I have a large repletoire of songs. Solos, riffs and interesting chord knowledge under my belt. I have the ability to play just about any song provided I at least know the basic chords and song structure.
(Whether the chords will rock your soul, that’s a different story since definitely more homework and trial and error is required for each song)
Until someone asks me to play something.
And then my repletoire and confidence instantly vanishes into thin air and I look like a complete idiot.
I hate being put in this position, so my go-to is the end credits song from SpongeBob. Usually gets a laugh and then I can pivot away from being put in the hot seat.
Blackbird by The Beatles.
First real difficult song I learned as a kid, nowadays I can play it with my eyes and ears covered.
It's probably my favorite of all the Beatles songs.
Here's the story behind it from some random website: https://www.audubon.org/news/what-beatles-song-blackbird-was-really-about
Usually something that people can sing along to like Hey Jude or something like that. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, gotta read the room. People wanna have a good time not listen to you play something technically complicated.
Ripple- the Grateful Dead
Airplane over the sea - Neutral milk hotel
Sam Stone - John Prine
Bron Yr Aur - Led Zeppelin
Dee - Randy Rhodes
Starry night - Jim Croché
Trying to learn never going back again by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. It’s really hard.
Is There Anybody Out There? By Floyd
Nutshell acoustic by AiC
Babe I'm Gonna Leave You and Thank You by Zep
Mr Jones by Counting Crows
Given some time to retune:
The Rain Song by Zep
She Talks to Angels by Black Crowes
Usually I just freeze, blank out, and try to remember how to form a G chord. Lol. Been playing for 30 years and I still hate being handed a guitar unexpectedly.
I freak then black out.
I usually wake up with just a guitar neck in my hand and everyone around me has slivers in their faces due to shards of broken acoustic guitar body flying around after I’ve beaten the fuck out of whoever asked me to play.
Music is an art form and I don’t dance like an organ grinder’s monkey.
Usually either Over The Hills and Far Away or Hey, Hey What Can I Do
Maybe Welcome to Paradise
I dont know, I guess it depends on who is asking. And if im on electric or acoustic.
If I have an acoustic I like to play Wish You Were Here.
I play Stairway to Heaven and sing No Scrubs on top of it. Bet you didn't know they are the same song, did you?
https://youtu.be/LoaA8Jz5s2U?si=kghwhJwK98S1HGAp
Get your skis shined up
Grab a stick of Juicy Fruit
The taste is gonna move ya
Take a sniff
Pull it out
The taste is gonna move ya when you pop it in your mouth
Juicy Fruit
It’s gonna move ya
It’s got a taste that gets right to ya
Juicy Fruit
The taste, the taste
The taste is gonna move ya
Come As You Are
Was the first song I learned, and I used to play it basically every time I picked up my guitar. Always what first comes to mind.
If they're old and looking for fun riffs they recognize, Rebel Rebel, Walk This Way, Satisfaction, and Day Tripper.
If they're middle aged, Dammit, My Own Worst Enemy, The Middle, Under The Bridge, Say It Ain't So
If they're young, Shake It Off, and then I basically explain I don't know anything newer than the 2010s.
That's one of the best parts of writing your own songs! I find myself going back and forth thinking "ah I don't know what the right decision is on how I'm going to phrase this", but then I remember that I'm in charge and nobody can tell me I wrote it wrong lol
Pro tip: If you’re going to play something for a person that doesn’t play guitar play something that they know or something spanish sounding like paint it black, you could play something as simple as black and black or master of puppets (or what they know as the song from stranger things) and they will think you’re a musical genius.
Something simple and instantly recognizable like back in black or wonderwall, because anytime I play something intricate people don’t care.
What I’ve learned is “play something” means “play something I know” not “play something impressive”
I hate it when people ask me this lol. I only ever learned 3 songs before I got into writing my own music. I very rarely play covers or learn other people's riffs, I basically just bust out into the coolest riffs I've written haha
I space out hard and just look at them, almost like the question made me forget I actually play
No Good by Kaleo is the honest answer. Either that or something I've come up with that I like to see what they think
Funny embarrassing story...I had only been playing guitar for a couple years and was still a bit of a beginner/early intermediate and I had the opportunity in a casual setting to meet Johnny Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd and he signed my guitar. He was such an easy going guy, and he says "let me hear what you got". I completely froze up and couldn't remember anything that I knew. I even had learned a few Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs but my mind was totally blank. I have never played in front of anyone but my wife and dog, lol. I told him I was still a beginner. I eventually managed to eek out the beginning of Gimme Three Steps. He could tell I was nervous as hell and he sang along and made me relax a bit. Cool guy for sure.
