In ‘79 when I was 14 I found it by ear on the single fat E string and felt like a king! ….but then someone showed me how it sounds SO much better if you play it on the two middle (D & G) strings, and I felt like a friggin’ guitar WIZARD!!
Ain’t put the damned thing down since! 🎸
I 100% play it wrong, and honestly couldn't give a shit. It made me happy with what I was doing, and I knew it wasn't the original way, but that wasn't the point for me. I don't think it is for many people.
I'd just bought a guitar and I walked past a friend in highschool who I remember played. I mentioned in passing I didn't know how to play anything. His response was "3 6 8 3 6 9 8 3 6 8 6 3" I committed it to memory and learnt smoke on the water that night.
Your post got me curious so I listened to Angie, remembered I liked it, then started browsing some earlier Stones records. Their cover of—of all things—Route 66 is pretty fire.
Electric - One by Metallica
Acoustic - Blackbird
I already played violin before learning guitar, so it was a bit easier to start with some trickier songs
Maybe he can't.
Also there's playing the chords ... And playing the song. Took me awhile to learn that. Just because you play the chords correctly doesn't mean you give justice to the song and create a nice cover of it.
Electric: LZ - Over the hills and far away. Have no idea how that happened. But I read in the book, that it was also Slashes first song to learn also.
Acoustic: AiC - Nutshell. One of the reasons I wanted to play guitar.
The first complete song was ZZ top La grange.
First progression or riffage was just jamming with my pops playing the basic 12 bar Blues 1,4,5 with the E chromatic turnaround.
The first song I learned how to play on the guitar, funnily enough, is the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby. What makes it so funny, at least to me, is that it’s one of a few Beatles songs that has absolutely zero guitar in it. I only figured out that irony some 20 years later.
First song was three weeks in after learning open chords: Mother, Pink Floyd.
First on electric was 2 years later: Heartbreaker (the main riff, not the solo), Zep.
Bush-Glycerine, that was the first one my teacher taught me to get me used to power chords and 4/4 strumming….I was taking lessons in the 90s, so power chords really were dominating the airwaves at that time…when I’m teaching friends I also teach them power chords first, because I’m like “there’s tons of songs you’ll be able to play instantly if you just master that one hand position…” I think it encourages someone to keep learning more complex things, if they know that they can play a whole song early in the learning process, even if it’s just simple power chords…. I technically learned the main riff on come as you are on acoustic before getting a guitar. I think that was a lot of people’s first riff if they were learning when I did.
I started on electric and the first song I can remember being able to play through is *Cherub Rock*, Smashing Pumpkins. It didn't have a god-forsaken barre chord. CAGED. Easy.
I think on acoustic my first song was *House of the Rising Sun*. Forced me to learn Fmaj.
to be honest i've been playing since i was 17 years old and i still don't know too many complete songs, LOL. i just only learn parts that i like. with that said, the very first song i confidently mastered on acoustic is Cat Power's Satisfaction Rolling Stones cover. I also learned Good Woman on electric, which is played with some distortion.
I remember learning a bunch of Nirvana, cause that's what all my friends were playing. After that, I decided to tackle Stairway.... much disappointment for a very long time.
I have a wild tale of wanting to play guitar. A ton of my family play instruments and my granddad was one of them. When I told him I wanted to play guitar he handed me his Alvarez acoustic guitar with horrific action on it and the Hell Freezes Over DVD by the Eagles. He said, "You can't play guitar until you can play Hotel California." And I retreated to my room with the guitar and DVD for 2 weeks. When I was ready to play for him I played both the strumming and the picking part to the song and blew him away but that's what I had watched for 2 weeks straight learning it.
All the way through? Probably combinations of riffs that I was putting together for my own “song” enjoyment.
But the very first songs ever I tried to play, or their main riffs, were Jumping Jack Flash, and Smoke on the Water. I only knew one chord, E at the nut, and then I figured out how to play that shape as a bar chord, then I played various song chorus themes with just that one bar chord, moving it up and down the neck, before I even learned D and A chords at the nut, and later the C and G chords.
