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[Caramac]

I'm in a band with some friends but our bassist has only just got a bass (she has been playing before that though), our guitarist refuses to learn most songs and therefore sucks (doesnt practice), and our drummer (that would be me) is rusty due to not having played for a while.
We also have a singer and someone who says they'll be our 2nd guitarist if we ever need one (and he can actually play guitar!)

So the band's kind of not really a band but we still want to learn some songs together.
This is where we need your help. Suggest some songs that are fairly easy for all of us and that we can find tabs for online.
I thought of Modest Mouse - The World At Large but our lovely guitarist refuses to play it for unknown reasons.

[Everest]

Hehe, that sounds remarkably like my band

It's hard to tell what song(s) you should cover, but I can tell you what songs you shouldn't cover: don't touch any of those obvious, overly-done "rock anthems". Best is probably to brainstorm with the rest of your band and come up with a song you can all play.

As for tabs: I find them overrated anyway. Lots of versions by lots of people, who all think they got it right somehow. I don't know, that's just me. You could just try and play songs until you get them right, and you'll probably learn more in the process.

[sp2]

Wow, and I thought I butchered my instrument.

Anyways, Mitch Clem said it better than anyone:







Buuuuut...

Alright.  Really, the easiest songs to learn are punk and/or Nirvana.  Nirvana's a cakewalk.  Learn a few Nirvana songs, some Ramones, some Clash, and some Sex Pistols, and you're every other high school band on the planet.  Rock on.

[Mr Blue Sky]

Ozzy/Black Sabbath are pretty easy too, but then if your guitarist really suck you'll have to play without the solos. If you want more recent stuff try the easy Cake or Blur songs.

[Kai]

Black Sabbath are good if you stick to their first album, Paranoid, and Into the Void, simply because those have probably the easiest songs. Their other albums (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Black Sabbath Vol. 4, Technical Ecstacy) tend to lean towards them actually learning musical theory and stuff. Also, I too reccomend Punk songs.

[KharBevNor]

Master of Reality is pretty good too. I mean, Children of the Grave:

e:--------------------------------------------------------------|
B:--------------------------------------------------------------|
G:0------------------------0------------------------------------|
D:0------------------------0----------------------9-------------|
A:-------------------------------------------------7------------|
E:----0---0----0-0-0-----------0---0---0-0-0--0---------------|
     PM--------------|               PM----------------|


Is pretty much all you gotta learn, on top of which it sounds fucking awesome (probably my favourite Ozzy era Sabbath track). The solo's not even that hard.

If you're in a mood for an acoustic interlude, 'Mother' by Pink Floyd is an excellent and simple choice.

[Kai]

Whoops. I always call Master of Reality "Into the Void" because that's just my favorite song on there, and I play it usualyl just to warm up.

[Inlander]

Is anyone else thinking of "Talking Seattle Grunge-Rock Blues" by Todd Snider?

Hey, hey, my, my, rock 'n' roll will never die,
Just hang your hair down in your eyes
You'll make a million dollars.
Well, I was in this band goin' nowhere fast
We sent out demos, but everybody passed
So one day, we finally took the plunge
Moved out to Seattle to play some grunge.
Washington State that is.
Space Needle ...Eddie Vedder ...mud 'n' honey!
Now to fit in fast, we wear flannel shirts,
We turn our amps up until it hurts,
We got bad attitudes, and what's more
When we play we stare straight down at the floor, wow-ee
Pretty scary.
How pensive ...how totally alternative.
Now to fit in on the Seattle scene
We gotta do somethin' they ain't never seen.
So, thinkin' up a gimmick one day
We decided to be the only band that wouldn't play -- a note.
Under any circumstances.
Silence ...music's original alternative.
Roots grunge...
Well we spread the word through the underground,
that we were the hottest new thing in town.
The record guy came out to see us one day,
and just like always, we didn't play; it knocked him out.
He said he loved our work.
He said he loved our work, but he wasn't sure if he could sell a record
with nothin' on it.
I said tell 'em we're from Seattle.
He advanced us two-and-a-half million dollars.
Hey, hey, my, my, rock 'n' roll will never die,
Hang your hair down in your eyes
You'll make a million dollars.
Well, they made us do a video, but that wasn't tough,
'Cause we just filmed ourselves smashin' stuff.
It was kinda weird, 'cause there was no music,
But MTV said they'd love to use it.
The kids went wild,  the kids went nuts,
Rolling Stone gave us a five-star review; said we played with guts.
We were scorin' chicks, takin' drugs,
then we got asked to play MTV Unplugged; you shoulda seen it.
We went right out there and refused to do acoustical versions of the
electrical songs that we had refused to record in the first place.
Then we smashed our shit.
Well, we blew 'em away at the Grammy show,
by refusin' to play and refusin' to go.
And then just when we thought fame would last forever,
Along come this band that wasn't even together.
Now, that's alternative ...hell, that's alternative to alternative.
I feel stupid ...and contagious.
Well our band got dropped, and that ain't funny,
'cause we're all hooked on drugs, but we're outta money
So the other day I called up the band,
I said, "Boys, I've taken all I can,
"Shave off your goatees, pack the van...
"We're goin' back to
Athens."

