Some of you may have chosen songs because of their technical difficulty, and others have chosen songs due to their high amount of notes played at ridiculous velocities. However, I will deem this song one of the hardest bass songs to play because of the amount of stamina required to play through the whole song. It is: River People by Weather Report. Well, it's not a song exclusively focusing in on the bass, but you need some endurance for this one. Also, I will name a technically difficult piece, composed by Jaco Pastorius: Portrait of Tracy. Especially the harmonics at the end. That's a nightmare to pull off.
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Most difficult bass song ever!!
- Thread starter 3Bass7
- Start date
omnimutant said:Playing someone else's tunes isn't a measure of Talent. It's a measure of dedication, free time and a lot of practice.
Writing your own music WORTHY of showing up in threads like this is Talent.
I strongly agree with your statement, omnimutant. I applaud you
Playing someone else's tunes isn't a measure of Talent. It's a measure of dedication, free time and a lot of practice.
Writing your own music WORTHY of showing up in threads like this is Talent.
Well of course but that's not what this thread is about.
The Super Mario Theme - Sped up 2x over...
Not really, I just had to post it because I just listened and listened and figured it out the other day, and it is so much fun to play and see in the crowd's reactions...if they are over 25 I suppose.
Not to mention the first time I played it live I had a shirt on that said "This is why I'm Hot" with a mario fireflower above it (in glorious 8 bit graphics)
XYZ by Rush has been mentioned a lot, but I don't really think it is too bad..I wouldn't say I have perfected it but I tried it a while and got it pretty well. I have learned a few other Rush songs as well..I would have to say Jaco's Chromatic Fantasy is the song that has given me the most trouble out of all I have attempted..I have failed at many but I epically fail at that.
Not really, I just had to post it because I just listened and listened and figured it out the other day, and it is so much fun to play and see in the crowd's reactions...if they are over 25 I suppose.
Not to mention the first time I played it live I had a shirt on that said "This is why I'm Hot" with a mario fireflower above it (in glorious 8 bit graphics)
XYZ by Rush has been mentioned a lot, but I don't really think it is too bad..I wouldn't say I have perfected it but I tried it a while and got it pretty well. I have learned a few other Rush songs as well..I would have to say Jaco's Chromatic Fantasy is the song that has given me the most trouble out of all I have attempted..I have failed at many but I epically fail at that.
Classical music is really tough. I got a book of Bach mostly because Jaco played it & not only some of the changes but the alterations in tempo are monstrous. Even working from a text and with a metronome; getting a page or so wired to where it sounds like the example recording is very, very tough (for me).
moogboy said:
I don't think Yes songs are that difficult to learn the bassline to, although they seem tough initially. For example when I first started to try "Tempus Fugit" I though it would take months to get, but I got the main riff 95% clean in about 10 minutes
.Although the thing that made Chris Squire such an amazing bass player was: writing such clever counter-melodic bass lines, striving to get that last 5% of accuracy and being able to sing and play at the same time (I'm struggling with all of those three).
The most difficult bass song/piece is the one that you're struggling to play correctly at the moment, just to find out how "simple" it was after you mastered it!
Dead Goon was a song Trevor has had thousands of requests for the bass line. He posted on his site and you still hear of noone playing it. Look on youtube even.
There are some ridiculous people in this thread. The original post says "in your opinion". People post their opinion on what they think is the hardest and people accuse them of tomfoolery. If someone thinks a certain song is the most difficult to them, maybe it is. They might not be as amazing as you.
As for my personal opinion[/n], I'm not sure what I would consider the most difficult bass song is. I've attempted a few songs that I just gave up on. Some were too technical, some were too fast. I've tried to learn a lot of Necrophagist songs. Most of their riffs are pretty easy (to me), but it's a matter of playing them all together at perfect speed. I know there are more difficult songs than Necrophagist, I just can't recall many off the top of my head.
As for my personal opinion[/n], I'm not sure what I would consider the most difficult bass song is. I've attempted a few songs that I just gave up on. Some were too technical, some were too fast. I've tried to learn a lot of Necrophagist songs. Most of their riffs are pretty easy (to me), but it's a matter of playing them all together at perfect speed. I know there are more difficult songs than Necrophagist, I just can't recall many off the top of my head.
Lolz.All The Small Things by Blink 182...the inner strength required to get through playing that song is a true measure of a bass players' dominance of his instrument and his character too
Also, this isn't the hardest, but Donna Lee is a difficult. Too fast!
Well, it one thing to get the correct notes and quite another to get the solid groove/pocket. Sometimes the songs with very few notes yet precisely placed are more difficult to master than ones with massive amounts.
Right now I am working on "Heard it through the grapevine" Gladys Knight version, Jamerson bass line. Hard to believe he played his Precision with just one finger plucking the strings. Also interesting that he was the bassist for Marvin Gaye's version. Nevertheless, it is all about feel/groove and I am still only capturing about 50% of the his notes.
Right now I am working on "Heard it through the grapevine" Gladys Knight version, Jamerson bass line. Hard to believe he played his Precision with just one finger plucking the strings. Also interesting that he was the bassist for Marvin Gaye's version. Nevertheless, it is all about feel/groove and I am still only capturing about 50% of the his notes.
Charliemaynard said:
Thank god! I'm not just a noob! My fingers can handle the speed but because Bonham is going like a million miles an hour on whatever percussion instrument is on that track, I can never really get the timing right.
