Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

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TenaciousBe
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Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

A while back, I believe on the old board back when we were ABB.net, there was a thread wherein people posted a list of the acoustic songs that they played on a regular basis - ostensibly for people who regularly went out gigging, but this can go for anyone who sits around anywhere and plays any solo acoustic stuff, be it at Carnegie or in your bedroom. It's interesting to see what songs others are playing on the acoustic. I'll go first (in no particular order)...

Ones that get regular playtime:
Everything (Stereo Fuse)
If I Had A Dime (John Corabi)
Times Like These (Foo Fighters)
Zombie (Cranberries)
Take On Me (A-Ha)
Nutshell (Alice in Chains)
Watch Over You (Alter Bridge)
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Poison)
Mad World (Gary Jules / Tears For Fears)
Closing Time (Semisonic)
Hang (Matchbox 20)
100 in a 55 (Pop Evil)
Free Fallin' (Tom Petty)
What's Up (4 Non Blondes)
Turn The Page (Bob Seger / Metallica)
Black (Pearl Jam)
Outside (Staind)

Others I've worked on but haven't really mastered:
I Am The Highway (Audioslave)
Runaway Train (Soul Asylum)
I Wanna Be There (Blessid Union of Souls)
Iscariot / Up 2 U (Walk The Moon)
Colorful (The Verve Pipe)
Zzyzx Rd / Song #3 (Stone Sour)
You Never Need Nobody (The Lone Bellow)
Hallelujah (Everybody and their Uncle)
Sign of the Times (Harry Styles)
Starlight (Slash / Myles)
Hello (Stevie Wonder)
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Mr. Slash
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by Mr. Slash »

Btw, what's the deal with AIC's "Nutshell"? Everyone is so in love with that song and I really don't understand why. They have way better songs.

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

They have a ton of great songs, this one just happens to be easy to play acoustically. I think it's a bit iconic as the opening of their MTV Unplugged set as well.
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by Jaded Rescue »

TenaciousBe wrote: Hallelujah (Everybody and their Uncle)
For a second I was like, "Everybody and their Uncle? I've never heard of that band..." :lol

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

That would make a fun band name though!
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

Anyone else care to share your song list? Let's get some activity going around here... :)
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by One Drew Remains »

Ones I play (at home) a lot...

The One I Love (REM)
Wonderful Life (AB)
Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran2)
Dead Flowers (Townes Van Zant)
Hysteria (Def Leppard)
Someday (Steve Earle)
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

Dude, I used to be in LOVE with Hysteria. Fantastic song!
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by One Drew Remains »

It's beautiful. It sounds funny that a song would speak to your soul. But Hysteria has an instant calming effect on me. I think I'm going to learn Pearl Jam's Given To Fly. Another pretty one
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by UninvitedZero »

I'm playing my first real gig on the 10th at my old high school... I'm nervous as hell. I've got a lot of original material and a bunch of covers. I've only ever played open mic nights and I haven't even done one of those in about two years... Here are some of the covers I'm jamming at the moment!

Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
The Needle and The Damage Done (Neil Young)
Poor Poor Pitiful Me (Warren Zevon)
Two Coins (Dispatch)
Nutshell (Alice in Chains)
Through Glass (Stone Sour)
Take It Easy (Eagles)
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

Nice! If you get any video, be sure to share it in here. :) I've thought about doing Take It Easy for a long time, just never sat down to work my way through it. I always wonder if it'll come off okay with just one guitar and lose the solo / lead stuff?
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

UninvitedZero wrote:Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
Do you play using the song's authentic tuning (BDDDDD)?

If so, man, I'd hate to switch back and forth with that all of the time and eventually snap my strings or what have you. I did it once, but can't seem to find a good balance between me playing it and me singing it. The only Goo Goo Dolls cover I've recorded so far is Name. I also have a shoddy one-take audio recording of Hallelujah, for whoever mentioned that everyone does that song haha (the guitar playing is fine, it's the singing that is suspect lol plus the audio quality ain't great).

Next, I plan to do Kill by Jimmy Eat World.

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
UninvitedZero wrote:Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
Do you play using the song's authentic tuning (BDDDDD)?

If so, man, I'd hate to switch back and forth with that all of the time and eventually snap my strings or what have you. I did it once, but can't seem to find a good balance between me playing it and me singing it. The only Goo Goo Dolls cover I've recorded so far is Name. I also have a shoddy one-take audio recording of Hallelujah, for whoever mentioned that everyone does that song haha (the guitar playing is fine, it's the singing that is suspect lol plus the audio quality ain't great).

Next, I plan to do Kill by Jimmy Eat World.
You know, the alternate tuning thing is hard when you're playing acoustic. On one hand, I want to be authentic to the song, but on the other, is it worth stopping to re-tune or hauling multiple guitars for a small coffee shop gig for like 12 people? I absolutely LOVE singing Watch Over You, but I play it in standard tuning with campfire chords for that very reason, and it feels a little bit lacking that way. I had also only owned one acoustic for the longest time, but I recently picked up a 12 string so that could be an interesting way to add some flair to it. Then I also need to go and learn the "real" way to play it...

