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Most difficult song you ever learned?


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I don't spend much time learning other people's music any longer, but I thought it would be cool to hear from everyone what that one song was that was like building a house to learn. For me it was cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson. There are so many aspects pf that song that stretched my technique way beyond it's limits. The thing I loved about it and still do is how much of the really hard and technical parts still sounded very musical. At times there were aspects of it that sounded simple even, until I dug into it. Eric is a great player.
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Toss up between Tatooed Love Boys by The Pretenders and Georgia by Hoagy Carmichael (made famous by Ray Charles).

 

I was on a mostly original band that covered TLB and played it exactly like the record. The timing(s) are not normal, you gotta stay on your toes.

The riffs and chords are easy.

 

Georgia has lovely diminshed and augmented chords that need to be there. I no longer remember it but have been thinking I would learn it again, it's a good lesson in song structure.

It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is.
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Toss up between Tatooed Love Boys by The Pretenders and Georgia by Hoagy Carmichael (made famous by Ray Charles).

 

I was on a mostly original band that covered TLB and played it exactly like the record. The timing(s) are not normal, you gotta stay on your toes.

The riffs and chords are easy.

 

Georgia has lovely diminshed and augmented chords that need to be there. I no longer remember it but have been thinking I would learn it again, it's a good lesson in song structure.

 

Those songs where the timing is really odd can be such a bear. You hear them and think it's not going to be a problem, then it takes forever to get right.

Music With Marky - A YouTube Channel For Guitarists Who Want To Make Better Music
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The chord progression on guitar for Maybe I'm Amazed a Paul McCartney piano tune. I had to have Steven Weinglass my buddy from way back, teach me the chords from his piano, note for note a long time ago, because I did not know those chords in the way that they were played on piano. So he looked at each piano chord, gave me the notes, I made up the fingering from the notes, and learned it. I still play it to this day, every day in my warm ups.
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I have never really learned to play a difficult song, but I have taught myself a few. If was going to [pick] one, I guess it would be Scotch and Soda. I couldn't learn from the record as I had no idea it was by the Kingston Trio and wouldn't know where to find it. No sheet music. No Tab. No Teacher. No YouTube. No lyrics and chord web sites back in those days. My 2nd cousin was retired from the Navy and played in a few bars semi-pro. He would come to visit at least twice a year and I would listen to him play and sing the song each time he came by (along with 5 foot 2). It grabbed my ear back then and I still play my version Scotch and Soda today. I picked out the chords the best I could and improved them over the years and wrote my own lead break (I never copy leads). In my research, I found the song was written by an unknown writer around 1932, long before the Trio put it out.

 

Like Elvis and Ray Charles, I like doing my own versions/arrangements of songs. As Frankie would say "I did it my way." So, I do not learn songs note for note or play them just like the record or copy leads, as I like to improvise the leads. +1 Georgia is also a favorite and was not easy to play and sing. I love teaching myself the older jazz/pop standard songs with complex chord patterns (Also tunes like Route 66 and Desert Skies). I'm more of a vocalist using the guitar as my backup piano LOL! I do research the records by the original artists, and use all the tools mentioned above. It's hard remembering all the chords and lyrics to the songs that I challenge myself to learn. I learn from the chord common denominators that are in a lot of the tunes that I take on. There are a few that I would have to go back and revisit that I have neglected lately (like Masquerade, Moon Dance, Tell It Like It Is and I Left My Heart In San Franciso) before playing them in front my musical buds or in front of an audience. :cool:

Take care, Larryz
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You definitely have to do covers your own way. I agree with that!

 

 

I have never really learned to play a difficult song, but I have taught myself a few. If was going to [pick] one, I guess it would be Scotch and Soda. I couldn't learn from the record as I had no idea it was by the Kingston Trio and wouldn't know where to find it. No sheet music. No Tab. No Teacher. No YouTube. No lyrics and chord web sites back in those days. My 2nd cousin was retired from the Navy and played in a few bars semi-pro. He would come to visit at least twice a year and I would listen to him play and sing the song each time he came by (along with 5 foot 2). It grabbed my ear back then and I still play my version Scotch and Soda today. I picked out the chords the best I could and improved them over the years and wrote my own lead break (I never copy leads). In my research, I found the song was written by an unknown writer around 1932, long before the Trio put it out.

