The Sound of Silence

 

Apologies for the lack of blogs in recent weeks. I haven't given up the guitar - I'm still practicing for an hour or so most days. It's a combination of a lack of time to write and a lack of anything exciting to talk about.

At the moment I'm still learning songs that have introduced the C chord and am making the first steps into songs in the key of G. Some are hard, some are easier and that's about the long and short of it.

It's hardly riveting stuff to write a blog on so I thought I'd do something different. In a High Fidelity style, here's the top five songs I've learned in the near four months since I got my guitar. Most of the songs I've mentioned on previous blogs but there's a bit more detail here.

I don't think they're too impressed by this idea...

5. I'm A Believer - The Monkees

I often get confused between I'm A Believer and Daydream Believer. Both are songs from The Monkees and both have the word believer in the title. That's more than enough to confuse an idiot like me. A way I should use to try to remember them is Reeves and Mortimer did a cover of I'm A Believer while in my youth I used to sign a song to the tune of Daydream Believer to various Morton players.



It would be rather rude to tell you what was said about Marko Rajamki through the medium of Daydream Believer.

Anyway. I digress. Daydream Believer. Wait, no. I'm A Believer (I wish I could say that mix-up was for comedy effect but it was actually genuine). A number one for The Monkees and written by Neil Diamond. So says Wikipedia.

It's one of the more recent songs I've learned but already I love it. It's quite fast paced, the version I know is fairly straightforward as it only uses C, G and D and the most common strumming pattern of down, down, up, up, down. It's a great song to play along to and even strumming on it's own it sounds fairly recognisable. A classic.

Here's how it should sound. I'll point out I can't do the fancy bits, like the intro.

4. Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Everyone knows Brown Eyed Girl, however I always used to mix up Van Morrison with Morrisey, often talking about Van Morrisey. A rather weird combination. I also had no idea until recently that Van Morrison was Irish. Who knew? He did, presumably.

Keira Knightley is a brown eyed girl and that's as good a reason as any for a photo of her

I blogged before about my struggles with this song. When I first tried it I was all over the place and thought my guitar journey was in real trouble. I played it 24 hours later and pretty much nailed it, something I've been unable to do since. What happened in that time is anyone's guess, but it gave me a huge confidence lift and made me realise I will be able to do this after all.

Like I'm A Believer (got the right one this time), it is mainly C, G and D with a bit of E minor thrown in for good measure. It uses the same strumming pattern too, although obviously the chords are in a different arrangement or it would be the same song. I'm almost so confident in it that I tried singing along to it, although that attempt at multi-tasking quickly backfired and hasn't been tried since!

Brown Eyed Girl is a great song, an absolute classic and my version sounds fairly like it - again without the fancy bits. Here's how it should sound.

3. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

Another Irish entry, although I have also heard them described as Scottish because they met at uni in Dundee. And for some reason I thought they were Welsh. So there you go. Lead singer Gary Lightbody is currently going out with Courteney Cox, who is more than 10 years older than him. She is in a programme called Cougar Town. No further comment.

Looks like Chandler is unimpressed by news of this relationship.

Chasing Cars is not actually about folk running after Hondas or Fords, which is a bit of a pity. It's about emotions, or something. It only got to number six in the charts, which is crazy. It was also the last song played live on Top of the Pops. Wiki to the rescue again.

The version I have learned of Chasing Cars is not complicated. Three chords - A, E and D - and strumming the same way the entire song. Played on it's own it doesn't sound much like the proper version. However, when you reach a late chorus and realise you've done your changes right and everything still synchs it's a great feeling. There's also the fact the strumming can be a great stress release after a crap day. And I can almost sing along to it, although sing is perhaps the wrong word to use.

Here's the proper version.

2. Closing Time - Semisonic

As I said before, I love Semisonic. Top keep with the list theme, they'd be in my top five favourite bands. It's a close call between Closing Time and Secret Smile to be my favourite of their songs. I was gutted to discover recently that lead singer Dan Wilson had been in Edinburgh last year and I hadn't realised - although that revelation was tempered somewhat by the fact I was on holiday at the time so couldn't have gone anyway! He's also worked with a ton of other artists, including Adele on Someone Like You and Taylor Swift.





There don't seem to be any pictures of Taylor Swift and Dan Wilson together so this will need to do

Closing Time is a really recognisable song, although there's probably a fair number of folk who don't know who sings it. I stumbled across a lesson on it on YouTube one day and immediately had to try it, even though it meant teaching myself some new chords!

Like other songs, I can't do any of the fancy stuff but I can get the basic chord pattern - G, D, A minor and C - and the strumming OK. I can judge the changes in tempo fairly well and I can sing (yes, I know) along to it as well. A great song and it's a real thrill to be able to play something from one of my favourite bands.

Here's how it should sound.

1. Have a Nice Day - Stereophonics

Stereophonics should not be confused with Semisonic. In fairness, I don't know if anyone ever has but as they both start with an S and include "onic" I suppose it's possible. Also worth noting they are not called The Stereophonics - a mistake once made by Comedy Dave when doing an anagram question for the pub quiz on the Chris Moyles Show. They are definitely Welsh though. Unlike Snow Patrol.

Have a Nice Day is based on a taxi journey the band made in San Francisco when the driver seemed to slate everything and anything and finished the chat with "Have a nice day". Having been to America a few times I can confirm that's what happens just about everywhere. "Sorry, I've just murdered your wife. Have a nice day now, you hear?"

The song is hardly a musical masterpiece and got slated in reviews, however I like it. To play it's is straightforward and, fact fans, it's the only song on this list is that I need a capo for. Lots of A and D chords with the odd E and G thrown in for good measure - and even an E minor.

The reason I really like it is because I seem to be able to sing along to it fairly easily without it having any impact on my playing. For that reason it's nearly always the one I end my practice with, regardless of what else I've been playing, and it's for that reason it tops this list.

Here's the proper version.

So what missed out? Plenty of stuff. Arguably Sit Down by James and Common People by Pulp would have been on that list had it not been a few months ago that I learned them. It's perhaps the fact that Daydream Believer and Brown Eyed Girl were covered fairly recently and are fresh in my mind that puts them on this list.

I can play an acoustic version of Sweet Child O' Mine but only up to a point. Same with The Gambler. I love Oasis but Songbird is hardly a classic. Greenday's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and The Fray's How to Save A Life were also in with a shout but just missed out.

If you can think of a song you think should be on this list, please keep it to yourself. I either won't be able to play it or destroy it while trying to.