if you just want a couple of things in "the arsenal," learn a couple pieces that are like a minute or two, or one that repeats. It might be boring as hell, but people who don't play are thrilled to hear live music. What counts is actually putting passion in the playing, it's real easy for people to tell that you are insincere, even in the most difficult of pieces.
learn Joe Pass stuff. if you're friends aren't impressed, its time to find new friends.
theres a bunch of free transcriptions of his songs and some listings of his changes. he's also probably in some real books. i recommend getting his chord book by mel bay ASAP
On November 08 2009 06:24 Trezeguet23 wrote: Classical Gas - Mason Williams
Know it, Trace Bundy is awesome, and of course everyone knows Chet Atkins. Having his skill, however... I'll look into it nonetheless.
If u want to impress (non guitar playing) people Chet Atkins / Tommy Emmanuel is a good way to go. Even better is an arrangement of songs that everybody knows, like this version of Daytripper and Lady Madonna:
With practice this arrangement is very playable for non guitar gods and will blow peoples minds.
On November 08 2009 08:25 JohnColtrane wrote: thumb picks are retarded
Why do you think they are retarded? They give the base a bit more volume, you can easily add a bit of strumming to your playing with this, and you have an extra free finger compared to hybrid picking.
On the other hand thumb picks have no IQ, so they are indeed retarded
hitting the string with something meaty like a thumb makes a lower, rounder sound so its much better for playing in solo guitar situations as you can imitate a bassline
you have 5 fingers normally, thats plenty unless you have to pick a very large chord
If u want to impress (non guitar playing) people Chet Atkins / Tommy Emmanuel is a good way to go. Even better is an arrangement of songs that everybody knows, like this version of Daytripper and Lady Madonna:
Yeah, I have consistently loved and tried to learn so many Tommy Emmanuel songs. Not too great with a thumb pick, which was my main limiting factor. I guess I'll give it another go.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Those who I bumped into that are into bands such as Metallica, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath seem to really know their shit about old blues rock and genre's related to it. If you play for them, play some Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, or Creedance Clearwater Revival.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A lot of people around 18-25 probably still remember the 90's. So just play some alt rock from that time. Bands such as Third Eye Blind, Green Day etc. Nowadays, it's easy to have a plethora of choice when concerning one specific genre, so a crowd will have so many different tastes. It would be hard to pick an artist now that is known and liked by a crowd.
Everyone, thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely some of these if I don't know them already. As for All The Things You Are, love that song, but it's way too hard to play on the acoustic, at least the way I know how to play it.
As for Day Tripper/Lady Madonna, it was my first breakthrough in thumb picking! Never managed to get the two melodies/beats synchronized... 30-40 minutes to get two measures, but it's definitely a start!
On November 08 2009 10:33 Archaic wrote: Everyone, thanks for the suggestions. I'll definitely some of these if I don't know them already. As for All The Things You Are, love that song, but it's way too hard to play on the acoustic, at least the way I know how to play it.
As for Day Tripper/Lady Madonna, it was my first breakthrough in thumb picking! Never managed to get the two melodies/beats synchronized... 30-40 minutes to get two measures, but it's definitely a start!
Gratz on the thumbpicking! And I know what you mean, its really weird for your brain when you start doing it at first. But once you get it down you will never forget it. What i like about this song is that you actually see yourself improve with every 30 minutes you play, and you know that eventually you will be able to play it. Unlike some of the stuff he pulls during live performances of his version of guitar boogie for example.
On November 08 2009 08:42 JohnColtrane wrote: hitting the string with something meaty like a thumb makes a lower, rounder sound so its much better for playing in solo guitar situations as you can imitate a bassline
you have 5 fingers normally, thats plenty unless you have to pick a very large chord
It all depends on the song your playing I guess. I love the "meaty" rounder sound in Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton for example. But with songs like Mombasa or even daytripper/lady madonna it doesnt sound as good to me compared to the sound of a (thumb) pick.