Easiest / Hardest Songs To Sing And Play (at the same time)

[Sonicfrog]

OK, here's the question: What is the easiest and hardest songs you can think of to sing and play at the same time?

Easy:
Highway to Hell!!! You don't even play bass for half the song. It's become a Sonicfrog trademark.
Break-Up Song - Greg Kihn
Hotel California - Though the bass line is pretty disjointed from the lyrics, I found it pretty easy to do.

Hard:
With the exception of Limelight I find most of Greddy's stuff nerve wracking.
Two Princes - Spin Doctors. It's the lyrics that do me in.
Last but not least Demolition Man - The Police. If you don't know the song, listen to the disjointed timing of the lyrics in conjunction with the bass line. Sting is truly a talented bastard.

And speaking of, looks like my dream of doing a Police cover band is coming to fruition this sumner. It will only be a for a few months, and yess, I swear I will conquer "Demolition Man".

ORA: "I Will Kill Him!"

[Spector_Ray]

One song that really kicks me in the nads is Lost In Germany by King's X. There's a part after the chorus where the band is singing some "do do do's" in harmony and I just can't seem to get the bassline down during that interlude.

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by Sonicfrog

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Last but not least Demolition Man - The Police. If you don't know the song, listen to the disjointed timing of the lyrics in conjunction with the bass line. Sting is truly a talented bastard.

And speaking of, looks like my dream of doing a Police cover band is coming to fruition this sumner. It will only be a for a few months, and yess, I swear I will conquer "Demolition Man".

I've posted in a few threads at how surprisingly tough I've found a lot of Police songs are to both play and play simultaneously. I think they very effectively played lines that leave lots of other space for the other instruments and the big key was using varied rhythm patterns for each instrument to create that space. Doing one or the other by itself isn't really that hard, but trying to play and sing a lot of their songs really takes a lot of practice and concentration (well, that and the fact that I more or less suck).

Good luck. If you can pull it off as well as Sting does I'll be impressed.

[two fingers]

Good Times Bad Times - Zep The vocals (if done right) drag behind the beat at the end of almost every line. To do THAT while playing the "riff" that goes along with the verses is like doing long division in your head.

Your Love - The Outfield That song is just freakin HIGH

And yes, a LOT of Police is hard to play and sing. But it's worth the effort.

The only Rush I ever did was Limelight. I imagine that's not the hardest Rush song to play and sing, but it was hard enough.

[Sonicfrog]

Originally Posted by two fingers

Good Times Bad Times - Zep The vocals (if done right) drag behind the beat at the end of almost every line. To do THAT while playing the "riff" that goes along with the verses is like doing long division in your head.

Your Love - The Outfield That song is just freakin HIGH

And yes, a LOT of Police is hard to play and sing. But it's worth the effort.

The only Rush I ever did was Limelight. I imagine that's not the hardest Rush song to play and sing, but it was hard enough.

OMG - I though I was the only guy to do an Outfield song!!! Used to do "Say It Isn't So". I HATED doing that song. I dreaded that really long really high note at the end.

An easy one to do "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love".

Another one I struggle with: "Riff Raff". It's my fault because I want to mirror the guitar bit on the signature phrase.

Here's another hard one.

[Sonicfrog]

More on the Hard List:

"Tempted" and "Black Coffee In Bed" by Squeeze. The syncopation of the bass lines vs the lyrics make both of these good songs very tricky to get right.

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

another Sting one- "love is stronger than justice"; the verse is in 7/8;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnnUDGLnUzE

[Sonicfrog]

Originally Posted by The Mock Turtle Regulator

another Sting one- "love is stronger than justice"; the verse is in 7/8;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnnUDGLnUzE

Yeah, that's a good one.

[Rune Bivrin]

"Don't chain my heart" by Toto. Very effective, quite simple bass line, and beautiful shuffle drums by Jeff Porcaro as always.

Then I start singing, and it's like my fingers lost contact with the brain

We do "So Lonely" by The Police. That's fun and simple. We tried Roxanne. Let's just say it didn't quite groove...

[Sonicfrog]

I've done "So Lonley", and "Do Do Do" in a couple of bands. For the former, it has to be the right crowd, but it's pretty easy and fun to play. The latter will get most people off their feet.

Speaking of Toto, RareForm, my San Diego band, is planning to do this version of "You Know I Wont Hold You Back " the way they did it on the 25'th Anniversary DVD, but we just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. Next time I go down there, I'll insist we'll work on it.

PS. I live in Fresno, 348 miles away from San Diego. Yes the drive to gigs is a bitch, but they're too lazy to find another bass player, and I'm too lazy to quit!!! :-)

When I do the Police band this summer, I know I will finally have to bite the bullet and do "Roxanne". Not my favorite to perform by any means, but I guess it's gotta be done.

[Sonicfrog]

Insanely hard to sing and play at the same time??????

"Deadman's Party"!

Just playing it is a major bitch!

[Spector_Ray]

Originally Posted by Sonicfrog

Insanely hard to sing and play at the same time??????

"Deadman's Party"!

Just playing it is a major bitch!

Oh hell yeah!