 

Like Elvis and Ray Charles, I like doing my own versions/arrangements of songs. As Frankie would say "I did it my way." So, I do not learn songs note for note or play them just like the record or copy leads, as I like to improvise the leads. +1 Georgia is also a favorite and was not easy to play and sing. I love teaching myself the older jazz/pop standard songs with complex chord patterns (Also tunes like Route 66 and Desert Skies). I'm more of a vocalist using the guitar as my backup piano LOL! I do research the records by the original artists, and use all the tools mentioned above. It's hard remembering all the chords and lyrics to the songs that I challenge myself to learn. I learn from the chord common denominators that are in a lot of the tunes that I take on. There are a few that I would have to go back and revisit that I have neglected lately (like Masquerade, Moon Dance, Tell It Like It Is and I Left My Heart In San Franciso) before playing them in front my musical buds or in front of an audience. :cool:

 

Music With Marky - A YouTube Channel For Guitarists Who Want To Make Better Music
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Mahavishnu's "Hope" (very strange progression), or King Crimson's "RED" (lot of moving parts). Currently working on a Guitar Synth arrangement of the last movement of Stravinsky's "Firebird" Wish me luck . . .

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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You definitely have to do covers your own way. I agree with that!

 

 

@ Mark, +1 I'm concentrating my future efforts into writing my own music and like you, seldom playing/learning "other people's music" (i.e. covers). I have met and played with some buds in my travels that only play originals. They were a lot of fun to play with. One of them said a classic line, that I still get a kick out of: "I never play covers and love playing my own music, that way no one can say 'You're playing it wrong'. " I hope to use what I've learned playing rhythm guitar over the years using chords and pattern arrangements, etc., to hopefully back up a new melody or two. I'll still play some of my old cover stuff just for the fun of it and try to learn from them...I think the first real attempt will be the most difficult song I ever learned LOL! :cool:

 

Take care, Larryz
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Recently, it would be the bass part of Emerson Lake & Palmer's "Trilogy". Just had to parse it out into little sections (easy; not so easy; difficult; and improvised what the heck), then memorize those; then find the joining parts & patterns. Didn't ace it; but held my own.

"Am I enough of a freak to be worth paying to see?"- Separated Out (Marillion)

NEW band Old band

 

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Mahavishnu's "Hope" (very strange progression), or King Crimson's "RED" (lot of moving parts). Currently working on a Guitar Synth arrangement of the last movement of Stravinsky's "Firebird" Wish me luck . . .

 

Kudos on taking on some VERY challenging stuff there!

Music With Marky - A YouTube Channel For Guitarists Who Want To Make Better Music
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Mahavishnu's "Hope" (very strange progression), or King Crimson's "RED" (lot of moving parts). Currently working on a Guitar Synth arrangement of the last movement of Stravinsky's "Firebird" Wish me luck . . .

 

Kudos on taking on some VERY challenging stuff there!

 

Thank you. Good transcription opened up "Hope"; BTW, on a 7-string in Standard Tuning, you can play the entire tune above the 5th fret. I got parts of "RED" by ear, other parts from random transcriptions and tabs. "Firebird," I'm trying to do entirely by ear, inspired in part by Rick Wakeman's version on "YesSongs." Of course, he had both hands and both feet to work with.

 

The one that still eludes me is one of my favorite tunes of all time, Jobim's "Aguas De Marco." (Sorry, didn't get the accent marks in.) Like much of his work, the melody is deceptively simple, but the chord progression!?!?!?! I bow my head in respect.

 

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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@ Winston PSmith. As a Synth guy, you may be interested in what I did with Maybe I'm Amazed (McCartney) as I mentioned above as the most difficult tune I ever learned. I was using 4 synths and a Roland GM70 Guitar to MIDI unit, so I added strings, piano, organs, using 2 Roland D 550's, a Mks 1000 Piano module, a Roland MKS 70 synth, and a full Yamaha TX rack (8 Yamaha DX 7's in a rackmount (all in rack mount), it sounded awesome with the added guitar sound as well.