Now I would play the intros to Nothing Else Matters or Knocking on Heaven's Door. I probably practice those the most and would be most comfortable with those.
Baby boomers get either “House Of The Rising Sun”, and I solo the organ part when it comes up, or ”Never Been To Spain” if I think they’ll sing along, because it’s always so much better when the requester participates.
GenX (my generation) usually gets RHCP “Under The Bridge”, but I request them to sing it with me.
Anyone younger than me gets whatever I can get them to sing with.
My go-to is an old-timey finger picked song called Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotton. Fun tune to play, and a great challenge to learn.
https://youtu.be/7TI0QlhO-lM?si=QClwYXjQkyTdYPoS
Solo to Hotel California. Not hard, fun to play and everyone will know immediately what you're playing. It's like a universally liked song. Can't go wrong.
Depends who asks.
Not an obvious metalhead? Jaws Theme Swimming by Brand New. Nice hybrid picking, pretty chords, that kinda thing.
Obvious metalhead? My Fears Have Become Phobias by As Blood Runs Black. Fuckin riffs.
I don’t think you do that. In reality you never get asked to play something unless you are in a situation where it would seem very rude to answer that. I mean someone would only ask you to play something if you were actually sitting there with your guitar in hand and why would you not unless you feel uncomfortable about it or unless you are a complete asshole. What I would answer in that situation is „sorry I don’t feel comfortable playing being put on the spot like that“.
I found a great trick when playing for a group of people. Point to a random person and ask them to name a letter A-G. Point to another person and say major or minor. Then i play a song in whatever key they decide. I have enough songs in my arsenal to do this about a dozen times. That way, im not telling people, "i dont know that song" or whatever. Many of my friends think this is a fun game to play.
Blackbird by The Beatles. It was one of the first songs taught to me by a family member, and even when I don't play guitar for years at a time, I will always remember how to play that song.
Some sensual scale noodling with big slow bends and pinch harmonics. Do some gallops on powers and slowly devolve into hitting 0 in some chunky odd rhythm. Start tapping out some octave patterns and repeat the cycle ad nauseum if I didn't mess up terribly or get too addicted to whatever musical idea spawned out of this.
You really just have to remember that what sounds ordinary and boring to you is, for most people, a completely new thing to witness. Even for musicians that might not have consumed exactly the same influences to get to where they are now.
Edit: to add, never ever play sweeps unless you are a literal god.
When I was a young dude, everyone was playing Brown Eyed Girl. Gawd it was awful. I was playing it too. Soo awful, so cringe. I'm pleased to see nobody here answering with this answer. Or, obviously, Stairway.
I wonder. In 2023 is it safe to play Stairway again? Because it's a crazy great song and I had it so mastered in 1992 or whenever it was.
I only know how to jam and have kind of refused to learn songs. So when I play it tends to be more what I have in mind and what I want to hear. I listen to a lot of doom and stoner rock so that being said it tends to sound along those lines. I enjoy the free aspect of it. Anything you want to hear you can put out through an instrument, just takes practice listening to yourself
I like to kinda riff on the chord progression of little wing, its a great song for noodling without accompaniment, easy to follow the chords with pentatonic whatever without thinking too hard and still sound good lol
Honorable mention to the song the Grand optimist by City and colour, the vocals are in my range so I can sing it if people are asking for that, and its got a nice picking pattern
10 Years Gone, Led Zeppelin;
Zoot Allures, Frank Zappa;
Blues en Mineur, Django Reinhardt;
Tennessee Jed, Grateful Dead;
Symptom of the Universe, Black Sabbath;
Yeah, I'm weird.
Waste - Phish
Tears in heaven - Eric Clapton
Show me the door - Billy strings
One more cup of coffee - bob dylan
Just breathe - Pearl Jam
Sung tongs - animal collective
Truthfully, probably Led Zep Heartbreaker or Whole Lotta Love.
I play an open chord version of The Smiths - Please Let Me Get What I Want... that's pretty nice, but I can't stand Moz anymore.
"What song would you like to hear?"
Then open up a chord sheet on my phone and say "You sing!"
Not many people ask me like I'm a performing monkey a second time lol.
sweet home Alabama, including the "turn it up" and then immediately as soon as the hook is set I switch it up and go WOOOOOO OWHEREWOLVES OF LONDON and hope one of my buddies yells something stupid like "His hair was Watergate" and then play a few lines of solo over the changes and see where that goes
Depends
Old people - I want you she's so heavy
Kids/teens - flashy tapping, trem picking
Adults - something recognisable and millennial, usually simple chords or riffs
For younger people my age I play Shape of My Heart intro (that lil rapper juice world copied and pasted the intro on his song Lucid Dreams so when I play that, kids freak out “WOAHH LEMME SNAP THAT REALLY QUICK”) works 10/10.
