Acoustic Set List

[Telemehow]

I am putting together a set list for ultimate solo acoustic gig. One guitar; one vocalist, little or no effects. Its been a long time since I have played out so I am curious to know what people play/want to hear at "coffee shop type" gigs. Neil Young? Beatles?, Dave Matthews?

What is the ultimate acoustic set list?

[txspreacher]

are you already committed to playing at a particular place? I guess somewhere in DFW? The client base can vary pretty well around there depending.

[hekawi]

for Beatles...i'd go with:
"And I Love Her" it isn't played as often as "Yesterday" and it makes the girls swoon
"In My Life" great lyrics, and the simple little guitar lick is so cool.
"Hard Day's Night" works surprising well as a solo acoustic number. that first chord kills!
"Ticket to Ride" slowed down a little, it's outstanding when played acoustic. again a great little guitar lick that is simple but still genius.
"Yellow Submarine" don't laugh, everybody loves to sing along on this one
"Something" another swooner

and you can alway play "Yesterday" if somebody asks for it

[PK]

Here's a few I do:

Beatles:
Blackbird
Norweigen Wood
I'm only sleeping
Yesterday

Dylan:
Positively 4th Street
She belongs to me

I also like to mix in an acoustic version of the AC/DC classic "You shook me All Night Long". It goes over great! Think outside the box a bit and re-work a few hard rock tunes to acoustic ballads. Throws people off guard and you can imprint your style :)

PK

[F1rocco]

Id really like to hear more 50s songs being played.....Upbeat happy songs....Blues song are great but most songs nobody has ever heard of....And if you sing alot of the Blues songs they start sounding the same...Buddy Holly....Chuck Berry....That type of stuff...Gotta get those customers feet tappin...

[zombywoof]

Hard to say - depends on the audience and what they are expecting.

Although I mostly play Deep Blues one that is working real well for me is a medley in Open D tuning. Starts with "Amazing Grace" goes into the Stones "Prodigal Son" and ends with a Cream-esque version of "Spoonful."

Some other non-blues tunes ones I enjoy and which get a pretty good response are:

Copperhead Road (Steve Earle)
She Talks to Angels (Black Crowes)
Gallows Poll (Zep version)
Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You (Zep version)
Angie (Stones)
Vigilante Man (Woody Guthrie)
Jack Johnson (Tom Russell)
Oops, I Did It Again (Britney Spears) - I love playing this song on acoustic. It will get an audience - who usually does not want to admit they know the song - to sing along.

Something I stole from Dave Alvin is a medley of:
Woody's Do Re Mi and Chuck Berry's Promised Land. Works really well on acoustic.

[bigdaddyweed]

I do a one man show, and outside of originals, I do Eagles, Tom Petty, CCR, and Neil Young as you mentioned, is an excellent choice along with Beatles. I've also done Alice In Chains, Green Day, Billy Joe, and Todd Snider. Seems like the well known stuff goes over better.

Later ...................weedman

[Rock on]

Originally Posted by zombywoof

Hard to say - depends on the audience and what they are expecting.

Although I mostly play Deep Blues one that is working real well for me is a medley in Open D tuning. Starts with "Amazing Grace" goes into the Stones "Prodigal Son" and ends with a Cream-esque version of "Spoonful."

Some other non-blues tunes ones I enjoy and which get a pretty good response are:

Copperhead Road (Steve Earle)
She Talks to Angels (Black Crowes)
Gallows Poll (Zep version)
Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You (Zep version)
Angie (Stones)
Vigilante Man (Woody Guthrie)
Jack Johnson (Tom Russell)
Oops, I Did It Again (Britney Spears) - I love playing this song on acoustic. It will get an audience - who usually does not want to admit they know the song - to sing along.

Something I stole from Dave Alvin is a medley of:
Woody's Do Re Mi and Chuck Berry's Promised Land. Works really well on acoustic.

NICE!! espescially the Zeppelin

[zooropamofo]

Some suggestions...songs that I use in regular acoustic rotation are in bold:

Beatles
Till There Was You
Things We Said Today
I'll Follow The Sun
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
I'm Looking Through You
In My Life
For No One
With A Little Help From My Friends
The Fool On The Hill
Dear Prudence
I'm So Tired
Julia
Revolution 1
Something
Here Comes The Sun
Two Of Us
Across The Universe
The Long And Winding Road
Get Back
Hey Jude (great singalong)

Dave Matthews Band
Crash Into Me

Coldplay
Yellow
Trouble
In My Place
Clocks
Fix You
Speed of Sound
A Message
Swallowed In The Sea
'Till Kingdom Come
God Put A Smile On Your Face
The Scientist
Green Eyes

U2
One
Running To Stand Still
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Trip Through Your Wires
Love Is Blindness
Stay (Faraway, So Close!)
The First Time
Miss Sarajevo
If God Will Send His Angels
Staring At The Sun
If You Wear That Velvet Dress
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Stateless
In A Little While
Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
One Step Closer
Original Of The Species

Bruce Springsteen
Atlantic City
Brothers Under The Bridge
Brilliant Disguise
Highway 29
I'm On Fire
If I Should Fall Behind
Long Time Comin'
Mansion On The Hill
Nebraska
Nothing Man
One Step Up
Spirit In The Night
Straight Time
The Ghost Of Tom Joad
Valentine's Day
Waitin' On A Sunny Day
You're Missing

[Darrell]

I play songs that work for my vocal range. I like a lot of music, but if I can't hit every note to a song, no matter how much I love it, it comes off the list.

I am country fan, and my voice fits certain artists better than others.

I see that you may not be a country singer type, so I won't bother listing what works for me.

