Someone hands you a guitar and says "Play something.."

BillDL

Thank you for that @Danny1969 A quick Google takes me here:  https://www.easy-mute.co.uk/

HAL9000

Something easy and recognisable. Maybe one of these…

Bad Moon Rising (There’s a bathroom on the right!)
People Get Ready 
Free Falling
Hit The Road Jack
So Far Away

Sporky

Another advantage of playing cello. Hardly anyone gets one out at a party. 

sev112

Are you singing as well ? 

hollywoodrox

Dead flowers , every rose, highway to hell, all the young dudes ,hotel California wanted dead or alive stuff like that   

Benm39

Johnny Cash,  Hurt or Mercy Seat
Tito & Tarantula After Dark
Chris Isaak, Wicked Game...


Or the opening bars of Stairway... that normally puts a stop to any playing....

rustneversleeps

Danny1969 said:

I think if someone hands you an acoustic  guitar at a party it's kind of handy to be able to play something they can recognise so I generally play something that has the melody, some bass notes and some chords. So it kinda sounds complete rather than just some chords. 
So you can take a common song like this version of Isn't she lovely and just put enough snatches of chord and bass notes so they can follow it as a tune. what I'm playing is simplified but it's enough for them to get the gist 




For electric you can do the same thing. Take a common Beatle track and just play enough melody over just enough chords and bass notes for them to recognise it as the song. The notes of the melody will generally be in the chords so it's quite an easy trick to do. 



I have a few party tricks I can do which are flash looking but not as hard as they look. Spanish Fly, Eruption, Eugenes trick bag. Stuff I've worked on for years. Most of the parties I go to though are full of musicians and nobodies gettings guitars out, everyone is just getting hammered. 

 After watching that .It made me  realise I can’t play guitar after 50 odd years.Thks for that great work.If you wanted to sell one of your picks let me know as it all helps

Grangousier

I just sit there in bewildered silence with a guitar in my lap, thinking about why I don't go to parties. 

fastonebaz

It's a great question and one that instantly makes me forget I even know how to play guitar. 

 It's like the Men In Black zapper of questions. 

LastMantra

At a party it would need to be something everyone knows the words to for a singalong. 
Wouldn't want to kill the party playing some instrumental thing.

Something like wonderwall or wish you were here.

wesker123

Benm39 said:

Johnny Cash,  Hurt or Mercy Seat
Tito & Tarantula After Dark
Chris Isaak, Wicked Game...


Or the opening bars of Stairway... that normally puts a stop to any playing....

Wicked Game on acoustic?
WTAF 

Benm39

wesker123 said:

Benm39 said:

Johnny Cash,  Hurt or Mercy Seat
Tito & Tarantula After Dark
Chris Isaak, Wicked Game...


Or the opening bars of Stairway... that normally puts a stop to any playing....

Wicked Game on acoustic?
WTAF 

It's ok. Like the John Belushi scene in Animal House,  someone has by then either taken the guitar out of my hands,  or smashed it against the nearest wall....

ESBlonde

You can always ask them to do you a spreadsheet projection on the kitchen table so you can plug in your investments, it’s all work. 

I’m not a party person but assuming I’m not already ‘quite relaxed’ and mind and body are functioning together I’d do something I know well and that is quite recognisable.
50 ways to leave your lover,
Sweet Caroline,
How deep is your love.
But they only get the one and then I hand back the guitar, people still think music is free and I prefer not to endorse that idea. What would it be like being a comedian having drunks tell you their favourite old joke or insisting you tell a stream of funnies.

CaseOfAce

The trouble with this scenario is it can rapidly descend into a David Brent / Free Love Freeway situation. Awk's for all concerned.

My experience - read the room, keep it light and frothy, singalong. If after the first chorus they're looking at their phones... bow out gracefully.
Above all - it's about them - not you. 
If someone ABSOLUTELY insists that you pick up the guitar ( I never volunteer) - play something think crowd pleaser-ish - and something they know. Now is not the time for Nick Drake or Theme From the Deer Hunter (Cavatina).

If in doubt...Oasis or Beatles.

thecolourbox

If it's guitar, I'll normally just say I've got a finger injury of some sort and bow out as I'm not very good at reading a room for that kind of thing.

If it's piano I'll bust out about 20 seconds of something really hard sounding and segue into tinkle twinkle or something, then we can all move on and enjoy the party

digitalscream

If it's an electric, probably Enter Sandman or Get The Funk Out. Basically, recognisable to anyone familiar with the genre, but with a strong enough beat that anyone who isn't can still follow it. Likely Johnny B Goode if there's not enough gain available.

If it's an acoustic...no idea, really. Classical Gas, maybe? Or perhaps something easy by Radiohead, like Black Star or Fade Out. I haven't even touched an acoustic in 20 years or so, so I'm guessing it probably wouldn't go well.

Danny1969

One trick you can do chordally is the old Nashville Zip code  sequence ... 1,5,6,4, will get you enough songs to keep everybody singing, so C, G, Am and F for example and pick anything off this 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I–V–vi–IV_progression#Songs_using_the_progression

HAL9000

Danny1969 said:

One trick you can do chordally is the old Nashville Zip code  sequence ... 1,5,6,4, will get you enough songs to keep everybody singing, so C, G, Am and F for example and pick anything off this 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I–V–vi–IV_progression#Songs_using_the_progression

https://youtu.be/5pidokakU4I

EricTheWeary

So what I’ve learned from this is if I was at a party and someone handed me a guitar and said “play something” I’d say “hang on a minute I just need to find Danny…” 

Jimbro66

Much as I dislike the song, I’d probably go for the drunks’ fave - Sweet Caroline. I’d play the instantly recognisable intro using similar technique to Danny’s excellent clips above then, by the time I began the first verse, there’d be voices joining in. Very soon the karaoke would be in full flow and I could quietly slip away.