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I know there are a lot of people on here that play a musical instrument. I was just wondering what your favorite songs to play are. Also, what songs are you learning how to play?

My favorite song to play on guitar is "The Rain Song" by Led Zeppelin. It's amazingly beautiful, but a bitch to have to tune to DGCGCD every time I want to play it.

I'm trying to learn a little of "Portrait of Tracy" by Jaco Pastorius on bass. Another beautiful song, but it's a (literal) pain to play as well. I mean, playing a note on the 2nd fret of the A string with my index finger, then reaching all the way over to get the harmonic on the 6th fret with my pinky? I hope I don't seriously injure myself.

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Faster'n a three-peckered owl!

I'm a bass player

absoulte favorite song to play

magic fingers

followed by dirty love (it's tricky if you try and nail every note fowler plays)

watermelon has an easy bass line but like the accompanying guitar in sleep dirt it manages to never get old.

I also like playing RATM songs they aren't too hard but are play old fun.

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Usually I'm in the classical corner, on guitar I love twiddling Villa-Lobos 1st prelude, on piano I'm playing Beethoven a lot.
But my favourite piece of all time is something which I aim to learn at any instrument, and that's Saint-Saëns's Danse Macabre. I'm now learning the piano version of that, which is very hard.

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Join the PackardGoose forum! Send me a PM!

What I like to play from Zappa:

Sleep Dirt (guitar arpeggio)
Dog Breath
The Idiot Bastard Son
Big Swifty

I play guitar, some bass, sax, and I sing too. I'm in a casual garage band that plays friends' parties now and then. I don't consider myself proficient on any instrument, but I can sing and play at the same time which is a plus.

Years ago my friend taught me "Zoot Allures" on the guitar, so that's a fun one to play (the band doesn't play it yet though). On the bass, I have a lot of fun with "Synchronicity II".

One of my all-time favorite songs to play on guitar and sing though is "Sunny Afternoon" by the Kinks. Now and then I've tackled an XTC song but their chords are so weird I forget how to play them if I lay off it for a while.

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Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

I'm a keyboard player.
I like to play any Zappa tune, some favorites are "What's New In Baltimore", "Uncle Meat", "Hungry Freaks Daddy", "Sinister Footwear II", "Peaches En Regalia", "Orange County Lumber Truck Medley", "Zoot Allures" etc. etc. etc.
Right now I'm trying to learn "C-Instruments" ...

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TB -

I play guitar, my favourite piece to play right now is Ravel's 'Bolero', which I worked out the other night after listening to Frank's Version on Best Band, I really like that piece and while I enjoy most other Ravel works more, their melodies do generally not sit well or are unfathomable on guitar. I used to like to play Black Dog, but I've forgotten it already.

Last simple thing I've picked by ear which made me pretty proud was the bass line for the slide solo on "It Might Be a One Shot Deal" on my acoustic guitar...

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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true Art and Science. - Albert Einstein

I mostly play my own compositions on guitar, but for practice I play Uncle Meat, King Kong, Peaches En Regalia, Black Page #1 and that riff from Inca Roads that's a string of seven note groups. I've also got a bunch of scores of various other Zappa pieces that are fun to play and sing, such as Oh No and Let's Make The Water Turn Black.

I test my ear out by trying to transcribe various themes from Zappa's music. So far I've done the opening section of Big Swifty, Aybe Sea, Magic Fingers, that little nylon guitar riff in the middle of My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama, the song melody from Inca Roads, the lead break in Road Ladies, Duodenum (Theme From Lumpy Gravy), Most of Little House I Used To Live In and other bits and pieces from Fillmore East and other bits and pieces from various other albums. I enjoy playing all of these as well.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

Have you found some music sheets or did you figure the chords by yourself ?
I'm a really big fan of what I consider one of the most underrated band that ever existed. I'd like too to play some but haven't got the time to sit and pick every chord by myself (too busy earning some money). Andy once told that there's a lot of alternate tunings.

"Jason and the Argonauts" would be fine !

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No doubt, we're doomed !

Mostly they were tabs/chords that people posted on the internet, i.e. fans' interpretations. Sounded ok to me - and all the ones I tried were noted in standard tuning (except "Grass", which was pretty easy in an open-D tuning I think), but just had some very non-standard chords in them.

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Let's hear it again for the London Philharmonic Orchestra!

I've been messing around with Black Napkins and Aybe Sea on my guitar for years...

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What can you do that's fantastic?

I play guitar and I enjoy playing various things, for exemple: Slayer's Angel of death or Zz top songs, it 's fun to play.
as for what I'm learning these days: Albeniz's Leyenda.

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condamné pour l'eternité

I'm not really a musician, but I play some guitar and sing a bit. Simultaneously.

Enjoy playing these nifty numbers:

Wish You Were Here - P. Floyd
No Expectations - R. Stones
Mother & Child Reunion - P. Simon
Working Class Hero - J. Lennon
Birds - N. Young

Yep, pretty simple stuff.

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Hi-ho Silver!

i learnt to play that with a standard tuning tab, it's out there somewhere.

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''minimart - it's basically a scaled-down supermarket, fits inside a petrol station. sells pies, antifreeze..''

before i moved to an apartment where i cant play my drums i got headphones and enjoyed *trying* to play along to the steely dan box set, aquarium rescue unit "mirrors of embarrassment," and of course the zappa albums i have, mostly the YCDTOSA volumes....makes you appreciate even more how fucking ridiculous these bands were.

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looks like i'm back playing with Clearlight Industries. CLI MySpace

I love strolling into 'Evelyn, a Modified Dog' if people aren't paying attention to me during a rehearsal. (By which I mean if they should be-- I'm the bandleader, not an attention whore.)

I practice playing Uncle Meat and Little House I Used To Live In. Y'know, the piano intro.

I still can't get Uncle Meat, but every version/variation of Dog Breath is no problem.

I play piano/organ

Favourite zappa song to play must be Zoomby Woof wich i play sometimes with the drummer in my band ....if i want to impress my friends ( they are unfortunately easy to impress)

otherwise ill like to play something that gets me and the audience goin..(especially my own songs...)

What, you an attention whore? Never ... sheesh ...

:wink:

Which score do you use for the Little House piano intro? The one I have from the Zappa Song Book seems to have some parts that are impossible for only two hands and I'm wondering if there are some mistakes. I use the piano for composition and I can play to about grade five standard but even without mistakes there's no way I could play that intro, it's a pretty tough piece.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

Jeff Sipe from ARU is an amazing drummer to follow.

yeah he's one of my favs, just a great player, does everything well. great blend of jazz, funk/fusion, and even country/bluegrass feel. he has some really great grooves on that album. its too bad more people don't know about ARU, they are sick!

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looks like i'm back playing with Clearlight Industries. CLI MySpace

bass: learning Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder)

acoustic guitar: learning Dogs (Pink Floyd)

electric guitar: learning soloing using the harmonic minor scale and its modes over some grooves I improvised

piano/singing: Somebody to Love (Queen)

Coming soon, prolly on bass or acoustic guitar first: the chords during Tommy's solo on Torture from Buffalo

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There isn't much chance that you'll get people to like you. The best that most folks can hope for is that people will put up with their shit. MTF

Revel in your otherness. MK

STILL pissed at Tipper. VCF

Hey Feral, if it's not too much trouble? Thanks in advance.

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The way I see it Barry, this should be a very dynamite show.

How about a mega-challenge from Uncle Meat: Any identifiable version of "Zolar Czakl"? It must be possible.

--Bat

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