What five campfire songs should you have in your locker

Here is the challenge, they need to be well known and suitable for all age groups, not too difficult to play and for those present to know most of the words to be able to sing along, at least with the chorus.

Suggestions please.

Michael

PS should be interesting to see how many keep occurring.

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I’ll play…

  1. Let it Be
  2. Brown-Eyed Girl (maybe not for kids, with all that love-making behind the stadium :slight_smile: )
  3. Heart of Gold
  4. Stand By Me
  5. American Pie (lots of lyrics, but everybody knows the chorus)
  6. Imagine

I know, they’re all pretty old. Like me.

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Great topic, but you meant 10, right? It’s hard to even stop at 10, but here goes - they’re mostly suitable for all ages - and hopefully they’re not all too dated!

Take it Easy
Brown Eyed Girl
Take Me Home Country Roads
Let it Be
Last Kiss
Me and Bobby McGee
Knocking On Heaven’s Door
Have You Ever Seen The Rain
Margaritaville
Hit Me With Your Best Shot (Justin’s got a great Grade 3 lesson on it, and it’s easily playable on acoustic)

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I was going to pick Heart of Gold, and Stand By Me, but I was already at the 10 limit :laughing:

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Hah! I was going to pick Take Me Home Country Roads. (BTW, great list. Last Kiss and Bobby McGee are both awesome choices.)

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We seem to be up and running, will give it some time and then do an analysis of the suggestions.
Michael :+1:

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Take your point on the words on Brown Eyed Girl.
But the lyrics of many popular songs the words can a bit doubtful
Michael

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I would suggest “depositing” chord progressions in your locker so that you can play an unlimited number of songs, and start your ear training journey by understanding intervals in music. Once you nail down the progressions that make up modern music, you can play just about anything (and at some point by ear). From there you can develop the chops to stylize them in a way that suits you.

Rather than list out these progressions one by one for you, give this piano related lesson a spin:

A lot of the great campfire songs are represented.

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From what I can see, you are from UK!? - I have lived in UK for some months now and then and visited many times. - It is so wonderful to hear so many people who know the lyrics all the way through a song and so many songs. - Here in Denmark it’s really awful. People know the first line or three and then there is silence. :joy: :rofl: :joy: Also people from US are like those from UK, though which songs they pick is slightly different and often more into western style. — I don’t have enough living experience from UK, so will not suggest any. You have it in you, you know such things much better. I follow along and watch, as I find it an interesting topic. :+1: :partying_face: :sunglasses:

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Wonderwall.

There, I said it. Please continue your little discussion, I’ll be hiding somewhere if you need me.

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I totally agree with this, Clint, and I think pretty much all of the songs suggested so far have a pretty standard chord progression (apart from a couple of bridges) - that’s what makes them great campfire / sing-along songs! I think it’s nice to have some readily available songs to suggest when you find yourself with guitar in hand at a campfire. The really nice thing about those typical chord progressions is you can easily change the key to suit your own vocal range.

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Some great ones already but not going to repeat them, just add to the list…

King Of The Road
Sweet Caroline
Hi Ho Silver Lining
Alright Now
Rock Around The Clock
Blue Suede Shoes

How many did you say?..…

Delilah
Never Felt More Like Singing The Blues
Annie’s Song
Song Sung Blue

And then there’s……

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Interesting and very clever suggestion! :+1: :sunglasses: :heart: :pray:

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Clint @CT
No looked at the video yet but you make a good point. I am sure some guitarist even they have not rehearsed a particularly song request can think sort of know how it goes if I use this progression I can get by, I am sure Justin could do that. The situation is not an exam as long as your fellow campfires sing along even if the chords not strictly correct I don’t think it matters as long as everybody has a good time

Michael :grinning:

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Kim @kimlodrodawa

You are correct I am in the UK.

I could be wrong but popular
music is very biased to lyrics in the English language.

Of course in the uk you are less likely to be sitting around a campfire in December but this is not the case in the southern hemisphere so I expect some Christmas songs may make an appearance.

Michael

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I have…

Mad World
Bad Moon Rising
Take It Easy
Down On The Corner
Love Is All Around
Wish You Were Here
Dock Of The Bay
Stand By Me

….in various stages of memorising! Not brave enough yet to put myself out there!

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David @BurnsRhythm

I think the five came from Justin’s five songs for grade 1, so I suppose there is no limit really.

If your first five go well you may well be asked for an encore, so you might be prepared for more or break a string to draw matters to close.

Michael

Nah, keep going!
Leave the harder ones till later when everyone -including you- has had plenty of falling down water.
Like you say, it won’t matter if you play the wrong chords when they’re all singing along merrily.

Peaceful Easy Feeling
Cracklin Rosie

Slow it down at the end of the night…

Blue Spanish Eyes
Last Waltz

Then a few rounds of…

Show Me The Way To Go Home!

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Simplify! Consider one down strum per beat on songs that aren’t yet under your fingers. Sometimes trying to match the song exactly, strumming patterns and such, can throw us off.

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WW has been suggested around at least one fire pit/campfire session that I was involved with. It’s hard to tell if it was jokingly suggested or dead serious. I just say I don’t know that one. :slight_smile:

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