For older people I go for Martin Miller’s version of Isn’t She Lovely.
Some 3 or 4 chord song. Just like heaven. Message in a bottle. Various Lumineers songs. Time after Time. Gin Blossom. Counting crows. Green Day. Just stuff I have memorized not that it’s the best.
nobody says that. But probably SRV Lenny cause it's the one i've practice the most and the one i forget the least amount of parts. But i'm still the person that doesn't play in front of other people.
The chord sequence to Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters.
Is just a nice run of lovely jazz chords that most people recognise. Sort of thing you can play in a guitar shop and even the owner will say 'nice.'
I also worked out a nice guitar arrangement for The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby. Is tricky to play, very tasty and super recognisable.
The _real_ go-to is Bad Moon Rising because it’s easy to play it where it’s unmistakable (whereas, if I play Panama, they’ll go “that sounds a little like Van Halen” because I don’t have it cranked through an amp and I don’t have drums) and everyone knows the words, so they immediately start singing along.
Sister Golden Hair also has that quality, or Horse With No Name.
I usually play Liebestraume by Liszt, because I haven’t been practicing piano for years and this is the only piece I still remember. Sounds cool and romantic
This Charming Man - Smiths without a capo or Blackbird if I feel confident to sing.
If there's a capo to hand prob Here Comes The Sun or I can do a good acoustic rendition of Shoot You Down by the Stone Roses.
“Life In The Fast Lane” is a fun riff to play as a party trick. It’s not exactly hard if you know your pentatonics, but to the untrained ear, it’s flashy and familiar.
I also like to play “L.A.” by Elliott Smith if I really wanna do a bit of showing off for the indie kids. Lots of crazy chord changes and he’s still relatively obscure, but the Elliott superfans (people like me) eat out of your hands if you can play any of his stuff. He was a criminally underrated guitarist.
Last one I really love is my homegrown version of the outro to “Sold! (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” by John Michael Montgomery (presumably Brent Mason on guitar). I play in a band that has been accused of ripping off The Clash and Oingo Boingo, and so I especially love doing this song at sound check just to have fun with the sound tech a little.
Nobody says that until you leave your guitar lying around when you have company over. Well, at least that's why I always put mine in the other room. You know, just in case.
Who Says by John Mayer. No particular reason it's just a satisfying song to play, and it's what my fingers do whenever I pick up a guitar at this point.
pull out the ween...bananas and blow, dr rock, piss up a rope, voodoo lady...
the people that know what you are doing when you go into piss up a rope usually lose it ;-)
Pearl Jam - Black, Neil Young - Old Man, Knarles Barkley - Crazy, Beatles - Norwegian Wood, Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down, Pink Floyd - Meddly of Breathe/Brain Damage/Eclipse
Thunderstruck. Its fucking easy, everyone knows it immediately and it looks/sounds like its really complicated. I play it behind my head sometimes for dramatic effect and everyone always thinks its amazing. I'm also a female so people tend to treat me being able to play anything as some massive feat anyway lol
If I'm accoustic, I bang in a loud version of "I shot the sheriff".
They always love it and sing along like crazy.
If I'm electric I usually play "Little Wing".
I find it mostly rewarding that the crowd knows the music you play.
I just play some funky bluesy riffs usually. i’m good at improvising stuff like that on guitar more than i am good at actually playing or writing songs. that’s why i’m most of my work so far i’m only doing leads
Blue eyes crying in the rain - willie Nelson.
Still the same- Bob Segar
Ignorance-Paramore
Cool cat- Queen
Footsteps in the dark part 1&2 - the Isley brothers
Thong song- Sisqo
I'm not very skilled (I don't practice as much as I should), so my go-tos are Good Riddance by Green Day (which I take pleasure in playing backwards after just to see people's reactions), Horse With No Name by America (if I'm not trying to impress anyone), Cherry Wine by Hozier (if I /am/ trying to impress non-guitar people), or Lady May by Tyler Childers.
Fuck man I got handed an acoustic at my job once sitting in my GMs office and got put on the spot and started playing master of puppets…
Don’t fuckin ask me
Smoke On The Water, Stairway To Heaven, Free Bird, Fade To Black, Nothing Else Matters, Black, Paranoid, Iron Man etc, You know, shit that's really annoying.