Also, there's nothing wrong with your vocals on Hallelujah! Great job, man. :)
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

Thanks, I appreciate it!

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by prslover »

Mr. Slash wrote:Btw, what's the deal with AIC's "Nutshell"? Everyone is so in love with that song and I really don't understand why. They have way better songs.
Check your pulse if the lyrics don't cut your soul and open you up. It can be a generational thing. Depending on your age it may not have the significance that it has for those of us that entered our formative years in that time period. I was born in 1980 so the 90's is my spot.
Everything about music consumption was different then than it was today. You purchased the CD, you unwrapped it, you put it in, you looked at the booklet, you put on MTV, you watched the video's with your friends, the imagery, the art, the power, you felt Layne Staley, Cobain, Cornell, etc.. reach into your soul and whisper to your heart.

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by prslover »

MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
UninvitedZero wrote:Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
Do you play using the song's authentic tuning (BDDDDD)?

If so, man, I'd hate to switch back and forth with that all of the time and eventually snap my strings or what have you. I did it once, but can't seem to find a good balance between me playing it and me singing it. The only Goo Goo Dolls cover I've recorded so far is Name. I also have a shoddy one-take audio recording of Hallelujah, for whoever mentioned that everyone does that song haha (the guitar playing is fine, it's the singing that is suspect lol plus the audio quality ain't great).

Next, I plan to do Kill by Jimmy Eat World.
There is a really solid version of IRIS on UG , Its under chords version 8. Its in standard but utilizes open strings so you get the mandolin effect and it sounds really good playing with the recording.
Also, I love playing NAME but after you stretch your G string up to an A it's fucked. I usually do it right before i put new strings on.
Also, regarding WATCH OVER YOU, you gotta play that in the proper tuning, it just sounds so much better and people have no idea how you are making the guitar sound that way so its cool. Bonus you can play ILM when you get to that tuning as well. Thats how they did it on the Amsterdam performance. They just didnt flatten to the ILM tuning and played them both in the Watch over You tuning.

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by TenaciousBe »

prslover wrote:
Mr. Slash wrote:Btw, what's the deal with AIC's "Nutshell"? Everyone is so in love with that song and I really don't understand why. They have way better songs.
Check your pulse if the lyrics don't cut your soul and open you up. It can be a generational thing. Depending on your age it may not have the significance that it has for those of us that entered our formative years in that time period. I was born in 1980 so the 90's is my spot.
Everything about music consumption was different then than it was today. You purchased the CD, you unwrapped it, you put it in, you looked at the booklet, you put on MTV, you watched the video's with your friends, the imagery, the art, the power, you felt Layne Staley, Cobain, Cornell, etc.. reach into your soul and whisper to your heart.
Image
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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

Okay, I was fiddling around with playing Jimmy Eat World - Kill and got what I think is a pretty decent cover. I tried it up close to the mic (not in good camera view so I didn't shoot it) and liked it enough that when I went farther away to try and video record, not only did I not like the sound as much but I also never got another great take in me. So I'll just keep my audio only take and put up an image of my video-recorded attempt, lol.

I tried to channel Jim Adkins for this one. Not perfect but ehh there is only one Jim out there.


prslover wrote:
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
UninvitedZero wrote:Iris (Goo Goo Dolls)
Do you play using the song's authentic tuning (BDDDDD)?

If so, man, I'd hate to switch back and forth with that all of the time and eventually snap my strings or what have you. I did it once, but can't seem to find a good balance between me playing it and me singing it. The only Goo Goo Dolls cover I've recorded so far is Name. I also have a shoddy one-take audio recording of Hallelujah, for whoever mentioned that everyone does that song haha (the guitar playing is fine, it's the singing that is suspect lol plus the audio quality ain't great).

Next, I plan to do Kill by Jimmy Eat World.
There is a really solid version of IRIS on UG , Its under chords version 8. Its in standard but utilizes open strings so you get the mandolin effect and it sounds really good playing with the recording.
Thanks, I checked that out and it seems to be half-decent. I don't know if I'd do a cover with that tuning, but it's definitely the best of the standard tuning sounds.
Also, I love playing NAME but after you stretch your G string up to an A it's fucked. I usually do it right before i put new strings on.
Also, regarding WATCH OVER YOU, you gotta play that in the proper tuning, it just sounds so much better and people have no idea how you are making the guitar sound that way so its cool. Bonus you can play ILM when you get to that tuning as well. Thats how they did it on the Amsterdam performance. They just didnt flatten to the ILM tuning and played them both in the Watch over You tuning.
I can't remember how ILM is played, but I seem to think it was maybe at least a half-step lower? The only two songs I played in Watch Over You's tuning is that and Wonderful Life. Trying to recall ILM, though.

EDIT: Totally just read how you said they didn't flatten it to ILM tuning, gotcha lol.

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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

I just made a male vocal cover for Shallow (need female accompaniment for it!).


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Re: Your Acoustic Covers Repertoire

Post by MuffinMcFluffin »

Basic, but here ya go. Sorry if you are blocked by a copyright claim.

(these are instrumentals only, no vocals)




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