Music Post -- Guitar Edition!

In this edition, songs I'm into right now because I can play them on the guitar. When I was a sophomore in college, I decided I wanted to get a guitar. There was a very specific reason for this desire: I wanted to learn how to play Reel Big Fish's version of "Take on Me." Naturally.

This needs to be clear: I am not very good at the guitar. I never took lessons. I can't do solos. I learned by looking up guitar tabs for songs I wanted to play. That led to a decent proficiency in playing power chords -- three- and four-finger chords found mostly in pop-punk music because they can't play any better than I can.

That doesn't make them any less fun though.

The very first song I learned to play was Bush's "Glycerine." It is LITERALLY the same four power chords over and over again. Very easy to pick up.

So! Here is a collection of songs I can play on the guitar. It is not a completely collection. I can play more songs than this. And I make no claims as to how WELL I can play them. Just that I can play them, and they are, at least to me, recognizable. You'll notice, I think, a preponderance of power chords.

Oh, and yes, I did learn to play "Take on Me." Not the solo, of course. And the ska off-beat strokes are rough, but they are there!

The Beatles - "In My Life"

This is my favorite Beatles' song by a long shot. Originally, I thought I'd only be capable of playing the little intro hook at the beginning. It's easy enough. Then I looked up the chords, and it seemed manageable.

It was the fall of 2004, and I imagine Erik was sitting close-by behind me, messing with my drum practice pad. I just played this song over and over again, and sooner or later, it clicked.

For some reason, this is one of, like, four songs I have the ability to sing and play at the same time. Normally, I can't even think about talking while I'm playing (drums or guitar) without botching the words I'm trying to say or playing like Marty McFly when he forgets how to play because his parents' relationship is in jeopardy during the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. But this song I can do. I don't know either.

So there you go.



The Beatles - "Day Tripper"

I stumbled onto this one accidentally. I strummed an open low E, and I thought, "Damn that sounds familiar." Fortunately, "Day Tripper" came on my Winamp (yes, Winamp. It WAS the early 00s after all.) not long after that, and I connected the dots. I looked up the tab for the song and learned the riff. And it is a killer riff. Love it. The rest of the song can be accomplished with power chords (except for the solo, which I, of course, cannot play).



Weezer - "Buddy Holly"

Pure power chord fun. This song reminds me of the 90s. And if you know me at all, you know that's a sure way to my heart. I actually just looked this one up in the past few days. I'd never tried it before, but it's easy enough, sounds awesome and is super fun to play. Win!



Reel Big Fish - "Take on Me"

Ah yes. My favorite song by my favorite band, and the reason I wanted to get a guitar in the first place. Such a fun song to play AND sing. Every single one of you has tried your hand at the falsetto "in a day or twoooooo." Don't even try to deny it. Ska stroke patterns are super hard for me because, as I mentioned, I'm not very good at the guitar. But I try! And it sounds enough like the song that I'm satisfied with it.



Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"

Another one where I figured I could handle the intro hook. I was right; it's easy enough. But the rest of the song is power chords! Success!

My biggest guitar pet peeve is when I find the tabs for a song I want to play, but it requires retuning the guitar -- either all the strings one half-step down, or the low E string a full step down to D. Look, that's way more effort than I want to put into this. I know how to tune it. I can pretty much tune the guitar by ear now, but just give me songs in standard tuning please.

This song is in standard tuning! That was just an unrelated rant that came to mind right then. A great example of a song that's not too terribly difficult to play, but it sounds awesome when you do.



Everclear - "Santa Monica"

Man I loved this song when I was in high school. It was one of the first songs I looked up when I got my fingers used to forming the chords and jumping around the neck of the guitar. It sounded like power chords, and it was.

I have nothing else to say here. Just a fun song to play.



Look at that! Two posts in a handful of days! I think I will try to stick to a MWF pattern of posting. LET'S GO!

-BG