# What's the first song you learned to play...



## puckhead (Sep 8, 2008)

... that wasn't part of a lesson plan.


For me it was Randy Rhoads' "Dee"
I had taken lessons as a kid, but it got too tough for me and I quit. The guitar gathered dust for years until I found the tablature to Dee as a teenager.
It took me months to learn it, note by note, bar by bar. But once I had it figured out, it game me the confidence that I could figure anything out if I really wanted to.


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## -ST- (Feb 2, 2008)

Really learn...

Invitation to the Blues - decades

I think this had to inhabit my soul before I could begin to play it, and I'm not sure that I'm finished the learning yet.


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## TWRC (Apr 22, 2011)

Other than "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? HAHA

The first song that I learned front to back was "Under the Bridge" RHCP.


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## Guitar101 (Jan 19, 2011)

"Gloria" by the "Shadows of Knight" - YouTube


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## fretboard (May 31, 2006)

Walkin' the Dog would have been the first tune I could pull off front to back (not my first choice - but it's what my friends that played drums and bass could also get all the way through...) 

[video=youtube;RkK21V5hN2s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkK21V5hN2s&feature=player_detailpage[/video]


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## Guest (Sep 4, 2013)

Proud Mary


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## GuitarT (Nov 23, 2010)

"Let's Dance On" by The Monkees.


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

Sunshine of Your Love


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## Roryfan (Apr 19, 2010)

I learned a few riffs here & there but IIRC the first whole song I could play all the way through was Hey Joe.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Love Me Tender


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Takin' Care of Business


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## Chubba (Aug 23, 2009)

I think it was Norwegian Wood or Don't Let me Down by the Beatles - the first guitar I started learning on was a classical guitar a neighbour lent me, and he passed along a couple of Lennon-McCartney songbooks....at one time I knew so many of those songs...now I don't ...lol


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## lchender (Dec 6, 2011)

So stereotypical - I learned Stairway to Heaven first.


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## deadear (Nov 24, 2011)

Dream On by Aerosmith was the first one that was fairly difficult that comes to mind.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Probably "House of the Rising Sun", or possibly "Kicks" by Paul Revere and the Raiders.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Probably "Secret Agent Man". Then "25 or 6 to 4" once I learned barre chords.


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

I have absolutely no clue. It would have been before electricity so.....


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Sneaky said:


> Probably "Secret Agent Man". Then "25 or 6 to 4" once I learned barre chords.


Oh baby! The dissonances in "the Secret Agent Man riff" just mesmerized us back in the day. If you had enough treble response in your speakers, it absolutely rocked.

You know that Coyote/Roadrunner cartoon where Coyote puts out a booby-trapped piano with some sheet music and Roadrunner just can't seem to hit the very last note right, thus NOT triggering the explosives? Coyote waits patiently, can't stand it any longer, runs out and plays the riff _properly_, blowing himself and the Acme piano up. When I was in undergrad, there was a family that lived in the flat below my room-mate and I, and their 12 year-old would plug in and practice "25 or 6 to 4" _endlessly_...except he *always* stumbled and got the very last note wrong. So, dozens and dozens of times in a row, he'd play everything right and in rhythm, but would fall out of rhythm and hunt around for the last note. I swear, it was all I could do to stop myself from running downstairs, grabbing the guitar from him and yelling "THIS _is how it goes you moron_!!".

[video=youtube;eMAVMgbNTJ8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMAVMgbNTJ8[/video]


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

__________


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

Gloria, I think - a 10 minute dirty version, heh, heh, heh - hey, I was 12!!!


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## WannabeGood (Oct 24, 2007)

For me, and probably every other "Boomer", it would have to be "House of the Rising Sun". Maybe something by the Ventures. Was such a long time ago.
Regards,


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Paint It Black


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## b-nads (Apr 9, 2010)

The first song my old man taught me to pick on the guitar was "Mary had a Little Lamb". The first song I could sing and play end to end was Murray McLaughlan's "Henry Moore".


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

bluzfish said:


> Gloria, I think - a 10 minute dirty version, heh, heh, heh - hey, I was 12!!!


Memory fart! I just remembered that my first "guitar" was a $30 Sears acoustic I got for Christmas one year. Almost an unplayable toy. I did the "Ralphy" thing for the rest of the year to get an electric Silvertone guitar and amp. We were not rich with a school principal's salary at about $400/mo. and the setup costing almost half of that, but my parents would sacrifice a great deal to nurture my musical interests. I made a deal with my dad that if I could learn "Zorba The Greek"(???), I would get my wish.

I managed to come up with something close to it and got my guitar.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Still got the blues by Gary Moore. It's the first song I ever learned from start to finish. Played 1000 riffs and pieces of songs while I was learning. But that song probably took me two months to learn and raw and bleeding fingers.


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

The first song I learned was "Down in the Valley" on a Kay/Kamico acoustic guitar with action so high it almost made me cry. Sure toughened up the fingers though. In case you don't know the song here is a traditional video version of it. By the way, that's not me on guitar, it's one of my all time heroes, Andy Griffith.


[video=youtube;FMJGuaNbXJ4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMJGuaNbXJ4[/video]


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## -ST- (Feb 2, 2008)

Nobody here young enough for it to have been...?

[video=youtube;7mCK05dgwgU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mCK05dgwgU[/video]


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## bluzfish (Mar 12, 2011)

"Young" enough??????????????????????????????????????????

see http://youtu.be/pGIvND2TnFE


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## Intrepid (Oct 9, 2008)

Some of those guys look young compared to some of us GC'ers.


bluzfish said:


> "Young" enough??????????????????????????????????????????
> 
> see http://youtu.be/pGIvND2TnFE


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## -ST- (Feb 2, 2008)

bluzfish said:


> "Young" enough??????????????????????????????????????????
> 
> see http://youtu.be/pGIvND2TnFE


Ouch 

[video=youtube;pGIvND2TnFE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGIvND2TnFE&feature=youtu.be[/video]


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## Shark (Jun 10, 2010)

GuitarsCanada said:


> Still got the blues by Gary Moore. It's the first song I ever learned from start to finish. Played 1000 riffs and pieces of songs while I was learning. But that song probably took me two months to learn and raw and bleeding fingers.


That's the song that finally got me to start playing the guitar. I had been asking my parents for guitar lessons since I was four years old and not gotten any. When I heard that song I thought, "Stuff it. I'm going to get my own guitar and teach myself", which I did. 

I think I've posted this before, but his outro solo was done all at once, one take.


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

It was in January 1965. It involved G-C-D. That's all I will say now.


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## hjr2 (Sep 5, 2013)

19 years ago yesterday I got my first guitar, and my Mother showed my how to play this.
[video=youtube;5BmEGm-mraE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BmEGm-mraE[/video]


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## Krelf (Jul 3, 2012)

It was either "Twinkle, Twinkle" or "ABCD" I can't quite remember. But after I learned the first, the second came easy. Perhaps I gained confidence!


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## Mr Yerp (Feb 24, 2006)

House of The Rising Sun...


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

Krelf said:


> It was either "Twinkle, Twinkle" or "ABCD" I can't quite remember. But after I learned the first, the second came easy. Perhaps I gained confidence!


And then "Baa Baa Black Sheep"?


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

can't remember....it was either "House of The Rising Sun" by the Animals, or "Mother" by Pink Floyd


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