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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Music General Discussion »

Permalink Slow Surf Songs

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Danny you mean ladies choice, a slow one for the ladies in the house, Slow songs are great if you do at the most 2 Very Happy @ shows we notice a balance of single dudes and couples so what we bust out at the last minute is a great song called Moon of Manakoora but we do The Apsons version very moody and in love kinda tune and if couples get up to slow dance in the middle of the song we extend it a bit but anyways that's a good slow song, We always put the slow ones in the middle of our set it goes over well and a crowd pleeeeesure Very Happy that yes surfer's can get muuuushhhyy to Embarassed

-Kyle

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lonely girl - the exotics
the breeze and I - jon and the nightriders

diceophonic
Danny you mean ladies choice, a slow one for the ladies in the house, Slow songs are great if you do at the most 2

It's a good idea to aim part of the set at the ladies - I thought that was why you guys joined a band Wink - but I'm not sure that "slow" = "ladies' choice." Actually, I think that's supposed to mean "danceable," or (in the old days) "the ladies get to ask the gentlemen for the next dance." Danceable covers a lot of territory. I notice that one thing that gets a lot of couples up is something you can swing dance to, which in the context of this request might be Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen or maybe The Bumblebee Twist. Neither one is particularly slow. I've also noticed that some women respond very positively to things that bring out their inner go-go dancer. The example I have in mind is kind of local: check out Scooter Girl (also not slow) by the Beloved Invaders (http://www.thebelovedinvaders.com/). It's on their Tamarindo release. I'm not sure what you call this kind of song, musically or functionally ...

Actually, of course, it's a good idea to aim part of the set at anyone who doesn't seem to be responding, especially if you're playing a general venue. Until you have the audience's attention you can't drag its taste up to your level. :smile: And the house may not invite you back. Surf music is such a broad genre that I think a surf band with any kind of set list at all can please a wide variety of audiences. However, it takes both planning (often by expanding the repertoire) and careful audience observation.

I've noticed a lot of times that a band won't take notice of what gets people up dancing (or otherwise responding positively). It wasn't a surf band, but I remember some folks I know playing to a pretty dead house - doing their usual good job, but not moving anyone, you know. Then they played a Chuck Berry number and some standard piece of southern stomper rock. Folks leaped out of their chairs and drifted in from the pool table. I know they knew other stuff in that vein, but after those two numbers they went on with their prepared set list, changing the mood back to "fast (or anyway, intense) 60's-70's rock" and losing the audience.

My advice is, if nothing seems to be reaching large sections of the audience, try something different. A cheap way to experiment is to stick a couple of bucks in the juke box during a break. Take notes.

Anyway, the original request was for slow songs, and since folks have already suggested Latinia (often done, but quite variously) and Slo Mo HVO (good, but a bit of a Mermen trademark, maybe), I'll go with You Don't Have to Say You Love Me (Dusty Springfield). It's on Terry "Buffalo" Ware's Ridin' the Reverb Range. There's a lot of good slow stuff on that CD.

I don't know if I'd limit the number of slow songs to two. However many it takes. With some audiences it might be none. With others, you might have to do a lot of them. The main questions are whether to start or end fast or slow.

Speedball Jr - Teaserama
... is that slow or what...
Oh shit...full gear at the end..oups but then sloooooww again, could mellow the crowd down...
Anyway it has a good slow flow, tension and some surprise at the end...

image

surfraptor wrote: "Hey Cruncher I have several of your albums!
Jupiter C and Go Surfin' With on vinyl and Surf Guitar on cd...
Cool!"

Hallo surfraptor,
does that mean that you don´t have my latest CD "2005"? If not, please give me your adress per PN or e-mail. I´ll send you one.
Herbert

Cruncher
surfraptor wrote: "Hey Cruncher I have several of your albums!
Jupiter C and Go Surfin' With on vinyl and Surf Guitar on cd...
Cool!"

