Most Difficult Music You Ever Learned

[Jefenator]

Bad originals can be tough; amateur composers often confuse counter-intuition with savvy.
That is not to say that great arrangements are always a walk in the park. But the big reward at the end does make it all easier. (And worth it!)
Subbing with the symphony has been a very healthy thrashing for me. (I thought I'd peaked decades ago, until I got to do "The Planets" last spring.)

 

[groooooove]

possibly this?

i've definitely encountered specific licks that required more work to make them physically possible. i guess there's no one moment here that's really all that difficult, it's just a lot of notes.

i remember my first "real" fusion gig was pretty rough to get going. lots of very awkward counting, random bars of extra beats and such. but that was more that i was young than the music was really all that difficult.

 

[perfektspace6]

Probably Stu Hamm's interpretation of Moonlight Sonata. YYZ was also hard.

 

[Danny O Danny]

I worked for a software company back in the late 80's, and one of the sales execs was a killer jazz pianist. I was a heavy metal bassist. The company did a big event at a resort for their top customers and the company president tasked the jazz pianist with putting together a band comprised of employees to entertain the customers. The pianist found a decent guitarist in Tech Support, and a woman in Accounting who had studied jazz singing in college. Since I was the only bass player in the company, I was drafted to be part of the band (and, as a low-level employee, couldn't really refuse). The company president named us "Floppy and the Hard Drives." So I learned to play a bunch of jazz standards, like Lullaby Of Birdland. Essentially the pianist taught me the walking basslines by rote: I had no idea what I was doing. The band was a success, the event ended, and I went back to heavy metal. But I can still play some of those basslines, just the way he taught them to me.

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Sick Of It All by the Distillers.


Plastic Love - Mariya Tackeuchi

 

[Jay Corwin]

I can learn some complex stuff, but at a very slow pace. It's a detriment sometimes because I've had people see me live playing some cool stuff, and they think I can really play or improvise. Like, nope - that was hard work and memorization. No way I'm playing difficult material off the cuff.

 

[s van order]

I've played some shows that were pretty tough. Mainly because you get 6 hours of rehearsal during the day (for a 3 hour show), then you have to play the show that night.

Wicked was, well...wicked. Five string, fretless, and upright. Completely written out, non-idiomatic fills that span 2 and a half octaves, exposed Jaco-istic parts on fretless, arco upright, odd meters, there's a tune that alternates between 5/8, 2/4, 6/8, and 4/4...

West Side Story some gnarly parts, and odd phrases. I don't think Bernstein played the bass.

Les Miserables hard (for me) because it's very operatic, tempos constantly change. If you take your eye off the conductor, you're toast.

When I was in college, I was in a small group that consistently pushed me. We also played Zappa's "Echidna's Arf", as well as "Joe Frazier" and Return to Forever's "After the Cosmic Rain" & "Majestic Dance".

Yes, I did a West Side Story suite in the cello section and it sure had its moments. Musicals move fast in key, time and syncopation, no snoozing for me. I played Joe Frasier too back in the day! Small world there.

 

[Thumpin6string]

The one that took the longest to learn was when I was a teen and I sat down and learned Bouree by Jethro Tull. Once I learned it, it was fun to play.

 

[JumboJett35]

Anything with a repetitive bass line kicks my ass. "Love Shack" and Cakes cover of "I will survive" have my hands sore more than any Rush bassline I've played. In my experience many "easy" baselines are difficult.

 

[muggsy]

When I had only been playing a couple of years and started taking lessons, my teacher and I worked through some Jamerson parts from the Standing in the Shadows of Motown book. What's Going On took me probably four months to play not particularly well.

 

[AQUANOVA]

Love is Here and Now You're Gone by the Supremes.
It's a Jameson line.
I can play it, but not to speed without screwing it up.

 

[Core Creek]

Right around Covid I had to learn a bunch of songs for an entertainment company audition - most were easy enough. But I had never learned What Is Hip. I played it in college on drums (my main instrument for 30+ years) so I knew it.

