What's the hardest lick you ever had to learn?

[Shark Diver]

What's the hardest lick you ever had to learn, or just gave up on for a while? Just wondering what gives some of us the most trouble - complex chord passages, or speed licks, or feel?

[gregory49]

nothing speedy but first when i started playing guitar. About one year into it, i was working on the build up lick in sweet child o' mine where slash kicks on the wah. It was just so hard to get it to sound like the original recording.... i eventially got pissed and stayed up all night and stuck it on a loop... by 6am i had it down. : )

[Leonc]

Some things are hard to learn because they're really hard to figure out. Other things can be hard to learn because they're just hard to play.

Well if you're talking about "learning" as in figuring out, one of the tougher things I learned recently (and I'm not done yet) is some of Howard Robert's work backing up Julie London. If you're talking about hard to learn in terms of "hard to play", I'd say, some of George Benson's (I'm remembering trying to learn some of GB's soloing on Affirmation) and Pat Martino's soloing (Impressions, for example)...and yeah...I've still got a long way to go there too.

I also had to learn John Mayer's Neo last year. Man...that was hard to figure out and relatively hard to play, too.

[jazzandmetal?]

There is so much......pretty much stuff that I am not used to playing. Like different styles. I am working on hybrid picking and it is giving me tons of problems.

*EDIT*
The intro to Steve Vais "The Audience is Listening". The funky chord part. Always gave/gives me issues. Not sure why.

[MBreinin]

Seriously, for me it is mostly trying to match the tone and feel of songs. I don't try to learn stuff out of my depth...but I am always trying to make things sound right. I have been trying to nail alot of ZZ Top stuff lately and while the licks are relatively easy...the tone and feel are another thing altogether.

Mike

[Alister]

:rotflmaoSome things are hard to learn because they're really hard to figure out. Other things can be hard to learn because they're just hard to play.



Amen. Crucial distinction a lot of younger players don't understand.

[thepimpdaddy]

Whoa-oh Black Betty, Bam-a-lam! Whoa-oh Black Betty - Black Betty had a child, bam-a-lam

that shit kicked my ass, even with the Amazing SlowDowner. I'm just too damn slow, baby. Props to Bill Bartlett for flummoxing me with that lick for all these years . . .

Rock on! PD

[ecm1117]

I have two examples.

When I was in high school, I spent a week figuring out Knopfler's Tunnel Of Love solo (the Alchemy version). It took a lot of work but it did wonders for my ears.

Recently, I tried learning parts of Michael Hedges' Aerial Boundaries . . . wow, that one's so hard! Not sure if I'll ever get it down, but I'd sure like to.

[frank62]

"Still got the Blues for You" GM, and "Five Long Years" EC. The only two tunes I have ever bothered to get note for note. By the time I got them down I hated them both. I won't do that anymore.

[townsend]

I have two examples.

When I was in high school, I spent a week figuring out Knopfler's Tunnel Of Love solo (the Alchemy version). It took a lot of work but it did wonders for my ears.

Recently, I tried learning parts of Michael Hedges' Aerial Boundaries . . . wow, that one's so hard! Not sure if I'll ever get it down, but I'd sure like to.

FWIW, you can actually purchase a professional transcription of some of Hedges' songs at:

http://www.stropes.com/index.php?glbm=1&fa=7

[Frankee]

The first one.

[8nthatK]

That crazy azz tapping thing Govan does in 'Wonderful Slippery thing' is positively kicking mine...

[scoob]

the Mystical Potato Head groove thing - the part where satch is playing those wide 5th hammer on's across all 6 strings to the groove. they sound like a keyboard part. I think those gave me tendinitis. Still can only play them at about half speed...

[Mike]

Cannonball Adderley's solo on Marabi, as performed by Jeff Berlin and Scott Henderson.

Mike

[realityczech]

Switching from piano to guitar at an early age. Enter the Barre' chord. For some reason it was pure physical torture to hold those chords. I got thru it and every thing was/is gravy since then.
So to speak.