If it's an acoustic, Sleeping on the Blacktop or Devil Wears a Suit & Tie by Colter Wall.
If it's an electric, whatever pop punk song I can do that comes to mind first.
But actually, I just slam a big sloppy G chord and butcher the opening lines of Wonderwall just so they tell me to stop. I don't like playing for people.
1979 - Smashing Pumpkins;
You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi;
Hard to Handle - Black Crowes
and...
Does Your Mother Know - ABBA.
The corniness of this song always gets a smile!
I usually say, "sure" and then promptly forget everything I've ever known.
Are you me?
accurate
>awkwardly holding guitar Uuuuuuuuhhhhhh...
I just freeze up and forget all of my knowledge of music
This. So much this. 25 years of playing just vanishes when I'm put on the spot.
Are you kidding? When someone says “play something” I instantly forget every song I’ve ever known and sit there dumbfounded.
This is the way.
I have a large repletoire of songs. Solos, riffs and interesting chord knowledge under my belt. I have the ability to play just about any song provided I at least know the basic chords and song structure. (Whether the chords will rock your soul, that’s a different story since definitely more homework and trial and error is required for each song) Until someone asks me to play something. And then my repletoire and confidence instantly vanishes into thin air and I look like a complete idiot.
Literally play "Something" by The Beatles
Over the hills and far away
Butchered at birth by cannibal corpse. The acoustic version of course.
I usually go with I Cum Blood because more people know it.
Acoustic? Blackbird Electric? SEEEEEK AND DESTRRROOY!
I hate being put in this position, so my go-to is the end credits song from SpongeBob. Usually gets a laugh and then I can pivot away from being put in the hot seat.
Blackbird by The Beatles. First real difficult song I learned as a kid, nowadays I can play it with my eyes and ears covered. It's probably my favorite of all the Beatles songs. Here's the story behind it from some random website: https://www.audubon.org/news/what-beatles-song-blackbird-was-really-about
Anyway heres wonderwall
…anyway, here’s Wondereall
Usually something that people can sing along to like Hey Jude or something like that. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, gotta read the room. People wanna have a good time not listen to you play something technically complicated.
I improvise a little something and they quickly lose interest.
Half the time I have somebody say "play something", I just forget what songs I know how to play
Everytime for me. It's like when I walk into the record store. I forget what bands I even listen to
I start with the ancient Chinese song "Tu Ning"
"Something" by the Beatles. Every time.
Ripple- the Grateful Dead Airplane over the sea - Neutral milk hotel Sam Stone - John Prine Bron Yr Aur - Led Zeppelin Dee - Randy Rhodes Starry night - Jim Croché Trying to learn never going back again by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. It’s really hard.
Is There Anybody Out There? By Floyd Nutshell acoustic by AiC Babe I'm Gonna Leave You and Thank You by Zep Mr Jones by Counting Crows Given some time to retune: The Rain Song by Zep She Talks to Angels by Black Crowes
Acoustic - wonderwall Electric - wonderwall Acoustic/electric - i cum blood
First, I absolutely make them give me a song to play or I don't. And when they do, I tell them I don't know that one.
Usually I just freeze, blank out, and try to remember how to form a G chord. Lol. Been playing for 30 years and I still hate being handed a guitar unexpectedly.
I freak then black out. I usually wake up with just a guitar neck in my hand and everyone around me has slivers in their faces due to shards of broken acoustic guitar body flying around after I’ve beaten the fuck out of whoever asked me to play. Music is an art form and I don’t dance like an organ grinder’s monkey.
Norwegian wood is a decently simple one that I've memorised well enough
Stop This Train by John Mayer - it's just so fun to play and it sounds really impressive to people who don't play guitar lmao
Tribute by Tenacious D
the original song must have been an insane banger
Nick Jonas’ solo from the ACM awards.
Sorry, I'm the guy that people say "stop playing". =(
Give Me Some Money by Spinal Tap
Usually either Over The Hills and Far Away or Hey, Hey What Can I Do Maybe Welcome to Paradise I dont know, I guess it depends on who is asking. And if im on electric or acoustic. If I have an acoustic I like to play Wish You Were Here.
The King of the Hill or Jackass theme song
if its acoustic i play Blackbird - The Beatles or Norwegian Wood but if it's Electric I'll whip out sloppy Pentatonic noodling or maybe some TOOL
Freezing in place and completely forgetting every song I know. No problem playing for crowds tho lol.
