As a bit of an accompaniment to @RigidDigit thread Song NOT to play at the Guitar StoreI thought it would be good to know what song/riff is your go to when handed a guitar/bass/oboe etc.
What is your go to song/riff when picking up a guitar?
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For me it is either the riff from Time by Supergrass, or the opening few bars of This Charming Man by The Smiths.*
If it’s an acoustic then its Baby Let Me Follow You Down, the Dylan version naturally.
After these 3, my lack of skill on the guitar is very apparent & I cannot put it back down quick enough!
*I hasten to add that although I can play the right notes, it sounds eff all like it does when Johnny Marr plays it. I think that is true for most guitarists though!
The great Clarence White bluegrass lick #1. Originally learned years ago from Banjo Ben.
I mostly go for the strummy jangle pop fest that is Come Around by Kiwi band The Mutton Birds. Well I can’t do picking so it suits me fine!
And what a great song it is. Would you like me to drop by and do vocals?
Hmm, can you do harmonies @thecheshirecat ? It is a great song though isn’t it. Should’ve been a hit.
Oh I love doing harmonies, and am often complemented on them, just not at the same time as doing the lead.
Marvellous song. As is also their more melancholy Anchor Me. They deserved more.
I play a little most days. Often with friends who are much better than me (I’m rubbish – basic chords, but a good sense of rhythm, half a dozen easy famous riffs). Sometimes they bring other instruments. And hopefully sing. I hate singing myself and am pretty sure I’m crap at it.
I like playing songs that most people don’t play, avoiding your Redemption Song and Beatles and stuff. These are some of my favourites in my current repertoire. They’re all easy-peasy.
Dancing In The City (Marshall Hain)
The Chauffeur (Duran Duran)
Geneva (John Otway)
It’s Only Mystery (Eric Serra)
Wild West End (Dire Straits)
Guy With A Guitar (Mishka)
Sound & Vision (Bowie)
Young Americans (Bowie)
Take On Me (A-Ha)
Land Down Under (Men At Work)
Promises (Eric Clapton)
C Moon (Paul McCartney)
Marie’s The Name (His Latest Flame) (Elvis Presley)
The Great Dominions – Teardrop Explodes
Suspicious Minds (Elvis Presley)
Forever In Blue Jeans (Neil Diamond)
Spanish Stroll (Mink De Ville)
When The Thames Froze (Smith & Burrows)
Girl (T.Rex)
Straight To Hell (The Clash) – incorporating the last verse of Running To Stand Still (U2)
Day & Night (Jim Carroll)
The Bitterest Pill (The Jam)
David Watts (The Kinks)
Sugar Sugar (The Archies)
Tubthumping (Chumbawamba)
plus various songs from The Wall and The Final Cut (Pink Floyd)
Big up for Geneva! That’s actually a decent song.
They’re all decent songs, how dare you etc.
I remember once being impressed with a busker’s ‘gimmick’, many moons ago in London. Her gimmick was, she had written the names of a lot of diverse acts on a board, but not the songs. If you were curious to hear what song she would play by, say Siouxsie and the Banshees, you had to put money in the hat. Cool idea.
Oooh, er, well…I’m not as clear cut, I’m afraid (edit: when I wrote “clear cut”, Gary hadn’t posted his list – I was referring to the first few concise posts)
If it’s a Tele or a Gretsch, I nearly always play Train kept a’ rollin’
If it’s a Gibson-type, it’ll be the riff from Custard Pie; or The Faith Healer; or Megalomania.
If it’s a bass, it’s alway Spanish Moon first….or Black Market.
I don’t tend to try out acoustics in shops, as I am sorted for them – but if it was a 12-string, Ballad of the Beacon…
If it’s an oboe, then obviously Ladytron.
And after that lot, I’ll buy some picks and some Ernie Ball Yellows and leave with as much dignity as I can muster (before being asked to vacate the premises).
I’m the same.
Tele: The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead by XTC
Strat: Thinking of You by Sister Sledge
Bass: Femme D’Argent by Air
Rickenbacker: Second Guessing by REM
12 String: So Central Rain by REM
Acoustic: River Man at the moment, especially if there’s a capo to hand
12 String Acoustic: Sister Moonshine by Supertramp
And like you, usually only picks and strings on the way out.
Mine would be House Of The Rising Sun because, apart from Take Me Home Country Roads, it is the only thing that I can play and I am not going to go round playing the latter in public. Having said that, I don’t think that I would even dare play HOTRS in public either.
With my two 2HB pencils and my impeccable drumming on a selection of pans it’s almost as if the Dave Clark Five are in the room!
Teeange Kicks
Pretty Vacant
Whole Wide World
Flares & Slippers
Anthing more than 4 chords, and I’m lost
Patience of Angels
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Lawyers Guns and Money
Any of Wes Montgomery tunes from ‘Movin’ Along’ to ‘Road Song’ on my Gibson.
I like to pick the notes of the melody from Like a Hurricane. Or the bass line from an early Sisters song – say Fix.
The only chord sequence I know is House of the Rising Sun. I was a terrible guitar student.
@salwarpe So was I, which explains why we are both stuck at the House Of The Rising Sun stage!
Good to know I am not alone among all the aficionados, Pajp!
Funny thing is, I still love playing the guitar. I have one at home and I adore its tone, so I can happily mesmerize myself for a good 30 minutes, plucking away at simple notes, usually in C, G or D major.
I am ashamed to say that mine sits in its case and has not seen the light of day for ages. I must put that right.
Can you report back when that happens, @Pajp? I’ll try to do the same.