"wink"

[Sid]

Intro to Perpetual Burn-jason becker
Solo to Tornado of Souls,Hangar 18-marty friedman
Solo to Esperanto-shawn lane
Tender Surrender-steve vai
Manhattan,cliffs of dover-eric johnson
solo to Erotomania-dream theater
Cause we ended as lovers,nadia-jeff beck

[wire 247]

The head for Donna Lee
Kid Charlemagne solo- (many years ago this took a few days).

[tfancil]

"Mr. Sandman", Chet Atkins! I thought to myself, "That's a cool old song that I would like to learn." I messed with it for a couple of days and finally said to Hell with it! If you want to learn to finger pick, DON"T START WITH "MR. SANDMAN" try "Enter Sandman" instead:)
tfancil

[Noah]

Just about anything off Scotty Anderson's DVD. There's just no way...:(

[SteveGaines]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qX9JlMB590 and to YOUTUBE for Steve's parts on "That Smell'...You gotta admit..This cats nails it...:bow

[shngn7]

For some reason when I was in coming out of my newb stage and playing in bands I had some trouble playing the verse riff in Led Zeppelin's "In the Light." No problems now but frustrating then.

[xk49w]

Cannonball Adderley's solo on Marabi, as performed by Jeff Berlin and Scott Henderson.

MikeOTOH, Cannonball's solo (http:///www.arcanedevices.com/misc/If_This_Isnt_Love.mp3) on "If This Isn't Love" is fairly challenging.

[jgyn]

Eddie Harris's 'Freedom Jazz Dance' I found hard to finger on guitar.

Here it is on piano:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG8wEzl2qCk

[Flyin' Brian]

The head on Lee Ritenour's "The Rit Variations" The guy has impossibly insane chops.

[Red Suede]

The opening to "West Side Boogie" by Ray Gomez and "The Introduction" by Steve Morse.

[Bad G.A.S.]

Probably Vai's licks...specifically I couldn't tell ya, but I know there's a couple in Tender Surrender, Juice, and FTLOG that have been major pains...not because I can't physically play them, but just because of Vai's phrasing and timing varies so much within the course of a lick...I think that is why some of his stuff is so difficult to learn. It's definitely due in a major way to his time spent with Zappa... You don't have a concept of Steve's mastery of polyrhythms until you try and play his licks..man oh man!

[bluesjunior]

That fast Clapton lick he uses in slow 12/8 blues like "Someday after a While" and Have you ever loved a woman etc. The turnaround one where he goes down the neck from high to low and it sounds like a drum roll, "rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat da da" etc. I learned the notes and I can play them as well but I just can't get it to sound the same as him. I just can't seem to get the phrasing right playing really fast like that.

[Sid]

Probably Vai's licks...specifically I couldn't tell ya, but I know there's a couple in Tender Surrender, Juice, and FTLOG that have been major pains...not because I can't physically play them, but just because of Vai's phrasing and timing varies so much within the course of a lick...I think that is why some of his stuff is so difficult to learn. It's definitely due in a major way to his time spent with Zappa... You don't have a concept of Steve's mastery of polyrhythms until you try and play his licks..man oh man!

amen...Vai is a master at polyrhythms

[rhp52]

local phenom Rob Bourassa's version of The Night Rider by Jimmy Bryant

[jakob]

Any solo that Randy Rhoads played.

[Ken Ho]

nothing speedy but first when i started playing guitar. About one year into it, i was working on the build up lick in sweet child o' mine where slash kicks on the wah. It was just so hard to get it to sound like the original recording.... i eventially got pissed and stayed up all night and stuck it on a loop... by 6am i had it down. : )

Speedy enough !! I have it on a loop now, still trying to master that. Originally I learnt it from a magazine tab, incorrectly, and now it's that much harder to do it right, and get the wah hits in the right place too.

