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

EricTheWeary

Alnico said:

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)

Just to state what may be obvious but it's much more difficult if you try to play it as per the record. It's played in E but the tape was sped up to F, so the live versions are in E.

EricTheWeary

EricTheWeary said:

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. 

Spur of the moment selfie yesterday of the wrong way to play Brown Eyed Girl. 

Evo

Every breath you take!

Sounds like nice, simple picking chords but damn you Andy Summers. I'd also like to give an honourable mention to Iris by the goo goo dolls. Not because it's particularly tricky but purely because of the tuning they used making it damn near impossible to stick in a covers set!

Danny1969

Evo said:

Every breath you take!

Sounds like nice, simple picking chords but damn you Andy Summers. I'd also like to give an honourable mention to Iris by the goo goo dolls. Not because it's particularly tricky but purely because of the tuning they used making it damn near impossible to stick in a covers set!

Ha  yeah I went to learn that and the bloody tuning is every string tuned to D more or less. Every breath not so bad though

PolarityMan

I intially found the good rff from last resort by papa roach pretty finger twisting but then saw some vids and realised i was playin it in a much more difficult voicing than it needed to be and now it's piss

57Deluxe

Chili Peppers stuff is finger gymnastics

HAL9000

Any blues. I'm sure most of us can play a twelve bar pattern, and put a passable solo over the top. But, to play like BB King, or Peter Green where every note just about drips with emotion is something very few can do.

stratman3142

Playing All Right Now in front of a bunch of other guitarists.

It's not actually hard to play, but everyone seems to have their own pet theory about how it 'should' be played - including me (in fact I'm probably a big culprit in commenting "he's not playing it quite right")

But let's not even start that discussion, because it won't end well.

EricTheWeary

stratman3142;968678" said:

Playing All Right Now in front of a bunch of other guitarists.



It's not actually hard to play, but everyone seems to have their own pet theory about how it 'should' be played - including me (in fact I'm probably a big culprit in commenting "he's not playing it quite right")



But let's not even start that discussion, because it won't end well.

Not one should ever cover Alright Now. Ever. First, so over played that it's boring now anyway. Second, no one ever really gets it right and because the song is so familiar all you hear is the wrongness. I've had this before and seen clips of Brian May and Neil Schon and all sorts do it. All arse. I saw Geoff Whitehorn do it live with Paul Rodgers. Arse. Just leave the bloody song alone, listen to the original if you like it but for God's sake guitarists other than in private please, please do not play Alright Now ever again.

armitaan

Trying to get timing spot on fast pull -off passage from second solo in sweet home ......ain't easy. Other end of spectrum "poison was the cure" by megadeth, played with friends few times , trying to get everyone in time inc the solo while trying to play at proper tempo very tough.

FarleyUK

I have a couple:

1. The middle bit of Still of the Night by Whitesnake, just before the widdly-widdly solo.

2. The widdly-widdly solo in Still of the Night by Whitesnake.

scalino65

EricTheWeary said:

stratman3142;968678" said:

Playing All Right Now in front of a bunch of other guitarists.



It's not actually hard to play, but everyone seems to have their own pet theory about how it 'should' be played - including me (in fact I'm probably a big culprit in commenting "he's not playing it quite right")



But let's not even start that discussion, because it won't end well.

I saw Geoff Whitehorn do it live with Paul Rodgers. Arse. 

This wasnt at the town and country club/forum about 16 yrs ago was it? I got dragged to that...everyone was waiting for ARN which of course was left til last and then they bggered it up....several hours of my life i wont get back but i do think i had free beer all night.

octatonic

"Give it Away"  if you are a drummer.

Kick placement is very hard.

EricTheWeary

scalino65 said:

EricTheWeary said:

stratman3142;968678" said:

Playing All Right Now in front of a bunch of other guitarists.



It's not actually hard to play, but everyone seems to have their own pet theory about how it 'should' be played - including me (in fact I'm probably a big culprit in commenting "he's not playing it quite right")



But let's not even start that discussion, because it won't end well.

I saw Geoff Whitehorn do it live with Paul Rodgers. Arse. 

This wasnt at the town and country club/forum about 16 yrs ago was it? I got dragged to that...everyone was waiting for ARN which of course was left til last and then they bggered it up....several hours of my life i wont get back but i do think i had free beer all night.

No. I've never been there. Actually trying to remember where it was, they were supporting ZZ Top I think. Geoff has a very distinctive look and I've seen him doing demos at a couple of places. Actually, I got told off by him once. This was Music Live and he was about to start a demo on the JHS stand. I had completely not noticed him but had noticed I could suddenly get to the Fretking guitars I couldn't get to earlier, plugged in and started a terrible rendition of Hideaway. I heard a voice through the small PA behind me say ' shall I start with a version of Hideaway then?' I turned around, saw several punters looking at me, put the guitar down and sloped away. He could recognise what I was attempting to play though! 

quarky

Alnico said:

House of the Rising Sun

I have a love/hate relationship with that song. I keep trying to learn it, but it is just a bitch, I think because so many people tell me it is so easy. I just find it so hard to play quickly.

Majorscale

@Fuzzdog said, Queen material in general is a lot harder and more complicated than it would appear. We are working on We Are The Champions and it's plainly obvious that Mercury and May are masters of their craft. Definitely not strum along music!

Gassage

Alnico said:

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)

Here it is.

Elliot Easton is a true master of the tele.

Gassage

@alnico

Check Elliot out here

Alnico

Gassage said:

@alnico

Check Elliot out here

Bloody hell !

That's how to play isn't it !

Great to watch and listen to.

Thank you for that, I've clearly got a long way to go yet.

stratman3142

Majorscale said:

@Fuzzdog said, Queen material in general is a lot harder and more complicated than it would appear. We are working on We Are The Champions and it's plainly obvious that Mercury and May are masters of their craft. Definitely not strum along music!

Yes, I used to play We Are The Champions in a band and it's a tricky one. I've got a chord chart I worked out, if you want to compare notes.