Which reminds me of his “I’m Not Awake Yet”. My introduction to Rory Gallagher. It may be too multi-layered to enjoy playing on solo acoustic (not that I could), but man what a tune!!
I tend to dismiss anything I can play myself as being too easy for my admiration, inc. Blackbird and a couple of Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell pieces. Perhaps I shouldn’t: Wish You Were Here is almost perfect. (I just wish they’d done a third verse.)
Vaseline Machine Gun. The most amazing performance ever, but not my favourite piece of music, if you get what I mean.
“Horizons” by Genesis. (It’s a solo instrumental so I give the credit to Steve Hackett)
Actually, hearing it yesterday, I was a bit surprised no one mentioned it earlier.
I’ll offer up Guenevere by Crosby, Stills, and Nash.
I thought of another: Vavarano by D’Gary. It’s on “A World Out of Time,” a record that Henry Kaiser and David Lindley recorded in Madagascar with local musicians.
I don’t personally play guitar (though I own one and it’s on my list of Things To Learn To Do Before I Die) but I think that some things are so purely perfection despite being relatively simple that I classify them as great accomplishments along with the mind-blowingly difficult stuff. Wish You Were Here is such a piece.
Another vote for Tommy Emmanuel - here’s Tall Fiddler - truly amazing talent.
Also Leo Kottke - in a class of his own. “The Fisherman” is my favourite too.
Ah but that is the beauty of a lot of Pink Floyd. Not only does it sound good, it is also quite simple and easy to play (although like any music, it takes some work to play it well.)
My favourite acoustic piece of theirs is probably Good Bye Blue Sky. I also really like The Narrow Way.
kisses 1920s Style "Death Ray"
In particular, “Heartbeats” is the greatest acoustic song I’ve ever heard. You can hear it in this commercial, which also happens to be the greatest commercial I’ve ever seen.
Ok :).
What’s so great about the Pink Floyd pieces? “Mother” is just three open chords at the nut. It’s a good song, but the guitar playing is very basic. A chimp could play it. “Wish You Were here” is a little more complex, but not that much. Again, these are both good songs but not because the acoustic guitar playing is anything special.
I agree about Mother. The accoustic guitar is not particularly important to the song (hear the film version, totally different guitar.) Wish You Were Here on the other hand is known for the guitar part, and the guitar part is great. The fact that it is also very simple and easy to play is beside the point.
The thing is, NONE of the guitar work in Pink Floyd is very hard to play, but some of it is still very good.
I personally get a lot more out of listening to Gilmour and Co. playing Goodbye Blue Sky or Murder than I’ll ever get out of Tommy Emanuel, despite the fact that Tommy is technically a far better guitarist.
I have also heard a lot of “good” guitarists make a hash of Wish You Were Here because they had no feeling for the song.
P.S. Wish You Were Here would not have been my choice for this thread anyway, but not because it is simple.
I’ve never thought about the guitar part in Mother, personally, but Wish You Were Here has a beautiful guitar part. Simple? Yes. But absolutely gorgeous. THAT is what is so great about it, how beautiful it is. I could drink it like water… it has a far more tangible appeal to me, far beyond just something I can hear. A lot of Pink Floyd is like that for me.
Not sure why some people seem to equate “really great” with “super-ultra complex”… I just don’t at all see a correlation there.
That is a pretty song, and a neat commercial, except for the part with the frog. All I could think about after the frog showed up was… well crap. That many rubber balls bouncing around, the chances are like 95% or greater that at least one of them if not a hundred of them are gonna hit that frog, probably injuring it or killing it. Poor frog 
Leo Kottke’s Orange Room, William Powell, My Father’s Face and Eggtooth are among my favorites. I think his best is First to Go, from A Shout Toward Noon.