Looking For Housekeeping Help...

[TGNeil]

Hi Gang,

As I'm sure you all know, we are working very hard at organizing and reorganizing our site and I could use some help from anybody who has learned anything here at TotallyGuitars. We are trying to lay out paths for people who come to the site looking for specific suggestions on lessons that will take them in a specific direction. For example, MattX might come here saying, "I can strum pretty well and can play Blackbird. Now I am trying to get into more complicated fingerpicking songs as well as strumming songs that mix bass notes and runs in with the patterns. What songs will take me there?"

I would greatly appreciate it if you could list 5 to 10 songs that could help a beginning, intermediate, or even advanced student head in various directions, probably categorized into:

Strumming (Basic patterns through alternating bass notes, Teach Your Children)
Flatpicking (Strumming with single-note runs, The Needle And The Damage Done)
Riff-Based Lessons
Blues
Fingerpicking Accompaniments (If You Could Read My Mind)
Fingerpicking Instrumentals
Country Blues
Alternate Tunings
Ear Training (any Work It Out lessons)
Lessons with Lead Thoughts, Theory or Technique

These are some categories that occurred to me and maybe you can come up with others that might be useful. I have faith that many of you are more familiar with various parts of our content than I am and who better to ask than the experienced users? I am not asking everybody to come up with all the lists, really just one or two, or any that you feel comfortable with. I figure a hundred heads are better than one and look forward to what anybody can come up with.

THANKS!

Neil

[kanefsky]

I fear this won't be within the technology of the open-source stuff that you're using (although it's always possible to roll your own ), but what would be really nice is to search for multiple criteria at once. At the very least, by a category like flatpicking vs. fingerpicking in combination with difficulty. Right now it seems that when you choose a difficulty level it replaces any category that you've previously selected and vice-versa. Also you can't even see the difficulty level next to the results when you choose a category. Ideally you'd really want to be able to pick something like "easy fingerpicking progressive" or "newest campfire" or those sorts of things.

Also, for about the last decade it's been possible to do searches like that with nearly instantaneous results without even reloading the page, and to autocomplete words (like band names) as you're typing them. I can't tell you how much better the site would be if it were really fast to find what you're looking for. Speed contributes to increased usage more than just about any other feature.



--
Steve

[sbutler]

Neil, since I've bought into your teaching method hook, line and sinker, I love this question. Obviously ones taste in what they practice it a relative thing, however, I do have a list of songs that I work on that all fall into one of your category's. I'll give this some thought and send you a list of what I use to work on each of the category's that I work on. Although my list did change after leaving the IGC, there are tons of songs on the site that fit the bill.

Scott

[neverfoundthetime]

Riff-Based Lessons:
The Story in Your Eyes - Moody Blues
Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbeson
Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
More than a Feeling - Boston
Ventura Highway - America
Message in a Bottle - Police
Every Breath you Take - Police
Day Tripper - Beatles
I Feel Fine - Beatles
Norwegian Wood - Beatles
Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
Angie - Rolling Stones
The Last Time - Rolling Stones
Paint it Black - Rolling Stones
Moonshadow - Cat Stevens
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriell

[thereshopeyet]

Neil

Songs that have helped me are:

Down By The Water
Tequila Sunrise
Still The Same
You'll Accompn'y
Hallelujah
Heart of Gold
The Needle and The Damage Done
I'd Love To change The World
Give A Little Bit
Tequila Sunrise
Freight Train
Should I Stay or Should I Go
Windy and Warm
Shades of Funk
The Ivory Salamander
Blackbird
Docs Guitar
House of the Rising Sun

I haven't done much with barre chord but
I think they are coming on so am going to pick a few
to be more active with them.


Dermot

[willem]

Fingerstyle accompaniment

House of the rising sun-------

Hallelujah-------Leonard Cohen
Suzanne ---------Leonard Cohen
Landslide--------Fleetwood Mac
Fields of gold----Eva Cassidy
Time after time--Eva Cassidy
If you could read my mind------Gordon Lightfoot
Wonderful tonight----Eric Clapton
Your song----Elton John
Just breathe ---Pearle Jam

[sbutler]

For basic strumming practice I use
Melissa- Allman Brothers
Wild World -Cat Stevens
Waiting on a Friend Rolling Stones


And to advance to precision picking with strumming,

From the Beginning ELP ( this one covers just about everything )
The Needle And The Damage Done Guitar Lesson - Neil Young
Angie - Rolling Stones
Wish You Were Here Guitar Lesson Pink Floyd
She's not there Zombies--------- A lot more advanced picking and quick chord changes
Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
Natures Way Spirit (this one is really cool)


As for finger picking songs, obviously there are tons of them. They are pretty well rated like, Monday, Tuesday, Shades of funk, Blackbird being all entry level finger picking stuff.

The more advanced finger picking stuff is pretty well defind.

Scott

[auntlynnie]

Here is my suggestion for Country Blues:

Mississippi Blues #3
Summertime Strut
Sand Dollar Blues
Billie's Blues
Fishing Blues
Money's All Gone
Candy Man
Shake That Thing
That'll Never Happen No More
Stagolee
Windy and Warm
Cocaine Blues
Sally Where'd You Get Your Liquor
Alice's Restaurant
Doc's Guitar
Before You Accuse Me

Not quite in order as far as easiest to hardest.
Lynn

[willem]

willem wrote:

Fingerstyle accompaniment

House of the rising sun-------

Hallelujah-------Leonard Cohen
Suzanne ---------Leonard Cohen
Landslide--------Fleetwood Mac
Fields of gold----Eva Cassidy
Time after time--Eva Cassidy
If you could read my mind------Gordon Lightfoot
Wonderful tonight----Eric Clapton
Your song----Elton John
Just breathe ---Pearle Jam

Longer-------Dan Fogelberg open G tuning DGDGBD

[dtaylor]

Ear Training/Work It Out:

Play With Fire - Rolling Stones
Ballad of a Thin Man - Bob Dylan
Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
Sweet Jane - Lou Reed
10,000 Words - Avett Brothers
James River Blues - Old Crow Medicine Show
Girls From The North Country with Ed
I'm Yours with Kevin

Dean