Hallo surfraptor,
does that mean that you don´t have my latest CD "2005"? If not, please give me your adress per PN or e-mail. I´ll send you one.
Herbert

Well that is very much appreciated!!!

surfraptor

Cruncher
surfraptor wrote: "Hey Cruncher I have several of your albums!
Jupiter C and Go Surfin' With on vinyl and Surf Guitar on cd...
Cool!"

Hallo surfraptor,
does that mean that you don´t have my latest CD "2005"? If not, please give me your adress per PN or e-mail. I´ll send you one.
Herbert

Just in the mail!
Thanks again Herbert and to stay on topic I love your version of The Lonely Surf Guitar

Bullwinkle part 2, done by OuterWave, slower and more twangy thatn the original.

DannySnyder
Well, it's becoming obvious that I need to provide my band with some slower material ...

A few more suggestions:

Moon Over Marin Tormentos Grab Your Board

A Dead Kennedys cover - maybe it has more history than that - so a good example for the surf versions of non-surf song thread, too. Not so much slow as quiet, meditative.

Sands Go Vermillion Mel-Tones Surf Sensation
_Cabo del Cabo_ Mel-Tones Surf Sensation

Again more of a question of quiet and meditative than slow. I think the beats per whatever is actually slower here than above. Uh, one thing, though - for my money these two are very similar - within "variations on a theme" similar, anyway. A lovely pair, nonetheless.

Last edited: Feb 03, 2008 22:55:41

Tuck

DannySnyder
Well, it's becoming obvious that I need to provide my band with some slower material ...

A few more suggestions:

Moon Over Marin Tormentos Grab Your Board

A Dead Kennedys cover - maybe it has more history than that - so a good example for the surf versions of non-surf song thread, too. Not so much slow as quiet, meditative.

Sands Go Vermillion Mel-Tones Surf Sensation
_Cabo del Cabo_ Mel-Tones Surf Sensation

Again more of a question of quiet and meditative than slow. I think the beeats per whatever is actually slower here than above. Uh, one thing, though - for my money these two are very similar - within "variations on a theme" similar, anyway. A lovely pair, nonetheless.

Tuck extra credit points for suggesting a couple Mel-tones songs, I'm sure Mel would be thrilled if we did them. He'd be even more thrilled if I played them with him. You obviously have great taste in surf music. BTW: Moon over Marin was covered by Pollo del Mar, I really can't do their version justice.

However Tuck, the point of the thread was not to name songs for me to cover, rather to point out what made a successful slow surf song so I can apply it to my own originals. Check back to the original post. I was hoping for some more analytical responses. Still, I appreciate all the suggestions and I even received a couple CDR's of slow surf tunes that I'm forever grateful.

Danny Snyder

Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Duuude, the Space Cossacks' "Moroccan Adventures" is a great slow song. I don't know how I failed to mention it before, but it's recently surfaced on my ever-changing list of current favorites. Perfectly smooth, sultry and mysterious. Thumbs Up

And to mention yet another, the Bambi Molesters' "Tempted" is a really cool example in its contrast between the slow, soft rhythm and kinda (at times) gruff and harsh sounding lead. But still really pretty and effective. Me gusta mucho.

I'd like to throw Jimi Hendrixs little wing in the slow song mix.
The song itself is no way close to a surf song, but it has some important parts that make any slow song strong.
It comes and goes in volume, it speeds up and slows down. it has very deep and rich bass, and some very high trebel. It uses different picking techniques, and it wonders around and them comes back to end in a rememberable way.
Not inlike some of the slow surf song I have heard. EBB TIDE by Big surf is one that comes to mind at this time.
Joel

Joelman
I'd like to throw Jimi Hendrixs little wing in the slow song mix.
Joel

Excellent Joel, that captures it exactly. Truly a song to aspire to.

Danny Snyder

Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

DannySnyder
Tuck, extra credit points for suggesting a couple Mel-tones songs, ...

I thought you'd get a kick out of it. I'd been playing the retrospective CD a lot lately, and it dawned on me that they were good examples, before I remembered the connection.

