Best Dave Song For A Fairly New Player?

Rodey · Post by **Rodey** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:22 pm

I'm fairly new to guitar, I've had my guitar for a little over a year now but I hadn't really started practicing on a regular basis/getting into until recently. I'm not very good yet, but I do want to try some Dave songs. Proudest Monkey is really easy and I have a decent feel for that, but other than that, what are some good ones? I have trouble with Crash Into Me, it seems easy, but it sort of throws me off. Everyday seems like another fairly simple one, but I can't seem to mute the strings very good and it sounds like crap.

Any advice in general and on muting strings (I suck at it)?

SeekUp · Post by **SeekUp** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:47 pm

I would say to start with Grey Street. It gives you a feel for a lot of the chords that Dave uses in many of his songs. Also try Ants Marching, that was my first song that I learned.

taparoo · Post by **taparoo** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:49 pm

Well the only way to get better at muting the strings is to practice it like crazy. Take it really slow at first, at a comfortable pace until you can get the tune down at the original speed. A good example is Warehouse. Took me a long time to finally get it to sound decent. Watch videos of Dave playing, too, to get a general idea of what techniques you can use to mute the strings. (sorry, I know that doesn't help you out much!

)

Good tunes that will help you with muting/technique are Lie In Our Graves (help you get an idea of Dave's percussive style and help you with your muting - he's always moving his right hand, he just mutes most of the time when he's not playing something. You can hear it on the recording), Seek Up (seems like an easy riff, but requires some muting to get it sounding like Dave), Satellite (help you with those stretches. Again, take it slow!), JTR (pretty tough to get down, but it'll help you get Dave's style of playing down), #41 (again, helps you out a lot with the stretches)

As far as easy tunes to play, Ants, One Sweet World, Digging A Ditch, Bartender, Where Are You Going, Grey Street, Pay for what you get, Lover Lay Down, Don't Drink The Water, Cry Freedom. Those are all a good starting point.

Nitro1515 · Post by **Nitro1515** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:48 pm

I always say start with Big Eyed Fish. You learn some basic chords and a couple "Dave" chords and it has a fairly simple strumming pattern with not a whole lot of stretching.

TSilk · Post by **TSilk** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:56 pm

space between, gravedigger are pretty easy, crash was the first one i got down after the stretches, digging a ditch is very easy as well

Yakko · Post by **Yakko** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:32 pm

Id start with Satellite.. It helps the stretching. Becuase it can be very hard to play some of Dave's songs if your hand can't stretch right.

And I'd suggest not taking shortcuts when learning. Like for instance: playing a normal A chord, instead of the weird fingering Dave uses for the Tripping Billies Nature Intro.

taparoo · Post by **taparoo** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 10:44 pm

Yakko wrote: And I'd suggest not taking shortcuts when learning. Like for instance: playing a normal A chord, instead of the weird fingering Dave uses for the Tripping Billies Nature Intro.

Definitely. Those weird fingerings are essential to the whole DMB sound. You could play an open A chord but you just wouldn't get that same thick sound.

Elliottman · Post by **Elliottman** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 7:48 am

ive never been able to nail ants because of the muting. Ive just never had the patience to try and learn to mute. What hand do you even mute with?!

taparoo · Post by **taparoo** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:27 am

Milligan wrote:ive never been able to nail ants because of the muting. Ive just never had the patience to try and learn to mute. What hand do you even mute with?!

I use the palm of my right hand to mute on Ants.

Rodey · Post by **Rodey** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 6:46 pm

I sat down for awhile today and put my focus on Ants.

The verse looks like it would be easy enough, but I can't figure the strumming out at all. That's usually my problem when trying to play any song. Strumming is a pain for me to figure out.

clarkbar_07 · Post by **clarkbar_07** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:11 am

Rodey wrote:I sat down for awhile today and put my focus on Ants.

The verse looks like it would be easy enough, but I can't figure the strumming out at all. That's usually my problem when trying to play any song. Strumming is a pain for me to figure out.

Are you talking about in the verse part with the D and G chords? because if so then you hit them only once. I'm not 100% sure on the chorus though...i usually just play what feels right..

Elliottman · Post by **Elliottman** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:27 pm

is there any chance someone could post a vid of just the muting hand, becuase you know what, i just dont get it!

Iva · Post by **Iva** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:20 pm

songs like Oh, 40#, Everyday, Grey Street are pretty easy
If u have patience and will I suggest u to practice harder songs, my first Dave songs were Crash Into me, Two Step, So Much To Say, What Would You Say...etc. they require stretching fingers and speed which I didn't have at the time.. but through practicing it became easier

Rodey · Post by **Rodey** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:48 pm

clarkbar_07 wrote:
Rodey wrote:I sat down for awhile today and put my focus on Ants.

The verse looks like it would be easy enough, but I can't figure the strumming out at all. That's usually my problem when trying to play any song. Strumming is a pain for me to figure out.
Are you talking about in the verse part with the D and G chords? because if so then you hit them only once. I'm not 100% sure on the chorus though...i usually just play what feels right..

Mostly I'm having trouble with the slide. It just doesn't sound right at all.

clarkbar_07 · Post by **clarkbar_07** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:34 pm

Rodey wrote:
clarkbar_07 wrote:
Rodey wrote:I sat down for awhile today and put my focus on Ants.

The verse looks like it would be easy enough, but I can't figure the strumming out at all. That's usually my problem when trying to play any song. Strumming is a pain for me to figure out.
Are you talking about in the verse part with the D and G chords? because if so then you hit them only once. I'm not 100% sure on the chorus though...i usually just play what feels right..
Mostly I'm having trouble with the slide. It just doesn't sound right at all.

yea..it's just a matter of getting the slides to go smoothly...i suggest going to here..this is a pretty good video of it
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/15676

and there's lots of other videos too

but yea...i think what is hard ab ants marching is those slides cuz it does take some "smoothness" on the frettboard in order to get the slides fast enough...i apologize if this makes no sense..i'm very tired...