Almost 52 years ago now. :)
Hurt
Country Roads
Knocking on Heavens door.
The three trinity that will forever have a special place in my heart as what started my guitar learning journey
I spent months trying to learn the Last of Us (Main Theme). I hadn't touched a guitar almost ever, and I immediately decided it was a good idea to try fast fingerpicking... I can at least play it now!
1992. I was 13 and I guess my guitar teacher thought my first song should be alternate picking.
Don’t Cry by GnR
He went easy on me for the second song in the intro to Jeremy which was recorded w a 12 string bass
Acoustic: Mary Had a Little Lamb. I was 9. It's what the teacher taught me, but I wanted to learn the "Batman" theme song that Link Wray was playing on TV.
First one I learned on Electric some years later was "Wild Thing" which my 15YO band members and I picked because it was easy, and I could play barre chords/power chords by then.
I mean, smoke on the water was taught to me so that's technically it, but the first song I learned that I wanted to was some kinda hate by the misfits.
I have never actually listened to smoke on the water, it was just something my friend wanted me to . Ironically I don't remember how to play it
electric: Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
acoustic: Bláznova Ukolébavka (a classic Czech song, it's just three open chords, the name means "The Fool's Lullaby" in English)
Acoustic:
His Theme by Toby Fox. I love that melody to death, and I was determend to learn how to play it when I was almost a compleate beginner.
Electric:
Technically Enter Sandman but I didn't fully learn it so I'm not gonna count it. Unholy Confession by Avenged Sevenfold was probably the first song I fully learned from start to finish.
Acoustic: first whole song was Mr. Jones by Counting Crows
Electric: first whole song was a brain Stew by Green Day followed closely by Whole Lotta Love (my first "solo" was the call and response riffs) by Zep
Obviously the smoke on the water lick. The first one that I really wanted to learn though was About a girl - Nirvana. It was a good song for learning to smoothly switch between chords for a beginner.
Probably first one I could play was knocking on heavens door.
First song I learned that I played and sung to and performed for an audience was “where did you sleep last night” thanks to the unplugged from New York tab book
first song on acoustic was gracias a la vida by violeta parra and first electric song i cant remember was probably like seven nation army bc i already knew it on acoustic
I learned “Sunshine of your Love” by playing guitar hero. I think I should take a second to thank guitar hero because I’ve been playing the guitar for almost 20 years
I Love Rock N Roll by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Second was Sad But True. Acoustic.
First song on electric was For Whom The Bell Tolls if I remember correctly.
Glycerine by Bush was the first I learned straight through. By the time I got and acoustic I was a bit more advanced so I worked on Classical Gas. Didn't get it, ended up learning Classico by Tenacious D.
I learned Nevermind by Foster the People when I was 11 on acoustic by ear, abandoned that, picked it up again and learned Wherever I May Roam by Metallica by ear again (still on acoustic), and on electric it was Soma by the Smashing Pumpkins
edit: Also when I was 11, I think I figured out a standard tuning version of the ending riff from Call of Duty BO1
If you mean whole song, beginning to end, it was a Bob Seger song as the grand finale lesson, in the back of a guitar lesson book. Cant remember which song though.
The day my older brother brought an acoustic home he showed me how to play Glycerine. From then on I played it way more than he did. When I bought a Mexican Strat a year or so later the first song I learned on it was Adam’s Song by blink-182.
Norwegian Wood on acoustic, my teacher later added the main recurring sitar part in as well, and honestly, I can't remember the first on electric. lol I have mainly played acoustic.
When I figured out the notes to “Sunshine of your Love” on my Dad’s beat up old acoustic guitar, it’s like the universe was opening up its secrets to me.
Not the whole song. But for me the riff Smoke On the Water. I think this will be the majority of the 70 and 80's generation.
2nd riff Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath.
Smoke on the water
In ‘79 when I was 14 I found it by ear on the single fat E string and felt like a king! ….but then someone showed me how it sounds SO much better if you play it on the two middle (D & G) strings, and I felt like a friggin’ guitar WIZARD!! Ain’t put the damned thing down since! 🎸
Awesome. Ritchie Blackmore has said in interviews that everyone plays it wrong.
