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Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

I'm trying to compile a comprehensive list of songs that every jamming or gigging musician should know. Everyone knows that Time, Tone, and Technique (as well as punctuality and a good attitude) are essential requirements for many working musicians; however, one attribute that I think is just as essential is knowing a lot of songs. I figured I would start off with a few examples and then hopefully some helpful goons can make suggestions, which will be added to the OP. Of course, there will be more than 10 songs per genre, but it's a good number to start with.

Learning songs also has a few other advantages - if you're learning the songs by ear, then your ear training will vastly improve. It will also help to familiarize you with common chord progressions and structures.

Feel free to suggest boring overplayed songs (like The Pina Colada Song!) because unless you do originals all the time, you're probably going to have to play them eventually.

If possible, please include the genre and artist - unless it's the kind of song that numerous artists have done, like jazz standards. The genres can also be pretty wide - for example, "rock" can be anything from Bill Haley to AC/DC.

Rock

1. Black Magic Woman - Santana
2. Foxy Lady - Jimi Hendrix
3. Roadhouse Blues - The Doors
4. Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
5. Born to be Wild ~ Steppenwolf
6. Just Got Paid ~ ZZ Top
7. Rock and Roll ~ Led Zeppelin
8.
9.
10.

Pop

1. Hotel California - The Eagles
2. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
3. Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers
4. Every Breath You Take - The Police
5. Boys of Summer ~ Don Henley
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Country

1. Crazy - Patsy Cline
2. Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
3. Hey Good Lookin' - Hank Williams
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Soul/R 'n' B/Funk

1. Knock On Wood - Eddie Floyd
2. Stand By Me - Ben E. King
3. Rescue Me - Fontella Bass
4. I Wish - Stevie Wonder
5. I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Blues

1. Killing Floor - Howlin' Wolf
2. The Thrill Is Gone - B. B. King
3. Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Jazz

1. Body And Soul
2. On Green Dolphin Street
3. All The Things You Are
4. Round Midnight - Thelonius Monk
5. In The Mood - Glen Miller
6. Blue Bossa
7. The Girl From Ipanema - Antonio Carlos Jobim
8. Autumn Leaves
9. Have You Met Miss Jones
10. Solar
11. Bye Bye Blackbird

Seventh Arrow fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Dec 19, 2014

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Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Good suggestion! There's only a few chords in that one, but it's good to remember where the stops are.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

I played Blue Bossa so much in college, it's when I realized you could still hear the melody and chord progression in your head even when people were soloing.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Stravinsky posted:

This is a really good idea.

Thanks!

quote:

These are pretty much the "freebird" of the noise circuit.

:frogout:

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

I think it's by Gloria Gaynor, but it is definitely a popular song. I think the chord progression is just cycle of fourths, too.

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