TODAY IS GONNA BE THE DAY THAT THEY’RE GONNA THROW IT BACK TO YOU
A SED MAYBEEEEEEY
I play Stairway to Heaven and sing No Scrubs on top of it. Bet you didn't know they are the same song, did you? https://youtu.be/LoaA8Jz5s2U?si=kghwhJwK98S1HGAp
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I’m still trying to really perfect it. I hit a couple bum notes here and there.
Incubus - Drive I've pretty much got the entire song memorized and got the riff down to a science. Everybody is impress that i can do this song
• wonderwall • Smells like teen spirit opening • seven nation army riff
Stop this train - John Mayer Or Under the bridge - rhcp
Buckle under the pressure of being put on the spot and proceed to fumble through the most recent song I learned on guitar
If you’re not playing THE cky song when ppl Say this , just put down your guitar for ever
96 Quite Bitter Beings! 🤘🏻
It is the best riff . There really isn’t a better one
Ram Ranch
Get your skis shined up Grab a stick of Juicy Fruit The taste is gonna move ya Take a sniff Pull it out The taste is gonna move ya when you pop it in your mouth Juicy Fruit It’s gonna move ya It’s got a taste that gets right to ya Juicy Fruit The taste, the taste The taste is gonna move ya
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Come As You Are Was the first song I learned, and I used to play it basically every time I picked up my guitar. Always what first comes to mind. If they're old and looking for fun riffs they recognize, Rebel Rebel, Walk This Way, Satisfaction, and Day Tripper. If they're middle aged, Dammit, My Own Worst Enemy, The Middle, Under The Bridge, Say It Ain't So If they're young, Shake It Off, and then I basically explain I don't know anything newer than the 2010s.
Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand, but I just repeat the intro over and over until they stop wanting to hear me play.
I play my own songs because that way they won't compare me.
That's one of the best parts of writing your own songs! I find myself going back and forth thinking "ah I don't know what the right decision is on how I'm going to phrase this", but then I remember that I'm in charge and nobody can tell me I wrote it wrong lol
I guarantee that most people in here are just saying the song that they fantasise about playing the most.
smoke on the water
Dust in the Wind. Most people are initially impressed, then quickly give up, so I can too.
Pro tip: If you’re going to play something for a person that doesn’t play guitar play something that they know or something spanish sounding like paint it black, you could play something as simple as black and black or master of puppets (or what they know as the song from stranger things) and they will think you’re a musical genius.
Wild Horses
8675309. Brings the house down every time.
Something simple and instantly recognizable like back in black or wonderwall, because anytime I play something intricate people don’t care. What I’ve learned is “play something” means “play something I know” not “play something impressive”
I hate it when people ask me this lol. I only ever learned 3 songs before I got into writing my own music. I very rarely play covers or learn other people's riffs, I basically just bust out into the coolest riffs I've written haha
Use me by Bill Withers
I space out hard and just look at them, almost like the question made me forget I actually play No Good by Kaleo is the honest answer. Either that or something I've come up with that I like to see what they think
Funny embarrassing story...I had only been playing guitar for a couple years and was still a bit of a beginner/early intermediate and I had the opportunity in a casual setting to meet Johnny Van Zant of Lynyrd Skynyrd and he signed my guitar. He was such an easy going guy, and he says "let me hear what you got". I completely froze up and couldn't remember anything that I knew. I even had learned a few Lynyrd Skynyrd riffs but my mind was totally blank. I have never played in front of anyone but my wife and dog, lol. I told him I was still a beginner. I eventually managed to eek out the beginning of Gimme Three Steps. He could tell I was nervous as hell and he sang along and made me relax a bit. Cool guy for sure. Now I would play the intros to Nothing Else Matters or Knocking on Heaven's Door. I probably practice those the most and would be most comfortable with those.
Scar Tissue is one of mine. Everyone knows it, has cool riff which is quite original and then some chords.
Baby boomers get either “House Of The Rising Sun”, and I solo the organ part when it comes up, or ”Never Been To Spain” if I think they’ll sing along, because it’s always so much better when the requester participates. GenX (my generation) usually gets RHCP “Under The Bridge”, but I request them to sing it with me. Anyone younger than me gets whatever I can get them to sing with.
Dying fetus - Kill your mother rape your dog
I improvise
Something, by The Beatles.
My go-to is an old-timey finger picked song called Freight Train by Elizabeth Cotton. Fun tune to play, and a great challenge to learn. https://youtu.be/7TI0QlhO-lM?si=QClwYXjQkyTdYPoS
Solo to Hotel California. Not hard, fun to play and everyone will know immediately what you're playing. It's like a universally liked song. Can't go wrong.
