the hardest song to play

what does everybody think the hardest song is to play
personly i think it would be somthing by avenged sevenfold
but others may think different but i recon dragonforce,s through the
fire and flames also would be up there.
give me some feed back people

Avenged sevenfold would be toward the bottom of the pile when it would come to technical metal. They are merely a radio band, dont let your emotion for a band determine what would be considered "hard" to play.

If you want some true, and quite obnoxious to be frank, technical metal; you need to look at bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Decapitated, Nile, etc.

But thats what is nice about guitar, it has a lot of different aspects and directions where someone could go. As per your example, Dragonforce is good in their own realm, but you also have the style of that Andy McKee fellow. And of course you have your classical guitarist. And then you have the insane improv abilities of the Jazz guys.

I guarantee you, there wouldnt ever a consensus amongst a group of random guitarist on what the hardest song to play would be.

I find the hardest songs to play are ones I don't know...

definitely not avenged seven fold....... This is an impossible question to answer because noone can say that they have 1 hardest song for them. As far as the "technical metal" comments made earlier, I don't know what you mean by "technical". When I think of that I think progressive, and those bands are not progressive. Symphony X or Dream Theatre are progressive metal bands. A lot of Michael Romeos stuff is insane.

Dragonforce's stuff is WAY overproduced in the studio. They can't actually play that perfectly in real life.

Originally Posted by: hunter1801As far as the "technical metal" comments made earlier, I don't know what you mean by "technical". When I think of that I think progressive, and those bands are not progressive. Symphony X or Dream Theatre are progressive metal bands. A lot of Michael Romeos stuff is insane.

Dragonforce's stuff is WAY overproduced in the studio. They can't actually play that perfectly in real life.

I didnt realize there was another post on this thread...

Technical is definitely a broad term... Peoples idea of technical will be quite different, that was probably the wrong term to use in the first place. Because with the bands I listed, they are way technical! That stuff is insane to try and play. And of course progressive bands can easily be considered technical as well.

There are so many genres of metal out there, its getting ridiculous. From what ive read and listened to, Progressive was initially the term for the fusion of rock and jazz. Such as King Crimson, Camel, Colosseum, etc. Yet later bands that are currently deemed Progressive, dont necessarily sound anything like jazz. It seems like Progressive became an elastic term for a band that shows a certain type of complexity.

A rock band that was doing bizarre time signatures, weird jazz chords that werent associated with rock earlier, using different scales that normally were not associated with rock, not having a standard song format; hundreds of bands will fall under some, if not all, of those qualities and could be deemed Progressive; and at the same time, those bands will sound nothing alike! I mean, Tool is considered progressive for christ sake. Thats a good example of just how thrown around the Progressive term is.

'Hard' is relative to the player and a player's ability.

One of the first songs I ever learned is still one of the hardest for me to play. That would be Led Zep's 'Black Dog'.

In and of itself, not the worst or most physically taxing song to play but to play it right can be a bit of a challenge. To play that riff that appears between the verses and do it right takes lots of practice to get the timing down. That is to play it in the groove as the original. I remember learning it and boing happy that I could play the riff. Then I decided to play along with Page and realized that it was a pretty tough riff to get right and in time.

So, just a thought. It may not always be the technical wizardy that makes it a hard song.

Originally Posted by: RazboI find the hardest songs to play are ones I don't know...

LOL! :) Perfect. This really hits the nail on the head: whichever song any specific individual finds most difficult is indeed the hardest song for that individual to play.

And difficulty is quite obviously going to vary greatly depending upon your skill level.

For example, I love classical & can play some generally difficult material. But how many people can even come close to Eliot Fisk doing a Paganini caprice transcription? I'm not one of them yet! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbeAbllBpGo

(Side note: if you have time, check out the complainers & critics in the comments. Good grief. :rolleyes: )

Or how about Joe Pass doing a standard?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyjQv52Nzno

Or maybe you are only interested in loud rock electric guitar? How about Shawn Lane?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbPTeFta4lw

This is Lane covering Purple Haze, just forward to about 2:50. Yikes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLEWbHyyNU8

How about the off-the-wall beauty of Alan Holdsworth?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF6zCGpHl6g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIdhhAjMTLw

Or just the flat out shred of guys like Rusty Cooley?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqtbgDO2OHM

I like this Michael Romeo bit because, of course, it's from a Beethoven piano sonata! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF5ra8N1ndw

One guy I really dig is Todd Duane. Virtually unknown, he did an amazing CD with pianist Lalle Larson called Electrocution 250.

Here's one of the tunes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqTASEWuVIg

I really like the sense of adventure & humor mixed in with that great technique. Here's Todd doing his wonderful, zany thing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFofogLx_wA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgs9pf3ZQ8c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWVckne0svM

Wow!

I would guess this was pretty difficult to play

Erik Mongrain

Wow, thanks for those links CSchegel.

Here's one of my all time favorites, you have to see it to believe it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQZY87PDsnQ

If first link doesn't work:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8501040639212499897#

Stanley Jordan playing Autumn leaves live.

Originally Posted by: Jays.traasWow, thanks for those links CSchegel.[/quote]
Welcome.
[QUOTE=Jays.traas]
Here's one of my all time favorites, you have to see it to believe it.

Oh, yeah! Stanely Jordan is wonderful. I saw him back in a tiny theatre back in the early 80s. WOW.

Here's another from that (or similiar) performance. A fave standard of mine, "Willow Weep For Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmdHaJRF0dU

Priceless. :)

The main reason why there is no "hardest" song is because all players are on different skill levels. So what is hard for player 1 may not be hard for player 2 and vice versa. Also different players have different strengths technique wise even within the same skill levels.