[sp2]

If you're in a mood for an acoustic interlude, 'Mother' by Pink Floyd is an excellent and simple choice.

NO.  EVERY STONER WANNABE DOES THIS.  NO.

[La Creme]

I was in a shitty band when I was in 6th grade (the rest were in 8th). We pulled off (from the 20-30 songs we knew*) Iron Man, Girl U Want (Devo song; really easy, really good), Rock The Casbah, Should I Stay Or Should I Go (play that alternate part where it gets more rockin' really fast and hard and people will go cah-razy), Higher Ground (I guess it sounded more like the RHCP version...), and a couple shitty Offspring songs.

Now, while I don't advise playing much of that live, as it's absolute shit, easy songs like those are a good way to pull a band together. Once you have a band that really is a band and not just a bunch of kids playing at the same time, start writing your own stuff. And for at least your first ten songs, let the best songwriter write and the best lyric writer do the lyrics. From personal experience, that's usually not gonna be the singer.


*Other than these we just fucked up a shitload of Jimi, Sublime, The Specials, and even butchered a Tom Waits song (Misery Is The River Of The World). I felt really bad about that. It also got me heavily into Tom, so win-win. Or lose-win. Whatever.

[KharBevNor]

NO.  EVERY STONER WANNABE DOES THIS.  NO.

OKAY.

Folsom Prison Blues then. Although it's suprisingly hard to pull off the chugging rhythm thing. Well, I found it to be anyway.

[sp2]

From personal experience, that's usually not gonna be the singer.

Agreed.  The singer gets to pretend to be the intelligent one, but they really should let the bassist do all the work, because the bassist is probably the smart one in the band.

[La Creme]

Bassists are the best arrangers because they understand rhythm and melody. Guitarists/Keyboardists/Horn Section/Etc... write the riffs, the drummer smacks down a rhythm, the bass player or the keyboardist (if you've got one [they are a great asset]) puts it all together and writes the song, and then whoever does the best lyrics throws 'em on top (though they should be working on the lyrics for the entire songwriting period).

This is just a basic formula though, so go with whatever feels right!

[Kai]

All the bassists I know are horrible arrangers. Mostly because they just like to play as loud and as fast as they can and hope that someone will mistake their horrible slapping for Les Claypool.

[Bob McBob]

Ugh, I've wanted to kill Les Claypool for a long time, for inspiring everyone in the world to attempt to slap/pop the bass.  See also: failing miserably.  They should really learn from jazz/country/british invasion players.  Look at Paul McCarteny - half the time you can't hear the bass.

Either way.  You need to whip your band into shape, sir!  Use a whip.  Really.  No, don't torture anyone, because they'll eventually secretly resent you and you'll break up after a near-fatal plane ride where one of the members reveals his homosexuality.

No, what you *want* to do is get your players to learn to improv.  Get a beat going - something with groove - and have the guitarist start out with bar chords, because they can go anywhere, and the bassist'll fall in line.  Have the singer/bassist whip out some of the pseudo-poetry they always seem to have hanging around (if he/she doesn't - then what the hell kind of singer do you have???  Someone in the band'll have a little notebook.  Have em bring it.)and just start singing along.  This actually worked for most of my bands.

