My band has a hard time trying to find easy-ish blues/rock song to play that include guitars, drums, bass, and piano. Any suggestions for a beginners band?
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Looking for Songs To Play
- Thread starter Bass Ace89bi
- Start date
Allman Brothers. Anything by them really. By easy, I mean the forms are easy to follow and play. Soloing like Duane is another thing altogether. 
This one's easy to learn. Slow tempo. Everybody knows it. Crowds like it. Chords are basic, bassline is fun. And the electric piano part is easy too.
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John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton:
and the follow-up "A Hard Road" with Peter Green:
and the follow-up "A Hard Road" with Peter Green:
The guitar lead isn't really for beginners, but aside from that, "His hair was perfect...doh!"
Buy or browse some of those Truefire courses and or some of the blues lesson books. You'll see all the classics in there and how they go.
If you're all beginners it will be frustrating to try and get these like the recordings so focus on just getting through them and the signature rhythm, licks, etc.
I suspect they sell books like this for piano or drums as well.
If you're all beginners it will be frustrating to try and get these like the recordings so focus on just getting through them and the signature rhythm, licks, etc.
I suspect they sell books like this for piano or drums as well.
It’s in the way that you use it by Eric Clapton is a good one. Stays the same most of the way through and easy to jam on.
Since your guitarist may not be up to speed, what's the skill set of the keyboardist? Does this person play any kind of organ sounds? If so, check out material from the '64-'66 line-up of The Animals. Guitarist Hilton Valentine was a rudimentary player, so the focus was on organ/piano. Now, they were a pop/rock band that leaned heavily on blues(and R&B/soul material of their time), nothing too complicated, but you'd have to have a competent singer. Forget "Rising Sun"(it's overdone), and look to deeper cuts like this...
Savoy Brown was part of that British Blues boom of the late 60's/early 70's, and are kind of overlooked except for being the cradle of Foghat. While guitarist/leader Kim Simmonds was an accomplished player in a style similar to Clapton, it was the tunes that mattered for the band, they weren't dependent on flashy solos(although there are plenty of those). Their earlier line-ups had substantial keyboard parts. So if your guitar guy isn't that far along, just have him play up to his abilities...
Much of the earlier Rolling Stones material was, of course, blues based, but didn't necessarily feature overwhelming guitar stuff; plenty of piano(and some organ)courtesy Ian Stewart or Nicky Hopkins, here's a taste...
Now, you might not think of this as 'blues/rock', it's actually the beginnings of funk, but it certainly draws heavily from the blues foundation. Many of their tunes are standard I-IV-V structure(with some twists), there are simple parts, but your drummer needs to understand syncopation. Primarily instrumental, this will get people on the dance floor...
METERS Cissy Strut
The Meters - Look-Ka Py Py
The Meters - Hey Pocky A-Way
In the same vein, Booker T. and The M.G.'s....
Booker T. & MG's - Slim Jenkins' Place
Booker T. & The MG's - Time Is Tight
Here's a rare one...the band that became "The Band" originally came together behind this guy. Now, yes, Duane Allman is playing slide on the session, but you could put any kind of soloing on top of this, it's the song that matters(even though it was lifted from Elmore James' "It Hurts Me Too")...
RONNIE HAWKINS with DUANE ALLMAN - DOWN IN THE ALLEY
Overall, I'd say don't sweat the solo chops, they more you all play, the faster those will come.
Sounds like you guys are pretty new to the scene.
Blues in general (which most classic rock is derived from), have a couple of standard patterns that are easy to learn - the 8 bar blues and the 12 bar blues. Yes there's many variations of these two standard patterns, but most evolve from here. Learn these patterns - they are the core of all classic rock and country songs. If you don't know the patterns they are:
12 bar blues - (one chord per measure): I IV I I IV IV I I V IV I I (in the key of C: C F C C F F C C G F C C) "Crossroads" and "Ice Cream Man" use this pattern.
"Mustang Sally" uses a very similar pattern: I I I I IV IV I I V IV I I (in the key of C: C C C C F F C C G F C C)
8 bar blues - less common (one chord per measure): I I IV I V IV I V (in the key of C this equals: C F C C G F C G) no songs that use this exact pattern are coming to mind, but a couple of super simple songs use common variations:
"Old Time Rock and Roll" : I I IV IV V V I V (in the key of C: C C F F G G C G)
"Takin Care of Business" : V IV I I V IV I I (in the key of C: G F C C G F C C) yes there are a couple of "rogue" chords in the bridge, (in C: C F, Eb Bb) but 95% of the song is the above pattern
These are typical jam patterns - your band could just jam on these pattern for a while to get comfortable with them. Once this is very comfortable, a lot of classic rock songs fall into place pretty easily. Yes there are sometime a few other chords, and patterns, but they all derive from these roots.
Don't get caught up in the high end solo work on the songs. There's a ton of simple format rock in classic rock 60s-70s and some 80s. Just focus on the forms of the songs and let the soloists come up to speed as they can.
Blues in general (which most classic rock is derived from), have a couple of standard patterns that are easy to learn - the 8 bar blues and the 12 bar blues. Yes there's many variations of these two standard patterns, but most evolve from here. Learn these patterns - they are the core of all classic rock and country songs. If you don't know the patterns they are:
12 bar blues - (one chord per measure): I IV I I IV IV I I V IV I I (in the key of C: C F C C F F C C G F C C) "Crossroads" and "Ice Cream Man" use this pattern.
"Mustang Sally" uses a very similar pattern: I I I I IV IV I I V IV I I (in the key of C: C C C C F F C C G F C C)
8 bar blues - less common (one chord per measure): I I IV I V IV I V (in the key of C this equals: C F C C G F C G) no songs that use this exact pattern are coming to mind, but a couple of super simple songs use common variations:
"Old Time Rock and Roll" : I I IV IV V V I V (in the key of C: C C F F G G C G)
"Takin Care of Business" : V IV I I V IV I I (in the key of C: G F C C G F C C) yes there are a couple of "rogue" chords in the bridge, (in C: C F, Eb Bb) but 95% of the song is the above pattern
These are typical jam patterns - your band could just jam on these pattern for a while to get comfortable with them. Once this is very comfortable, a lot of classic rock songs fall into place pretty easily. Yes there are sometime a few other chords, and patterns, but they all derive from these roots.
Don't get caught up in the high end solo work on the songs. There's a ton of simple format rock in classic rock 60s-70s and some 80s. Just focus on the forms of the songs and let the soloists come up to speed as they can.
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The Doors have a litany of easy blues songs. Go listen to the LA Woman album, they actually had a bass player on that one. Or just follow Ray's left hand on any of the other albums
