Picking songs that fit the skills we built
Last time we worked on catching yourself rushing the chorus, which I still do, forty-one years of marriage in and Heather still points it out. This time is different. No new technique. We're going to talk about picking songs, which sounds like the fun part and skips right past the part where people get themselves in trouble.
Here's the trouble. People pick a song because they love it, not because their hands are ready for it. Then they spend six weeks fighting a chord change that's two steps past where they actually are, and they decide guitar isn't for them. It's not that they lack talent. They picked the wrong song. That's it. That's the whole problem, most of the time.
So let's do this on purpose instead of by accident.
What we actually built
Look back over the last few weeks. You've got:
- Basic Travis picking, thumb alternating on two bass strings
- That same pattern moving across chord changes without falling apart
- Pinch patterns, letting notes ring instead of choking them off
- Some real work with a metronome, at slow tempo, then gradually up
- A full pass playing along with a recording start to finish
That's a real toolkit. It's not everything, and it's not nothing. I feel like people undersell what they've got at this stage because it still feels shaky under their fingers. Shaky is fine. Shaky just means new.
Matching a song to the toolkit
When you're looking for a song to learn next, walk through this list before you fall in love with it:
Chord count. Three or four chords, repeating, is the sweet spot right now. If you're counting six or seven different shapes in the first verse, put it back on the shelf for later.
Chord difficulty. Are there barre chords in it? If so, are they the barre chords you've actually drilled, or new ones? A song that's otherwise simple but demands a B minor barre on beat one of every measure is not a beginner-friendly song no matter how few chords it has.
Picking pattern. Does the song want steady alternating bass, which you've got, or does it want something syncopated and jumpy, which we haven't done yet? Listen to the recording. If the rhythm sounds like it's doing something tricky and you can't quite count it, that's information.
Tempo. Slow songs are not lesser songs. A slow song played clean sounds better than a fast song played messy, every single time. I'd rather you nail a slow waltz than butcher something upbeat because it felt more exciting to attempt.
A confession, since we're on the subject of picking things wrong
I taught myself Travis picking off a book years ago, and I did it wrong for months. Thumb on the wrong strings the whole time. It sounded fine right up until it didn't — until I tried to move it into a song with a bass line that actually changed, and the whole thing fell apart because the foundation was never right to begin with. I had built a pattern that worked in isolation and completely ignored what a real song was going to ask of it.
When I finally went back and fixed the thumb, it felt like starting over. It was not fun. But I bring it up here because it's the same mistake in a different shape: picking something that seems to fit, without checking it against what the song is actually going to demand of you. Check it against the song, not just against how it feels in the practice room.
An opinion, stated as one
You don't need to memorize a hundred songs. I mean that. I'd much rather you know four songs clean, all the way through, than forty songs that fall apart the second somebody asks you to play one. The guy who can get through four songs at a campfire without stopping is doing better than the guy who knows forty and can't finish any of them. Pick a small handful and get them solid. That's plenty.
How to try this at home
- Make a short list of three or four songs you actually like, not songs you think you're supposed to like.
- For each one, pull up the chords online or from a book, and just look. Don't play yet. Count the chords, check for barres, listen to the tempo.
- Rank them by fit, not by how much you love them. The love can wait a few weeks.
- Start with whichever one scored best on fit. Play it slow, with the metronome if the tempo's unfamiliar. Don't chase the recording's speed on day one.
- If a song has one chord that's clearly beyond you right now, that doesn't disqualify it. Isolate that one chord and drill it separately before you try to fold it into the song.
One caution, small but real: if a song calls for a capo and you haven't used one yet, put it on gently and check that it's pressing straight across, not at an angle. A crooked capo will buzz every string and you'll think it's your fingers when it's the hardware.
Before next time: pick your three or four candidate songs and bring the chord charts. We'll go through them together and I'll tell you honestly which one I'd start with. 👍