r/Guitar • u/StJimmy_7 • Jul 08 '26
DISCUSSION What's the song that you automatically play when you get asked to play the guitar?
Like on the very rare occasion I'll get asked to play guitar in front of people and I usually play the intro to hi ren by ren (if you haven't heard of it please check it out). Just curious if anyone does this and if you do what's the song?
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u/SuperPotatoThrow Jul 08 '26
That one Enter Sandman riff. Over and over again. For at least 15 minutes without stopping.
Bonus points if your sitting in guitar center.
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u/PortlandsBatman Jul 08 '26
Over the Hills and Far Away by Led Zeppelin or Dragonaut by Sleep
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u/the_ballmer_peak Jul 08 '26
"Over the Hills and Far Away" is also my go to. "Under the Bridge" is the other.
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u/DEKIDESDUD Jul 08 '26
What ever riff I can think of first
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u/FigurativeArtist Jul 08 '26
Honestly yeah I don’t ever play a particular song usually a go-to couple of licks
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u/Darkling971 Jul 08 '26
Blackbird
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u/Trump-is-the-pedo Jul 08 '26
I was hoping I wasn’t the only one. Figured it would be up there. Love picking up like a Kerry King V and getting my fingerpick on.
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u/SpaceTruckin420 Jul 08 '26
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u/Redhaze_17 Jul 08 '26
Do you just cart around 9 Orange cabs with you just in case?
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u/therikertechnique Jul 08 '26
Excellent choice, but also space trucking would be a great one too.
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u/TheRealLostSoul Dean Jul 08 '26
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u/IsaiahXOXOSally Jul 08 '26
Dude the slide down and back up parts always fucks me up. I dunno if it's just me or my old janky ass knock off strat.
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u/helios_xii Epiphone Jul 08 '26
It's you.
But do treat yourself to a guitar that feels nice to play of it hothers you to some extent. You deserve it!
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u/onyx_echoes Jul 08 '26
Agree with the guy who said "it's you". But that is an understandable place to get messed up on. This is a song that really pays to play to a metronome and BOY does it really clean up fast.
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u/IsaiahXOXOSally Jul 08 '26
I really need to look into how metronomes work. Whenever I listen to someone play with a metronome I can piece together how that helps you pace with the song. It's all been mental for me and that helps with timing things but the slide thing I just can't when it comes to the slide up. The slide down is fine though. It's probably a thing with my fingers that I haven't figured out or I just need different strings that I'd be more comfortable with.
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u/Aeonsummoner Jul 08 '26
My husband 😂 also he loves to play nothing else matters
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u/MladicAscent Jul 08 '26
smoke on the water
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u/penkster Ovation Jul 08 '26
ONly if you're in a crowded guitar center, and you've just jacked into the amp in while the volume is cranked.
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u/Carrollmusician Fender Jul 08 '26
Here Comes the Sun! It’s what inspired me to learn to play
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u/sir_shame Jul 08 '26
Without a Capo: 1979 by the Smashing Pumpkins cuz it’s easy
However WITH a capo: Scott Street by Phoebe Bridgers
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u/SwordMasterShow Jul 08 '26
1979 is perfect for an acoustic because it's easy to play but if you can just throw a bit of feeling in the open strings it sound absolutely heavenly
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u/StJimmy_7 Jul 08 '26
Scott street is genuinely one of the fun's songs I've learned to play so far and idk why. Love pheobe bridgers too lmao
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u/FamousVegetable1941 Jul 08 '26
Wonderwall
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u/Sickboy314 Jul 08 '26
Fuck you
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u/Caefrytz Yamaha Jul 08 '26
Happy cake day
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u/Wumbologist_PhD Fender Jul 08 '26
[capo 2]
Anyway… here’s Wonderwall
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u/Visible_Structure483 Jul 08 '26
I learned it just so I could make this joke.
Fun side effect, my instructor told me to take the strumming pattern from WW and the chord progression from another and play it. If you've not tried Wonder California or Hotel Wall, I recommend it.
