Help me choose what to play on guitar

[Nonno Bassotto]

Hi, I'm a guitar player and I'm trying to diversify my style. :guitar:

In order to do this I have decided to study one song from each of a list of various players, so that I can learn a bit of their style. I think it will do me good, since I mainly improvise when playing, and I rarely take the time to learn entire pieces from other people, Of course I don't know very well all of these (although I know quite well some of them), so I ask you to advise me what to play.

So, if you know WELL one or more of these guitar players, just give an advice about ONE song to try, Please, tell me only if you know a lot of someone's production; I'd be able to choose the most popular and most obvious pieces by myself. Try to choose one that represents well the style of that guitar player,nothing atypical. Don't care about the level, I wil judge it, and try to do something gradual. Please, choose electric guitar pieces, rather than acoustic (and no steel guitar, since I don't own one).

Ok, here's the list, in no particular order (yes, I know it will be a loooong program):

Mark Knopfler
Eric Clapton
Ritchie Blackmore
John Petrucci
Frank Gambale
Steve Morse
Paul Gilbert
Allan Holdsworth
Pat Metheny
Stef Burns
Steve Rothery
Robert Fripp
Carlos Santana
Brian May
David Gilmour
Angus Young

I already got some ideas about these:

Jimi Hendrix - Gypsy eyes
Eddie Van Halen - Eruption?
Steve Vai - For the love of God
Joe Satriani - Devil's slide or Satch boogie
Tony Iommi - Fluff off or Supernaut
Yingwie Malmsteen - Fugue Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor
Jimmy Page - Since I've been loving you
Steve Ray Vaughan - Texas flood
Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

Thank you for your help!

[bchaffin72]

For Iommi, I would suggest Fluff off the Black Sabbath Sabbath Bloody Sabbath album. It is a rather clean acoustic style piece. One of my favorites, but not one most people think of.

[Patrick-Ruff]

hey man, do you mind? we already have a HUGE thread specifically for this :D. I'd prefer you post in there instead of some separate place.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=246089


I will contribute one thing though. joe satriani's hardest song is definitely Devils Slide.

[tcpip4lyfe]

I like to stream some blues and jam along. Lots of different styles. It keeps me entertained.

[koenn]

Jimi Hendrix :

-Little Wing
Has that nice chord/melody mixture.
Also covered by Steve Ray Vaughan

- Gypsy Eyes
melody and a really fast riff.

- Red House.
Sounds like just another 12-bar blues, but i think the guitar part(s) have more to it than meets they eye.

[Patrick-Ruff]

the intro to little wing is tricky.

[shen-an-doah]

Another Iommi suggestion:

Supernaut (Black Sabbath) - An awesome song and my personal favourite Iommi riff. It'll also give you some nice exercise with chords you wouldn't find in most standard rock stuf.

I still can't play it :(

[xc3RnbFO8P]

Jimmy Page, my favorit " since Ive been loving you "

[Patrick-Ruff]

Over The Hills and Far Away - Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)

this song will make you really work on your picking AND chord switches. I got it down in two weeks but I really have a constant issue with the way I pick . . .

[trak87]

Check out these brilliant players:

Jeff Beck, Baden Powell de Aquino, African guitar styles like Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi.

Edit: also Al Di Meola

[Nonno Bassotto]

Thank you for your quick answers! I've updated the original post.

@Patrick-Ruff: I will participate in the discussion you posted,but I'd rather leave this thread separate, as it is just a poll for myself (and other people who want to try the same training).

[reclusivemonkey]

Nick Drake - Just throwing him in there as very few people have heard of him.

[xl_cheese]

Hi, I'm a guitar player and I'm trying to diversify my style. :guitar:

In order to do this I have decided to study one song from each of a list of various players, so that I can learn a bit of their style. I think it will do me good, since I mainly improvise when playing, and I rarely take the time to learn entire pieces from other people, Of course I don't know very well all of these (although I know quite well some of them), so I ask you to advise me what to play.

So, if you know WELL one or more of these guitar players, just give an advice about ONE song to try, Please, tell me only if you know a lot of someone's production; I'd be able to choose the most popular and most obvious pieces by myself. Try to choose one that represents well the style of that guitar player,nothing atypical. Don't care about the level, I wil judge it, and try to do something gradual. Also, if you can advise me about other guitar players which are worth studying, just tell me. Please, choose electric guitar pieces, rather than acoustic (and no steel guitar, since I don't own one).

Ok, here's the list, in no particular order (yes, I know it will be a loooong program):

Jimi Hendrix - Gypsy eyes
Mark Knopfler
Eric Clapton
Ritchie Blackmore
Eddie Van Halen
John Petrucci
Steve Vai
Joe Satriani - Devil's slide
Tony Iommi - Fluff off or Supernaut
Frank Gambale
Steve Morse
Paul Gilbert
Yingwie Malmsteen
Allan Holdsworth
Pat Metheny
Stef Burns
Steve Rothery
Jimmy Page - Since I've been loving you
Steve Ray Vaughan
Robert Fripp
Carlos Santana
Brian May
David Gilmour
Angus Young

Thank you for your help!

Not about what you play, but how you play it.

Favorite Hendrix tune: Machine Gun from the band of gypsies.

I can't stand Yingwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Steve Morse, etc.

[thisllub]

Please, choose electric guitar pieces, rather than acoustic

And I thought you wanted to learn guitar. You really just want chicks.

[Nonno Bassotto]

Not about what you play, but how you play it.

Favorite Hendrix tune: Machine Gun from the band of gypsies.

I can't stand Yingwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Steve Morse, etc.

I don't like all the players I have listed (for example I don't like Malmsteen). But I want to try out different genres.

And... well, you may want to try to listen to Steve Morse again.