[Specialk32928]

"Blackbird"- The Beatles

"Don't Think Twice It's Alright"- Bob Dylan

"The Loner"- Neil Young (acoustic version of this song is BRILLIANT)

"The Lee Shore"- David Crosby

"I've Got A Name"- Jim Croce

"Malted Milk"- Robert Johnson (covered by Clapton on Unplugged)

"What Would You Say?"- DMB

those are a few of my favorites-- most Dylan works (try not to pick any that are too cliche'd lol) and Neil Young is great

good luck with your gig!

[aznrambo481]

I think PINBALL WIZARD!!!!!!!!

[kidA]

putting a more youthful spin on this list to add to the already mentioned great older stuff O.o

dave matthews
#41 - this is a must imo. www.howiefan.com has a really good tab for howie day's voicings. it's just a beautiful song regardless of the enigmatic lyrics.
lie in our graves- fun riff
(both from the album Crash)

radiohead is also great acoustic
creep
high and dry (the bends)
fake plastic trees (the bends)

coldplay is nice, though they tend towards non standard tuning which could prove difficult/not worth it for an acoustic set

Toto
Africa- you can actually tease this out of the #41 chorus (Em Cadd9 G D)

Better than Ezra
At the Stars
Live Again

Ryan Adams
Wonderwall (amazing cover, far far better than the original)

Howie Day
all his early stuff was acoustic and live

John Mayer
anything by this man is pretty solid imo

Also a neat trick is Am F C G and you can play the same thing and sing at least 5 songs to it. off the top of my head theres
Save Tonight
Machinehead
What if God was One of Us?
All for You- sister hazel?
Demons-guster
Either way-guster
My Stupid Mouth- John mayer
and the list goes on

btw, when are you playing and where? i might be in town.

[Tim73]

We do Heart of Gold by Neil Young which is always well received. Also CCR stuff (Lodi works well). A bit of Dylan never goes a miss.

[zombywoof]

Just an example of how ya can really play around with it all - the other week I started playing CCR's "Born on the Bayou" in Open E tuning. Got this funky Mississippi Hill Country style drone thing going on with the bridge played on the low strings. Just rumbled. Felt we needed something fun to spice the setlist up a bit and this really fits the bill.

[kp8]

Originally Posted by Telemehow

I]Neil Young? Beatles?, Dave Matthews?

What is the ultimate acoustic set list?

Any set that doesn't include Dave Matthews is off to the right start.
Just Say No.



Bruce Springsteen's The River is a nice acoustic number and so is the Who's Behind Blue Eyes.

Lennon's You've got to hide you love away is a nice one that doesn't get played often.

[getbent]

Nanci Griffiths "trouble in these fields"
David Wilcox "eye of the hurricane"
dylan "you're a big girl now"
Danny O'Keefe "Goodtime Charlie's got the blues" "Quits"
Jackson Browne "Ready Or Not"
Gene Clark "Tried So Hard"
Byrds "Mr. Spaceman"
Beatles "Why don't we do it in the road" "we can work it out"
Neil Young "Comes a time" "Already One" "War of Man"
Amee Chapman "Makeup in the makeout room"
John Gorka "Grand Larceny"
Hank Thompson "six pack to go"
Merle Haggard "I take a lot of pride in what I am"
John Stewart "California Bloodlines"
Little Feat "Willin" (get the audience to sing with you... they'll like the weed whites and wine part)
Jerry Jeff Walker "Up against the wall redneck mother"
Townes Van Zandt "mr. mudd and mr. gold" "talking thunderbird blues"

[tele-martini]

Neil Young: Heart Of Gold
Comes a time
Needle And the Damage Done
World On A a String
Four Strong Winds
Prarie Winds

Grateful Dead- Sugaree
Me And My Uncle
Bertha
Uncle John's Band
Ripple
Jack Straw

Beatles-Blackbird
You Got To Hide Your Love Away
I've Just Seen A Face

Bob Dylan- Your Gonna Make Me Lonsome When You Go
Tangled Up in Blue
Maggie's Farm

Seals And Croft-Summer Breeze

Acoustic Blues (Various Artists);
Red Rooster
Stormy Monday
Spoonfull
I Can't Quit You Baby
Born Under A Bad Sign
Smokestack Lightning
Boom Boom
Suzie-Q

Stone Temple Pilots-Plush
Flies In The Vasaline

Willie Nelson-Shores Of Old Mexico
Stay All Night
Whiskey River
Harder they Come

[studio1087]

There are lots of good/easy Tom Petty tunes.......

Great Wide Open
Learning to Fly
Last Dance With Mary jane
Wildflowers

CSNY

Southern Cross
Helplessly Hoping
Treetop Flyer


Eagles

Hotel California
Take It Easy


The Jayhawks

Blue


Van Morrison

Brown Eyed Girl


Elvis Costello

Olivers Army
Allison
Red Shoes
Everyday I Write the Book

[Jerry J]

how about the Talking Heads Psycho Killer or Naive Melody - that one is pretty.

[62RI]

Fingerstyle/Hybrid:

Kris Kristofferson - Lovin Her Was Easier (I like Waylon's vers. best on Live)
Waylon Jennings - Freedom To Stay

Flatpick:

Kristofferson - Sunday Mornin
Dwight Yoakam - Honky Tonk Man

[62RI]

Oh... I almost forgot

J. Cash - Long Black Veil

yea, I like country

[guitar mike]

Anything from Johnny Cash's American recordings CD's would be cool.

[DougieLove]

Sister Golden Hair, A Horse With No Name
Amie
Night Moves
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover
Slip Sliding Away
Forever In Blue Jeans
Desperado
She's Got A Way