easiest rock songs EVER (help make a list)

Matthew Bryson · #1 01-03-2007, 12:39 PM

I mean THE easiest rock songs. Not the easiest your band plays, but songs so easy you wouldn't even play them. Songs so easy that a kid who's been playing for a couple of weeks could play them. My 8 year old got a drum set for Christmas, and his 11 year old sister has had a bass for a couple of years but has just recently started playing it. They've both been jamming and we've worked on a couple of easy songs together - So I'll start the super simple, so easy a newbie kid could play it list:

Louie Louie
Wild Thing
Jumpin Jack Flash
Smells Like Teen Spirit

(Okay, my band actually plays one of those.)

Any other super simple songs that you guys can think. BTW - The 8 year old that got the drums for x-mas plays a pretty mean (simplified version) Jumpin Jack Flash! The 11 year old bassist is getting that one down too. I was thinking maybe Louie Louie or Wild Thing next, maybe smells like teen spirit but I'm looking for lots of suggestions.

Lower-Than-Low · #2 01-03-2007, 01:04 PM

Well, when I looked at the tab for Thunderstruck, it looked EXTREMELY simple... straight 8ths on the 2nd fret, 4th string.
Only one part with any variation. and that stuff didnt look very hard either.

Phat Ham · #3 01-03-2007, 01:04 PM

I think the first song I learned on bass might've been Come As You Are by Nirvana. That or Good by Better Than Ezra. U2's with or without you would be a good one.

Demon · #4 01-03-2007, 01:04 PM

AC/DC arent exactly hard.

MakiSupaStar · #5 01-03-2007, 01:14 PM

Fire On The Mountain - Grateful Dead (two notes)
Heroin - Velvet Underground (one note)

davetakis · #6 01-03-2007, 01:15 PM

stepping stone-monkees
i cant explain-the who

Alvaro Martín Gómez A. · #7 01-03-2007, 01:19 PM

I've always thought that the prize to the easiest yet effective songs should go to AC/DC's "Back In Black" and Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love".

jkritchey · #8 01-03-2007, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

Fire On The Mountain - Grateful Dead (two notes)

Wow, are we listening to different versions!

MonetBass · #9 01-03-2007, 01:27 PM

All Day and All of the Night - The Kinks
Give It Away - RHCP (seriously)
Superman - R.E.M.

Phalex · #10 01-03-2007, 01:29 PM

Breaking the Law - Judas Priest

F# for days!

Still a cool song though. Never fails to fill the dance floor.

one · #11 01-03-2007, 01:30 PM

Slightly off topic, but the other day i was on a music channel and it was one of them where you text them a question and they answer, and it said that said Teen Spirit is the hardest guitar riff ever! I nearly wet myself!

Greenday - Brain Stew, Billy Idol/Murderdolls - White Wedding, HIM - Wicked Game, Blink182 - small Things are the only ones i can think of.

Actually, anything by pop/punk bands inc Blink182, Greenday etc are easy!! God those bands are lame!

**Eric Perry** · #12 01-03-2007, 01:38 PM

Small Things by Blink is the first that came to mind. C-G-F. Wash, rinse, and repeat.

**Blackbird** · #13 01-03-2007, 01:55 PM

Love me do - The Beatles
I Used to Love Her - Guns N' Roses

agreatheight · #14 01-03-2007, 02:48 PM

No love for the Scorpions?

"Rock You Like a Hurricane" is classic and simple!

tZer · #15 01-03-2007, 02:56 PM

No questions asked, hands down the easiest "bassline" ever - Fastway's, "Say what you will" - I can play it with my nose...

jkritchey · #16 01-03-2007, 03:27 PM

Several songs from Creedance Clearwater Revival:

"Down on the Corner"
"Fortunate Son"

BassGod · #17 01-03-2007, 03:36 PM

Brain Stew by Green Day. It's five friggin' notes.

Great song though.

Graeme

BassGod · #18 01-03-2007, 03:37 PM

With Or Without You by U2 is also miraculously easy. It's that four note standard major key pattern that everyone knows.

Graeme

oldrocker · #19 01-03-2007, 04:52 PM

"With or Without You" is easy, but some of the other ones listed aren't as easy as you might think they are.

Green Day songs for instance. While they are mostly only a few chords, "when I Come Around" for instance, but there is usually some cool bass thing going on.

Stones tunes in general are harder than they seem, the timing and groove is loose, but tight at the same time. The more Stones tunes I play, the more underrated I think Bill Wyman is.

Even "Wlid Thing" while not hard is not as repetitive and as it seems and will take a few run througs to get the parts to work together and sound right, and tight.

Matthew Bryson · #20 01-03-2007, 04:54 PM

Thanks for the suggestions guys! Lots of good stuff there.

I'll see what interests my young rockers, but they both love the Beatles, so BlackBird's suggestion will probably be right up their alley. Time for me to go home and see of I can sort out a simplified yet recognizable arrangement of Love Me Do.