Acoustic duo.. help
November 19, 2012 11:55 AM Subscribe
Looking for the best songs to play with two acoustic guitars, any genre.
Also, are there any resources out there that specifically teach how two acoustic guitars can play together? Any good youtube videos out there? My only request is that nobody brings up Dust In The Wind...
Also, are there any resources out there that specifically teach how two acoustic guitars can play together? Any good youtube videos out there? My only request is that nobody brings up Dust In The Wind...
Neil Young's Harvest Moon
posted by mannequito at 12:16 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mannequito at 12:16 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:28 PM on November 19, 2012
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:28 PM on November 19, 2012
Volver, from the film of the same name. A flamenco-ish version of a tango.
Diablo Rojo, Rodrigo y Gabriela. (May, uh, require some practice.)
posted by bcwinters at 12:32 PM on November 19, 2012
Diablo Rojo, Rodrigo y Gabriela. (May, uh, require some practice.)
posted by bcwinters at 12:32 PM on November 19, 2012
Two of Us by the Beatles works nicely with two acoustic guitars.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 7:15 PM on November 19, 2012
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 7:15 PM on November 19, 2012
Everly Brothers' stuff is good, and have fun trying to get those harmonys. Lots of Eagles songs lend themselves to that(bring the girls to tears with Desperado), Buddy Holly, Stones' songs like Wild Horses, Dead Flowers. Most of Cat Stevens and Jim Croce songs were performed with 2 guitars, so there's lots of material there if you like them.
Now don't laugh, but there's a whole bunch of Neil Diamond songs that are great on acoustic.
Early stuff like Thank the Lord for the Night Time, Cherry Cherry, You Got to Me (a really cool song), A Little Bit Me, Red Red Wine (yup, he wrote that)..all really good songs. Lots of Tom Petty sound great and are easy to play, Motown songs..think My Girl, Heatwave.
A good way to find songs is to go to Tabs sights that have songs listed by artist, go to the ones you like and browse the songs. You'll be able pick songs that are at your skill level, and you'll find lots of songs you didn't remember you loved. Most can be done on acoustic.
As far as working songs out, Guitar World used to have a column every month where they took a popular song and worked out an acoustic version. So if you have a friend that has a pile laying around, that might be a resourse. I don't know of any websites that work out tabs specifically for 2 acoustics, but if you want to do more than just strum the songs it's going to take a little work.
Most basically, you need to have the guitars chording on different parts of the neck, so you're an octave or 2 apart say. For instance, if you were playing an open E at the top, your partner might play a bar chord in the middle of the neck or higher. Or you play a power chord with the root and fifth, and your friend fills in say the 3rd and 7th on the high strings. The easiest way to to this is to learn to play triads, 3-note chords, all over the neck. Not really as hard as it sounds, start with majors and minors on the G,B and E strings. Once you've got the major, the minor is just sliding you finger on the 3rd down one fret, so you got one you got the other. The added advantage of learning triads is you'll know all the notes is on the fretboard, a major plus in advancing your playing.
A couple of other ideas, if you don't want to do the triad thing you could get one of those books that say 4000 Guitar Chords. So say on the page the had G minor, it will have every G minor chord, open, bar, triad all over the neck. So if you working out a song, just find chords in the song your playing somewhere else on the neck. As your buddy strums the full chord, you can arpeggiate (play the chord one note at a time) the chord up the neck. Or one strums and one fingerpicks.
Lastly, throwing in bass lines will add so much. To see how this is done, search for "Fretkillr" (that's spelled right, no "e") on Utube. This guy has tons of songs on his page that he has arranged for one acoustic guitar. He has lots of songs you'll know, and you can learn a lot just my watching how he transitions between chords with little fills and bass runs. He's very talented, got a cool voice and can really play harmonica too. The camera is right up on his hand and the guitar neck, so you can really see a lot of what he's doing. And he both flat picks and fingerpicks so that's a bonus
posted by PaulBGoode at 11:57 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
Now don't laugh, but there's a whole bunch of Neil Diamond songs that are great on acoustic.
Early stuff like Thank the Lord for the Night Time, Cherry Cherry, You Got to Me (a really cool song), A Little Bit Me, Red Red Wine (yup, he wrote that)..all really good songs. Lots of Tom Petty sound great and are easy to play, Motown songs..think My Girl, Heatwave.
A good way to find songs is to go to Tabs sights that have songs listed by artist, go to the ones you like and browse the songs. You'll be able pick songs that are at your skill level, and you'll find lots of songs you didn't remember you loved. Most can be done on acoustic.
As far as working songs out, Guitar World used to have a column every month where they took a popular song and worked out an acoustic version. So if you have a friend that has a pile laying around, that might be a resourse. I don't know of any websites that work out tabs specifically for 2 acoustics, but if you want to do more than just strum the songs it's going to take a little work.
Most basically, you need to have the guitars chording on different parts of the neck, so you're an octave or 2 apart say. For instance, if you were playing an open E at the top, your partner might play a bar chord in the middle of the neck or higher. Or you play a power chord with the root and fifth, and your friend fills in say the 3rd and 7th on the high strings. The easiest way to to this is to learn to play triads, 3-note chords, all over the neck. Not really as hard as it sounds, start with majors and minors on the G,B and E strings. Once you've got the major, the minor is just sliding you finger on the 3rd down one fret, so you got one you got the other. The added advantage of learning triads is you'll know all the notes is on the fretboard, a major plus in advancing your playing.
A couple of other ideas, if you don't want to do the triad thing you could get one of those books that say 4000 Guitar Chords. So say on the page the had G minor, it will have every G minor chord, open, bar, triad all over the neck. So if you working out a song, just find chords in the song your playing somewhere else on the neck. As your buddy strums the full chord, you can arpeggiate (play the chord one note at a time) the chord up the neck. Or one strums and one fingerpicks.
Lastly, throwing in bass lines will add so much. To see how this is done, search for "Fretkillr" (that's spelled right, no "e") on Utube. This guy has tons of songs on his page that he has arranged for one acoustic guitar. He has lots of songs you'll know, and you can learn a lot just my watching how he transitions between chords with little fills and bass runs. He's very talented, got a cool voice and can really play harmonica too. The camera is right up on his hand and the guitar neck, so you can really see a lot of what he's doing. And he both flat picks and fingerpicks so that's a bonus
posted by PaulBGoode at 11:57 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]
You could try Rose Parade by Elliott Smith.
Really, if one of you plays lead (i.e., picks out the melody or plays the picked accompaniment part) and the other plays rhythm (i.e., strums the chords), most songs work on two acoustic guitars.
posted by quiet coyote at 3:31 PM on November 20, 2012
Really, if one of you plays lead (i.e., picks out the melody or plays the picked accompaniment part) and the other plays rhythm (i.e., strums the chords), most songs work on two acoustic guitars.
posted by quiet coyote at 3:31 PM on November 20, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Elly Vortex at 12:15 PM on November 19, 2012 [2 favorites]