Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

jake_xms3_punk

jake_xms3_punk

New member
I've realised that my guitar playing has come to a bit of a stand still :/ I've been playing most of my life and completely self taught but find myself using the same patterns for solos quite often. I've stopped learning other people's songs years ago in favour of writing my own, singing and playing other instruments so haven't really progressed that much on guitar in the last couple of years.

I listen to a lot of different music and I think my style shows that; kinda Ac/dc, bluesy, melodic punk lead style lol

so any tips? Are there any new songs/ patterns / progressions I could learn to improve my playing in general? I don't play things like van halen, metal or neo classical or anything like that and only use sweeps as a transission from one note to another.
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

I've been in a similar boat myself before. I am also self-taught. I know a lot of modes and even what are sometimes called "lead patterns" that have helped me a lot along with learning new chords. However, the infamous stand still always creeps up. I found myself pushing myself in the past few years to really learn some songs from artists I enjoy listening to and it has worked wonders for me. I started slow, just to get a feel for things. I wanted to learn some different styles too but keep it relevant to styles I could lean on within my own writing.

A fun and super easy song to learn to kick things off for me was "I Can't Hear You" by the Dead Weather. Super easy, if you have already been writing songs it should take you an hour to learn. Just uses the basic G minor pentatonic mode and your hand stays in one position the whole song. The focus here is to get lost in the groove and relax your touch on the fretboard. This song is a confidence builder.

Next up, check out learning the riff and solo to "Lil' Devil" by the Cult. Another fun song but a step up in difficulty from the first song. I love jammin' this song. It's just fun and relaxed and pretty easy IMO. Maybe it will take you a day. Typical riff rock from it's era.

Moving along, check out Mississippi Queen by Mountain. This song is a blast to play. Still not too difficult. Another confidence builder really.

Now, push yourself a bit. Learn something more difficult. For me, it was a few Hendrix Songs (Purple Haze, Foxey Lady, Wind Cries Mary) and some by Zeppelin (Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker). Take the solos of Page slow, note by note until you can fall into the groove. With Hendrix it's a combination of finger/muscle memory with his unique fills merging with his version of chords.

These days I find myself having a lot easier time writing new music after learning some of these songs. I have learned many others too over the past few years, from 50's soul, James Brown funk to modern artists like Rage Against the Machine, Black Keys and Little Barrie. Just have fun and try to learn a few things about music theory you do not know yet whenever you get frustrated or feel like you need a break.
 
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Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

Do you know how to finger pick? Learning finger style on the acoustic really improved my electric playing–accuracy improved and also made me chords differently. Just a thought
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll have a listen tomorrow :) I can fingerpick reasonably well but only with my thumb and first 2 fingers lol learnt the into to "big love" live version by fleetwood Mac, would love to learn the whole song one day
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

jake_xms3_punk said:
Thanks for the suggestions guys, I'll have a listen tomorrow :) I can fingerpick reasonably well but only with my thumb and first 2 fingers lol learnt the into to "big love" live version by fleetwood Mac, would love to learn the whole song one day
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Celtic and Spanish styles are awesome to really expand your playing. Do you finger pick the melody along with the chords? That really improved my guitar playing. "Jock Stewart" by Ewan McLennan is a great song to learn that style

Best of luck improving your guitar playing!
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

I second the Hendrix and Page, add in Clapton too. Just woodshed their solos until those licks are comfortable under your fingers. The Hendrix rhythm style is an awesome way to open up new creative ideas with the thumb over the neck. Little Wing, Wind Cries Mary, Castles made of sand, etc.

A lot of my lead style was informed by more melodic playing, actually Mike Ness (Social D), Lars F/Tim A (Rancid) and Brian Blush (Refreshments) kind of taught me how to play melodic lead lines...
 
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Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

Find a good teacher is my first suggestion. :)

Next one is: learn one iconic song from a great player: One Henxrix, one Malmsteen, one Becker, one Gallagher, etc etc. no skimping, really learn them.
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

I'm self taught as well, and have been clawing my way out of the boring pentatonic noodling rut for some time. My advice is to focus on chords, not patterns. This can give a tremendous amount of mileage out of the pentatonic stuff you already know.

Take an A-D progression. Solo over it in Am pentatonic. Sounds normal but not awesome, right?

Now think about the chords you're playing. The major third of A is Db. The major third of D is Gb. Solo over the progression again in Am pent, but this time step a little out of the scale and hit the major thirds of each chord as they pop up. Sounds better right? You want to get really fancy, notice that an Am6 arpeggio contains that Gb note, so you could switch from Am pent to this arpeggio when the D chord comes up and it sounds kinda cool.

It take a bit of fretboard familiarization, some work learning every note, and some practice time spent really learning your intervals down cold, but by using this approach you can add a lot of interest and complex sounding stuff to what you're playing . . . Without really needing to get too complex.


I have learned complicated songs just by rote memorization. Without understanding WHY the notes are being played it's not very helpful when I go to learn something else or write my own tune. It also gets really hard to remember the song a couple months down the road if you don't initially see where the player is coming from.
 
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Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

learn your basic triads, all inversions and on all 3 string groupings
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

I asked a very good guitar player the shortcut to improving my playing. He suggested learning songs all the way through ... whole songs from start to finish ... any songs.
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

To improve your playing (not necessarily your feel, which is a different but no less important ball of wax), pick some tunes by some of the best guitarists of all-time; guys that really know their fretboards and have amazing talent, such as (for example):

Steve Morse
Eric Johnson
Yngwie Malmsteen
Jeff Beck
EVH

...and learn their stuff; especially their solos. You could even learn little pieces of each. You don't have to get it all note-for-note; by really delving into their styles you will learn new things and improve. Playing cowboy chords or one-finger barre chord chunka-chunka with massive distortion or sticking to the blues box (etc) isn't going to help you grow; you need to explore the "masters" soloing side of things. You need to challenge your capabilities and your fingers.
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

treyhaislip said:
Do you know how to finger pick? Learning finger style on the acoustic really improved my electric playing–accuracy improved and also made me chords differently. Just a thought
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I was gonna say the same thing. I was only a casual fingerstylist about a year and a half ago and now I'm pretty decent at it. I don't know if I'll ever get to the Chet Atkins/Tommy Emmanuel level but I can old my own.

Try learning Greensleeves, that's a great place to start.

 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

Another one of my favorite ways to get out of a rut is to stop listening to guitar players for a bit and start listening to horn players. Listen to the way they start and stop phrases, the way they pause for breath and work their way in and out of chords and changes.

Listen to the way Miles works his way through So What starting at about 50 seconds in... every note is perfectly placed. Vibrato is perfectly applied. Try to really get into the song like that. Even just attempting it will kick your playing up a notch.

 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

Learn how music works rather than just learning songs.
It is the difference between learning poems by rote and learning a language.
 
Re: Suggest songs to learn to improve my playing

gibson175 said:
Learn how music works rather than just learning songs.
It is the difference between learning poems by rote and learning a language.
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This. Oh my God THIS.

One of my students just... mainlines on Avenged Sevenfold and really isn't interested in much else (he's 14) and every time I try to teach him the theory behind what's going on, or introduce him to similar music (or even different stuff) he just kind of shrugs it off.

Now he wants to try out for Jazz band at school, and he's all aflutter because learning "Nightmare" and not memorizing his scales has left him utterly unprepared for this. I told him this was going to happen, but sometimes you gotta learn the hard way. :D
 
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