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Whats the hardest song you play?

#61
Rockmusician said:
I honestly do not find anything to be very difficult to play. When listening to a cover, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what is being played, but I'm at the point where I can play everything I have ever wanted to and am bored because I cannot find anything challenging to play. The most difficult song I've had to learn is The Real Me by The Who but I can play it with ease. The hard part was figuring out the notes, playing them is the easy part.
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Agree with this, I'm working on The Real Me right now and I'm definitely not fast enough yet. Makes The Trooper easy now. As far as figuring out the notes, there is a guy with a youtube who plays it note perfect, so I try to watch what he does and am using Songsterr a little bit.

Overall, I found Zeppelin songs more difficult to play than others. Black Dog is easy to remember, but just fast. On the other hand, The Lemon Song is near impossible to remember, and not easy to play either, although my first year playing bass I was able to get to the point where I could play the first 3 minutes note perfect, too bad I can't remember any of the riffing anymore. Traveling Riverside Blues also gives me a lot of trouble, it's fast and the timing is difficult.

Metallica Master of Puppets and That Was Just Your Life are extremely fast as well and wear my left hand out pretty quick.
 
#62
Some of the more bass driven songs in my current set-list include Red Red Wine, Lovely Day, and Where the Boat Leaves From.

1st isn't hard but fairly busy
2nd has some stuff in the pre-chorus I need to take to the wood-shed
and the 3rd is probably one of the hardest bass lines for a "country" song I've ever heard, it's really busy and surprisingly a lot of fun; I'd check it out for something different. Zac Brown Band, props to whoever their bassist is.
 
#63
"Ain't Nobody" by Chaka Kahn. In the original key- Eb. I do it on my 5 string. Very tricky because it's a synth on the original track. And the group I ply it with (7 piece band) EXPECTS it note-for-note every time with no mistakes! Dig!!
 
#65
Tituscrow said:
Just remembered our catastrophic attempt at the Dead Kennedys 'Ill In The Head'.

Think if I had a time machine and could witness ANY event in history, I'd go back and record myself playing it right through for the one and only time alone in my room, then return to the present day and show my bandmates, who don't believe I've ever done it!
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:bassist: That is a fiendishly odd tune to play well! Great song but not for those who can only play 3 chords! That's what set the DK's apart from a lot of their contemporaries.
 
#66
Rockmusician said:
I honestly do not find anything to be very difficult to play. When listening to a cover, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what is being played, but I'm at the point where I can play everything I have ever wanted to and am bored because I cannot find anything challenging to play. The most difficult song I've had to learn is The Real Me by The Who but I can play it with ease. The hard part was figuring out the notes, playing them is the easy part.
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Lol, try Scarified (or anything else) by Racer X....if you can do that then what is wrong with you!!!
 
#68
agreatheight said:
At shows, it's probably Higher Ground - RHCP version. What a pain in the ass to play right. At tempo. And all of those fills. And the tough transitions. I hate playing it to be honest. No fun.
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I agree that this song is a lot of work. It's not that complicated of a song to wrap your head around, but getting your body to execute what lies ahead is a whole other ballgame.

Oh, it also kills me if the rest of the band picks up the tempo mid-song.
 
#72
For me, the one I have most trouble with is one I actually love playing: Birdland. The hardest part for me is remembering the sequences and the number of repetitions. The middle melody I almost always screw up, and so just take it on an improvised run, before bringing it back to the actual melody, and going to the funky section. The one I screw up most often, though, is Cissy Strut. Usually because the guitarist and I don't rehearse it at all, we just say we're gonna put it in the setlist, and one of us will miscount somewhere, and often one will come back in a little early from the space funk jam in the middle. Easy song, but if you stop counting repetitions, really easy to screw up.

ETA: I'm hoping one day soon, The Real Me will be my answer to this question, for now, I'm good knowing Boris the Spider. :) One of my favorite things to do is do Boris with Jungle Boogie in the middle!

Edited yet again to add: I forgot Cumberland Blues by the Dead is one I always have trouble with getting the groove on, no matter how often I play it. Part of that is that Phil plays it differently now than in 1970, and I get that updated sound in my head, while trying to play the early 70s feel.
 
#76
Rockmusician said:
I honestly do not find anything to be very difficult to play. When listening to a cover, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what is being played, but I'm at the point where I can play everything I have ever wanted to and am bored because I cannot find anything challenging to play. The most difficult song I've had to learn is The Real Me by The Who but I can play it with ease. The hard part was figuring out the notes, playing them is the easy part.
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By definition, then, The Real Me is not a terribly difficult part, just a very creative part that is challenging to reproduce. One of the hallmarks of a great bassline. In any case, give these a try:

King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man (Greg Lake on bass, 1969 - it's easy until the guitar solo!);
King Crimson - Larks Tongues in Aspic, Part I (John Wetton on Bass, 1973 - check out about 5:00 in);
King Crimson - Starless (John Wetton on Bass, 1974 - play in 13 much?);
Emerson Lake and Palmer - Karn Evil 9, Second Impression (Greg Lake on bass, 1974 - hard right off the bat);
Yes - Heart of the Sunrise (Chris Squire on bass, 1971);
Grateful Dead - King Solomon's Marbles/Stronger than Dirt or Milkin' the Turkey (Phil Lesh on bass, 1975);
Rush - Freewill (Geddy Lee on bass, 1979);
The Mars Volta - Day of the Baphomets, Pt. 1 (Juan Alderete on bass, 2006).

Anyone looking for a challenge will enjoy these.
 
#77
since the only "band" I play in is the one at church, the current hardest song is
"love you so much Jesus" has some weird hit or miss chord changes that throw me off..

personally, one song I can play all the way through is STP's "Creep"...but I count it as one of the hardest because I to this day cannot nail Rob's little improv parts..another one is "Cherry Lips" by Garbage...honestly, its a simple enough song, but the chours throws me off due to the fret jumping in the last bits...

Songs I would love to play but are just impssibile for me grasp at the moment are Roy Ayers "Searching" I just cant figure out fo the life of me the chours on that one...also Cult of Personality...MUCH harder song than I realized till I tried to play it...
 
#79
A good point - there are various forms of "difficult." Playing repeated patterns in the same position can be extremely fatiguing but not technically very difficult, whereas moving all over the fingerboard can be more technically challenging but gives the hand a chance to assume different positions, thereby reducing one type of fatigue.
 

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