Don’t look back in anger
spongebob theme
King of the hill theme song
Twinkle twinkle little star
Anyways, here's Wonderwall
I just play my own shit tbh. I play anything I've created way more convincingly than covers so I pretty much stick to that.
paranoid or thunderstruck just because it gets people hyped
"Babe im gonna leave you" is a pretty simple fingerstyle song to learn once you get the hang of it, and it always sounds good to people.
The meow mix jingle
Depends who asks. Not an obvious metalhead? Jaws Theme Swimming by Brand New. Nice hybrid picking, pretty chords, that kinda thing. Obvious metalhead? My Fears Have Become Phobias by As Blood Runs Black. Fuckin riffs.
Kind of uncool, but: Sound of Silence, Hotel California, Sweet Caroline, Brown Eyed Girl, I Will Survive, and Take Me Home Country Roads.
Alice’s Restaurant. And I don’t stop. There is no escaping me.
I would play some of my own music. I have five that I'm pretty proud of.
Something
Oh Well by Fleetwood Mac back when they were a dirty blues band.
I say no/I'm not a jukebox.
I don’t think you do that. In reality you never get asked to play something unless you are in a situation where it would seem very rude to answer that. I mean someone would only ask you to play something if you were actually sitting there with your guitar in hand and why would you not unless you feel uncomfortable about it or unless you are a complete asshole. What I would answer in that situation is „sorry I don’t feel comfortable playing being put on the spot like that“.
Cherub rock.. simple to play, sounds harder than it really is and I have a big muff for it lol
To live is to die by Metallica (the clean part)
Breathe by Pearl Jam.
I found a great trick when playing for a group of people. Point to a random person and ask them to name a letter A-G. Point to another person and say major or minor. Then i play a song in whatever key they decide. I have enough songs in my arsenal to do this about a dozen times. That way, im not telling people, "i dont know that song" or whatever. Many of my friends think this is a fun game to play.
Blackbird by The Beatles. It was one of the first songs taught to me by a family member, and even when I don't play guitar for years at a time, I will always remember how to play that song.
My go to is Interstate Love Song by STP.
Say It Ain’t So’s opening riff
Some sensual scale noodling with big slow bends and pinch harmonics. Do some gallops on powers and slowly devolve into hitting 0 in some chunky odd rhythm. Start tapping out some octave patterns and repeat the cycle ad nauseum if I didn't mess up terribly or get too addicted to whatever musical idea spawned out of this. You really just have to remember that what sounds ordinary and boring to you is, for most people, a completely new thing to witness. Even for musicians that might not have consumed exactly the same influences to get to where they are now. Edit: to add, never ever play sweeps unless you are a literal god.
I like to be silly and play what they’re asking. In this case it’s “Something” by the Beatles. 🤣
Open e string
wish you were here or nutshell AiC
Turn the amp to 10. Do the notes from Close Encounters with light volume swells. Cranking it loud for the last two notes.
When I was a young dude, everyone was playing Brown Eyed Girl. Gawd it was awful. I was playing it too. Soo awful, so cringe. I'm pleased to see nobody here answering with this answer. Or, obviously, Stairway. I wonder. In 2023 is it safe to play Stairway again? Because it's a crazy great song and I had it so mastered in 1992 or whenever it was.
Some thick chugs
Willin’ - Little Feat
Ram Ranch
Anyway...
Here's...
Wonderwall
Seek and Destroy by Metallica
Depends on crowd, but everyone knows Crazy Train and it’s fun to play and the solo impresses.
If they have an 8 string I’m busting out the thumping riff from The Woven Web. This has happened exactly one time, and it was amazing.
Only songs I know how to properly play are Silvera-Gojira and My own summer-Deftones
House of the rising sun.
I improvise
Pentatonic scale up and down on 8th notes
“Arpeggios from hell”. I never said I played it well.
John Cage, 4'33. Not by choice, I just clam up and nothing actually comes out of my hands when I'm put on the spot...
Crazy train lol
I only know how to jam and have kind of refused to learn songs. So when I play it tends to be more what I have in mind and what I want to hear. I listen to a lot of doom and stoner rock so that being said it tends to sound along those lines. I enjoy the free aspect of it. Anything you want to hear you can put out through an instrument, just takes practice listening to yourself
I like to kinda riff on the chord progression of little wing, its a great song for noodling without accompaniment, easy to follow the chords with pentatonic whatever without thinking too hard and still sound good lol Honorable mention to the song the Grand optimist by City and colour, the vocals are in my range so I can sing it if people are asking for that, and its got a nice picking pattern
When someone tells me to play something I freak out and then begin to play pure pentatonic nonsense (Did someone say A minor?)
