I am not a serious guitarist by any means, but I find my appetite growing for nice challenging acoustic guitar pieces. I haven’t gone through any formal method system; I just find songs I like and try to play them, either by reading sheet music, tabs, or (if I’m feeling up to mounds of frustration) by trying to figure it out by ear.
Recently I have been working on Clapton unplugged (e.g. Tears in Heaven, Layla), Elliott Smith (Miss Misery, Needle in the Hay), and just discovered a fantastic tab of a piece called “Classical Gas”, also by Clapton, on the internet. Classical Gas is probably the most difficult piece I’ve tried learning, but also the most satisfying and enjoyable (perhaps partly due to its being a solo guitar instrumental-- meant to stand on its own).
Thus, I am looking for more purty-sounding and challenging pieces to learn at my not-so-advanced skill level, and turn to you folks for suggestions. Also, if you know of where its tab can be found on the internet, by all means, please share
I just wanted to point out that “Classical Gas” is actually by Mason Williams. Having said that, I do agree. It’s a great piece, and a lot of fun to play. If you like classical music, here is a great resource for all different composers.
I am currently working on “Leyenda” by Albeniz. First part, pretty easy (if you’ve heard the Door’s “Spanish Caravan” parts are taken from this song), but then it gets much, much more difficult.
“Mood for a Day” by Steve Howe of YES (off the album Fragile) is always a favorite. I learned it from the sheet music. It’s really beautiful and not as difficult as it sounds.
Leyenda’s a beautiful piece, but a bit more difficult, particularly if one hasn’t had specific training in classical technique - the last half can be brutal (I had to perform it for a jury in college)
*Prelude in D for Cello *(Bach) is a lovely, moderately long piece that never gets very difficult. Also, Blackbird by the Beatles is gorgeous but simple.
On the flatpicking front - you might want to try some of the Steve Kaufman instructional series (Home Page) -loads of technique, but you’re learning lots of great tunes at the same time. Even if you’re not a diehard 'picker - you’ll learn more about pick technique and simple solo construction from working out some BG solos than just about any style I can think of.
Hesitation Blues and Embryonic Journey and [dang, can’t remember the name of it, but someone will remind me–that instrumental one that you recognise as soon as you hear it] by Jorma Kaukonen.
Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. This is exactly the type of stuff I’m looking for. I did have a question, though; there are a few notations that I’m not familiar with, which came up in Diogenes’ link:
E–7---------7—5–7nh-|–7-------10-10^×10-------10----
B------7h8----------7nh-|--------7--------------8----8–
G-----7-------------7nh-|-----7--------------7----------
D–5-------------4-^×7nh-|–9-----------9–9-------------
A-------------------7nh-|-------------------------------
E-------------------7nh-|-------------------------------
Ack, OK, that’s a mess. I know what h (hammer on), s (slide) and p (pick-off) are, but what is the significance of “^”, “x”, and “n”? I wish I had a recording of the piece so I could puzzle it out myself and stop bugging you guys
Oh, sorry, and the x usually means a muted playing. Usually more of a sound than an actual tone. Of course, all these symbols can vary quite widely from tab to tab, but that’s the standard from what I’ve seen.
If you want something easy (i.e., that I can play), I would suggest you listen to Paul’s demo of “Yesterday” and George’s demo of “Something” on the Beatles Anthology. If you’re really good (as in WAY better than I could conceive of playing) and into stuff with a bit of improvisation, I would suggest Frank Zappa’s solo pieces like “Sleep Dirt” (there are actually two guitars in there, but close enough), “Zoot Allures,” and “Watermelon in Easter Hay.” Only the first of those three is acoustic, but the latter two might sound good that way.
Neil Young’s Needle and the Damage Done[/] and * Four and Twenty[/] Hoyt Axton’s * Blind Fidler Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Southern Cross and * Our House* and * Helplessly Hoping*
They are all fairly easy, but can sound pretty fancy.
I tend to play acoustic versions of electric guitar pieces - I can do pretty mean acoustic “unplugged” versions of SRV songs like Cold Shot and Pride and Joy, for instance - so I don’t know how much help I will be.
Having said that, if you want to hear solo jazz guitar at the pinnacle of taste, technical proficiency and just cool sounds, you would have to try very hard to do better than Joe Pass’ Virtuoso #3. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.
I am not a big fan of the McLaughlin, DeLucia and DiMeola “oh wow we’re so fast” school of playing. Listen to the tasteful way Pass does his thing and even if you don’t learn to play that well you can learn a ton. I have.
Bron-Ur-Ayr Zep’ off Physical Graffitti it’s not as hard to play as it sounds, and there’s some good tab on the net. I just re-read the OP, definitley try this one, it’s very satisfying to play.
“nh” is “natural harmonic.” “x” is “muted” and the ^ is (I believe) just an indication for a downstroke in this case. The chord in question is just a sweep of all the natural harmonics at the seventh fret. (damp the strings at the seventh fret and and strike it so that all the harmonics ring out).
Small Clanger is dead-on. Bron-Yr-Aur is one of the most beautiful acoustic guitar pieces I’ve ever heard. If you can play it well and reliably, it has the potential to make women (or men) swoon. It sounds really tough.
While you’re at it, try their songs That’s the Way, which includes a great outro, and Tangerine.
Dire Straits’ Romeo and Juliet is a more complicated, but also more pleasing, arrangement than the Indigo Girls’ cover of the same song.
Pure Prarie League’s Amie (Falling In and Out of Love With You) requires lots of picking if you include the delicate intro, but the main portion of the song can be done just with three- or four-chord strumming if you don’t want to do any of the tough bits.
Jimmy Buffett’s God’s Own Drunk is really a talking blues song, but the basic riff would be a good exercise as well as being really useful at parties, if someone’s telling a story. Bonus: if you learn to tell the tale well, this one is a hit at a coffeehouse.
The Smashing Pumpkins song Disarm and their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide are both very pretty, and go in the same emotional category as Bron-Yr-Aur.