[Shreve]

Whoa-oh Black Betty, Bam-a-lam! Whoa-oh Black Betty - Black Betty had a child, bam-a-lam

that shit kicked my ass, even with the Amazing SlowDowner. I'm just too damn slow, baby. Props to Bill Bartlett for flummoxing me with that lick for all these years . . .

Rock on! PD

I love that song! It's too nutz to try to figure out. I just enjoy it FWIW!

[jakob]

I love that song! It's too nutz to try to figure out. I just enjoy it FWIW!

That song was featured in the last Guitar Techniques magazine.

Great song.

[rob2001]

I tackled the harmony leads in Highway Star by Deep Purple with my other guitar player a while back. Took us a lot of work to get it. I still don't think we did it justice but it was always fun to do live.

[harryjmic]

Tune wise it would be Steve Howe's, "The Clap" but I do have it, the tempo drifts a bit but it is recorded now and I will be posting it or another version in the next couple days.

For single note stuff, trying to playsome of the harder tunes in the Charlie Parker "Oronthology" book is flat out brutal.

The the other thing that tears me up is the Tuck Andress or Scotty Anderson videos. Playing bass while moving chords underneath is the pinnicle in guitar playing and represents to me playing at the highest level.

[rhp52]

The the other thing that tears me up is the Tuck Andress or Scotty Anderson videos. Playing bass while moving chords underneath is the pinnicle in guitar playing and represents to me playing at the highest level.[/quote]

Yup

[dave s]

A couple: One is a lick, the other a solo

Lick: Intro to Pleasant Valley Sunday by Monkees. Once I understood the COUNTING it was pretty easy

Solo: Peg - Steeley Dan. Over my head in terms of 'available talent.' :D

dave

[boog204]

"fracture" by king crimson has floored me for years...

[French Fry]

"Mr. Sandman", Chet Atkins! I thought to myself, "That's a cool old song that I would like to learn." I messed with it for a couple of days and finally said to Hell with it! If you want to learn to finger pick, DON"T START WITH "MR. SANDMAN" try "Enter Sandman" instead:)
tfancil

I feel your pain. I've struggled with the chet atkins stuff for a while. I keep giving up and then coming back for more abuse after a few months.

You're right about starting with something a bit easier. Baby steps ...

[French Fry]

The the other thing that tears me up is the Tuck Andress or Scotty Anderson videos. Playing bass while moving chords underneath is the pinnicle in guitar playing and represents to me playing at the highest level.

Yup. I've got some great tuck andress transcriptions. That doesn't really make them any easier to play. Tuck is mind blowing, to me at least.

[franksguitar]

Playing in various bands over the years. One The Loose by Saga was challenging. Complex Kansas tunes or anything with odd time signatures and complex riffs

[therhodeo]

The F chord. It hurts my fingers.

[drgonzoguitar]

The head to "Hot Wired" by Brent Mason. Just a rippin' tune! After a couple of weeks worth of work, I got it somewhat close. I was smart enough to keep recording my attempts of the tune (w/ the backing track). Here is my best effort. Still, not as good as Brent. Damn, that guy is a monster!

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6839247

[jharpersj]

Keep in mind I'm a rock guy so probably some jazz or classical would be harder but I distinctly remember a few things that I found hard

As a 14 yr old I learned Diary of a Madman start to finish, that sucked LOL
As a young hairband guy the solo to Tooth and Nail
As an old cover guy recently the hardest things have been learning non guitar lines for songs we had to do since we don't have another guitar player or keys, the worst were the Hora (clarinet lines), Sir Duke (horn lines) and the fiddle parts in Devil went down to Georgia and I find Buckethead to be nearly impossible.

Cool thread

[jakob]

The head to "Hot Wired" by Brent Mason. Just a rippin' tune! After a couple of weeks worth of work, I got it somewhat close. I was smart enough to keep recording my attempts of the tune (w/ the backing track). Here is my best effort. Still, not as good as Brent. Damn, that guy is a monster!

