Can you give me examples of songs with varying difficulty levels?

[Fynn]

I know we all learned the instrument slightly differently, and I've been wondering how that afffects how difficult we perceive songs to be to learn and play.
Ideally, I would like to hear/read maybe three different examples of songs that you would rate as easy, medium, and hard. If you want, you can try to specify what exactly makes these songs more or less challenging to learn and play for you.

I hope there is a bunch of people who would like to participate in this.


I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm actually too lazy to come up with my own right now. I'll be thinking about good examples to add later though, if people find this idea interesting enough.

 

[MVE]

Easy:
Another One Bites the Dust

Medium:
Ramble on

Hard:
Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes

 

[Nebadon2000]

Easy:
Another One Bites the Dust

Medium:
Ramble on

Hard:
Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes

I remember band I was with the BL suggested 'Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes' I started sweating immediately

 

[MisterUbu]

This is a really great topic you've brought up! My biggest struggle as a player is trying to find ways to challenge myself by finding songs that are both difficult and I'd actually like to listen to. There are songs that I've either learned or on my learning to do list

Easy:
Small Faces - Whatcha Gonna Do About It/Sorry She's Mine, most small Faces songs are easy but they groove so hard
Medium:
The Stranglers - Goodbye Toulouse (once I catch the main bassline by ear it's usually smooth sailing)
Faces - Stay with me (it's getting the finer details of phrasing/the way the bassline that locks in with the drums is what takes repeated concentrated listen)
Hard (songs that I gotta open up YouTube to see how they're covered/played live, or really try to nail section by section)
The Who - Dreaming from The Waist
Masayoshi Tanaka - Oh Tengo Suerte
Kessoku Band - Karakara (anime soundtracks/Jrock on general operate on a whole different level technically, most of these songs would be several practice sessions to the point I'd get sick of them!)

 

[Michael Jewels]

I'll give you one song off the top of my head that starts off fairly easy, but then gets hard very quickly.

The bass line to, Love Her Madly, by the doors.

It started out fairly easy to play, then gets hard really fast.

At least for me.

Mike

 

[Michael Jewels]

Here it is:

 

[hrodbert696]

It occurs to me that my criteria for this are basically "songs I learned to play a long time ago, songs I can play now, and songs I can't play." FWIW, my examples:

Easy: U2, With or Without You


Medium: Blues Brothers, She Caught the Katy


Hard: Primus, Tommy the Cat

 

[brianrost]

Easy



Medium



Hard

 

[DrBnz]

Most songs are easy with an occasional fill that shows some difficulty. When I think about "hard" I think things that are too fast for me or the rhythm just throws me

HARD: Rusty Cage - Soundgarden. Now once you get that pattern down you're good. But that's not so easy (for me anyways).

 

[murphy]

The Stranglers - Goodbye Toulouse

That is a very high energy song for me.....therefore difficult?

wanted that video of the kid playing it...unsure if this was it?

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Easy
Ring Of Fire - Johnny Cash

Moderate
Wake Up And Make Love - Ian Dury

Difficult
Sick Of It All - The Distillers

I practiced this one once and then recorded a playthrough. Fairly moderate, just fast:

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Good playthrough of Wake Up And Make Love:

 

[Jefenator]

Sometimes when one thinks of a tune as being "easy", it really means the band is about to savage it beyond all recognition.
One of the worst moments in my 30 year career was attempting to cover some ZZ Top with a drummer who couldn't shuffle.

 

[FRoss6788]

Sometimes when one thinks of a tune as being "easy", it really means the band is about to savage it beyond all recognition.
One of the worst moments in my 30 year career was attempting to cover some ZZ Top with a drummer who couldn't shuffle.

So true

 

[Straw_hat]

How would you guys classify Jamiroquai Time won't wait?

 

[murphy]

How would you guys classify Jamiroquai Time won't wait?

Lots to remember?
Julia Hofner jams along

 

[Straw_hat]

I like Marta

 

[MisterUbu]

That is a very high energy song for me.....therefore difficult?

wanted that video of the kid playing it...unsure if this was it?

I completely admit, this song is a work in progress for me too, definitely crossing that hard threshold, particularly in the crossing strings while using a pick. I gotta slow it down to catch some of what JJ does in the recording on some parts.
I think I watched another video

I gotta do a video cover myself for it someday

 

[dave64o]

I'll give you one song off the top of my head that starts off fairly easy, but then gets hard very quickly.

The bass line to, Love Her Madly, by the doors.

It started out fairly easy to play, then gets hard really fast.

At least for me.

Mike

But once you get what's happening and practice it, it's a fun song to play! We added early last year and it goes over really well.

 

[ryco]

Easy: Tom Petty songs, both Ron and Howie. Not difficult, but groove hard.
LOVE Ron Blair's swoopy bass parts = some cool simple short upper register licks.

Medium: Death of Rock & Roll - Todd Rundgren. Rick Derringer on bass.
Goofy little bass line one wouldn't think works, but it does.
Fun stuff behind the guitar solo.

Hard: Hello Jeff - Stanley Clarke. Very fast sig line dbl w/ Beck.
Fun but difficult double stop groove section under Beck's solo.