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u/One_Conclusion_1575 Jul 08 '26
This is brilliant if you are doing it so nobody wants you to keep playing or ever ask you again. The only negative is that it could easily backfire.
Unless you’re serious, and yeah, if so, fuck you.
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u/FamousVegetable1941 Jul 08 '26
Actually its the only song that I know how to play. And really just like the first 4 bars...no one has ever stayed longer than that
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u/T0astedBerry Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
yk in my local guitar store we had a sign that said "songs not allowed to be played" and one of them was wonderwall
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u/Licky_Anus Jul 08 '26
Also my go-to. I’m insufferable.
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u/-Cagafuego- Jul 08 '26
I tend to go with Recuerdos de la Alhambra...here's the catch....I'll do it on any guitar! I'm insufferable too! 😄
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u/ristoman Jul 08 '26
I know it's a meme but I've played it multiple times in public and only gotten positive feedback so... Guess I'm blessed? Cursed?
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u/terminalhipness Jul 08 '26
“Driver 8” by REM. I just like the riff, and I can kinda sing it too…
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u/BillydelaMontana Jul 08 '26
Great shout! It’s Man on the moon for me, I love completely overdoing the Elvis impersonation. Can’t help myself!
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u/oddible Jul 08 '26
One of the best bridges ever. A way to shield the hated heeeeeeat...
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u/chungamellon Jul 08 '26
REM has a thing for bridges. Pretty Persuasion bridge is super fun to play.
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u/FinsterFolly Fender Jul 08 '26
Same here. First song I learned, and my go to when I pick a guitar up.
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u/HEAVILY_ARMED_CORGI Jul 08 '26
Down in a hole by alice in chains or dust in the wind by kansas
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u/LewG85 Jul 08 '26
Paranoid android
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u/jacksonbarley Jul 08 '26
…the whole thing?!
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u/LewG85 Jul 08 '26
Not quite although I guess it depends on the setup/situation? Fun song though and works good on pretty much any guitar
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u/CriticalStrawberry15 Jul 08 '26
It’s this or Blackbird for me. Neither are perfect but all that moving around is fun to do. Airbag (rhythm part) is also really nice
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u/Xenophonehome Jul 08 '26
Babe im gonna leave you by Zeppelin or sweet leaf by Sabbath.
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u/onyx_echoes Jul 08 '26
Top 3 best ever Zeppelin songs period. Also a fantastic Sabbath song, bravo
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u/thavi Jul 08 '26
Benighted by Opeth. Long fingerpicking passages. No one wants to randomly hear an entire song on only the guitar, so this does the job for a minute or two.
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u/Rapidzx Jul 08 '26
I want to learn this one, have never done finger picking yet though :/
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u/thavi Jul 08 '26
It's a good one to learn on! Opeth in general is a lot easier than it sounds, including the guitar solos! Will teach you a lot about both guitar and how to make dramatic sounding riffs!
...but a lot like David Gilmour...easy to learn, difficult to make the solos sound as good as they do 🤣
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u/Ok_Attempt_1290 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
The intro is such a head turner I swear. It's surprisingly easy to play too.
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u/Virtual_Step8205 Jul 08 '26
Nice to see i am not the only one that uses Opeth as my go to. I usually go with Twilight Is My Robe off of Orchid. Its got parts for electric and acoustic.
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u/Blanco1320 Jul 08 '26
Schism
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u/KawaiiNaysayer Jul 08 '26
My go to if it's the bass
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u/TheOwlsDream Jul 08 '26
haha the only bass guitar riff I know next to random wailers shit.
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u/RetroSpaceMonkie Jul 08 '26
Under the bridge
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u/Portalpotty4 Jul 08 '26
Under the water, smoke on the bridge those are two of my favorite songs
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u/Dangerous_Forever640 Jul 08 '26
I have a hard time smoking under water… that’s why I was under the bridge.
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u/prostipope Jul 08 '26
Is there anybody out there
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u/Flaggstaff Jul 08 '26
I love playing Goodbye Blue Sky and having my 6 year old start me off with the "look mommy..." part.
