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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink What surf songs would you recommend to a beginner surf player?

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I've played guitar for 2 years now, and I've recently took up surf rock playing. So far I only know Surf rider, penetration, and most of wipe out. What songs would you recommend to a beginner like me?

Thanks

If you're looking for relatively simple, try Cecilia Ann by Dave Myers and The Surftones. That's a very off the cuff suggestion because I play that song around half the times I pick up my guitar. What are your favorite songs/bands?

The Mystery Men?
El Capitan and The Reluctant Sadists
SSS Agent #31

Richard wrote:

If you're looking for relatively simple, try Cecilia Ann by Dave Myers and The Surftones. That's a very off the cuff suggestion because I play that song around half the times I pick up my guitar. What are your favorite songs/bands?

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely have to try Cecilia Ann out. To be honest, I don't listen to that much surf music. At one of the Disney waterparks they play a ton of surf music there. That was when I was first introduced to the genre. I was totally captivated by the surf sound, so I wanted to play it. However, when I do listen to surf rock, It's typically by Dick Dale, but I can't tremelo pick like him :-).

Richard wrote:

If you're looking for relatively simple, try Cecilia Ann by Dave Myers and The Surftones.

Not to derail the thread, but Cecilia Ann is not by Dave Meyers & The Surftones. Start here in this thread for more discussion.

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
Need help with the site? SG101 FAQ - Send me a private message - Email me

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

Tremolo picking is an essential ingredient for many (certainly not all!!) surf tunes. It is a technique that needs to be built-up over time. Some people can keep up with the speed but not the endurance. It takes practice.
I definitely recommend a mix of surf/pre-surf instro tunes. That said, surf is also about melody and spirit, not just sheer velocity. These are songs I'd recommend to anyone just starting to play surf:

Link Wray - Rumble, Jack The Ripper
Astronauts - Baja, Movin', The Hearse
Chantays - Pipeline
Santo & Johnny - Sleepwalk (find a guitar arrangement)
The Shadows - FBI, Wonderful Land, Apache
Ventures - Walk, Don't Run, Secret Agent Man

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

Last edited: May 08, 2017 22:05:19

When I first started, this book helped me quite a bit... https://www.amazon.com/Surf-Guitar-Play-Along-Hal-Leonard/dp/0634073656

I would add Pintor by the Pharos

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

The first surf song I learned was The Belairs - Mr Moto.

Now there is a helpful YouTube video with tab:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XgnsjpUlTg

The Astronauts - Baja, you can learn palm mute picking, chord picking and short tremolo picking from this one song.

Umar
The Mentawais
The Rentones

Endless Summer by the Sandals

Jeff(bigtikidude)

kruelkats wrote:

The Astronauts - Baja, you can learn palm mute picking, chord picking and short tremolo picking from this one song.

Thanks for the suggestion! I just learned it today.

Brian wrote:

Richard wrote:

If you're looking for relatively simple, try Cecilia Ann by Dave Myers and The Surftones.

Not to derail the thread, but Cecilia Ann is not by Dave Meyers & The Surftones. Start here in this thread for more discussion.

I never knew this, thanks for the link to that thread.

Thumbs Up

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale.

Pipeline!

And also Out of Limits.

From past me to future you

The Lonely Bull, lots of video instruction on YouTube.

You gotta learn Mr. Moto. One of the granddaddies of surf. And when you're learning it, remember that Paul Johnson wrote it when he was 14 years old! Jonpaul actually played an original demo of it to kick off Fiberglass Jungle last weekend, which was the coolest thing that happened that weekend, anywhere.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions everyone! Smile

You might try the Rhino box set and see what grabs you. It has a lot of the classics for sure. Also Duane Eddy, Link Ray & The Fireballs are good places to start. Good luck!---

I'd recommend two others: the Lively Ones' "Surf Rider" and Eddie & the Showmen's "Squad Car". Both are about as classic as surf songs get, and are highly recognizable, the first one from Pulp Fiction, of course. Both will teach you all sorts of foundational surf guitar techniques, too, arpeggiating chords, whammy dips, tremolo (or double) picking, double-stops, etc.

Good luck!

Ivan
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Last edited: May 11, 2017 09:31:43

I recommend: The Shadows - Apache and not necessarily surf, but a great song Link Wrays - Rumble. I also like Man or Astromans - Planet Collision for a quicker song, but it is fairly easy.

Have fun!

The Me Gustas
https://themegustas.com

Shane,

Here are two of the first tunes I learned. They helped me "feel the surf".

Latin'ia - The Sentinals. It has a nice basic picking with interesting rhythms. Here is a video of the fundamental parts of it Latin'ia

Theme to the Endless Summer - This is a super crowd pleaser and I love the feel of the song. It makes me dream of surf....

Surfcat

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

ShaneHarkins wrote:

kruelkats wrote:

The Astronauts - Baja, you can learn palm mute picking, chord picking and short tremolo picking from this one song.

Thanks for the suggestion! I just learned it today.

Baja is one of my favorite surf tunes! I recorded a play-along drums-only backing track a while ago. You can find it in the "Downloads" section at the left here, then under "Backing Tracks". Leave a comment there if you try it.

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

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