As for good, easy songs to start out with, hell the White Stripes are right there.  Just nothing that involves Meg singing.  Also check out every pop punk band you used to listen to.  I know, it's an eternal sin and I'll probably be sent to the 4th ring of hell for this one, but they're usually easy.  What you want is songs with energy.

Oh, and when you get big?  Play Hocus Pocus, by Focus, and send me a copy.  Damn that's a good song.

[KharBevNor]

I wish I knew a drummer who liked good music. I could rope in a lead guitarist, and maybe a bassist who would be game, but it ain't gonna happen. My dream is to start a band with an innocuous name, rope ourselves in for one of the local 'music obesity' gigs along with a load of generic emo and pop punk bands, sit through a few rounds of Used, Blink 182 and My Chemical Romance covers, then get up on stage, turn every available dial to 10 or hopefully more, and then rip through a set of low fi black metal covers. This mainly stems from a desire to scream the lyrics to 'Deathcrush' at all the local scene kids.

But even that ain't gonna happen, and I WANT to start a serious band.

[Kai]

There's one solution to your problem: BUILD ROBOTS. They can play your instruments for you.


Also: As much as I love Les Claypool and Primus and whatnot, Bass slap really seriously needs to stop. Unless, you know, you can actually play. then put it to a minimum. Please.

[KharBevNor]

There's one solution to your problem: BUILD ROBOTS. They can play your instruments for you.

Too unoriginal.

[sp2]

Jawbreaker cover band.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or a really bad one.

[La Creme]

Hey, Bob McBob, eat shit and die!

It's not genius Les' fault people are fucking tools and can't come up with their own damn style.

Plus, Vick was slapping like a motherfucker way before Les. Plus he's the undisputed champion of slap: http://www.victorwooten.com/

*EDIT* Go to the lessons and watch the video segment of Classical Thump. Note that he only uses two fucking fingers.

[Kai]

There's one solution to your problem: BUILD ROBOTS. They can play your instruments for you.

Too unoriginal.

In that case, go to Slovakia and get some Eastern Russian kids and buy a really big stereo. then just play the loudest, most incomprehensible thing you can while you throw the kids off the stage and punch them in the face.

[McTaggart]

Who cares if it's original or not? Do a cover of Such Great Heights. Everyone else has.

[stevethepirate]

This thread reminds me alot of my band. We don't have a drum kit, our guitarist isn't very good at guitar but he is getting better, we've already had a switch in bassists and the new one doesn't even know how to play. And to top it all off we've never even practiced anything, ever, plus the only people in the band that could probably sing any songs are me (the drummer) and one of our guitarists, she can sing pretty good though.

[Merkava]

Bassists are the best arrangers because they understand rhythm and melody.

This is just a basic formula though, so go with whatever feels right!

So...do...percussionists. And guitarists. And singers.

I don't know where you got that generalization from.

[La Creme]

I'm sorry. I meant to add "and how to tie them together." From what I've seen bassists tend to be the best at that. And no, most singers don't know jack shit about music because most singers aren't even musicians. They just have a naturally good voice. Again, there are exceptions.

[Merkava]

But if you do have a good singer, he's going to have some sort of comprehension of time and melody. The voice is considered an instrument, too, you know.

Sorry if Isounded a bit harsh. I just find the percussionist very underrated. I would know, I am one.

[Luke]

I had kind of a group thing going during my senior year of high school. I played piano, friend #1 played either bass guitar or regular electric guitar, and friend #2 played acoustic guitar occasionally. We all sang.

We got together to do numbers at our school's jazz concert 2 years in a row. The first year we covered "Fair" by Ben Folds Five, and the year after that we did our own song. That second year, I also did a song by myself that I'd written. We've written several songs, but we haven't communicated music-group-wise since the last school jazz concert. In addition, friend #2 is going away to college. I may consider contacting friend #1 again, as he's in his last year of high school this year, and I'm just going to community college, so I'll still be in the region. If we wanted to, we'd have enough material to put together a 13/14-track album.

Group music is fantastically fun, in my opinion. Perhaps it's because everyone was in on the idea and really wanted to do it. I also think that no 3 sounds combine more awesomely than those of a vocalist, a piano and a bass guitar.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

I just started a band... On Thursday night in fact. We have a gig on Friday 9th September and had our first practise earlier today. You know what that means kids! HYPER PRACTISE MODE!

