Greatest acoustic guitar pieces of all time

Cafe Society
1

I’m sure there are some classical guitar works out there that would blow my mind, but my main exposure is folk and rock, so here is my submission:

Is There Anybody Out There - Pink Floyd (David Gilmour on guitar)

What about you? What acoustic guitar pieces* do you think are just perfection?

*by “piece” I mean the acoustic guitar work is either featured in the whole song or the majority of the song, not just some little 20 second bit in the middle of a song. It doesn’t have to be an instrumental-only song, though.

2

“Blackbird” by the Beatles.

Randy Rhoads’ “Dee.”

Townshend’s live performance of “Pinball Wizard” in The Secret Policeman’s Other Ball.

3

Anji, as recorded by Paul Simon (though not written by him, I think).

4

I like John Williams’ Cavatina, released on “The Secret Policeman’s Ball”.

Mason Williams’ Classical Gas has always been one of my favorites.
Bwahaha, DtC, I started to nominate his “Won’t Get Fooled Again” from that concert.

5

As a pair, Mediterranean Sundance and Splendido Sundance by Al Di Meola. Two times when lightning fingers actually brings out passion instead of just flash.

6

Forgot to mention a couple of pieces by Jimmy Page – “Bron-Yr-Aur” and “Black Mountain Side.”

7

Heh. Let’s just nominate the whole performance.

8

• Yes, Your Move.
• Simon & Garfunkel, Scarborough Fair.
• Nick Drake, Pink Moon.
• Nick Drake, River Man.
• The Beatles, Mother Nature’s Son.
• The Beatles, Across the Universe.
• Led Zeppelin, Going to California.
• Leonard Cohen, Sisters of Mercy.
• Leonard Cohen, Winter Lady.
• Bob Dylan, It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).
• The Eagles, The Best of My Love.
• John Mayer, Daughters.
• Nilsson, Everybody’s Talkin’.
• Glen Campbell, Gentle on My Mind.
• George Harrison, My Sweet Lord.
• America, Ventura Highway.
• Bruce Cockburn, Wondering Where the Lions Are.

9

• Extreme, More Than Words.
• Extreme, Hole Hearted.
• Godspell, All Good Gifts.

10

A nitpick, but it’s not David Gilmour playing. He wasn’t satified with his playing, and session musician Ron di Blasi ended up playing the fingered guitar part instead of him.
Most of the other suggestions have been rock, but here are two from slightly different genres:

Astor Piazzolla, Tango Suite

There are a few worthy versions of this tremendous piece for two guitars, but of course the reference is Sergio and Adair Assad – for whom the piece was created.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChkxDbFuUw (minus the first section)

There is also Al di Meola’s World Sinfonia version, which is pretty good. There’s an excerpt at the link below, although the sound quality is a bit iffy.

Baden Powell, Candomblé

This is not one of his most famous tracks, but it’s simply amazing. A superb mix of African and Brazilian influences. It’s one of the few pieces of music that captures all of my attention, every time I listen to it.

I couldn’t find any link to on the web, so instead, here’s his Samba Triste, live:

Django Reinhardt, Minor Swing

Django was easily one of the greatest and most influencial musicians of the 20th century. It’s unfair to only pick a single track, but this one’s pretty famous, and I found a link to it. Oh, yeah, it’s pretty rockin’ too.

11

Embryonic Journey - Jefferson Airplane

12

I think it was by Bert Jansch.

Elliott Smith - Memory Lane
Neil Young - Tell me Why

13

One of my favorite acoustic bits is definitely the copy of Stream by Tim Reynolds that is on the Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds acoustic CD. It just sounds so neat to me. There are a lot of good acoustic bits on those CDs though.

Brendon

14

Pretty much every time anyone who sees Tommy Emmanuel play anything, their mind is blown. Poke about on Youtube. Do not expect to have an unblown mind subsequently. He makes anyone mentioned in this thread except perhaps Al DiMeola look like a rank amateur. Sometimes the pieces he plays are a bit schmaltzy, or over-flashy or overblown, but mostly he’s just astonishing. If you’re looking for tasteful, there’s plenty of that played by him too.

15

Leo Kottke has done a lot of great stuff. My favorites are “Vaseline Machine Gun” and "The Fisherman, " off the old “6- and 12- String Guitar” album.

Richard Thompson and Martin Carthy have done tons of songs with long acoustic breaks, as well as wholly acoustic pieces.

16

But the all-guitar version that you never hear on the radio, not the one with the horns and strings in the second half.

17

I came here to mention that very song, which I just listened to: “Angie,” written by Davy Graham, from the Sounds of Silence album by Simon & Garfunkel. Amazing song. I wish I was talented enough to play it on my guitar.

There are probably a few dozen Doc Watson songs that should be mentioned, but I can’t recall one specifically right now.

“The Mary Ellen Carter” by Stan Rogers has a nice acoustic guitar duet going on in the background.

18

To the many already offered I’ll add Gypsy Soul from Tommy Bolin.
Also anything by Michael Hedges belongs on this list. (I think I have a thing for dead guitarists.)
The Doobie Brothers have a nice acoustic guitar duet called Slat Key Sequel Rag.
Eric Johnson - Song For George
Steve Miller - Maelstrom and Slinky

19

On the Classical side I’d add Capricho Arabe and Recuerdos de la Alhambra , both byFrancisco Tarraga . Both of which have been played by many great guitarists.

One of Heitor Villa Lobos’ Preludes is outstanding, I think its the second. Any of his works are worth a listen for something a bit different.

20

Oh, on this page you can find links to recordings of all of Tarrega’s compositions. Recuerdos de la Alhambra and Capricho Araba are numbers 25 and 23 respecitively in the fourth volume about two-thirds of the way down the page. Unfortuanatly I’m at work and don’t have sound so I can’t assess how good these interpretations are.