[Nonno Bassotto]

And I thought you wanted to learn guitar. You really just want chicks.

:D

[matthew]

I thought I would chime in with a few of my favorites from your list that hadn't already received recommendations.

Mark Knopfler - money for nothing ...makes me laugh, plus it's a memorable riff

Eric Clapton - wonderful tonight ...not a hard song, but it makes my wife swoon
- layla, electric version, or crossroads ...if you need one of his classics

Eddie Van Halen - eruption...at least that's the most recommended
- you could try the guitar part from "jump" </joke>

Steve Vai - for the love of god, or greasy kid's stuff

Yngwie Malmsteen - Fugue Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in E Flat Minor

Joe Satriani - satch boogie

Steve Ray Vaughan - scuttlebuttin'

and some you didn't have

Roy Buchanan - five string blues

Henry Garza (Los Lonely Boys) - onda

Eric Johnson - cliffs of dover

B.B. King - rock me baby

Wow, those are just some off the top of my head. If you learn to play all those (well, with feeling) you will be better than me by far. Best wishes!

[Patrick-Ruff]

hey man, don't forget about Texas Flood - Vaughan :D.

and electric guitar doesn't necessarily mean chicks. though that seems to be what people have turned it into.

acoustic is nice, but it doesn't have the wide range of sounds that electric has. (though, electric can't get the same sound as acoustic on it's best day.) so they're just to separate styles.

[thisllub]

hey man, don't forget about Texas Flood - Vaughan :D.
acoustic is nice, but it doesn't have the wide range of sounds that electric has. (though, electric can't get the same sound as acoustic on it's best day.) so they're just to separate styles.

That is why I have 5 of em.

[xl_cheese]

The single most inspirational thing that made me play a lot was watching this:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YZ6M9XCXL._SS500_.jpg

I watched it like 5 times in a row the first time I saw it.

[Nonno Bassotto]

Bump - any ideas about the remaining players?

[BLTicklemonster]

Play the strings, m8. :guitar:

[steveneddy]

To really get to be a good player, stop only "improvising" and actually learn the songs all the way through. Anybody can whack off to the solo, but to be a truly great guitarist, you have to spend the time on the song. Music is about the song, not the intro, or the lead break. Where would the radio be if all we heard were the leads?

Spend the time to learn the entire song. The rhythm, the lead and the dynamic of the song in general to become a true well rounded player.

When practicing, don't wear yourself out on one song. Warm up, play a little, then move on to the song you are learning. And don't forget to stretch your fingers before and during play.

:guitar:

[Nonno Bassotto]

To really get to be a good player, stop only "improvising" and actually learn the songs all the way through. Anybody can whack off to the solo, but to be a truly great guitarist, you have to spend the time on the song. Music is about the song, not the intro, or the lead break. Where would the radio be if all we heard were the leads?

Spend the time to learn the entire song. The rhythm, the lead and the dynamic of the song in general to become a true well rounded player.

This is exactly what I want to do and the very reason of this post. I just would like be advised about what is worth learning from players I do not know (and I put also the ones I know for good measure).

[%hMa@?b<C]

one song that I am learning right now and really enjoy is "Canon Rock"
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/j/jerryc/canon_rock_tab.htm

[steveneddy]

This is exactly what I want to do and the very reason of this post. I just would like be advised about what is worth learning from players I do not know (and I put also the ones I know for good measure).

Stop posting and play then. You won't get any better playing on the computer.

Shut up and play!

Lock your self in your bedroom with 100 of your favorite cd's and go at it. Come out for food, showers and going to work. Other than that, play your hiney off for at least a year.

That is the ONLY way you will ever build up your chops. Start easy, like ZZ Top and move forward from there.

FYI - I was one of the top professional players in the DFW area in my 20's (the late 80's - late 90's) and I played everything from rock to jazz to country and everything in between. To learn songs, I would plug my live rack in to a small mixer, use a jam box style of cd player and plug the headphone output into the mixer also and "live" in the headphones until I got the song down.

Get good at pausing the song, rewinding the cd a little, maybe even capturing a small phrase on the PC and looping it over and over with a two second delay in between and learn one small lick or phrase after another, then put them all together.

One note, one lick, one chord, one song at a time.

Just play with the cd's. Just play.

EDIT:

One more thing.

Don't quit!

[Patrick-Ruff]

it might also be a good idea to look into reading music, if you don' tknow how to already. helps you understand how music works and compose your own songs ;).

[LookTJ]

Hmm...these songs make your fingers move really well in my opinion:
1. DEEP PURPLE - Smoke On The Water
2. ACDC - Back In Black

[Patrick-Ruff]

eh, those songs are really really really basic. maybe if you're an absolute beginner and need something to get started, but as far as I'm concerned those songs don't really do much of anything to me. there are a lot of led zeppelin songs that really get your fingers going, and picking.


it's essential that you get your picking as good as your fretting, otherwise you'll end up being hooked on legato playing or you'll just plain sound like crap.

if anything, I'd go for playing the stairway to heaven solo perfectly, that'd be a good accomplishment ;).

[TomMK]

Mark Knopfler - Sultans of Swing

Perfect example of how to play electric finger style

[rune0077]

Ugh ... must ... have ... Elvis Costello ... on ... the list - He will never go down in history as a great guitar player, but no list of rock n' roll's finest would be complete without him.

[ericesque]

Admittedly, I'm not familiar with all the songs mentioned, I don't think anyone has advised anything even remotely like Pinball Wizard by The Who. You could spend months just trying to get the strumming pattern down.

I've also really enjoyed learning Crossroads by Clapton. It's a great study in phrasing and how to build on solos throughout a song.

[Znort_Ubern00b]

Mark Knopfler - Brothers in arms or your lastest trick
Eric Clapton - Layla