# Songs you would not expect to be played on an acoustic... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759 "2006-11-17T00:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/1 "2006-11-17T00:27:49Z")
…but sound good when you do. What songs are not usually played acoustic, but are suprisingly good when they are? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/2 "2006-11-17T00:32:24Z")
I once heard Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” played on a banjo. Much to my astonishment, it sounded great. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/3 "2006-11-17T00:32:46Z")
Leaving aside a number of issues… “Layla.” The first time I heard it acoustic was a WTF? moment, but then I just went with it, and it worked. I heard Jimmy Page play an acoustic, instrumental version of “Stairway To Heaven” once. It, too, worked. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/4 "2006-11-17T02:16:38Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Leaving aside a number of issues… “Layla.” The first time I heard it acoustic was a WTF? moment, but then I just went with it, and it worked. I heard Jimmy Page play an acoustic, instrumental version of “Stairway To Heaven” once. It, too, worked. [/QUOTE] I’m an acoustic girl. Heck, I think that just about everything sounds better unplugged. Except _Layla_. 🙂 It’s prettier, sure, but all the passion and the the urgency or the original were sucked right out. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/5 "2006-11-17T02:47:35Z")
Those were the issues I was laying aside. Pretty tune, but nothing matches the pure, molten angst of the original. Or better yet: 1. ARMS Benefit for Ronnie Lane. The aforementioned Jimmy Page guiter solo. As he launches into those rising chords towards the end of “Stairway”…first phrase - page. Second phrase - Page and Beck. Third phrase - Page, Beck and Clapton. They finished the song together. We went totally apeshit. they gave us maybe 10 seconds of screaming, then kicked straigt into “Layla.” Three guitars. Charlie Watts on drums. Bill Wyman on bass. Extended bridge, as all three Yardbirds take a solo turn. I win. That was the “Let me die now” moment of my life in music. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/6 "2006-11-17T02:50:32Z")
Stone Temple Pilots, “Plush”. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/7 "2006-11-17T02:51:03Z")
I did a single act with just me and my trusty Alvarez for years. It always surprised me what an audience would accept on an acoustic. Often it would be something I got several requests for and decided to learn to see how it would fly. Lawyers Guns and Money, Warren Zevon The Joker, by Steve Miller Pink Houses, John Mellancamp Feelin Alright, Joe Cocker and a bunch of others ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/8 "2006-11-17T03:10:28Z")
“Goodbye” or whatever that song is by Incubus. I’d never think Incubus would ever do an acoustic song, but it was actually pretty good. Never heard anything I like by them except that acoustic cover. ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/9 "2006-11-17T03:46:50Z")
OK let mr br a little more clear…I am looking for songs that are not usually acoustic that I can convert to acoustic so as to impress my friends and look kewl. Not necessarily songs you have heard acoustic … ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/10 "2006-11-17T03:52:40Z")
[QUOTE=newcrasher] OK let mr br a little more clear…I am looking for songs that are not usually acoustic that I can convert to acoustic so as to impress my friends and look kewl. Not necessarily songs you have heard acoustic … [/QUOTE] … **me be** … ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/11 "2006-11-17T04:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=newcrasher] OK let mr br a little more clear…I am looking for songs that are not usually acoustic that I can convert to acoustic so as to impress my friends and look kewl. [/QUOTE] Zombie Nation - Inside the Speaker. Good luck with _that._ ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/12 "2006-11-17T04:30:03Z")
Sunday Bloody Sunday by U2. Look for the live version from Sarajevo to hear how it’s done. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/13 "2006-11-17T04:30:42Z")
[QUOTE=newcrasher] …I am looking for songs that are not usually acoustic that I can convert to acoustic so as to impress my friends and look kewl… [/QUOTE] That depends on what your friends consider kewl. Are ya thinkin’ Green Day, or Yes, or Who, or what? ---
**Author:** ![newcrasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@newcrasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcrasher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/14 "2006-11-17T12:12:19Z")
[QUOTE=NoCoolUserName] That depends on what your friends consider kewl. Are ya thinkin’ Green Day, or Yes, or Who, or what? [/QUOTE] I guess it would have to be a recognizable song…not obscure. I want them to hear it, think they know it, the say, “Dude, that’s (insert former rocked out song here)!” ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/15 "2006-11-17T12:57:05Z")
How about **Bohemian Rhapsody**? There is a transcription for solo guitar [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=7973560) (scroll down to the Queen section). There are also solo transcriptions for **Hotel California** , **American Pie** or how about **Toccata and Fugue** by Bach? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/16 "2006-11-17T13:09:37Z")
Hmmm, I can’t think of a song that I _haven’t_ heard acoustically, but would still be challenging to do, but would sound nice if it were successful. So instead I’ll nominate the hardest popular song to make acoustic IMO: _Closer_ by NIN. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/17 "2006-11-17T15:15:01Z")
Led Zeppelin’s \*\*\*Kashmir \*\* \* done on cello is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/18 "2006-11-17T15:17:49Z")
…of course, “Closer” would be good on an acoustic drumset, with an acoustic piano accompaniment. I’d like to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/19 "2006-11-17T18:43:25Z")
Evanescence has covered Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” acoustically, and it turned out pretty well. I would be interested to hear someone give “Man in the Box” a shot. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759/20 "2006-11-17T19:13:09Z")
Try **Gin and Juice** by Snoop or **The Next Episode** by Dr. Dre, the lyrics of gangsta rap songs always sound cool acoustic. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-not-expect-to-be-played-on-an-acoustic/380759.md?page=2)