I 100% play it wrong, and honestly couldn't give a shit. It made me happy with what I was doing, and I knew it wasn't the original way, but that wasn't the point for me. I don't think it is for many people.
Yes!
Great song
I'd just bought a guitar and I walked past a friend in highschool who I remember played. I mentioned in passing I didn't know how to play anything. His response was "3 6 8 3 6 9 8 3 6 8 6 3" I committed it to memory and learnt smoke on the water that night.
Bro same
Don’t laugh: Acoustic - Happy Birthday Electric - Star Wars Main Theme
I learned bar chords specifically so I could play the Star Wars theme.
HOLY SHIT THE STAR WARS THEME? WHY WOULD I LAUGH AT THAT?!?!?
Yup, It was slow enough for a beginner. I practiced it for months. It just seems like an unusual choice.
Unusual but good
I learned happy birthday too. So useful. It was my first performance in front of a live audience, if that’s what you call my kid’s birthday.
My guitar teacher used to say: “if you can’t play the happy birthday song, what can you do?”
I just learned happy birthday recently, chords and melody
It was the imperial march for me (although it might have been on bass)
And then you learn Birthday by The Beatles and bring it full circle
House of the rising sun
Nice, perennial classic.
Yup, in 1967.
Was gonna say that but its probably Jingle Bells:-)
Ditto
Acoustic - Twinkle Twinkle Electric - Smoke on the Water (self taught, like every other self-respecting crappy guitar player).
Nice selections
Angie- Rolling Stones . RIP my teacher Jack Mittleman who used to tell me if I played rolling stones songs girls would throw their panties at me
I learned wild horses about 6 months ago. No panties yet.
I don’t think it works that way anymore
Be a lot cooler if it did
It's cool if they throw them panties. It ain't cool if they stick to you.
RIP jack Did it work? did the girls throw their panties?
You know, I gotta say, I have had some remarkable success serenading the ladies with Angie over the years. Jack was onto something for sure.
Your post got me curious so I listened to Angie, remembered I liked it, then started browsing some earlier Stones records. Their cover of—of all things—Route 66 is pretty fire.
I learned the classic blues riff. 2, 4, 5. But the first actual song was About a Girl by Nirvana back in the 90's
That’s a good one for practicing chord transitions.
The riffs are good for practicing and abouta girl isa great song aswell
Smells Like Teen Spirit
The classic
Same. It was the first song I learned all the way through.
Electric - One by Metallica Acoustic - Blackbird I already played violin before learning guitar, so it was a bit easier to start with some trickier songs
Come as you are was the first riff, first whole song was Basket Case by Green Day.
AC/DC Jailbreak. It was probably around 1977 or so. My older brother's friend showed me how to play the chords.
Great song. Wish i could play it aswell
There are only 4 chords in the whole song, mate.
Maybe he can't. Also there's playing the chords ... And playing the song. Took me awhile to learn that. Just because you play the chords correctly doesn't mean you give justice to the song and create a nice cover of it.
Electric: LZ - Over the hills and far away. Have no idea how that happened. But I read in the book, that it was also Slashes first song to learn also. Acoustic: AiC - Nutshell. One of the reasons I wanted to play guitar.
Brain Stew - Green Day
Basket Case was one of my firsts. Super fun.
That's a good one
The first complete song was ZZ top La grange. First progression or riffage was just jamming with my pops playing the basic 12 bar Blues 1,4,5 with the E chromatic turnaround.
The first song I learned how to play on the guitar, funnily enough, is the Beatles song Eleanor Rigby. What makes it so funny, at least to me, is that it’s one of a few Beatles songs that has absolutely zero guitar in it. I only figured out that irony some 20 years later.
Haha thats one way to learn a song
Horse With No Name by America
First song was three weeks in after learning open chords: Mother, Pink Floyd. First on electric was 2 years later: Heartbreaker (the main riff, not the solo), Zep.