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6839247

Yeah Brent is a monster great job !

[plisken]

Over the Mountain solo essentially broke my teenage will to play for awhile....I waded back in recently after many years and was able to perform it credibly.

[shngn7]

Oh yeah and a few more are Steve Howe's "Clap" and Jimmy Page's "White Summer/Black Mountain Side."

[TwoFeets]

There are plenty of things I can't play, and even more things that I won't even attempt. But to maybe stretch the scppe of the question a little bit, nothing will ever be as difficult as it was for me when I first started playing.... getting the quick cowboy chord G-D-D-A changes in Zeppelin Over the Hills and Far Away.... especially getting from G to D.

[frankencat]

Many moons ago I did Satch's Ice 9 with my full band for a talent show one year that my guitar teacher put on. That was pretty hard to get right. I remember trying to work out the slide solo on Statesboro Blues off the Allman's Fillmore ablum but I got it eventually and I worked out and taught the band Jessica and they wimped out on me and we never played it, lol.

FF 20 years, I have been recently listening to Return To Forever and trying to figure out some of those crazy riffs that they play with ease. Very challenging. And most suprisingly, over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to figure out a couple of parts that I played on a demo of two tunes we are going into the studio to record in October. I really like the feel of what I played but it's some crazy in-the-moment kind of stuff over varying time signatures (6/8, 7/8) and as I am finding out, modes that I am not all that great with yet I was absolutely comfortable when I played it on the demos, lol. It's kind of cool but frustrating at the same time. I guess I just need to stop thinking so much and play ;)

[crzyfngers]

frame by frame - king crimson

[bbarnard]

Two really got me. When I was first starting to get back into playing about 7 years ago, I learned If You Be My Baby by Gary Moore off the Blues For Greeny CD. There is one lick that he plays in there that is very quick. It took me months of repitition to learn that one, but I finally got it. Now I don't remember how to play it but if I tried to play it I'd probably be able to get it back up to speed.

The second was both speed and the phrasing/accents to the intro lick to Crawling In the Dark by Hoobastank. I had to learn that for church band and it is in open G which I never play in. I just could NOT get the accents right for the longest time.

I'm still working on Gerontology by Little Charlie and the Nightcats. I've got about the first minute of it but it is still kicking my butt.

And there's a ton of jazz stuff that I just wouldn't be able to play because I'm not very fast.

[NitroLiq]

Steve Morse - Tumeni Notes. Or, anything requiring insanely fast precise alternate picking, for that matter. I was so thankful for Satch and Vai in the 80s just for the weirdness and amount of legato playing they did. ;)

[soulmap]

Interesting question to me; as a listener – I hate hearing someone struggle. As a player, a difficult passage can tie up in my head, taking me out of the immediacy of making music. But I do love a challenge. Part of the challenge is letting it go, if I fluff through something that I know I know, ya know?
The hardest part I ever had to learn for a gig, recently at least, was Slipknot/Help on the Way for a (very occasional) project called Dead Keys. Slipknot is a weird little thing from The Grateful Dead/Blues for Allah with odd meter, wide intervallic leaps, and very unnatural (to me) fingering – AND it has to flow.
The hardest part I ever learned that I didn’t need to, but just had to, was Scatterbrain – Jeff Beck/Blow by Blow - and that was in the era of vinyl; picking up the needle, moving it back, setting it back down and going – huh? wha?
Little Martha, Duane Allman’s tune, was really easy to find the notes but it’s taken years to get it to feel right.
The hardest tune that I haven’t figured out but is still nagging at me is Nefertiti, the Wayne Shorter tune recorded by the Miles quintet. I love the tune and I can learn the notes but the structure, the harmony just mystifies me – I don’t understand it. I did just find this http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2006/02/nefertiti_chord.html (http://thebadplus.typepad.com/dothemath/2006/02/nefertiti_chord.html) which lays out an approach I’ll have to try.
Interesting quote from this link; “Hancock confirmed that Shorter often wrote out chord voicings and omitted chord symbols…this certainly helps explain the mysterious quality of many great Shorter tunes.”


