A couple weeks ago, my nephew got an electric guitar for his 13th birthday. As his desperately-clinging-to-credibility uncle (I couldn’t bring myself to use the word “cool”), I now feel a certain obligation to expose him to good music. By my 13th birthday I’d already been blowing my allowance on pop and rock records for seven or eight years, but he hasn’t heard a great variety of music. The plan is to send him a couple mix CDs that will introduce him to a broad spectrum of playing styles, guitar tones, and genres. I figure he’ll probably hate 3/4ths of the songs but hopefully a few of them will stick.
If an alien landed on your doorstep and asked you what a guitar sounds like, what songs would you play?