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I need new beginner songs to teach

@thedstring  - Jan. 5, 2014, 3:41 a.m.

I've been teaching guitar lessons since I was 16, 12 years now. The hardest thing about teaching (in my opinion) is finding the right music for someone to start out with that will keep them going.

I don't like a completely structured learning style. Everyone learns differently and likes different songs. I won't go tell them to buy a specific book. I like them to have a notebook that they bring with them each week and I'll add to it, a personalized learning book just for them. (also saves them $10 - $20 on a book)

If they can't think of something they'd like to learn, I'll give them something of course. That's where the problem lies.

I have my own list of stuff to teach beginners, I'll suggest something and they'll usually go with it. But that's really not a style I like. There's a good chance I'm teaching them a song they don't like, and they're too shy to say something. They'll play through a song they don't like, learn it, and say guitar isn't for them. Ultimately leading to me losing a student.

I'm trying to build up a list of songs they can pick from, from many artist. I've started already.

The pivotal question I have here for the rest of you is this:

What song/songs did you start out with that made you really want to stick with the guitar? I'll add anything you guys say you started out with and loved to my list of songs people can pick from.

I'm also working on a 6 leveled list for beginner-beginner to intermediate-beginner, but that will be another thread sometime in the future.

Please, if you can think of the first few songs you ever tried and made you love the guitar, even if they're just intros to songs, list them here. (please don't just list bands, I want specific songs)

@corntastic  - Jan. 13, 2014, 2:22 a.m.

The first time I ever played a guitar and realized I wanted to play it was christmas dinner at my parents friends house. I had my phone and someones guitar. My brother was there, and I really don't know what kind of music he listens to, if any. So to impress him or at least entertain him I decided to play Zelda music, since we both love it. And that's how I came across this site.

What I want to get at is that later one, after I had bought my own guitar, I tried playing guitar songs by rock bands and such. It was always very unsatisfying though because I had a cheap little amp and a cheap little guitar, and to me half of playing those songs is sounding like it, which I couldn't do with my setup. Who cares if I could play Achilles Last Stand perfectly, it didn't sound right and it didn't feel good. That brought me back to this site with it's rather diverse music. Playing pieces (mostly) written for other instruments didn't have that feeling of disappointment.

My suggestion then is to present to your students well known themes from games or movies they liked. In my tale, I specifically played Archards tab of Saria's Song. I've always thought it's so cool that one could play stuff like the theme to Jurassic Park or every Ocarina song in Zelda on a guitar without the need for a backing orchestra.

Sorry if I sort of rambled.

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@BigHeadClan  - Jan. 13, 2014, 7:44 a.m.

Man that dislexia of mine kicked in really hard, glad I re-read Dstring's post before offering pointless criticism/advise. lol

So the songs I started with are naturally songs I enjoyed (Not solely VG music), although there was a lot of that and still is. :)

99 Red Balloons - Gold Finger Ver. (punk rock)

A horse with no name (country)

Aerith Theme - FF7 (VG)

Dance of Death - Iron Maiden (well tried lol. Metal)

Dragon Ball Z Budokai 3 opening (VG .a personal fav)

To Zanarkand - FFX (VG)

Hell's Bells - ACDC (rock)

Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana (grunge)

Zora's Domain - Ocarina of Time (VG)

Back In Black - ACDC (rock)

Iron Man - Black Sabbeth (metal)

There was more but I lost a few after changing to a new comp and formatting a few times.

Hope it helps

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@musenji  - Jan. 13, 2014, 9:14 a.m.

Yeah, I've always said the best thing to learn when learning guitar, is what you want to learn.

Well, this probably won't be great with kids today, but the opening riff from Boston's More than a Feeling is an excellent introduction into fingerstyle playing (please note this tab is correct, many tabs on the internet are wrong...in fact I learned the riff incorrectly at first, till I purchased the official book):

-------3---2-----|-----------------
---3---------3---|-----3-----3---3-
-----2---------2-|---0-----0-------
-0-------0-------|-----------------
-----------------|-3-----2---------
-----------------|-------------3---

For that riff, you actually keep the left hand ring finger anchored the whole time, and it's an introduction into the "top three planted, thumb covers the bottom three" method of fingerstyle.

Also the fingerstyle/chord bridge into the chorus, and the chorus itself--all pretty solid guitar learning. The chorus is bar chords.

But as I said--probably not great with kids today. Led Zeppelin is still remembered timelessly, but Boston has become something for a previous age.

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@thedstring  - Jan. 16, 2014, 5:13 a.m.

Thanks for your input guys! I'll have to add a few to my site =)

Anyone else with suggestions?

I just got reminded, I don't have any christmas music up there, thanks for mentioning christmas corntastic.

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@Ennea  - Jan. 24, 2014, 11:26 a.m.

Really like this one when I started https://gametabs.net/tabs/golden-sun/the-lost-age-madra it's simple but sounds neat.

Other than that breezy from FF8 was good to play through, even moving a chord shape up 3 semitones was challenging. https://gametabs.net/tabs/final-fantasy-viii/breezy-4

Prelude from FF1: https://gametabs.net/tabs/final-fantasy/prelude-4

Reminiscene from Suikoden 2, but starting much slower and continually increasing speed. http://www.gametabs.net/playstation/suikoden-2/reminiscence

Eternity: Memory of Lightwaves because it's pretty: http://www.gametabs.net/playstation-2/final-fantasy-x-2/eternity/kabukibear-2

But in general I would say teach them the songs they like. No harm in asking what they would like even if it's something like super mario theme, these catchy songs everyone knows are good for entertaining friends and therefore are a motivation to keep playing.

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@yashakenkyaku  - Jan. 25, 2014, 6:43 p.m.

@ Musenji: That's not totally true. o.0 I hear More than a Feeling played more than any Led Zeppelin song at the bar I work at.

@ thedstring: I didn't know ANYTHING about guitars when I picked it up. ^_^;; Had it not been for the fact that I started when I did, I probably would've dropped it too. I finished Senior Year in 2 months and had VERY bad insomnia. I was usually up for about 23 hours a day and had nothing to do. The first time I heard Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix was actually my inspiration to start playing; naturally it was the first song I tried to learn. I failed miserably. XD So I went back to the drawing board and decided on some easier stuff. Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd is a really good Beginner Song. I also learned What it's Like by Everlast, Zombie by the Cranberries, Kiss Me Deadly by Generation X, and All Across the Universe by the Beatles. I think 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins was pretty easy too. o.0 I started finger-picking on the intro to Stairway to Heaven and after a while I got bored and tried to find other stuff; that's actually how I came across this site.

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@thedstring  - Jan. 25, 2014, 8:44 p.m.

Awesome, I added a few of them!

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@SixStringDealey  - Jan. 25, 2014, 9:20 p.m.

"low" by cracker is the tune i always recommend to my guitar playing friends (we grew up in the 90's xD) who want to get into singing while playing. the whole song is just D, C, E, G. good song for learning a few chords and some rhythm, too. :D

"have you ever seen the rain" is a good song for teaching chords with alternate bass notes / strumming chords while playing a melody at once. maybe not quite "beginner", though.

one of the first little licks i learned was the main riff to "secret agent man" after i showed my guitar teacher that i had figured out parts of a james bond tune haha. alternate picking/slides there.

maybe "wish you were here" for the finger-style new comers.

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@thedstring  - Feb. 1, 2014, 3:31 a.m.

I just added a "Random Tab" button!

I'm so happy I'm a computer science major =)

Try it out!

NateOnGuitar.com Tabs

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