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david1 Profile
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posticon songs


In the 50 lessons book I noticed several places where the text says "select a song which is appropiate to teach this concept", or some similar wording. How about a list of songs? I'm new to teaching and have only been playing seriously (read trying to learn) for about a year.

Dave
10/2/2003, 12:28 am Link to this post Send Email to david1   Send PM to david1
 
NickMinnion Profile
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Re: songs


That's actually a great idea for putting this forum to good use! How about a few suggestions from everybody? Just name a song or two that you have found useful for teaching a particular aspect of guitar.

Let me kick off with:

Knocking on Heaven's Door - ideal beginners song. Can be played with three or four chords and later you can always teach Slash's solo from the Guns 'n Roses version...

House of the Rising Sun - to introduce the awkward F chord, also ideal fingerpicking material.

Oasis' Wonderwall - Very popular for all ages as a first acoustic song.

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit, nothing like it to develop finger strength and get student into using power chords.

For more advanced students:

Dock of the Bay - Ideal first barre chord song

Johnny B Goode - To develop added sixth shuffle pattern

Gershwin's Summertime and

Van Morrison's Moondance as introduction to Minor Blues.

And probably my all time favourite: Stormy Monday Blues (Alman Bros version of classic T-Bone Walker song).

Come on...someone else have a go!
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Re: songs


Well, we might as well face it...Stairway to Heaven is actually pretty good for fingerpicking and learning about descending bass lines, and once you get past the intro there is some useful chord stuff happening, too.
10/3/2003, 10:15 pm Link to this post Send Email to curtisbrady   Send PM to curtisbrady
 
leotheguitar Profile
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Re: songs


hmm let's see...

a couple I have used with my student ---

hotel california --- I used this one to help teach / accustom my student to barre chords of the "E major" and "A minor" shape. You use barre chords for the first chords b minor, F# major, A major and then for the E major chord you use the open chord (this also helps the student to see the correlation between the barre chord form of the "E" shape, and the open chord form). And then G, D, and e minor you can use the open chords.

and then of course, just showing your student the 12 bar blues chord progression automatically shows them the chord progression to like a 1000 songs, so don't forget that one.

and oh yeah, jimi hendrix's little wing works well if you turn it into a chord progression (rather than trying to copy exactly as he plays it). THe chords for this song are: e minor, G major, a minor, e minor, b minor, a minor, G major, F major, C major, D major. Make note that between the b minor and a minor chord, you can do a nice little chromatic Bb major chord inbetween them, so b minor for 3 beats, Bb major 1 beat, and then A minor chord...and etc..
Another good tune to use barre chords.

i've also used house of the rising sun as suggested above, and one thing I found that worked with this tune is I introduced my student to the concept of meter with this one. Because you will often see this tune in either 3/4 or 6/8, I had my student practice strumming it in 3/4 as well as 6/8. With the 6/8 in particular I had him fingerpicking the chords and counting it in 6/8.
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Gaz2003 Profile
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Re: songs


The songs im teaching at the moment are:

Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)- good for talking about groove and locking in with a click.

Day Tripper (The Beatles)- good for talking about riffs.

Scarborough Fair (Simon & Garfunkel) or Blackbird (The Beatles)- good for dveloping finger style.

Wonderwall- good for acoustic struming and talking about semi-quaver rhythms.

Hotel California- I use this with the more advanced pupils to learn about phrasing and developing a guitar solo.

Can't Stop (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)- something a little funkier.

Have A Nice Day (Sterophonics)- I find this one works really well with beginners.

Can't think of any more right now.

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david1 Profile
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posticon Re: songs


Thanks for the great list of songs.

I'm using two or three of those listed. I'm also using "Home Home On The Range" for beginners and the Beetles "Hey You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" for students who are beginning to get a handle on open position chords and just need repetitions.

There is a nice little progression at the end the chorus in the Beetles song where you play a Dsus4, D, Dadd9, D by raising and lowering the pinkie and middle finger by turn. A neat trick for people learning to play.