The covers we are doing are:
'Go With The Flow' and 'Medication' by Queens Of The Stone Age
'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt 1' by The Flaming Lips
and something else that won't turn out to be 'Not Everyone' by Nine Black Alps as my drummer has just said that he can't be arsed to play it because it's 'too weird'
[EDIT] Can somebody suggest a song that is easy for the band described below to play?

We also plan to do a couple of songs wot I wroted.

The band's name is The Orgasmic Hellos and we consist of me on vocals, guitar and probably bass soon, a female vocalist and a male drummer. Rock.

[Fabio]

I NEVER SAID THAT!!! I LOVE THE SONG!!! STOP LYING ON A FORUM I READ!!!!!!!

[Cpt.Fantastic]

I MEANT YOU SAID THE DRUMMING WAS WEIRD! WHICH YOU DID!

Joel - Actresses wanted for local production. Talk for more details...   New Broken Social Scene album rules harder than hard. says:
can you play Not Everyone on drums?

Carlo- Actresses wanted for local production. Talk for more details....part may involve kiss scene's ...FUCKING OCEAN!!! says:
i don't really know its a bit wierd...

[Fabio]

*Grumble* fine...

[La Creme]

OOHHH TROUBLE WITHIN THE BAND INFRASTRUCTURE BREEEOOOWWWWWW!

Um, If I were you guys I'd hit up at least one Zeppelin cover because there are a lot of them that are easy to learn, good for jamming, and sound good live. Also, whoever listens to the most funk/jazz-fusion (if anyone) should bring in some of their favorite 70's fusion. That stuff is great to play. The only problem is that it will put your singers to the side for long periods of time.

Good jazz-fusion songs that are also easy:
"Chameleon" by Herbie Hancock
"Teen Town" by Weather Report
"Sivad" by Miles Davis
"What I Say" by Miles Davis (hard bass part, but the rest is easy...)
"Anxiety/Taurian Matador" by Billy Cobham (I'm definately doing this if I ever get another band together)
"Watermelon Man" by Herbie Hancock
"I Lu Kron" by Ginger Baker Trio
"Thelonious Monk Is My Grandmother" by Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (the bass part on this song has a shitload of effects on it, so it's only really pull-offable if your bass or guitar player has a lot of pedals...)

[Signum_Tenebrae]

There's one solution to your problem: BUILD ROBOTS. They can play your instruments for you.

Too unoriginal.

Holy shit no way.

[La Creme]

Mang, there is everything. I've even heard a CD that was just one cow's moo put into a really high quality mixing program thingy and turned into an entire 50-minute album.

It sucked. But still.

[La Creme]

Yeah, but you can always make it the guitar part. Guitarists usually get faster... faster....

But yeah, I think it's just a general statement that the bass is gonna be the hardest thing in most decent fusion peices.

[Fabio]

well our guitarist is our bassist.

And he can play damn well but then we need another guitarist...

[Cpt.Fantastic]

Aww, thanks sweetheart, I think that's the kindest thing you've ever said. Plus, I like the sound of this jazz-fusion.

[Fabio]

...sweetheart not sure i like that but....

I don't like the sound of it either.

[Cpt.Fantastic]

Meh, I was being whore-ish.

[Fabio]

I love you...

[SeŅor Duarte]

For some relatively easy Weather Report fusion you could try different arrangements of River People or Come On, Come Over.

[Merkava]

Death Cab for Cutie's songs are very easy to learn. Most of them have one simple guitar line with minor variations. I've even learned some main guitar parts just from tabs during the first month of learning how to play.

[La Creme]

And, do Big Bottom (from Spinal Tap). Just for kicks.

[McTaggart]

'Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt 1' by The Flaming Lips.

You realise, of course, that if you fuck this one up thousands of hipsters (myself included) will dismember your band with the most righteous of vigor?

[Merkava]

See what I'd do is make an ironic cover. I'd turn the song into a slow piano-ballad.

When a song can't be improved, there's no other way but to the left.

[Fabio]

You realise, of course, that if you fuck this one up thousands of hipsters (myself included) will dismember your band with the most righteous of vigor?

Yeah but we just played it and it sounded amazing so no worries...i hope