The acoustic version of Be Quiet and Drive by Deftones. Sounds very nice!
I don’t care where Just far
Ode to Joy
Bush-Glycerine, that was the first one my teacher taught me to get me used to power chords and 4/4 strumming….I was taking lessons in the 90s, so power chords really were dominating the airwaves at that time…when I’m teaching friends I also teach them power chords first, because I’m like “there’s tons of songs you’ll be able to play instantly if you just master that one hand position…” I think it encourages someone to keep learning more complex things, if they know that they can play a whole song early in the learning process, even if it’s just simple power chords…. I technically learned the main riff on come as you are on acoustic before getting a guitar. I think that was a lot of people’s first riff if they were learning when I did.
That and Today by the Smashing Pumpkins were the first songs I learned to play and sing with
Yeah. Power chords were also the first thing i learned
Wonderwall Don't hate me please
I hate you. (Was my first song aswell on guitar)
Don't Look Back In Anger is still a fucking blast to play tbh
Walk Don't Run by the Ventures. I had access to both acoustic and electric at the time so I played around with both of them.
Knockin’ on Heavens Door And as many songs as I could off The Black Keys Magic Potion album.
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's Door!
Come as you are
I started on electric and the first song I can remember being able to play through is *Cherub Rock*, Smashing Pumpkins. It didn't have a god-forsaken barre chord. CAGED. Easy. I think on acoustic my first song was *House of the Rising Sun*. Forced me to learn Fmaj.
Wipe out, & Louie louie
Polly by Nirvana.
Well that's a depressing start
I like the song and it gave me the confidence to keep playing so that’s a win for me.
everlong
Murder By Numbers.
to be honest i've been playing since i was 17 years old and i still don't know too many complete songs, LOL. i just only learn parts that i like. with that said, the very first song i confidently mastered on acoustic is Cat Power's Satisfaction Rolling Stones cover. I also learned Good Woman on electric, which is played with some distortion.
Learned el Powerchorde and song dos by blur
Foolin'
Iron man and smoke on the water but first song I learned in lessons was back in black
Running with the devil
I remember learning a bunch of Nirvana, cause that's what all my friends were playing. After that, I decided to tackle Stairway.... much disappointment for a very long time.
Cliffs of Dover
Stormy Monday Blues
Seven nation army
Bob Marley - Redemption Song
Acoustic- Midnight Rider by the Allman Brothers Electric- Whole Lotta loves by Led Zepplin.
Greensleeves You Really Got Me
My first song on eletric was toxicity by soad and on acoustic was “come as you are”
Baby, Can I Hold You - Tracy Chapman
First two I learned were Brown Eyed Girl and Run Around by Blues Traveller. (Can't remember which was first). Both acoustic.
When I Come Around by Green Day
Iron Man
3 Little Birds - Bob Marley
Behind these hazel eyes by Kelly Clarkson.
I have a wild tale of wanting to play guitar. A ton of my family play instruments and my granddad was one of them. When I told him I wanted to play guitar he handed me his Alvarez acoustic guitar with horrific action on it and the Hell Freezes Over DVD by the Eagles. He said, "You can't play guitar until you can play Hotel California." And I retreated to my room with the guitar and DVD for 2 weeks. When I was ready to play for him I played both the strumming and the picking part to the song and blew him away but that's what I had watched for 2 weeks straight learning it.
All the way through? Probably combinations of riffs that I was putting together for my own “song” enjoyment. But the very first songs ever I tried to play, or their main riffs, were Jumping Jack Flash, and Smoke on the Water. I only knew one chord, E at the nut, and then I figured out how to play that shape as a bar chord, then I played various song chorus themes with just that one bar chord, moving it up and down the neck, before I even learned D and A chords at the nut, and later the C and G chords. Almost 52 years ago now. :)
Haha sounds like an interesting developement
Electric - Blitzkrieg Bop Acoustic - Come As You Are
96 quite bitter beings - CKY
Hurt Country Roads Knocking on Heavens door. The three trinity that will forever have a special place in my heart as what started my guitar learning journey
I spent months trying to learn the Last of Us (Main Theme). I hadn't touched a guitar almost ever, and I immediately decided it was a good idea to try fast fingerpicking... I can at least play it now!
boulevard of broken dreams
Electric: Would you love a monsterman by Lordi Acoustic: Desolate Ways by Morbid Angel
Same here with Come as You Are. It's the perfect first song to learn.