I have more, but I'm trying to learn the art of the short, interesting forum post...I find that really hard.

[Catoogie]

Ten Years After "I'd Love to Change the World" when I was 11 years old. Making the change to the B7 is tough when you're a kid.

[Ud Reks]

SRV's Scuttle Buttin'

We wanted to play that one, but I failed at getting up to speed. It's not a very complicated lick, fingering is easy, but... I've never been that fast.

[arthur rotfeld]

"Mr. Sandman", Chet Atkins! I thought to myself, "That's a cool old song that I would like to learn."

I thought the same. I figure it took me 30 hours to get a handle on it....as it was my first real Travis picking solo thing. Still not quite performance ready.

[bobbymack]

Back in the day I a hard time getting the riffs (and solo for that matter) to "Reelin in the Years"...

I ended up with a close approximation, as I do with most of my stuff. Limited abilities aside, I don't really have the desire to try to play something note for note night after night...too much jam band in me I guess, but unless a lick or riff is signature to the song, I go for the feel and flavor without trying to set myself up for "well you nailed that solo except for that little part where you missed the trill". I don't like seeing pro touring bands that play radio versions of their songs night after might...let the song breathe a little.

I guess playing cover stuff note for note is too much science for me, and not enough art???

[Funky Chicken]

I've been more stumped by a few little Mike Campbell licks than by anything else, and I can play some pretty complex stuff in quite a few genres. The lick that closes out the "Breakdown" solo is so simple when you listen to it, but there are a million ways to play it "almost right" and only one way to play it "right".

[Rothbardian]

Jason Becker - Mabel's Fatal Fable

[Dasein]

There were a few runs in "The Clap" that were tough. Had 3 days to learn the song and it just wasn't enough time to get every run in muscle memory. Ended up having to wing a couple to my complete embarrassment. Had never run into muscle memory limitations before - a humble lesson that time was an essential element to learning a performance piece.

[crzyfngers]

Jason Becker - Mabel's Fatal Fable
that's some manly stuff.:drink

[harryjmic]

There were a few runs in "The Clap" that were tough. Had 3 days to learn the song and it just wasn't enough time to get every run in muscle memory. Ended up having to wing a couple to my complete embarrassment. Had never run into muscle memory limitations before - a humble lesson that time was an essential element to learning a performance piece.

My biggest issue is I can play the tune pretty much everytime but I'll be damned if I can get through it without making one mistake. There is just too many possible places for you to have a blow out.

[DrSax]

I have two examples.

When I was in high school, I spent a week figuring out Knopfler's Tunnel Of Love solo (the Alchemy version). It took a lot of work but it did wonders for my ears.

Recently, I tried learning parts of Michael Hedges' Aerial Boundaries . . . wow, that one's so hard! Not sure if I'll ever get it down, but I'd sure like to.

Ha! Aerial Boundaries...yeah that is extremely trickly. I would never be able to get that down. Each finger (on both hands!) has to have an independent brain and muscle system. I spent years trying to get some of his other ones down, like Rickover's Dream, Jitterboogie, Sister Soul, Bensusan. Great stuff.

[doublee]

Whoa-oh Black Betty, Bam-a-lam! Whoa-oh Black Betty - Black Betty had a child, bam-a-lam

that shit kicked my ass, even with the Amazing SlowDowner. I'm just too damn slow, baby. Props to Bill Bartlett for flummoxing me with that lick for all these years . . .

Rock on! PD

Ha! Bill is a friend of mine. And his lead on that is wonderful...

[dpk]

I've been trying to play the main theme from Cliffs of Dover for 3 or 4 weeks now. How does EJ make it sound so easy??

