Unrealistic songs

I admit embarrassingly Im a beginner... so with Guitartricks just in a few days im already a better guitar player!however...I wondered what is a list of songs that beginners play and songs that require more advanced level of ability?.. before I knew about Guitar Tricks.com I had started out trying to learn Purple Haze, Hotel California,Plush the full song,Stairway to Heaven especially the solo,You Shook me all nite long - ACDC...but I found even though i had the guitar tabs I just couldnt play those songs!....my question is .. im looking at Christopher Schlegel upcoming beginning lesson which im happily working thru...and our first song is going to be "Jingle Bells"??....I mean is those songs the ones beginners need master first? before tackling other more exciting ones? What songs did you first learn as a beginner? Im sure its not the first guitar solo to All Along the Watchtower right? or am i wrong and just not a good player?

First off, Don't be embarrassed to be a beginner. Every time I learn a new song, I am a beginner too. So you've come to the right place. When you look at the song list You'll notice Guitar symbols next to the songs. 5 guitars is the hardest. I recommend starting with songs that are 1-2 guitars. Breaking the Law, Livin' after midnight etc. If it were as easy as just looking at the tab and playing it, Everyone would be able to do it. And since everyone can't that ought to tell you something. You need to build some skills before you can fly across the neck like Angus. Learn how to bend notes to the correct pitch, how to hold the pick, how to alternate pick Etc. Etc. Etc. As with everything there is technique and finesse. These come with practice. You will get them if you work at it. Go through the core program and if you want to play songs too, then start with the easy songs so as to not overwhelm yourself. Take your time and be patient. Believe it or not if you spend a little more time now it will go faster later. Don't try and be Angus over night. It ain't gonna happen and you could hurt yourself. No Kidding you really could! Yes We did all learn stupid stuff like Jingle Bells at some point. And ya know what? Next Christmas it just might get you a little love under the mistletoe. So don't knock it. One of the First songs I ever learned was the Theme Song for the TV show Green Acres.....30 years later I'm still workin' on it. I'm an established, working guitarist who gets paid to play. I can play all those songs you listed damn near note for note. The Key part there is "Damn Near" and that my friend is why I am here. To continually learn and to better my skills. Music is a wonderful thing. There is always something new to learn around every corner. Be diligent and practice daily and I promise before you know it, you too will shake it all night long.

Hey dude, i don't remember where i got this list from but thats some of the songs i start learning.
1. America - horse with no name
2. Blind melon - No rain (i think that one is already on guitartricks actually)
3. Blink 182 - All the small things
4. Creedance clearwater revival - Who'll stop that rain
5. Dizzy Mizz Lizzy - Glory (This one is a bit harder, but really worth it in the end)
6. Eric Clapton - Wonderful tonight
7. Guns N' Roses - Knocking on heavens door (OR you could do the original by Bob Dylan)
8. John Denver - Im leaving on a jetplane
9. Rascal Flatts - Life is a highway (solos could be hard to learn, but try)
10. Limp Bizkit - Mission Impossible
11. Nirvana - Come as you are
12. Poison - Every rose has it's thorn (All the strings are tuned down a half step if i remember corrently)
13. Red hot chillipeppers - Otherside
14. Skid Row - I remember you (i think this is also tuned down a half step)
15. The surfaris - Wipeout (this one is a very common jam song)
16. The Troggs - Wild thing (so is this one)
17. U2 - One

That should keep you occupied for a good while. Now remember. Even though these songs are not really that hard. They are not by any means ''learn overnight songs''
It will take you some time to get some of it down. But if you practice YOU will get them down (if you wonna play those ofcourse)

Thats my 2 cents! Good luck

My first songs don't count...I was dumb enough to think I could pull them off and did in not so horrible a way. That was a long, long time ago.

You don't have to do Jingle Bells but you may learn something by doing it. Usually Chris has a method to his madness so I'd go with it.

You can find another rock song to work on along side it. Nothin' wrong with that. AC/DC usually provides an easy enough path.

I was teaching my wife and we started with 'I Love Rock n Roll' (Joan Jett) because it is really straight forward.

There are ways you can make it work.

[QUOTE=JeffS65]
You don't have to do Jingle Bells but you may learn something by doing it. Usually Chris has a method to his madness so I'd go with it.[QUOTE]

Yeah...it's more about the mechanics and technique than the song.

i really suck at typing , but here it goes . i spent the first 5yrs learning bits n pieces of songs , ya know 25 or 624 , smoke on the water , the beginning of stairway to heaven ect......... the first songs i learned front to back were wasted by def leppard and breaking the law JP . my best advice is learn the whole song [ rythem first ] then try the lead breaks . i spent 10yrs as a strictly rhthem guitarist / vocalist . GT has opened up a whole new rhelm of learning guitar for me . i can play leads , remember Practice makes Permanent ! so practice , practice , practice ..............

A beginner has some room for manoeuvre between Jingle Bells and, say, ACDC solos :-). I started the guitar 6 months ago. In parallel with following the GT lessons, I am learning some songs because it's more fun than lessons alone.

I started with Nirvana's Come as you are (the riff that starts the song), and later on with the introduction of The Cure's A forest. In both cases the rest of the songs appeared to be too complex for me (when it came to switching chords at a too fast pace for me), and I wanted to be able to play a whole song, not just bits here and there, so I chose a song with no chord at all (while practicing the GT's chords lessons in parallel, of course !) : The Cure's Disintegration, which has many cool parts to play (when you like The Cure).

Later on, I worked on Iron Maiden's Brave New World. But even if it's relatively simple for an Iron Maiden song, I had to simplify a few things. For instance, the chorus is based on 3 power chords quite easy to play, except that between each chord there is a string played twice (not easy to explain without showing a tab, sorry), which is way too fast to play for me ! So I just play the chords : if the result is not as awesome as the original, it sounds ok anyway, and it is still some work for a beginner to move the chords correctly all along the next ! Another advantage of a band with 3 guitars is that you can pick the parts that are the most convenient for your current skills :-)

Hope it can help...

[QUOTE=john of MT][QUOTE=JeffS65]
You don't have to do Jingle Bells but you may learn something by doing it. Usually Chris has a method to his madness so I'd go with it.

Yeah...it's more about the mechanics and technique than the song.

And most likely, it's also to give a well-known example for learning to read Tablature. I know that's how I learnt it...