That took some work. At the audition, the guy purposefully picked some really tough bass parts to see if you'd actually do the work and he had me play along with the recording! I did it well enough and was told "you're a good bassist".

While I got through a few more rounds of auditions, I ended up not working with that band. But it gave me enough confidence to know I could handle anything on bass and that was really the start of me gigging on bass.

 

[ceetee]

... and you're working with actors.

Never experienced so much time wasting and uncalled drama as when working in a theatre.

 

[dune]

Probably learning to sing and play "Flirtin' With Disaster" by Molly Hatchet in my early rock band days when I was about 20. Rush's "The Analog Kid" and learning all the keyboards on "Follow You, Follow Me" by Genesis (which the drummer sang and one of the guitarists played my bass on) were also pretty challenging and they all took considerable time. Later on, when I was on the road in a Top-40/Dance cover band, the work on those made singing and playing "Big Time" by Peter Gabriel easier for sure. Later I did some solo gigs and worked up "Portrait of Tracy" and Bach's "Cello Suite No. 1 in G". Earlier, in high school would have been "Andante et Allegro" by Barat and "Blue Bells of Scotland" by Pryor on trombone. I managed the first well enough at the NISBOVA regionals in Indiana to qualify for state, where I ended up only with a "second", and I probably didn't have the Pryor piece ever truly learned. As some may already know, the Barat piece is probably an even bigger challenge for the accompanist.

 

[Discount Bassy]

The one that took the longest to learn was when I was a teen and I sat down and learned Bouree by Jethro Tull. Once I learned it, it was fun to play.

This was the first piece I learned on classical guitar for adjudication in college. I loved the Tull version, but needed to know the classical original. My first foray into flute was based on already knowing that part by heart. When I walked to college, I would play this tune in my head to keep consistent pace.

Great reminder of a great tune. Thanks.

 

[Bonecat]

When I heard Jaco's recording of Donna Lee, I decided to learn it. On trombone because this was before I took up the bass. Finally got it. And after all, trombone is the fretless brass instrument….

 

[Mister Magic]

Piano = One of two: 1) Memphis Stomp by Dave Grusin. Been working on it here and there for about 3 years and I am at about 75% tempo. 2) Keyboard solo to Affirmation.

Bass = not really sure, but likely a Jaco tune. I remember learning Continuum verbatim and the solo being pretty tricky.

I never loved bebop, but those heads played on bass are a blast and challenging. I have a chord melody arrangement of Groovin' High on bass that took some time to smooth out.

I learned the really badass synth solo to Al Jarreau's version of Spain on bass, but it was too much on a 4 string to pull off at any reasonable tempo.

Guitar = George Benson's solo on Affirmation.

 

[DuluthDank]

Ein Heldenlaben by Strauss. Any upright player who can pull that off perfectly has chops for days.

 

[Gervais Cote]

A hundred years ago, but at the time,"Sir Duke" from Stevie Wonder.

Ouf…….really not easy those bass tracks !

 

[jonasparker]

I played in a Roky Erickson cover band and those were the easiest (and coolest!) basslines I ever played. Roky sure had a way with chord progressions.

Then I joined a Zappa cover band.

Oh dear! Everyone else in the band reads. I don't, sadly. So, essentially, I had to memorize everything. "Holiday in Berlin" took me 6 weeks to get right. And I had to sing "Willie the Pimp" while playing bass, because I was the only voice who could get that Beefheart gravel.

My proudest moment in almost 5 decades of playing was getting all the way through our first gig. It was so good. We ended up with a 28 minute version of "King Kong."

That's awesome! My dream is to be in a jam band that can cover a few of the hard / awesome Zappa epics like Pygmie Twilight and Florentine Pogen. Also a few off the first three Phish albums like You Enjoy Myself and Reba. Hard to find those musicians. You also convinced me it might be hard to find that musician within myself to keep up! I can read but I can't sight read at that speed. Worth it to memorize a few good ones.