Suggest simple solo acoustic pieces...

Aaron Cheney

Aaron Cheney

Favorite Chord: C 6/9
A gig fell in my lap this week. I'll be playing background acoustic guitar at a retirement ceremony for the local school district. This gig comes up in about a month. Although fingerstyle is not my main deal I can do alright with it.... it's just that my reportoire isn't very big.

Give me some ideas for stuff that's interesting, sounds good on solo acoustic guitar, and can be learned in about a month. Bonus points for tunes that most people will recognize.

I need to fill one hour.

A
 
BTW.... here's a few I already know:

Midsummer's Daydream by Rik Elliott
Fur Elise - Beethoven
A couple Laurence Juber songs
Canon in D


That's about it.

A
 
'Adelita' is a very simple composition by Francisco Tarrega...however I won't expect any bonus points.

You could also be cute and play 'Dust in the Wind' or 'Stairway to Heaven'.
 
Considering who you're playing for and their ages (retiring):
Classical Gas
Beatles tunes
arr's of other 60's pop songs
Anything catchy with a fingerpicking/alternating bass type sound - Celtic tunes, fiddle tunes like Old Joe Clarke, Doc Watson fingerstyle stuff like Ticklin' the Strings, Chet Atkins arr's
Maybe an occasional classical/romantic/ or latin thing to change up the pace: Lagrima by Tarrega is easy and is a pretty tune. Spanish Romance. Greensleeves with improvised variations.

Tim
 
of the 20 studies for the guitar by fernando sor, some are rather easy, some very challenging, but you could find a few in there I'm sure
 
20 studies for the guitar by fernando sor
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Yeah, No. 2 in C, 5 in Bm and 6 in D would be pretty quick to learn, and i bet they're available in tab for those of that persuasion.

Tim
 
embryonic journey - jorma kauk.. however it's spelled.
little martha - allman bros.
brick layer's beautiful daughter - william ackerman
landslide - fleetwood mac
Petite Etude - Ric Elliot
Water is Wide - traditional
Dee - Randy Rhodes

those are all pretty simple.

Beatle tunes translate well to solo acoustic. Laurence Juber does some great renditions.

i play primarily solo acoustic stuff. i have tons of solo arrangements in tab. most of them can get pretty tough, but beautiful none the less. let me know if you're up to the challenge, and i can send some stuff your way.
 
Bach's Bourree isn't too tough. Dust in the Wind is easy, but requires lots of endurance.

As for Beatles tunes, Michelle might be my favorite for solo guitar.
 
The fact that you mentioned Midsummer Daydream makes you the coolest human being alive.

Go for Mood For A Day by Yes. Not nearly as hard as it sounds.
 
Midsummer Daydream and Petite Etude are by Rik EMMETT, not Elliot, formerly of Triumph.

Midsummer Daydream is on Thunder Seven (also on Stages).....Petite Etude is on Just A Game (IIRC)......and there's a couple cool ones on Allied Forces as well. I also like Little Boy Blues (also from Thunder Seven), but that's a little more electric in nature.

Midsummer Daydream is more or less easy to play--there's just a couple runs that are a little tricky.....but the bulk of it is pretty simple (and beautiful). just remember to tune that low e down to D. ;)


there are a couple Alex Lifeson/Rush pieces that might be a little fun to play, too.....La Villa Strangiato, The Trees, Closer to the Heart and A Farewell to Kings all have fun parts that are either acoustic in nature or can easily be adapted to full-on acoustic.


cheers,
wade (Triumph and Rush junkie)
 
mrface2112 said:
Midsummer Daydream and Petite Etude are by Rik EMMETT, not Elliot, formerly of Triumph.
wade (Triumph and Rush junkie)
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:o My Bad!! I did know that... I think I juxtaposed Rik Emmet and Joe Elliot from Def Leppard for some reason.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Great link Dave_M!

A
 
I did a cool fingerstyle version of Desperado one time. It's not that hard, I'm NOT a fingerstylist either. That and (i dunno how to spell it) Bron Yur ? By Led Zep, thats a cool one, too.

H2H
 
Retirement ceremony did you say?....how about "Take this job and shove it!".

Sorry,...couldn't resist. :D
 
punkin said:
Retirement ceremony did you say?....how about "Take this job and shove it!".

Sorry,...couldn't resist. :D
Click to expand...

That's a great suggestion... seriously. Done instrumentlally it would have a subtler impact than sung and I bet would go over really well - would get a few chuckles.

Tim
 
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