The "Songs which are more difficult than they sound" thread

BigMonka

Here Comes the Sun - I don't know why but I always assumed it would be easy to play, but its not easy for me!

axisus

I thought I'd do a cover version of Sylvia by Focus. Easy guitar part, easy to pick out the bass, straightforward drumming but ........ the keys are a bitch! awkward chords, difficult to get right. Scuppered the whole thing unfortunately.

Rocker

Danny1969 said:

Rocker said:

The intro to The Boxer by Simon and Garfunkel always puzzled me.  Never got even close to playing it "right"

Try this as a basic position and follow his picking pattern, there's a bit of movement 

E

G

D

Bb

..................0....

..................8.....

..................7.......

..................8......

.......................

.......................

Thanks Danny.  As I hear it, there are a few other notes to link into the C major chord [with the added low G] but I believe I have these worked out.

Alnico

For me:

House of the Rising Sun

Hotel California

Both examples of songs that my brain understands perfectly but my fingers turn into rowdy drunks falling all over the fretboard when i try to play. I know the chords and what strings to play but they are so dependent on getting every single note spot on that i cannot play them all the way through without obliging fate and messing it up.

The other obvious one is Sweet Child o Mine. That intro has a swing to it that if you skip past and don't bother with, it can sound wrong, aside from the obvious pattern of the intro which while not impossible, i've always found akin to sneaking into the house at 4am without anyone knowing. Not impossible but one tiny wrong move or breath the wrong way and it will all come crashing down and with THAT song, once i fall i can never get back up in time to 'Catch It' before it hits the stage floor like a Boeing 747. I have played it a few times without a crash but no matter how often i practice it, the times i've dared try it in public have gone sort of 30/70 good/bad so i've stopped trying until i can do it properly.

Grunfeld

Alnico said:

The other obvious one is Sweet Child o Mine... Not impossible but one tiny wrong move or breath the wrong way and it will all come crashing down...

Yep, that's one intro you do not want to stuff up cos everyone is going to notice! 
I'm totally confident with it now, (guitar held high; looking at the audience not the fretboad and showing off, basically!) but bizarrely I play the intro using three fingers and the second time it comes around I use four.  I have no idea why I started doing that.

But @Danny1969 's suggestion of "Brown Eyed Girl" is one I'll go along with.  It was my bloody nemesis for ages.  I'm fine with the first double-stops, "da-da, dah da-da" but when I do the higher "answer" I would nearly always stuff up the last "da-da". 

The solution is a weird one:  I simply omit the last "da-da" the first time around... i.e. I leave an extra long "dah" [E and G double stop over beats 3 and 4].... because for some unknown reason I can play the whole thing perfectly the second time around.  It doesn't sound too odd, it's like I'm teasing the audience with it... "Do you know what it is yet?" then once they've heard the whole thing properly everything is okay and it's "on with the song."

EricTheWeary

Brown Eyed Girl just sounds like plink plink plink when I play it, especially on the answer bit. I played it on bass the other night for some reason and it kind of worked so I think I'll try it at least an octave down from where it should be on guitar. Thanks to @rsvmark I discovered this version, whilst the guitar doesn't play the intro on this playing along with it sounded even more plink plink plink and trying a different way of fingering ( is that ever the right word?) it didn't help either. I sort of have to pluck at it ( I pluck quite a few things, octaves anyway) whereas I'd like to furiously strum my way through it Whilst I'm here - House of the Rising Sun. Years ago I played a gig and some bloke complemented me on my guitar playing ( red letter day in my diary that....) and said he gave up playing at beginning stages as he could never get beyond HotRS . I'd never tried it and the next day found some tab and tried. Completely useless. That song shattered my confidence and I have avoided trying it again ever since. ( EDIT - not sure that YouTube link is working but that's the Reel Big Fish version.

Plectrum

+1 for Brown Eyed Girl although part of my problem may be that I used to play it wrong (thanks Guitar Technique LOL). I think I've just about got it now though. Did it at open mike a few weeks ago and I felt like I'd got it right. What works for me is making sure I cut the notes off properly before moving the left hand.

Gassage

Run Like Hell

if you work it out by ear you can play a passible version of the chords with a D shape moving up and down.

Then you realise it's not that at all and there's about 5 more chords than you thought.

And, the so called random bits at the beginning- so hard to learn to play properly.

mike_l

Gassage said:

Run Like Hell



And, the so called random bits at the beginning- so hard to learn to play properly.

