For You Guitarists

[Guest Doomsault]

Anyone know of a few songs that are good practice songs to play on an electric?

[Guest redbaron51]

well lets see...

 

what music do you like

and what do you know already

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Black Sabbath - "Iron Man"

Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"

The Sex Pistols - "Anarchy In The UK"

Metallica - "Enter Sandman"

 

Learn those 4 songs, and people that have no clue about guitar will suck your dick.

[Guest chirs3]

Well, I think it's required by law that a guitar player today know both "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (ridiculously easy) and "Stairway to Heaven" (ridiculously not easy). Plus it's two incredibly different styles - mindless power chording and actual playing. So those are two good ones.

[Guest redbaron51]

Metallica: One

 

the rythem not lead.

 

if you want a strong pinky finger go to guitarworld.com and zakk wylde does his little article in it shows you how to stretch your fingers, play the pentatonic scale, and put strength in your fingers

[Guest godthedog]

pick one song that seems to have difficult chord changes (like, say, where you have to go from a C sharp minor to an E), and work on it like nuts till you get it down. it should have bar chords too, cause those are hard and an essential part of playing guitar. a great example is 'michelle' by the beatles, your fingers are all over the place with that song. once you master it, all chord changes will become a LOT easier.

 

then pick one song that has a difficult fingerpicking pattern (you know, picking one string at a time) and work on THAT like nuts till you get it down. good example is 'street spirit (fade out)' by radiohead, and to a lesser extent, 'stairway to heaven'. master it, & fingerpicking becomes infinitely easier.

 

unless you want to learn lead guitar, making fast chord changes and fingerpicking are really all there is to it (aside from learning the actual chords, getting the callouses on your fingers, etc).

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Actually, the easiest blanket recommendation for beginner guitarists is Nirvana - Cobain is no guitar virtuoso and, since most of their songs are based on conventional pop chord changes with occasional solos, they're easy and they sound pretty good whenever you master them. Past that...

 

For Chord Changes:

 

Stone Temple Pilots - "Plush"

ZZ Top - "Sharp Dressed Man"

Foo Fighters - "I'll Stick Around"

 

For Licks/Lead-esque Lines:

 

Metallica - "Enter Sandman"

The Beatles - "Day Tripper"

Aerosmith - "Sweet Emotion"

AC/DC - "Back in Black" (a little more advanced)

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Power chords are generally pretty easy stuff to learn and mess around with. The funny thing is after a while of not doing power chords, I SUCK at power chords now. Anyway... what was I talking about? I'd try:

 

Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger"

Scorpions - "Rock You Like A Hurricane"

Nirvana - "In Bloom", "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

 

Anyway, if you don't like power chords, you can try some basic chord songs, like Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" or Green Day songs. Also, if you just want to impress people, you could learn some intermediate riffs that are really good. I'd suggest the opening riff to "Sweet Child O' Mine" or Fleetwood Mac's "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues" (I freakin' love that song... I used to be able to play it but now I can't remember it past the opening notes). Cream's "Sunshine of your Love" is also another good song that's pretty recognizable and pretty easy.

 

Finally, don't forget KISS!

 

I've been a "beginner/intermediate" for about three years, so I know the easy songs. I'd be better if I had a better musical memory. For those who've been playing longer, is there any trick to it? If I stop focusing solely on one song, or if there's a lot of quick chord/string/note changes (read: solos) I totally forget it.

[Guest EricMM]

MxPx - Chick Magnet

[Guest redbaron51]

I'd suggest the opening riff to "Sweet Child O' Mine"

 

It may sound cool, but this is one complex riff for a beginner, you need to have good finger stretch and pinky strength in order to pull it off.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Hey, I've been playing for about 3 years now...and I still have no clue what the fuck tremolo picking is. What the hell is it?

[Guest Shaved Bear]

any Blink 182 song can be learned in 45 seonds

 

try Metallica's Dyers Eve though

[Guest redbaron51]

if you want an easy finger picking song, Nothing Else Matters should do it.

[Guest Doomsault]

The first song that I learned was Iron Man and the beginning to Californication by the Chilli Peppers, both of which are getting old.

[Guest thefrenchargel]

Start with some Mortician, easy as shit and it sounds brutal. The toughest part is tuning down that low. Learn some Slayer if you want to become god at triplets. if you just picked up a strat copy and want something to learn that's quick and easy, go with Sabbath. After a year or two, buy a Dillinger Escape Plan CD and let your brain melt.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

I'd suggest the opening riff to "Sweet Child O' Mine"

 

It may sound cool, but this is one complex riff for a beginner, you need to have good finger stretch and pinky strength in order to pull it off.

Yea, that's true, I still can't do it perfectly and I've known the thing for months. I don't know what possessed me to mention it, but if you get good at it it'll sure sound cool

 

And I don't know what tremolo picking is either. Hell, I can barely read notes.

[Guest TheyCallMeMark]

If you're in to AC/DC, a very good portion of their songs are damn easy but all are recognizable and sound pretty cool. People will like it, too. Also if you just learn a few AC/DC songs (like I suggest) you kow the chords he uses and then you can practice learning songs by ear by listening to songs you don't know and experimenting with which chords sound right (he uses three power chords, it's not tough) and later you can learn harder stuff by ear.

 

Also Nirvana is good to learn. The palm muting can be tricky for a beginner but if you get it down it sounds swank. All the songs are pretty simple, easily recognizable etc. and it's all fun to play.

 

Just what I would suggest...

[Guest thefrenchargel]

Type O Negative, Life of Agony, and Machine Head all have some pretty simple stuff too.

[Guest GeneMean]

Good recognizable songs/riffs that should be easy for a beginner:

 

Smoke on the Water - Deep Purple

Rock n Roll All Nite - KISS

Seek and Destroy - Metallica

Talk Dirty To Me - Poison

just about anything by AC/DC

 

Sweet Child O' Mines intro riff is a GREAT thing to practice because it utilizes a ton of string-skipping.

 

I believe tremelo picking is simply rapid-fire picking the same note or notes over and over as fast as possible. Eddie does a good example of this in 'Eruption'

 

tab all on high E - 12 - 16 - 19 - 17 - 16 - 17 - 14 - 16 - 12 - repeat

[Guest The Man in Blak]

One song that just came to mind that involves a little bit of crazy fingerings and finger-picking is The Beatles' "Blackbird", from the White Album. It's a solid intermediate song to hone your finger-picking skills with.

[Guest KANE]

I've been playing for almost 6 years, but I'm not very good at all. But that's because I only like to pick my guitar up for about 20 minutes at a time, then I get bored.

 

Anyway, one of the first songs I learned was Green Day's "Brain Stew." It's all power cords, played very slowly, down frets 5 to 1. Open up the 6th string when adding in that extra note near the end. Trust me, that song is ridiculously easy, even for someone who sucks, like me. Plus, it helps you experiment with the chunkiness of your power cords.

[Guest thefrenchargel]

Learn how to play Bury Me In Smoke, by Down. It's easy as hell.

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Don't forget Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"! That was one of the first songs I ever learned too... I think the first was "Come As You Are" and/or "Smells Like Teen Spirit", because I just found my old Nevermind tablature book... hehe