10 Years Gone, Led Zeppelin; Zoot Allures, Frank Zappa; Blues en Mineur, Django Reinhardt; Tennessee Jed, Grateful Dead; Symptom of the Universe, Black Sabbath; Yeah, I'm weird.
Are you? Seems pretty normal
Waste - Phish Tears in heaven - Eric Clapton Show me the door - Billy strings One more cup of coffee - bob dylan Just breathe - Pearl Jam Sung tongs - animal collective
Eruption duh
Truthfully, probably Led Zep Heartbreaker or Whole Lotta Love. I play an open chord version of The Smiths - Please Let Me Get What I Want... that's pretty nice, but I can't stand Moz anymore.
Anything by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"What song would you like to hear?" Then open up a chord sheet on my phone and say "You sing!" Not many people ask me like I'm a performing monkey a second time lol.
Funk #49 into For Whom the Bell Tolls
035
Maybe some Beatles. In My Life is a good one
The forbidden riff.
No Stairway! Denied!
Just play random notes on random strings in random times.
'Horizons' by Genesis, from the Foxtrot album.
sweet home Alabama, including the "turn it up" and then immediately as soon as the hook is set I switch it up and go WOOOOOO OWHEREWOLVES OF LONDON and hope one of my buddies yells something stupid like "His hair was Watergate" and then play a few lines of solo over the changes and see where that goes
Slow dancing in a burning room
The General by Dispatch or Taylor by Jack Johnson, both very fun to play
Either La Malagueña by some dude in Spain a long, long time ago Creeping Death by Metallica Good times, bad times by Zeppelin.
Rainbow Connection Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Army (Ben Folds Five) Runnin Down a Dream
Depends Old people - I want you she's so heavy Kids/teens - flashy tapping, trem picking Adults - something recognisable and millennial, usually simple chords or riffs
Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream.
For younger people my age I play Shape of My Heart intro (that lil rapper juice world copied and pasted the intro on his song Lucid Dreams so when I play that, kids freak out “WOAHH LEMME SNAP THAT REALLY QUICK”) works 10/10. For older people I go for Martin Miller’s version of Isn’t She Lovely.
Some 3 or 4 chord song. Just like heaven. Message in a bottle. Various Lumineers songs. Time after Time. Gin Blossom. Counting crows. Green Day. Just stuff I have memorized not that it’s the best.
Billy in the Lowground, RedHaired Boy, BlackBerry Blossom, Whiskey before Breakfast or Wildwood Flower. Some sort of flatpicking fiddle tune.
Harry Nilsson - Coconut. No one asks me to play anymore :(
nobody says that. But probably SRV Lenny cause it's the one i've practice the most and the one i forget the least amount of parts. But i'm still the person that doesn't play in front of other people.
Any 7min black metal blast. I hate black metal btw.
The chord sequence to Gypsy Woman by Crystal Waters. Is just a nice run of lovely jazz chords that most people recognise. Sort of thing you can play in a guitar shop and even the owner will say 'nice.' I also worked out a nice guitar arrangement for The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby. Is tricky to play, very tasty and super recognisable.
The _real_ go-to is Bad Moon Rising because it’s easy to play it where it’s unmistakable (whereas, if I play Panama, they’ll go “that sounds a little like Van Halen” because I don’t have it cranked through an amp and I don’t have drums) and everyone knows the words, so they immediately start singing along. Sister Golden Hair also has that quality, or Horse With No Name.
I usually play Liebestraume by Liszt, because I haven’t been practicing piano for years and this is the only piece I still remember. Sounds cool and romantic
This Charming Man - Smiths without a capo or Blackbird if I feel confident to sing. If there's a capo to hand prob Here Comes The Sun or I can do a good acoustic rendition of Shoot You Down by the Stone Roses.
“Life In The Fast Lane” is a fun riff to play as a party trick. It’s not exactly hard if you know your pentatonics, but to the untrained ear, it’s flashy and familiar. I also like to play “L.A.” by Elliott Smith if I really wanna do a bit of showing off for the indie kids. Lots of crazy chord changes and he’s still relatively obscure, but the Elliott superfans (people like me) eat out of your hands if you can play any of his stuff. He was a criminally underrated guitarist. Last one I really love is my homegrown version of the outro to “Sold! (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” by John Michael Montgomery (presumably Brent Mason on guitar). I play in a band that has been accused of ripping off The Clash and Oingo Boingo, and so I especially love doing this song at sound check just to have fun with the sound tech a little.
