Shoutbox

sysmalakian: Birthday month starts now!
362 days ago

diceophonic: Vampiro Classics 2024 reissue
343 days ago

SabedLeepski: Sunburn Surf Fest for some scorching hot surf music: https://sunb...
300 days ago

skeeter: I know a Polish sound guy.
228 days ago

skeeter: I know a Czech one too!
228 days ago

PatGall: Surfybear metal settings
148 days ago

Pyronauts: Happy Tanks-Kicking!
126 days ago

midwestsurfguy: Merry Christmas!
95 days ago

sysmalakian: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
88 days ago

SabedLeepski: Surfin‘ Europe, for surf (related) gigs and events in Europe Big Razz https://sunb...
49 days ago

Please login or register to shout.

Current Polls

No polls at this time. Check out our past polls.

Current Contests

No contests at this time. Check out our past contests.

Donations

Help us meet our monthly goal:

100%

100%

Donate Now

Cake March Birthdays Cake
SG101 Banner

SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink Songs all surf guitarists should know...

New Topic
Goto Page: 1 2 Next

I have been playing guitar for a while, but I want to really develop a solid surf repertoire. I'm working on a lot of things (Dick Dale tunes and the Danny Amis songbooks), but I am curious what songs I should have under my belt. Should I just look at the North Sea Classic Top 101 list and learn them in that order? I guess my problem is that I don't really know where to start, because I kinda love everything!

To Boldly go where no Tiki has gone before...

Top five must learn songs:

Pipeline
Miserlou
Walk Don't Run
Wipe Out
Surf Rider

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

Here's ten easy and identifiable songs. A great place to start:

Mr. Moto
Apache
Baja
Walk Don't Run
Wipeout
Pipeline
Surf Beat
Surf Rider
Penetration
Miserlou

There's tutorials on most of these on the website of Bruce Lindquist. Have fun!

Last edited: Mar 23, 2016 17:38:59

I would only add Latinia to Greg's list

What the last two just said! Although I have learned the hard way that one of the WORST surf instros to play or jam on with others is Misirlou, because everybody has a sllllightllllly different arrangement!

i might add it's best to know both the lead and rhythm parts, not just the lead.

www.surfintheeye.com

mom_surfing wrote:

i might add it's best to know both the lead and rhythm parts, not just the lead.

Great advice Carol, I couldn't agree more.
The best way to learn a song plus you get into the mechanics of what makes that song tick as far as arrangement

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

GregEL wrote:

Here's ten easy and identifiable songs. A great place to start:

Mr. Moto
Apache
Baja
Walk Don't Run
Wipeout
Pipeline
Surf Beat
Surf Rider
Penetration
Miserlou

There's tutorials on most of these on the website of Bruce Lindquist. Have fun!

Nice traditional surf list, gives you a good amount of techniques, tones and styles. Agree with adding
Latin'ia

PLUS:
The Theme from the Endless Summer
Paradise Cove (Surfmen version)

I remember my early surf guitar learning days, these should all provide a lot of hours of work and most importantly FUN!!! Cool

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

The ones you like...

JakeDobner wrote:

The ones you like...

Also a good path. I just remember getting the Cowabunga box set and listening with guitar, tank and amp on hand...

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

JakeDobner wrote:

The ones you like...

I like so many of them, but some are easier to play than others. I guess you just can't start with Slacktone. You need to build to it! So I want to see the tunes that I should cut my teeth on first.

To Boldly go where no Tiki has gone before...

The ones you like are the ones you know in your head the best. And the ones you know in your head are the easiest to learn, unless you cannot decipher the technique.

Here's where I'd start... (take that for what its worth)

-Pipeline is good for rhythm and simple lead. This is the first surf song I ever learned. I still love playing the lead or rhythm part.
-Wipeout will be expected and is pretty good beginner song. I personally like the Ventures version.
-Surf Rider nice chord picking, a nice minor key sound.
-Miserlou will be good for getting your alt picking down, but depending on your skill level, you may want to save for later.

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

The great thing about surf is that there is no "should" in terms of learning what tunes to play. I have only been playing surf for the past 3yrs (been playing guitar for the past 30yrs). But I would recommend learning the rhythm chords along with the melody lines. In fact, using anything that can record, incl an iPhone or anything with a mic to pickup air, you can record your own backing track.

Some songs I had to learn out of necessity because I would receive the setlist for an upcoming gig and I would just dive in...I went from having no clue, to being able to play it, to loving it. Other songs are ones I will eventually get to. For me, aside from setlist self-learning, everything else is haphazard in terms of my approach. At times, I just get caught up with an earworm and I take some time to work on it. If nothing else but to exorcise it out of my brain! Big Razz
Songs that I particularly enjoyed learning (just off the top of my head in no order):
Fender IV - Mar Gaya
Misirlou
Pipeline
Shake 'n' Stomp (of course!!!!)
Baja
Banzai Pipeline (The Astronauts' Mancini cover)
Penetration
Walk Don't Run
Surf Rider
Wipeout
Squad Car
Storm Surf
Movin'

Others: Link Wray's Rumble and Jack The Ripper

Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada

I find the tunes that are easy to learn and commonly-covered by people I might get a chance to play with are the most fun to work on.

A shameless plug for my live "drums-only" backing tracks I posted:
"Baja"
And
"Walk Don't Run"

Hope you try to play along with them. Leave a comment or request another tune. I will aspire to record and contribute drum tracks for some of the other tunes listed in this thread ...

*Dick B.
The Aquatudes
http://www.aquatudes.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Aquatudes/107419619521

Last edited: Mar 25, 2016 10:15:39

artdecade wrote:

I guess my problem is that I don't really know where to start, because I kinda love everything!

ArtDecade,
Don't forget to check out the download section of SG101. There are a lot of great backing tracks that you can download and play along with while you are learning. I just discovered it, and since my band is on hiatus I think I'll download some this weekend and practice too!!

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

BTW the backing tracks link is listed right after the MP3 compilations...

Surfcat

2023 SG101 Compilation - Tribute to Noel
The Journey Home - Agent Octopus (Our SG101 Comp download)

From Atlantis with Love - Released - July 2023
Agent Octopus-Spotify
Christmas on the Beach - NEW SINGLE Dec 2023!!
Reverb Galaxy - Angle of Attack CD - BANDCAMP

Surf, the most dangerous of all musical genres...

Hi Everyone,
I hope our shared love of surf music is helping to keep your spirits up during quarantine. I want to let you know I recorded a drums-only backing track for MR MOTO).
It's over in the "Downloads" section of SG101. I hope you will try playing along with it, - and even using it in a recording of your own rendition to share with our SG101 community.
Cheers! - Dick B.

*Dick B.
The Aquatudes
http://www.aquatudes.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Aquatudes/107419619521

Last edited: Apr 16, 2020 19:37:34

Lol my list is a bit different. I have been learning guitar since last January.

  1. Bombora
  2. Jack the Ripper
  3. Surf Rider
  4. Bustin Surfboards
  5. Rumble
  6. Malagueña - Trashmen
  7. K-39
  8. Miserlou

ones I want to learn next:

Baja
Movin
Margaya
Out of Limits
Mr. Rebel

Also, I don’t want to learn the Ventures.

drumsdick wrote:

Hi Everyone,
I hope our shared love of surf music is helping to keep your spirits up during quarantine. I want to let you know I recorded a drums-only backing track for MR MOTO).
It's over in the "Downloads" section of SG101. I hope you will try playing along with it, - and even using it in a recording of your own rendition to share with our SG101 community.
Cheers! - Dick B.

Thanks! Very good!

Goto Page: 1 2 Next
Top