those of you who like hot chicks with acoustic guitars
 

HELP!! I am looking for some good songs to cover with just my vocals and acoustic guitar. I have been doing my own original stuff for so long that I can't think of a thing to do. :crazy:

The songs can be fully arranged, and I can just adapt them for acoustic arrangement. They can be done by male or female artists.

Any ideas? :help:

What voice range are you?

One of my favorite female acoustic vocalists is Patty Griffin. I love "Long Ride Home," "Goodbye," "Rain" and about a million others.

I also love Indigo Girls, although they're two voices - but often one works just fine. "Least Complicated" is a great uptempo song.

Tell me more about the kind of music you like.

Try early Dashboard Confessional stuff. Then again, I'm a bit biased with them :)

I have to recommend Sarah Harmer, any of her work including now or years ago when she was in Weeping Tile.

Range: I can sing anything from alto to coloratura soprano... I was (thankfully) gifted with good range and power throughout.

I like blues, standards, rock, pop, soul, R&B. So, pretty much anything.

I do want to do a variety of material, preferably songs that people have heard of.

Fade Into You by Mazzy Star always sounds good whether Acoustic or full band. You could also try Edie Brickell(& The new bohemians). She has a few acoustic songs like "Circle" for instance is pretty good. Janis Ian - At Seventeen is a great song. Then ya got Joni Mitchell..take yer pick. I don't think I know of too many dudes you'd wanna sing. Unless where it made reference to a girl you'd change it to a guy. Hmm perhaps "And I Love You So" by Don Mclean. Yes thats a very beautiful song and it's real popular. Hmm I'll think of some more and get back to ya.

Asta!!

Women with good range sound good doing Jack Johnson. I think that if you could produce a Janis Joplin-like tone (whom I can't stand, but notice I said "like", meaning slightly dry and crackled, but not airy and weak), do an acoustic version of "Cold" by Crossfade (if you haven't heard their acoustic version, do so), or "Plush" by STP. Actually, you could do a lot of male voices pretty cool by altering your tone a little bit. Play around with it, and you could make anything work. I'm working on an acoustic cover album myself, and I plan on doing a version of "Strawberry Wine" by Deanna Carter. Crossing genders for voice shouldn't be too much of a problem, and if you are formally trained, is actually quite simple.

Let me know how this turns out. I'd love to hear this stuff!

tegan and sara

Ballad of a Thin Man - Bob Dylan

I think it'd be slick to hear it sung by a female.

PJ Harvey - check out her entire collection especially the Dry cd. Many good songs to pick from - some are already acoustic but others can be made into acoustic.

Hmm ya like Tracey Chapman? Just her first disc alone is full of really great songs...Fast Car, Baby Can I Hold You Tonight, Talkin About A Revolution, etc. The Rose by Bette Middler is a piano based track but I'm sure you could do it with an accoustic as well. Hmm for another dude song I'm interested to see if you can pull of this one <a href=http://play.rbn.com/?url=windup/windup/g2demand/finger_eleven/awake_and_dreaming-full.rm&proto=dual>Finger Eleven - Awake And Dreaming</a>. I bet you could. Sarah McLauchlan also has some really beautiful stuff as well. I'll get back to ya.

Asta!!

Holly McNarland has a song called "Beautiful Blue" that is just awesome, I'd love to hear that one.

If you're trying to reinvent songs, however, I think any older stuff by Dylan or Leonard Cohen would be pretty cool, as a good voice always lends a new dimension to their music. Jeff Buckley might have some good ones for you too, I'd recommend "Lover You Should Have Come Over."

do a Tenacious D type deal. rock hard with the acoustic.

check out elliott smith if you haven't.
kings of convenience are kind of simon and garfunklish, in a good way.
i second mazzy star.
the flaming lips and grandaddy have some good stuff too.

I recomend doing some John Frusciante, especially from the Shadows Collide With People album. All of the songs are layered with multiple guitar, vocal, and synth tracks, but he released an all acoustic version of the album online that was very much amazing. Even if you don't end up covering any of the songs, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

I heard a chick doing acoustic Stone temple Pilots... Strangely good. I think the song was plush but definitly did sex type thing.

I'm a big Sheryl Crow fan, so I would suggest just about any of her stuff.

What about "That's The Way" by Led Zeppelin. That could be real good for you.

try out some melissa ferrick, elizabeth harper, lisa loeb, or beth hart, or beth orton.

[or suzanne vega if you want something older]

Cat Power anyone?

Anyone else come here only to be disappointed by the lack of pictures? :p

^ I seen her picture. Sumfin reel speshul.

Asta!!

i think you might want to check out the 80's power ballads, along with some of the faster stuff. there's obvious songs like every rose has it's thorns and warrants' 'heaven.' but songs like skid rows '18 and life' or 'i remember', mr. big 'next to be with you', scorpions 'send me an angel', 'winds of change' or maybe their harder stuff like 'rock you like a hurricane,' 'big city nights' or 'alien nation.' bon jovi could be done acoustic, same with bruce springstein. there are tons of more songs i coudl sugguest, drop me a pm if you want.

Anything by Elliot Smith....can't go wrong there. Also Badly Drawn Boy has some nice tunes.

I've been listening to Aussie singer Missy Higgins a lot lately....she's 21 I think, and an incredibly talented singer/songwriter. I'm really loving her CD.

Missy's site

^ Wow good stuff. I've heard Badly Drawn Boy too. Guy writes good songs. Hey this woman is pretty cute. Good music too...she can sing to me any time.

Asta!!

Evanescence - My Immortal

Either the new band version or the one that came on the CD!

They should have some lyrics on there website