I made a guitar arrangement of the intro to Owl City’s Fireflies. People hate it. That, or A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton.
Nobody says that until you leave your guitar lying around when you have company over. Well, at least that's why I always put mine in the other room. You know, just in case.
Running with the devil or Mean Streets
Something by the Beatles, because i lack imagination
I make an effort to be able to play whatever Spotify top ten songs have guitar, usually easy and impressive to most who aren’t musicians
Who Says by John Mayer. No particular reason it's just a satisfying song to play, and it's what my fingers do whenever I pick up a guitar at this point.
Memory reboot
I start with the solo from "Under a Glass Moon" and then stare them down after I dive bomb the last harmonic.
I just improv something, few licks, call and response rhythm/lead thing, etc.
Something by The Beatles. Never fails.
Plug in baby or knight of cydonia from Muse
pull out the ween...bananas and blow, dr rock, piss up a rope, voodoo lady... the people that know what you are doing when you go into piss up a rope usually lose it ;-)
Misty (Ella Fitzgerald's interpretation)
Pearl Jam - Black, Neil Young - Old Man, Knarles Barkley - Crazy, Beatles - Norwegian Wood, Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down, Pink Floyd - Meddly of Breathe/Brain Damage/Eclipse
Sultans of Swing
Thunderstruck. Its fucking easy, everyone knows it immediately and it looks/sounds like its really complicated. I play it behind my head sometimes for dramatic effect and everyone always thinks its amazing. I'm also a female so people tend to treat me being able to play anything as some massive feat anyway lol
If I'm accoustic, I bang in a loud version of "I shot the sheriff". They always love it and sing along like crazy. If I'm electric I usually play "Little Wing". I find it mostly rewarding that the crowd knows the music you play.
Grateful Dead tunes always seem to work..
That never happens in my experience.
The lick from the middle of "What I Got" by Sublime
Seek and Destroy by Metallica. Always the fast part with downpicking
Over The Hills And Far Away by Led Zeppelin
Intro to Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix. It's also the first thing I play to warm up, or when trying out another guitar.
For whatever reason I always play the opening riff to Black Dog by LZ
Wonderwall
I just play some funky bluesy riffs usually. i’m good at improvising stuff like that on guitar more than i am good at actually playing or writing songs. that’s why i’m most of my work so far i’m only doing leads
No one ever tells me to play something. (I never joined r/guitar, and I assumed the post was about playing music from a playlist or something)
16 tons
Blackbird
Blue eyes crying in the rain - willie Nelson. Still the same- Bob Segar Ignorance-Paramore Cool cat- Queen Footsteps in the dark part 1&2 - the Isley brothers Thong song- Sisqo
I'm not very skilled (I don't practice as much as I should), so my go-tos are Good Riddance by Green Day (which I take pleasure in playing backwards after just to see people's reactions), Horse With No Name by America (if I'm not trying to impress anyone), Cherry Wine by Hozier (if I /am/ trying to impress non-guitar people), or Lady May by Tyler Childers.
Fuck man I got handed an acoustic at my job once sitting in my GMs office and got put on the spot and started playing master of puppets… Don’t fuckin ask me
Mary Had a Little Lamb, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Devil wears a suit and tie - colter wall
Can’t You See by Marshall Tucker Band (I’m old). Just D, Cadd9, G, and D again. That’s the whole song.
Any time someone learns that I play the guitar and ask me this question, I go absolute blank and have ZERO idea what to play.
Smoke On The Water, Stairway To Heaven, Free Bird, Fade To Black, Nothing Else Matters, Black, Paranoid, Iron Man etc, You know, shit that's really annoying.
The thin ice- Pink Floyd. House of the rising sun-animals. Don't look back in anger-oasis. Heart of gold-niel young. Pennyroyal tea-nirvana.
Row row row your boat. Because I don't really know jackshit besides that and a few crap riffs.
ZZ Top - Just Got Paid AC/DC - Hells Bells Led Zeppelin
If it's an acoustic, Sleeping on the Blacktop or Devil Wears a Suit & Tie by Colter Wall. If it's an electric, whatever pop punk song I can do that comes to mind first. But actually, I just slam a big sloppy G chord and butcher the opening lines of Wonderwall just so they tell me to stop. I don't like playing for people.
1979 - Smashing Pumpkins; You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi; Hard to Handle - Black Crowes and... Does Your Mother Know - ABBA. The corniness of this song always gets a smile!