What was the first song you learned to play?

[Dogbreath]

Another "Smoke on the Water", here. And, it was my kids first too.

Kel

 

[lbanks]

Cold Sweat-James Brown

 

[mshilarious]

Even funnier was my first jam. The only tune we knew was "Smoke on the Water", so we just jammed on it for 15 minutes. Not even the chorus, just that one riff. And the bass player--I guess that was me--didn't actually know the bass line, so I just played the guitar riff too.

Also, we didn't have a singer

 

[mcolling]

Purple haze was the first. Guitar solo and all. Hard work, but good learninig.

 

[ibanezrocks]

lol I'm going to be well respected for this, but the first song I learned was When the Saints go Marching in... I had one of those teachers that wanted me to learn every scale and chord before he'd really teach me songs, so I only got to learn the ones out of a book full of crappy songs. The first serious one I learned was Purple Haze.

 

[donkeystyle]

i don't remember really. it was either the intro to smells like teen spirit, the intro to come as you are, or smoke on the water. it was definitely one of those 3 but i don't know what order i learned them in.

 

[Dom Franco]

Louie Louie

It was "Louie Louie" with my thumb on the low "e" because my $20.00 Stella had no truss rod and the neck was bowed.

The action was so bad the guitar eventually became a wall-hanging decoration.

Dom

 

[Clit Torres]

Sabbath "War Pigs"

 

[Easto]

12 bar blues and House Of The Rising Sun. Yea, I am an old timer.

Same here. Or was it Gloria?

 

[The Seifer]

glycerine by bush

 

[faderbug]

'the times they are a changing' by a certain B. Dylan.

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

Kiss, Cold Gin.

 

[vestast]

Kiss, Cold Gin.

Cool !

I'd have to say my first was Smoke on the water. Later when I took lessons the first song I learned properly was "Rock n Roll Hoochie Koo" by Rick Derringer.

 

[chris-from-ky]

I learned the melody behind the lyrics, "Hang down your head Tom Douley" Then it was "I walk the line" by Johnny Cash. Then "Ghost riders in the sky". I was 12 yrs old. The first song I could play and sing from start to finish was "Every Rose Has It's Thorn" by Poison. Then "Johnny Be Good". I'm 27 yrs old now.

 

[zer0sig]

i was really halfassed for the first 3 or 4 years that i was playing guitar-i think somewhere in the mix was stairway to heaven, and parts from nirvana's "nevermind", metallica's "master of puppets", and slayer's "reign in blood". it wasn't until around the end of high school that i started really getting into playing (probably because i really like singing and playing and it took me awhile to get some songs down from that), and i can mostly thank alice in chains, pearl jam, and stone temple pilots for that.

i learned my basic coordination from trying to play slayer on a 3/4-sized classical. that was a task.

 

[AlfredB]

oops i did it again ....

 

[andyhix]

Living after midnight by Judas Priest when I was like 10. I didn't pick up a guitar again for ten years, then it was Friend of the Devil by the Dead. That basically sums up a major 10 year transistion in my musical tastes.

 

[Thorguitarist]

Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin...I even bought a crybaby (535Q) and a bow for it.

 

[mshilarious]

Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin...I even bought a crybaby (535Q) and a bow for it.

When you modify your bridge to facilitate bowing, that's when you know you've gone too far

 

[Thorguitarist]

keep in mind i was 13 or 14 when i learned that...I do use a bow in some of our original songs also.