 

Picture of the TX rack

 

320.jpg.1cbf7d43924210e8b00eada736ed14f7.jpg

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@DBM - Damn, never saw one of those DX racks before, at least not that I recall!!!

 

I remember the early MIDI Guitar rigs from Roland and Ibanez, with the huge "printer"-style multi-pin connectors. Was it the 700 that had the weird "stabilizer bar" that looked like a handle?

 

I love FM Synthesis, even though it's not designed for humans to program. Still have a TZ81z in my Synth rack. Also still have a nice working Roland D-5, D-110 and the PG-10 Programmer. L/A Synthesis is only slightly less insane than FM, IMHO.

"Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King

 

http://www.novparolo.com

 

https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com

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@DBM - Damn, never saw one of those DX racks before, at least not that I recall!!!

 

I remember the early MIDI Guitar rigs from Roland and Ibanez, with the huge "printer"-style multi-pin connectors. Was it the 700 that had the weird "stabilizer bar" that looked like a handle?

 

I love FM Synthesis, even though it's not designed for humans to program. Still have a TZ81z in my Synth rack. Also still have a nice working Roland D-5, D-110 and the PG-10 Programmer. L/A Synthesis is only slightly less insane than FM, IMHO.

I had a TX 81Z as well back in those days.

 

I used a custom made Philip Petillo guitar with the GK1 pickup added to do the guitar to MIDI work. The Roland GM 70 would drive 4 synths each on it's own MIDI channel. I do not know what a 700 was as mentioned above. My set up could use any guitar as long as it had the GK1 pup installed next to the bridge between the rear pup and the bridge. The DX rack was awesome, you could use the 8 modules on one channel doing the same thing but de-tuned a bit to make the sound huge or use each module on its own MIDI channel doing separate things. I sold it as well as one of my D550's to Jazzy Jeff, Will Smiths DJ, and Will picked up the other D550. I sold most of the stuff through Tekcom in Philly which went out of business several years later. Will Smith and Jazzy Jeff did biz at Tekcom, I never met them. I just collected the money from Tekcom.

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Bar none Teen town on fretless bass, never really mastered it, but got alot of complements on playing live with my guitar teachers band . And he got to play keyboard parts on his synth guitar , the drummer got to play his electronic kit. the rest of the set was super simple for the bass but hat song os a monster. and I had tab from guitar player for practicing musician(i think).

 

Lok

1997 PRS CE24, 1981 Greco MSV 850, 1991 Greco V 900, 2 2006 Dean Inferno Flying Vs, 1987 Gibson Flying V, 2000s Jackson Dinky/Soloist, 1992 Gibson Les Paul Studio,

 

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Bar none Teen town on fretless bass, never really mastered it, but got alot of complements on playing live with my guitar teachers band . And he got to play keyboard parts on his synth guitar , the drummer got to play his electronic kit. the rest of the set was super simple for the bass but hat song os a monster. and I had tab from guitar player for practicing musician(i think).

 

Lok

 

Oh geez man... Kudos to you! Knowing you can play this even some makes me want to do a collab. I LOVE Jaco!

Music With Marky - A YouTube Channel For Guitarists Who Want To Make Better Music
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[font:Century Gothic]For different reasons...

 

Yes' "Close To The Edge." Yep, all 18 minutes and whatever seconds of it. Learned all the guitar parts on that whole album, now that I think of it.

 

A couple of Juan Serrano's pieces, back in my flamenco days. The struggle was real. Couldn't do 10 seconds of either of them to save my life now, lol.

 

Vinnie Moore's "Daydream." I learned Tony MacAlpine's "Empire In The Sky" at the same time, but once I had that one down. it felt almost effortless to play, like my hands were dancing. "Daydream," on the other hand, was/is always work. Real hard work.

 

Anita Baker's "Giving You The Best That I Got." Not the whole song, and even now I couldn't tell y'all what the chord progression is. I'm talking solely about her vocal melody and pulling all the nuances and flourishes of her vocal performance through my guitar strings. I don't think I ever got it all down perfect, but damn, it was like going for a PhD in phrasing. Didn't quite successfully defend my thesis, but I did learn a hell of a lot.

 

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