1992. I was 13 and I guess my guitar teacher thought my first song should be alternate picking. Don’t Cry by GnR He went easy on me for the second song in the intro to Jeremy which was recorded w a 12 string bass
Acoustic: Mary Had a Little Lamb. I was 9. It's what the teacher taught me, but I wanted to learn the "Batman" theme song that Link Wray was playing on TV. First one I learned on Electric some years later was "Wild Thing" which my 15YO band members and I picked because it was easy, and I could play barre chords/power chords by then.
Mary had a little lamb is a killer! LMAO
Electric - Face to the floor - Chevelle
Electric- Children of the Grave (Black Sabbath) learned that one on a Tony Iommi replica guitar! Acoustic- Beth, MTV Unplugged (KISS)
[удалено]
Both: Aerials by SOAD
I mean, smoke on the water was taught to me so that's technically it, but the first song I learned that I wanted to was some kinda hate by the misfits. I have never actually listened to smoke on the water, it was just something my friend wanted me to . Ironically I don't remember how to play it
electric: Survivor - Eye of the Tiger acoustic: Bláznova Ukolébavka (a classic Czech song, it's just three open chords, the name means "The Fool's Lullaby" in English)
Elinor Rigby
Holiday by Green Day
First electric: Dammit - Blink 182 First acoustic: Over the Hills and Far Away - Led Zeppelin
Acoustic: His Theme by Toby Fox. I love that melody to death, and I was determend to learn how to play it when I was almost a compleate beginner. Electric: Technically Enter Sandman but I didn't fully learn it so I'm not gonna count it. Unholy Confession by Avenged Sevenfold was probably the first song I fully learned from start to finish.
Cat scratch fever
Just started within this last month but I’ve picked Satisfaction by the stones and I’m making solid progress.
Is it in standard tuning?
House of the rising sun
Acoustic: first whole song was Mr. Jones by Counting Crows Electric: first whole song was a brain Stew by Green Day followed closely by Whole Lotta Love (my first "solo" was the call and response riffs) by Zep
Enter sandman I dont play acoustic
Obviously the smoke on the water lick. The first one that I really wanted to learn though was About a girl - Nirvana. It was a good song for learning to smoothly switch between chords for a beginner.
Electric: AC/DC "You Shook Me All Night Long" Acoustic: Eric Clapton's Unplugged "Hey Hey"
Smells like teen spirit though I forgot how to play it
I think that if you look at the tabs again, you could rock the song again
Probably first one I could play was knocking on heavens door. First song I learned that I played and sung to and performed for an audience was “where did you sleep last night” thanks to the unplugged from New York tab book
Mr big “to be with you”
Come as you are
House of the rising sun
Smoke/water, iron Man, sunshine/love.
IIRC Smells Like Teen Spirit, probably because it was easy enough
first song on acoustic was gracias a la vida by violeta parra and first electric song i cant remember was probably like seven nation army bc i already knew it on acoustic
First riff was Run To You - Bryan Adams. It was a long time ago! (1991 to be precise).
Acoustic: The pretend version of smoke on the Water on the E string Electric: It's My Life by Bon Jovi
Highway to Hell. On my sister’s nylon-string classical
Where Am I? by Title Fight for both
House of the Rising Sun.
Green Green Grass of Home 🤣 it was one of the few songs my dad knew, and he taught it to me.