Getting the delay set right helps a lot in getting this right.

When I try I'm ALWAYS slightly out, I *think* it's more the delay than the playing.

EricTheWeary

Ha, BEG: played the intro riff what I think is an octave down but just using the G and B stings ( so 00 21 43 21 00 55 76 98 etc) although the final single note run is tricky so transposed that down even further to 2 3 on the low E and an open A. Then up to fast ska tempo. Most fun I've ever had playing that. Might sound arse in in a band context and not really the wedding standard we love any more but it's less plink plink plink Right B and Q now...

Gassage

Scuttlebuttin' and My Best Friend's Girl.

I gave up many years ago.

Elx

Rebel Yell, Billy idol ............ the intro sounds like 2 parts but he's playing the single note riff with his thumb and the double stops with his fingers.  Cool part

I remember watching the Billy Idol VH-1 storytellers, that was when I first realised how he played it...Certainly not easy...

FarleyUK

OK, this'll make you laugh..... I'm the lead guitarist, and can (ahem) nail the solos from things like Beat It, Sweet Child O'Mine, My Shorana etc...... and yet I pretty much ALWAYS f*ck up the solo in Smells Like Teen Spirit. Yes, the really simple one.

Kind of become a tradition now.

FarleyUK

mike_l said:

digitalscream;47936" said:

Can I add "Bark at the Moon" to this? I suggested it as one of our band's covers, and now I'm regretting it. Big time.

a lot of ozzys solo songs sound way easier than they are.
I dont know for example.

Listened to Miracle Man the other day. Thought it sounded easy.

Soon got shown otherwise.

Clarky

the opening arps to Hotel Cali present some interesting picking challenges..

the solo is more difficult than it sounds too

Clarky

BigMonka said:

Here Comes the Sun - I don't know why but I always assumed it would be easy to play, but its not easy for me!

a beautifully written song.. and yes I agree.. it's deseptively tricky

Clarky

FarleyUK said:

OK, this'll make you laugh..... I'm the lead guitarist, and can (ahem) nail the solos from things like Beat It, Sweet Child O'Mine, My Shorana etc...... and yet I pretty much ALWAYS f*ck up the solo in Smells Like Teen Spirit. Yes, the really simple one.

Kind of become a tradition now.

shredding it up is one thing... playing tunes, melodic lines and such can be so much more exposing because there is absolutely no margin for error.. and of course you can't shred or divebomb your way out of trouble.. lmao

Danny1969

A lot of shadows tunes are tricky to a certain extent because if you hit one bum note it stands out a mile and then the echo unit repeats it for you .... Just to make sure everybody heard it!

Clarky

one of my own: In the DC Band, the 2nd to last song in the set is usually Starless and Bible Black [King Crimson]..

in the middle there is a huge instrumental in 13/8 were Fripp plays the same note on two different strings to exploit the differences of tone with a variety of rhythmic figures.. this solo gradually gets higher and higher and increases in intensity so it's all very controlled..

it's a wonderful example of Fripp's mastery of dissonance and consonance / tension and release, and how he can make a note clash so violently with the harmonic content at any given moment and yet make it sound so beautiful.... so... no shredding or fireworks.. it's long.. it's a very soft moment that gradually builds.. the drums and bass play a groove that cuts across your own rythmic phrases in 13/8.. but later a woodblock comes in and hits beat 1 in 4/4 across the 13/8 time.. [which adds to the fun].. this thing only goes one way and so you're totally exposed.. it's the sort of piece that's mesmerizing enough to kill your concentration, so you can easily get caught 'ball watching' and lose where you are.. and if you lose your place it's extremely difficult to get back in..

in the comfort of my lil' studio it's a piece of piss..

out on stage it's a moment I absolutely dread.. when I'm playing it well it feels wonderful but my lil' brain is screaming "don't fk this up nobhead cos it's sounding stunning so far".. it's one of those where you need to pick every single note perfectly.. a single scuff really destroys the moment.. the consentration levels have to be at their absolute max from start to end..

but when it's over and you know that you've played it well.. I get this massive rush of relief and joy.. and of course, all the Crimbo fans in the crowd go totally fkn nuts...

Alnico

Gassage said:

......... My Best Friend's Girl.

I gave up many years ago.

As did i, but i'm going to have another go at that this weekend.

Brilliant. Thanks for mentioning it James, i was looking for something new to learn. (Revise)