DannySnyder
However Tuck, the point of the thread was ... to point out what made a successful slow surf song so I can apply it to my own originals. Check back to the original post. I was hoping for some more analytical responses. ...

And the original, please ...

DannySnyder
Well, it's becoming obvious that I need to provide my band with some slower material and I'm looking for some inspiration. Please suggest some slower songs that succeed in keeping the listener's interest. Or are doing something unique that can't be achieved in a faster song. Please take the time to elaborate if so inclined.

I see we didn't quite understand the question. We were naming songs that held our attention by sticking in our memories. You want to know why. I think we've actually been stumbling toward an analysis of what holds the attention in a slower song, but we're not very good at articulating it.

I think so far two principles have been enunciated. One is that such a song should be good for hands on couples dancing. So, not necessarily slow, but with a rhythm suited to that kind of step. Here I am probably not the person to speak up, because I am handicapped. I was born with no right foot. Two or three left feet, but no right one. So I'm told, anyway.

However, there are experts who can be consulted. See Wikipedia on Swing Dancing, for example.

Swing music features the syncopated timing associated with African American and West African music and dance. This syncopated rhythm was the basis for Dixieland Jazz that is where the term swing comes from. That is to say the beat was not even but would "swing" due to the syncopations.

Anyway, this is probably why so many of the suggestions have a vagely "Latin" beat. They're not so much slow as syncopated and something short of frantic in pace.

I think the second point we've been struggling toward is that it's not so much the tempo as the mood that makes a song "slow." Moody songs tend not to be high speed thrashes, but they don't necessarily have a slow tempo. Moderate maybe. It might be worth whipping out your metronome and figuring out the tempo of a range of slow and fast songs.

In general I think that slowness in perceptual terms has as much to do with dynamics, rhythm, changing speeds, silences, and maybe things like the lower ratios of lead notes to beats as with actual beats per minute.

Maybe somebody who knows what they're talking about would like to cut in at this point?

Last edited: Feb 03, 2008 22:54:44

I just sort of scanned the responses and though not 'technically' surf, I didn't see anybody mention the Shadows?

Wonderful Land is about the most beautiful song ever written.

Peace Pipe and Midnight are gems as well.

Happy Reverbs!
Spanky

Agree

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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

"Changing Tides", from The Ventures' "Surfing" album? (No gagging, please.)

Might be a little difficult replicating the background surf sound, but the bell buoy is possible.

DannySnyder
Well, it's becoming obvious that I need to provide my band with some slower material ...

I stumbled on this a while ago. It seemed relevant.

Rewriting meters

There is a sense in which all simple triple time signatures, be they 3/8, 3/4, 3/2 or anything else, and all compound duple times, such as 6/8, 6/16 and so on, are equivalent – a piece in 3/4 can be easily rewritten in 3/8 simply by halving the length of the notes. Sometimes, the choice of beat unit is simply down to tradition: the minuet, for example, is generally written in 3/4, and though examples in 3/8 do exist, a minuet in 3/2 would be highly unconventional.

At other times, the choice of beat unit (the bottom number of a time signature) note can give subtle hints as to the character of the music: for example, time signatures with a longer beat unit (such as 3/2) can be used for pieces in a quick tempo to convey a sense of the time flying by. This may be counter-intuitive, but in the Baroque and Classical periods, typically meters with long note values (such as 3/2) were fast tempos, while slow movements were typically written with the eighth note as the beat.

Similarly, a piece in 2/4 can often sound as if it is in 4/4 (or vice versa) and a piece in 3/4 can sound as if it is in 6 or 12 compound time, particularly if the former is played quickly or the latter slowly. The distinction may be a matter of notation.

Last edited: Feb 03, 2008 22:51:22

Spanish Blue by The Aqua Velvets.

We do instrumental versions of In My Room and Surfer Girl. It's amazing how good those songs are once you lose the vocals.image

There is Surf east of Sepulveda.

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