David1
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posticon Re: songs - keep them coming!


Let's keep this topic open as I am sure a lot of new tutors are finding this very useful.

I have thought of a couple more to mention:

(Nobody knows you when you're) Down and Out (Eric Clapton unplugged version) is brilliant for developing all sorts of extra bits to basic chords.

Start with:

C E7 | A7 | Dm A7 |Dm |

F D7 | C A7 | D |G7 :
and work up to:

C E (Hammer on E chord then add D note on second string and trill G - G# on third string |A7 Ab7 slide to A7 |Dm A A7 A | Dm chromatic link to F (D D# E F on fourth string))

F D#dim7 | C chromatic link to A7 (C B Bb A on fifth string) | D DMaj7 D7 D6 |G G7 Major scale link back to C (G A B C on sixth and fifth strings) :

Hendrix' Hey Joe ||: C |G | D | A | E | E | E | E : encourage endless improvisings over the last four bars and notice the chords are a pure circle of fifths!

Dylan's 'I'll be your Baby Tonight' as a song with nothing but major chords:

G | G |G | G |
A | A |A | A |
C | C |D | D |
G | G |G | G :

Middle eight:
C | C |G | G |
A | A |D | D |

great for getting your students to try out different voicings and inversions of chords up and down the neck.

Anyone for any more?
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Fife Profile
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Re: songs


Hi,

I'm glad that I found this post on the message board. I also had to stop and think about selecting songs for my students since I'm teaching several beginners recently.

Here are some that have worked well:

"Dust In the Wind" for introducing them to basic finger picking patterns. I break this song up in to a short exercise that they need to master before tackling the real thing. The first excercise uses only the thumb and second finger of the right hand. After they get this pattern then I show them how to work in the index finger.

Since Christmas is comming up I've set a goal for my students to be able to play the melody and a simple accompaniment part (separately) for "Silent Night". Since this song only uses 3 chords it makes an easy beginner tune.

"Norwegian Wood" - I use this song to show them how to incorporate small bits of the melody into the chords. It also forces them to use a barre chord for the first time during the bridge section (F#mi to B7).

"Wipeout" - This song is similar to the "Single String Boogie" exercise in the Lesson Book. I usually give them "Wipeout" after they have mastered the the "Single String Boogie". I make them learn the melody first, then I show them some common rock-n-roll style rhythm parts that they can do for accompaniment.

... I'm still adding to my list as my students get more advanced.

Thanks for your ideas everyone!
-- Fife

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Rouse Profile
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Re: songs


Free Fallin' by Tom Petty is great. Simple.

Also, how about Brown Eyed Girl? That'll make the parents happy, seeing as how they are the ones paying anyway.
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chrismiles Profile
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Re: songs


I've found this really helpful so here's some that I use:

Sweet Child'o mine. The chords are really simple and good for improviding on and the riff is a good picking excercise. I've taught it to a student who only plays acoustic guitar and it still sounds good when he plays it in open position.
Verse: D/D/C/C/G/G/D/D
Chorus: A5B5C5/C5/D5/D5/

Are You Gonna Go My Way. It's got one or two unusual voicings and the riff is good for string bending techniques.

The Wind Cries Mary. Good barre chord work out, and useful for showing the Hendrix style of playing E-shaope barre chords with the thumb on the bottom string.
Intro: Eb(Bb bass), E(B bass), F(C bass)
Verse: C, Bb, F,C, Bb, F,C, Bb, F,G, Bb, intro

Mary Had a Little Lamb, Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's a great blues tune, although there's a tricky run in bars 9-10. It's quite simple to turn it into a playable version for whatever level though.

Tears in Heaven, Clapton. Despite the fact I don't avtually like E.C. (you don't find many guitarists who will admit to that!) this is a good funger picked tune and the chord progression is quite simple to strum through.

Anything by Rage Against the Machine. The kids still love these riffs, Killing in the Name Of is a good introduction to drop D tuning (although it's not really suitable for family occasions!).

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