I’m in a two-piece lo-fi indie-type band. We’ve got guitar, drums, and male and female vocals. We got asked to play a couple songs at a Michael Jackson tribute night, and like fools we said yes.
We’re going to play “Ben,” because it’s pretty stripped-down and our girl singer sounds really adorable singing it. But we need a second song, preferably not another ballad.
Unfortunately, a lot of MJ’s songs are pretty complex and polyrhythmic; not good for a band that tends to trade on cuteness, funny lyrics, and attitude rather than instrumental chops (I’m no Jack White on guitar).
We’re not hopeless technically, but even so I’m not one of those guys who can effortlessly play two guitar parts at once. Can anybody suggest a Michael song with a fairly simple beat and not too much going on that we could play?
Akon does a really sweet version of “Wanna Be Startin’ Something.” I think he starts out stripped down, but then kicks it up. You could just keep the first style going.
It’s hard to screw up “Billie Jean.” You really just need the bass line, and accompany it with almost anything else. The bass and vocals make the song.
“Dirty Diana” is really easy (just three repeating chords) and would suit a guitar/drum combo.
“Billy Jean” can lend itself to some decent, stripped down arrangements (I’ve got a crunch guitar rendition that I do), but that’s a little played out right now.
“I’ll Be There” is pretty simple too, and works out as a duet.
Huh. I forgot about all of MJ’s mid-tempo songs. This one, also (as above) “Human Nature,” and probably a ton of others that aren’t total weepers but also aren’t all just bassline and percussion.
Also, mentioning here before I forget, “Rockin’ Robin,” which is just a modified 12-bar blues-- all the hard stuff is in the vocal part, which is more our speed.
“Smooth Criminal”? It’s got a fairly straightforward rhythm that could be done on any instrument, I think, and I think it would lend itself well to two voices.
I’ve played “Black or White” on the acoustic. It’s in the key of E (so just capo 2 up and transpose the fingerings to D or capo 4 up to C). It’s really cool to slow this song down and pick out the notes with hammer-ons/offs and comp it or harmonics for the bridge “rap”.