways"

[PHJim]

When you put a person's name after a song, does that mean that you try to copy that person's version of the song or is that the person/group who originated the song?

I've seen:
Don't Think Twice - Johnny Cash (It's a Bob Dylan song)
House Of The Rising Sun - The Animals (It's a tradiional song with Dave Van Ronk's chords that Eric Burdon learned from Bob Dylan's first LP)*
San Francisco Bay - Eric Clapton (Jesse Fuller's song)
I've Been Everywhere - Johnny Cash (I thought Hank Snow, but Wiki tells me that it was written by Geoff Mack)
Midnight Special - CCR (a traditional song made famous by Lead Belly)

I really like to find the source of songs I perform and giving credit to the song writers (or my source for traditional songs) is a part of my between song patter.

*re Rising Sun: For some reason Eric Burdon (of The Animals) did not feel comfortable singing in the person of a woman trapped in a life of prostitution, so he changed "poor girl" (as sung by Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, Joan Baez, Josh White, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Miriam Makeba, Nina Simone, Woody Guthrie and others) to"poor boy". I am aware that there are men, trapped in a life of prostitution, but this one word change really changes the meaning of the song for me.

[Kyle76]

Walking in Memphis
Soulshine
Melissa
Tangled Up in Blue
Don’t Go to Strangers

[rokdog49]

Originally Posted by fitness1

There are hundreds of tunes I could put here - but right now this is my favorite. I saw Rick on tour with TE about 10 years ago and got a chance to chat with him for a few minutes. He was a very kind, soft spoken and humble guy. His voice was one of the most impressive I've ever seen live - he really knew how to work a mic

That was really good rendition dude!
I strum using that technique sometimes.

[mcduffnw]

If we are just talking "strumming"

Then "Rocky Mountain High" by John Denver
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and
"Canadian Railroad Trilogy"...both by Gordon Lightfoot


duff
Be A Player...Not A Polisher

[guitargabor]

Some of Lightfoot's:

Don Quixote
Canadian Railroad Trilogy
Steel Rail Blues
For Lovin'me "Did She mention my name "

Others by him

Gabe

[donlyn]

Favorite songs to strum and sing

Originally Posted by jasbo49

Do you have favorite songs to just pick up an acoustic and sing and strum? Something simple where you can just think about clean chords instead of fancy finger work?

Jim

Well Jim,

I fingerpick everything and very rarely just strum a song. Matter of fact the only thing I do close to full-on strumming right now is "Greenback Dollar" by Hoyt Axton. Even then, I fiddle with the bass strings a lot, especially some double hammering-on with some of the E minor parts. On many songs I add intros, hooks, and endings, none of which could be construed as strumming even if there is a lot of strumming type playing going on elsewhere in the piece. Most of the stuff I do is solo, and constant strumming can be boring to the ear of the listener. And the player.

* * *

A note to PHJim,

When I use a name after a song, it is because that is the version that inspired me to learn the song. And my version will probably be closest to that one unless or until I make any changes. In "Greenback Dollar" for example, I never really liked the Kingston Trio version of the song. Recently heard Hoyt Axton, the song's writer, do it and it's a far more gritty performance than the Kingston Trio. I usually play it on 6 string, but Axton used a 12 string on the performance I heard.

Another example would be "Urge For Going" by Tom Rush. I know he didn't write it, but he is the first person I heard perform the song. It was an acoustic solo version which was an out-take from his "Take a LIttle Walk With Me" album back in the 60s. A great performance. I like his simple intro/outro arpeggios, so I use them too. I prefer on 6 string, but 12 string works too.

I am aware of (writer) Jimmy Smith's version of "Walk Don't Run", and also Chet Atkins' version. But I took my version from the Ventures and would mention them as the inspiration. And I fingerpick mine on solo 12 string, with no whammy bar of course, but using some substitute tricks.

Previously someone mentioned Lead Belly's "Midnight Special" as a strum and sing song. I use the Lead Belly style walking bass and sing over that with some extra filling notes and partial/full chords added in. In fact I use my backing arrangement (almost unchanged) as an instrumental break after 2 verses. On 12 string of course. So no strumming on that one.

Don
.

[pickinray]

Here are some of my favorites:

Heart of Gold
Take it Easy
Ten Degrees and Getting Colder
Summer Side of Life
Tangled up in Blue
Willin'
Guitar Town

[Charmed Life Picks]

"Lodi"
"Act Naturally"