[Shark Diver]

Cool replies. Very interesting to me the range of answers. I struggle with all kinds of things and am just trying to see what gives guitarist fits. Sometimes speed has nothing to do with it for me. Glad to see that things like feel and technique are not just my bane. I play somethings that when I first hear them I figure no way, and then something I figure will be easy just kicks my behind.

Keep 'em coming!:D

[vinceh]

For me it has always been parts of the solo break in Led Zep's "Heartbreaker" (which I now have pretty much down thanks to youtube) and Uli Roth's Scorpion's "Sails of Charon" intro solo.

[Bo Faulkner]

After years of trying I still cant get cleanly a Brent Mason open string run off of his video

[harvestmark]

Probably the solo & outro to "Kid Charlemagne". Also, there was a little something in Guitar Techniques magazine last year which supposedly was an example of Scott Henderson style of playing which I had a difficult time with. It simply did not lay on the fretboard the way I was used to playing.

Mark Miller

[PapaDave]

I still can't get the Texas Blues shuffle down, the one SRV does on the intro to Pride and Joy, you know, the walking bass with the chunka chunka upsweep on the high strings, which are *supposed* to immediately get muted. I can't get the muting down. I can do the walking bass, and I can do the chunka mute chunka, but not together. One time I *almost* had it; I noticed my picking hand swinging in a kind of circle arc over the strings. It's the kind of rhythm that you can't really TRY too hard, if you let go and relax, there's more a chance to nail it.

Still working on it. Still haven't got it after many years.

[JiMB]

I had B!%#H of a time with the piano intro to "Light My Fire".

Figuring it out and then memorizing patterns that my fingers were not used to was quite a challenge.

Jim

[lanny]

The Pretenders 'Middle Of The Road' solo by Robbie Mcintosh has trainwrecked me for almost 25 years..Mind you, I can't really solo my way out of a wet paper bag..

[jammybastard]

The slide part and solo to "Love Spreads" by The Stone Roses.

[Lightningrt]

The solo on Thin Lizzy's Whiskey in the Jar [Album version] took some listening to. It was always my favourite solo on a '45, so when we decided to play it I was soooper chuffed.

Eric Bell plays it in a very lazy way these days which is also quite perplexing, but he always seems to miss some of it out!

[PosterBoy]

Anything where I need to stretch gives me big problems, so I think the hardest lick would be my nose!

[Shredcow]

The solo on When I See You Smile

Nothing complex. Nothing technically profound.

But it such a blatantly simple melody that ANY mess up would be simply unforgivable. Heck... even a lay-person who's tone deaf would pick up the blunder.

That and I was still getting used to my new guitar!

[Apeman]

Gotta say the solo in 'Walk This Way'... Took some listening to figure out exactly which notes are played, and there are some sections where I haven't quite decided what fingering to use. I still have some work to do before I can play it reliably too :)

[guitarmind]

I had B!%#H of a time with the piano intro to "Light My Fire".

Figuring it out and then memorizing patterns that my fingers were not used to was quite a challenge.

Jim
Thanks a lot. I figured this out years ago, and after reading your post I picked up the guitar and realized I need to learn it again.:jo

[MisterTV]

The Pretenders 'Middle Of The Road' solo by Robbie Mcintosh has trainwrecked me for almost 25 years..Mind you, I can't really solo my way out of a wet paper bag..

Wow, one of my five all-time favorite solos! The phrasing, the attack, the double-stops... killer stuff! Oh, and I can't play it either. :crazy

[Dr. Tweedbucket]

The intro to Steely Dan's 'Don't take me Alive'. Getting the bends just perfect and, the vibrato and that quick little run is kind of hard to nail just perfect. :band

[roger e]

Ditto on Freedom Jazz Dance, I don't think it lays well on the guitar although if you fingerpick it you can get a little better definition. Clint Strong's Solo on Merle Haggard's "You Got a Friend in California" drove me crazy. Also ANYTHING by Lenny Breau, especially the Bridge on "Scrapple from the Apple" from "Minors Aloud".

