Here, There, and Everywhere, but mostly down the aisle.
April 24, 2019 3:22 PM   Subscribe

Wedding processional song, difficulty level: minor chords(?) and adaptable for solo acoustic guitar.

I'm getting married, yay! Now I gotta pick a song to walk down the aisle to. I really like the sounds of what I think are minor chord changes -- prevalent in The Beatles' Here, There, and Everywhere, and More Than Words by Extreme. That slightly melancholic bend to the melody that adds such a nice wistful tension to the song. (What is this thing even called, that I am trying to describe??)

I like both of these songs very much, but More Than Words isn't quite right lyric/meaning-wise to me, and feels a little cheesy somehow for walking down the aisle. Here, There, and Everywhere is perfectly lovely, but I'd love to explore what else is out there! I've done some searches and found a few threads on here, including this one, but I think I'm looking for straight up love songs vs. just "not sad".

Do you have any suggestions for songs that sound like this, with a similar pacing/tempo and lyrics that are romantic (or at least upbeat & love-friendly)? One constraint is that it would need to be adaptable for a solo acoustic guitarist without accompaniment.

Thank you in advance!
posted by miss_kitty_fantastico to Media & Arts (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
corcovado is a beautiful love song with (maybe too) melancholy tonality. had success performing (vocal/guitar) at a wedding. not sure how to approach as a solo instrumental piece, but a better musician might do.
posted by 20 year lurk at 3:46 PM on April 24, 2019


Best answer: "More than Words" is not in a minor key, just FYI. Just lots of reverb on a single acoustic guitar.
posted by notsnot at 5:10 PM on April 24, 2019


follow your intuition and flip a coin between these 2 songs.
if the coin comes up but you think you really like the other song better, go with it.
posted by ovvl at 5:37 PM on April 24, 2019 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Neither song is in a minor key, come to think of it. One of the things they both have in common, from a music theory perspective, is that they're in major keys but have a minor iv chord show up somewhere in their chord progression where you'd expect a major IV chord to show up. This is called a borrowed chord, which is what creates those tonal goosebumps.

Another song that has this in common, oddly enough, is Al Green's Let's Stay Together, which might be wedding-appropriate and sounds really good on acoustic guitar.
posted by blerghamot at 6:09 PM on April 24, 2019 [2 favorites]


Atoms for Peace - "Ingenue" for acoustic guitar (plus a tutorial)
You know like the back of your hand
Who let them in?
You got me into this mess, so you get me out
You know like the back of your hand
Your bell jar, your collection
Ingenue
You got me into this mess
Fools rushing in, yeah
And they know it

The seeds of the dandelion you blow away
In good time, I hope and pray
If I'm not there now, physically
I'm always before you, come what may

And you know it
Who let them in?
Yeah... well you know it
Gone with a touch of your...
Gone with a touch of your hand

Move through the moment, though it betrays
Transformations, jackals and flames
If I knew now what I knew then
Just give me more time, I hope and pray
I mistake all you say
The seeds of the dandelion, you blow away
posted by Rhaomi at 11:56 PM on April 24, 2019


Do you require lyrics? We did Bron-Yr-Aur.
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 4:10 AM on April 25, 2019


I chose "The Shadow of Your Smile" for our wedding processional. The lyrics are a little iffy, but it was played on solo guitar, and it was exactly what I wanted tonally.

(edit - add "for our wedding processional")
posted by disconnect at 7:05 AM on April 25, 2019


We used Blinking Lights (for you) by Eels for our wedding processional. It’s mostly solo guitar and I think hits that wistful feeling you’re thinking of. No lyrics, although there’s another version with lyrics about surviving a car crash. We figured people wouldn’t be familiar with the song anyhow so it wasn’t a concern.
posted by pocams at 1:59 PM on April 25, 2019


Response by poster: Thank you all for these great suggestions! I don't require lyrics at all, in fact for songs with lyrics we'd need to find a solo guitar instrumental arrangement of the song (we won't have a singer). I *like* the idea of lyrics with meaning, but a lyric-free song is ok too! :)
posted by miss_kitty_fantastico at 8:00 AM on May 3, 2019


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