Don’t keep your guitar in its case. Buy a stand and sit it in a corner of the room. Or if you have a spare room, hang it on the wall. They’re good looking things(most of them are anyway), a nice bit of furniture/decoration even. Mostly though, if it’s out in the open, you’ll pick it up more often.
Of late I have finally realised the value of warming up a bit on guitar before attempting anything remotely tricksy.
So I tend to play a few easy rhythmic ones
Hair Of The Dog by Nazareth
Midnight Moses by SAHB
Letting Go by UFO
You Talk Too Much by Cheap Trick
Slip and Slide by Medicine Head.
Lettin’ Go…top tune!
Any excuse to get UFO back in the forum!
The very same! Surprisingly easy rhythm chords to rock along to.
I can’t manage the solo though…
The guitar shop would hate me because it does tend to be Akker Dakker, namely the opening lick from Thunderstruck. It’s just really fun to play. Mr Brownstone by Guns N Roses is much the same: big dumb satisfying hard rock. I do noodle about with a lot of Radiohead too: Subterranean Homesick Alien, Black Star, Maquiladora, Talk Show Host. A bit of RATM: Wake Up, Know Your Enemy. In other words, I revert to my teenage years and quite right too.
Oh yes. AC/DC. Riff Raff. If I manage to play that up to speed then I call it a day, put the guitar down and bask in my own cleverness
Guitar: REM The One I Love
Bass: The Cure Fascination Street. Which I realised a couple of years ago I’ve been playing in the wrong key this whole time.
Usually a bossa nova style run through of 10cc’s I’m not in Love or a similar take on I will Survive. My own arrangement of Stormy Weather gets an airing if I’m going to sing.
If I’m picking out a melody it’s usually the solo from I Want Candy, the easy bit of Everybody Wants to rule the world or lately, the opening to Adam Ant’s Goody Two Shoes for some reason. Very 80s.
Wow. You guys are all far more disciplined than me in playing actual songs. I just noodle.
The type if noodle depends on my reason for picking up the guitar. If it’s to check whether it’s in tune I’ll play some triad/chord inversions up the neck. If it’s to assess the tone of an acoustic guitar it will be some basic fingerpicking, played quite slow so I can hear the attack and tone, followed by a few bluegrass licks. If it’s an electric I’m assessing I may play some funk up high on the neck plus some pentatonic/dorian noodling around the 12th fret. Once I add drive I play some nice, big open chords a la the Young brothers. And then some solo noodling up the neck to check for dead spots or choking that could indicate neck/fret issues.
In other words, when I’m in a music shop playing a guitar it’s purely with the intent of assessing the instrument rather than playing actual music.
Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac which I worked out back when it was released. I’m ok on the beginning but when it gets to that fast run up I usually stumble and realise for the fifty millionth time that I’m not a guitar player
That’ll Never Happen No More – Blind Blake – but very badly particularly if I think Im being watched.
Failing that it will be Jorma doing Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning – also badly and at about half speed. I yearn to be this good ….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is0hFdIcvZ4
I like playing Deep River Blues if I pick up an acoustic.
I Will Survive. Such a lovely progression (imagine Hotel California, but good) and you can groove the funk out of it if you’re in the mood.
They are very satisfying chords to play.
I’ve never really thought about this before so picked up acoustic first and was reminded my immediate ‘go to’ warm up is Jelly Roll Blues, John Martyn stylee – gets the fingers on both hands really moving.
Plugging in a Blade I now realise one of my favourite electric warm ups is Follow Me Home by Dire Straits – very laid back and a great groove that leads me into other improvised riffs.
As long as you keep on picking up the guitar it doesn’t really matter what you riff on as long as it continues to inspire you.
If anybody happens to leave a D/G melodeon lying around Im very likely to pick it up and deliver a blast of Uncle Bernard’s Polka.
If its a banjo it will be “The Cuckoo Bird” providing Im allowed to retune the B.
Apropos of nothing, I was visiting an old fella of 92 yesterday at his home. Spotting a 5 string banjo behind his armchair. I asked whether he played, his reply that he was teaching himself, but it was proving harder work on his fingers than he had thought. Bluegrass, Irish or trad jazz, I asked? Bluegrass, he said. Respect!
You should have asked if he was learning Clawhammer or Scruggs. Clawhammer would be the right ie. cool answer. In all seriousness, next time you visit you might suggest it – as its easier on the fingers (and only requires one finger and a thumb neither of which actually need to move. I love the fact that a clawhammer player can have some terrible accident in, say, a saw-mill – amputate three fingers of the right-hand – and it make no difference to their virtuosity on the banjo)
Clawhammer is on my list of things to learn at some point. I’ve got my dad’s old 5 string in the roof so when I get around to it I’ll learn a bit. Very cool technique.
Béla Fleck is a Scruggs banjo player and his wife Abigail Washburn is a Clawhammer player. They seem to get along OK together.
Maybe a few bars of Blackbird on an acoustic, or the main riff from Love Is The Law if it’s electric. I find that one a good warm-up excersize. This is on the proviso that it’s a left handed guitar.
I can just about get by on a righty upside down playing chords, though there’s no particular go-to song. Never owned a right hander but had years of everyone else’s guitars being the wrong way up (if you’re me, that is).
Acoustic: Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac
Acoustic with no plectrum: Buckdancer’s Choice by Rev Gary Davis
Electric: Whole Lotta Love by Led Zep
Electric with a wah wah: Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) by Hendrix
Bass: the bass riff at the start of Horsell Common and the Heat Ray from Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds
Piano: Tubular Bells or Lady Madonna
But how do you test out tubular bells?