For the musicians out there: The trickiest, toughest song you learned to play

Hello esteemed forum.

I preface this by admitting that I have no musical ability at all.

And that, as I write this, I am sitting with my newborn daughter and thinking that I want her to be exposed to many different instruments.

Okay, with that out of the way, I ask all the guitarists, bassists, drummers, saxophone players and everyone else too:

Which song gave you the most fits when learning to play it? Why? And how did it feel when you finally "got it?"

Thanks

 

I remember being pretty pleased with myself when I worked out the Who's version of "Hall of the Mountain King," which, at the time, was only available on bootleg. I envy people who can hear something once and play it, because that's not me.

 

Guitarist here - learning to actually tune my guitar in the days before I could afford a tuner pedal was the big triumph. After that, make it up as you go, & enjoy it!

 

Layenda during my classical guitar days- I was pleased when I managed to get the first few sections down. Never worked my way through the entire piece. Not yet anyway.
Another one was Mediterranean Sundance by DiMeola. It was very satisfying to be able to take that on.
Right now, I'm learning Coltrane's Giant Steps on guitar. The chord changes and some improvisation. Brilliant piece.
Then, there is the fast stuff by people like Malmsteen and Satriani. That is beyond my ability.

 

Two that stick out for me: "Kid Charlemagne" by Steely Dan (that Larry Carlton solo!), and "Fracture" by King Crimson. Learning those helped elevate my understanding of the guitar no end.

 

I have never had problems learning the actual parts, my problem has always been memorizing them once I figure them out along with memorizing the changes. I have a foolproof method for it on tough songs, but it has always been a lot of work for me on songs with odd and unconventional changes.

 

I would love to hear you have no problems transcribing and playing Frenzy, Scarified, Black Star or especially The Tempest by Vinnie Moore.

 

Dee - Ozzy Ozbourne (Randy Rhoades) can't believe i worked it out by ear when i was about 17/18. Wouldn't have the patience for that now.

 

Layenda is a challenging piece. I can play thee beginning but when it gets to the tremelo, you need to be serious. From what you say you're not at that level either.

Are you working on it?

 

Looks like " I have never had problems learning the actual parts" get quiet when confronted with real hard songs! There's only a few who can pick up a guitar
and have no problems learning anything very few!

 

One Note Samba - on an acoustic twelve string guitar. Masses of barre chords with horrendous stretching, and it only seems to be possible to play it in B flat.

 

Angie (The Davy Graham instrumental piece).
By the time I had learned it and made a home recording I was sick of it. Now I can't play it.

 

Bass player here, recently been doing a lot of covers with my band mates. One song that I've always had a problem with was, Cities In Flames With Rock & Roll, Blue Oster Cult. That's a tuff riff to play.

 

Any of those very fast melodic lines by Frank Zappa.
(Black page #1, the middle of "Jumbo go away", even the "trumpets" in Peaches en regalia.....)

 

When I was learning to play guitar back in the 80s it felt like a major triumph to learn La Villa Strangiato by Rush.

 

Megadeth and the songs from the Rust in Peace album on guitar: the riffs on that album are out of this world.

 

Die Hard the Hunter by Def Leppard

 

SRV -- Lenny and Riviera Paradise.
Led Zep, Stairway to Heaven.....the whole piece; not just the intro

and lastly Robin Trower....Alethea

 

'Blackbird' from 'The Beatles'.

Can still do it and I think I've even done it live in the past.

 

"Crepescule With Nellie" by Thelonious Monk.

 

Yes!! Good one. I learned that too - with a friend (played it him and he said 'yeah - let's give that a go' and we played/jammed it dozens and dozens of times) and we could swap between guitar and bass if we felt like. We'd never play it the same way twice, just nod to the other when we wanted to throw that 'riff' in.

I had people (one mate in particular) badgering me to play it. So, I tried using standard chords and gave up... until I thought to look on You Tube! So then I was confronted by a ton of 'tutors' that had varying ideas of how it goes. After going back and to, to certain videos I bookmarked of it - for about a fortnight - off and on, I was confident enough to play to the recorded version and then I was happy with it, soon having them match as close as could be. Having not played along to the WA version for a few years, I probably play it a little different again now, but there we are.

 

woody allen would tell the story of his uncle who played the tuba.apparently he tried to play "flight of the bumblebee" and blew his liver out thru the horn.

 

The tremolo is pretty serious, especially at full tempo!
Have not looked at it recently but after this conversation, I think I will. Trouble is the only real way to make progress is to play a couple of hours a day. That is unfortunately not an option. I also traded in my nylon stringed Takamine a few years ago so I will have to use my acoustic steel string. Not too excited about growing the fingernails either!

 

Numerous times I've struggled to learn a song, only to discover there was an alternative tuning or capo placement that I wasn't using. I tied my fingers in knots learning to play "The Rain Song" in open G, only to find out that it's (relatively) easy in the tuning Page actually used - DGCGCD.

It also can be frustrating but also very gratifying to work out guitar arrangements for songs that were written on piano. I've done this with "Deacon Blues," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," etc.

 

Since the tenor sax is a Bb instrument perhaps that is why it was so successful for Stan Getz?

Not that Stan Getz ever had a problem playing any song he wanted in whatever key he chose.