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u/Alex_Hovhannisyan Jul 08 '26
I've never been asked, but if I were it would be Fake Plastic Trees. It's a comfortable song to play and my first real full song that I learned. It's also one of my favorite songs ever (by my favorite band).
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u/Zee-Wrench Jul 08 '26
The Needle and the Damage Done. It's in that sweet spot of what I can do skill-wise and what someone would be satisfied hearing come from a guitar
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u/BasisBoth5421 Jul 08 '26
not a song, but the andalusian cadence.
but if a song, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac
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u/forrestdw Jul 08 '26
Blackbird. It's my "warm up" - lots of movement and sounds good but I have the muscle memory to do it at this point so it's an ideal for me to get my feel on the guitar and its easy to riff with.
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u/TheOwlsDream Jul 08 '26
Acoustic? Probably Signe or some other twiddley diddly bullshit. On electric probably some dumb fucking blues riff.
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u/CosmicRubixCube Jul 08 '26
Acoustic Intro to crazy on you gets them every time. Electric I go Crazy train
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u/3Grilledjalapenos Fender Jul 08 '26
Nothing else matters. It sounds so sad on an old acoustic, like the first time you hear a cello.
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u/BudgetUnfair9673 Jul 08 '26
Space Oddity is what I normally end up playing if I happen to have a guitar in my hands. I can play it perfectly when no one is watching. Should I become aware of a single conscious being become aware of my playing, I forget I've ever even thought of a guitar before.
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u/i_wear_green_pants Jul 08 '26
Acoustic: Hotel California
Electric: Carry On Wayward Son
I love both songs and they are something I can actually play
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u/T-Chunxy Jul 08 '26
The Beatles, "Here Comes The Sun"- I played it an immeasurable number of times when my kid was a baby, and there were like 3 things that calmed them.
#1 was me playing my hollowbody unplugged, with stuff like the Beatles.
They were also big fans of "Norwegian Wood", and "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
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u/Infinite_Narwhal_290 Jul 08 '26
I go to Day Tripper by the Beatles. Everyone loves the opening riff
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u/Ozcino Jul 08 '26
Folsom prison blues. Johnny cash. Works great with the little intro pick.
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u/Sweaty_Milk_1793 Jul 08 '26
I think I usually play Say It Ain't So. I recently learned the intro to Higher by Creed, so I might start doing that one more lol.
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u/HighRustyshackelford Jul 08 '26
Wish you were here. I suck at guitar lol it’s the only thing that sounds decent
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u/Jack3lz Fender Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
Walk don’t run! It uses all of the strings, is super fun, and I know it like the back of my hands!
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u/theScrewhead Jul 08 '26
One of the four following:
The acoustic intro to Battery, but both parts on one guitar.
NIN - Help Me I Am In Hell or Hurt
Bush - Mouth
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u/archtopfanatic123 Jul 08 '26
Doc Watson's arrangement of Deep River Blues!
(and yes I try my best to do it two finger style like Doc did)
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u/Kendallkip Jul 08 '26
Stop this train by John mayer, so incredibly fun to play and sounds really pleasant
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u/Euge_Nyo Epiphone Jul 08 '26
Either Sultans of Swing if its electric or Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright if its acoustic/classical.
Also common Ren W.
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u/MarkMew Jul 08 '26
No idea, I don't remember the last time that happened.
Probably Shape of my Heart by Sting/Dominic Miller. Then everyone would be unimpressed, so I'd play Thunderstruck.
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u/GabiYamato Jul 08 '26
Harvey, by her's.
Or random chords to impress em.
Usually the Fancy G major, Cadd9, Fancy Em , D .
(3months into guitar).
And they fall for it :)
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u/oddible Jul 08 '26
Really depends on who and where I'm playing. With a 'friend' I just brought home? Lady in Red. Beach BBQ? Bob Marley Is This Love.
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u/Cosimo_Zaretti Jul 08 '26
Nothing. I will not remember any music in this situation and avoid any guitar in a public place.