One of the biggest joys of being a musician is playing music with other people. Luckily for the violinists and guitarists out there, there are lots of styles of music that have violin and guitar duets. This iconic instrument combination can be a great place to start if you’re looking for rewarding collaborations.
For any musicians that already have lots of repertoire and ear training, it can be simple to play any song with your musician friends, even without sheet music arrangements. But for those who want to learn songs for playing together, it’s also possible to find sheet music online to use.
Easy Music Contains a Huge Database of Violin & Guitar Duets
The YouTube channel, “Easy Music” has an extensive playlist with many violin and guitar duets. The songs include many different styles of music, and most of the arrangements are friendly to beginner players, as long as they have some sheet music reading experience.
Many of the songs have videos, some with just the violin part, some with just the guitar part, and some with the violin and guitar part together.
It may be difficult to know where to start, since there are so many songs that can be played as a violin and guitar duet. Here are some good songs to start with, including a good mix of different styles of music.
Violin & Guitar Duets to Get You Inspired
1. Pirates Of The Caribbean Theme
This is a great place to start, especially if you love movie music. The Pirates Of The Carribean theme has a simple enough melody for a beginner to pick up, and you’ll instantly recognize it. If you are a beginner, this should be a challenging but accessible piece of music, and a very fun piece to play with friends.
2. Hello – Adele
I’m sure most pop music fans will get a kick out of this one. There aren’t so many notes or chords to worry about, so you can start to focus on musicality. Volume, balance between instruments, tone, etc. are all things that beginner musicians often overlook when trying to jump quickly into their favorite songs. Paying attention to these subtle details can make all the difference while learning a seemingly simple song.
3. Fur Elise – Beethoven
This is a classical piece that most people have heard at one point or another. It’s traditionally played on the piano, but who says it can’t be updated! The underlying spirit of music is that it’s constantly changing and being modernized, so a violin and guitar duet of Fur Elise may be exactly what the world needs right now.
4. Jingle Bells
One of the classic christmas songs that everyone has stuck in their head from November through January yearly, this could be a very beneficial song to learn and play with friends. It has a simple, recognizable melody, and the chords follow a very common pattern. Learn this song, and you’ll instantly be equipped to learn a ton of more songs too!
5. Where Have All The Flowers Gone
This song will probably be more useful to an upper beginner player, someone who already has a few songs under their belt. The reason is that this song includes a few more chords than some of the strictly beginner songs mentioned above, and the melody is a bit longer. It’s important to choose songs that fit your level, in order to keep yourself learning and moving forward constantly, but without frustrating yourself.
Tips for Playing Music With Your Friends
If you’re a complete beginner player, especially if you’re totally new to music in general, there are a few things you need to know before venturing out to play duets with your friends.
Tip 1: Agree on a key
Make sure that the violin and guitar part are both in the same key, so that both parts will play together nicely. If you don’t know what key your song is in, figure out what the last note of the melody is. That will usually tell you what key the song is in, and should match to the other part.
Tip 2: Practice alone first
It may be tempting to just meet up with your friends and bring along the new sheet music that you bought yesterday at the local music shop. Or worse, your musical partner picked it out for you and they’ll show it to you when you get there.
Especially as a beginner musician, but even at any level, it can be very important and beneficial to practice your part alone before trying to play in a group. That being said, don’t let it hold you back from getting together with your friends and playing music together. You might not feel ready yet, but if you have been practicing, chances are it will show, and you will be more ready than you thought.
Alani Sugar