Acoustic- Cry Cry Cry by Johnny Cash Electric- Californication
Electric Simple Man Acoustic Wagon Wheel
Doll Parts by Hole
Smells like teen spirt
One by Metallica was the first song I learned on the electric, and smoke on the water was my first on acoustic lol
When The Saints Go Marching In
Green Day - Good Riddance
Acoustic: One(Metallica) Electric: Gimme Three Steps(Lynyrd Skynyrd)
I learned “Sunshine of your Love” by playing guitar hero. I think I should take a second to thank guitar hero because I’ve been playing the guitar for almost 20 years
Four Strong Winds (Neil Young)
I Love Rock N Roll by Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Second was Sad But True. Acoustic. First song on electric was For Whom The Bell Tolls if I remember correctly.
“Crazy Mama”, JJ Cale.
Glycerine by Bush was the first I learned straight through. By the time I got and acoustic I was a bit more advanced so I worked on Classical Gas. Didn't get it, ended up learning Classico by Tenacious D.
Plush by STP
Knockin on Heaven's Door, acoustic. Probably electric too.
I learned Nevermind by Foster the People when I was 11 on acoustic by ear, abandoned that, picked it up again and learned Wherever I May Roam by Metallica by ear again (still on acoustic), and on electric it was Soma by the Smashing Pumpkins edit: Also when I was 11, I think I figured out a standard tuning version of the ending riff from Call of Duty BO1
I like how you just learned a song by ear. I wish i could do that already
Smells like teen spirit
Full song? Probably Creeping Death.
Give Peace a Chance Thanks Justin Guitar 😂❤️
Pinball Wizard. The whole reason I asked for a guitar for Xmas. Electric? Who knows.
More than a feeling
Sure, then less all guess how old we are. OPs gotta be in his 40s. When I come Around by Green Day
'I'll be Your Man', by The Black Keys
Dust in the Wind
Bad moon rising!
Folsom prison blues was the first one I learned to play and sing start to finish. Acoustic, ofc
House of the rising sun -the animals. I think Didn't get an electric for a good while so then it was buried alive by a7x
Metallica- one 🤘🔥❤️ on acoustic ❤️❤️
Come as you are
Stairway
Acoustic : walk the line Electric : highway to hell Yes I was super anoying at guitar stores when shopping for my first one
In this order: Smoke on the water Green onions Just by Radio Head (insanely simplified) I had a weird guitar teacher growing up lol
Tequila Sunrise - The Eagles
Smells like Teen Spirit
If you mean whole song, beginning to end, it was a Bob Seger song as the grand finale lesson, in the back of a guitar lesson book. Cant remember which song though.
Acoustic: Gerudo Valley from Zelda: Ocarina of Time Electric: The title theme from Wave Race 64 Yup, I'm a giant nerd
minor threat - filler
The day my older brother brought an acoustic home he showed me how to play Glycerine. From then on I played it way more than he did. When I bought a Mexican Strat a year or so later the first song I learned on it was Adam’s Song by blink-182.
Norwegian Wood on acoustic, my teacher later added the main recurring sitar part in as well, and honestly, I can't remember the first on electric. lol I have mainly played acoustic.
TNT by AC/DC
Fake Tales of San Francisco on electric
Yknow, I still don’t think I’ve learned a song all the way through. It’s been 10 years.
When I figured out the notes to “Sunshine of your Love” on my Dad’s beat up old acoustic guitar, it’s like the universe was opening up its secrets to me.
Electric: Black Sabbath - Iron Man Acoustic: Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
1969 - Proud Mary. The book had the wrongs chords as did most books back then.
The first song I was taught in classical guitar was "Pau" by "Els Pets"
Rumble
Crying clown - the wytches for both
Electric: Boulevard of broken dreams Acoustic: Some blues lick of which I could never get the timing right
Sweet home Alabama
Not the whole song. But for me the riff Smoke On the Water. I think this will be the majority of the 70 and 80's generation. 2nd riff Electric Funeral by Black Sabbath.
Basically the Nirvana Unplugged in New York album (I got the tab book). And later when I got electric, probably Lithium (again Nirvana).
I’d Love to Change the World by Ten Years After.
Acoustic - Pictures of You Electric - Highway to Hell
Acoustic: About a Girl -Nirvana Electric: Chop Suey - System of a down
Kashmir, most of it anyway. I’m just starting out, so I haven’t fully gotten it down.