[GDking]

"Still got the Blues for You" GM, and "Five Long Years" EC. The only two tunes I have ever bothered to get note for note. By the time I got them down I hated them both. I won't do that anymore.

LOL +1 same exact thing happened to me with still got the blues for you. I got the whole thing down, lyrics and all and the band loved it, we played it twice and I was like "OK that's it for that one". Man I still hate that song. :D

Now when I do covers I have the band put our own upbeat funky spin on songs, keeping it similar enough so people know what it is. That way the purists obviously know we are not trying to nail it and will not give me a hard time about missing some minor thing, the ladies boogie more, and we have a lot more fun as a band really with more open direction :)

[DrJamie]

The intro to "Last Time", by the Stones, back around 1968. I'm still more comfortable fingerpicking that, rather than flatpicking.

[foghorn99]

The first one.

Amen, brother! That's the one...

[Ken Ho]

The solo on Thin Lizzy's Whiskey in the Jar [Album version] took some listening to. It was always my favourite solo on a '45, so when we decided to play it I was soooper chuffed.

Eric Bell plays it in a very lazy way these days which is also quite perplexing, but he always seems to miss some of it out!

Is that the same as the Metallica version ?? I learnt that some time ago, and it's still a favourite to play.

[CALI68]

I was in an 80's cover band years ago and the keyboard player insisted on playing "On The Loose" by Saga (Steve Howe's band). The bridge run (at 2:37) was REALLY tough to learn especially since it had to be right in time with the keys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwZsMDED2ek


-Chris

[prsflame]

The 2 different sections of 16th note runs in the overture of Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

[Captain Midnite]

wheedly wee was super tough.

[GregoryL]

Larry Carlton's arrangement of 'The Lord's Prayer'

[Roadeye]

Hey - what happened to my post (guess it was too dirty!). dANG!

[GerryJ]

guardian angels (MacLaughlin), both parts. worth it.

[ElDiabloBlanco]

When I was a kid ( this would be '75-76), I really struggled at reaching the b7 note on the Chuck Berry style chucka-chucka rhythm pattern on the 5th sting of an E form barre chord - it hurt to reach! Years later, I still can't nail Van Halen - style tapping licks. I came up in the pre-tap era and never spent time developing that technique to any degree. I can get close but it sounds pretty sloppy - no time these days to incorporate that technique.

[Magnustveiten]

Black Page II by Zappa was pretty darn hard..so was Inca Roads and most other songs by Zappa..
Giant Steps VTT version and Hendersons solo..
Lucky 7 by Greg Howe...
All the hard stuff is so worth it in the end..

[FeloniousBishop]

There are a couple of licks in The Clap that I failed to master despite working pretty hard on it.

I also recall back around the late 80s failing to be able to play Tumeni Notes at speed.

The Claw (Hellecasters version) - Didn't get to it yet, pretty intimidating.

[Shark Diver]

Pretty diverse crowd. I've been listening to the songs listed just to see what everybody is into. Really cool stuff that I had never heard before. I'm pretty main stream. My hardest stuff is always the feel of what I'm struggling with, especially styles I'm not use to. Gets me out of my comfort zone. Thanks for the input, I'm listening and learning a lot of stuff I other wise wouldn't have.:)

[donostia13]

There are too many licks/passages that I've tried and can't play at speed, or with the same feel.

The impossible: Flamenco
Crazy Hard: Diminished scales. So many single note shred lines, be they the aforementioned scale, pentatonic à la Eric Johnson, etc. are done so personally that I can't quite get it right, because I can't pick like they can or something-- I wish I knew what :jo

Music beyond me at this very moment that I wish I could play: Aguado's Rondo in A minor

[billm408]

They're all hard until you get 'em and then you wonder why it was such a struggle. Right now I'm trying to play the keyboard solo on Highway Star on guitar and fighting for the feel and fluidity. Tomorrow it'll be something else.

[stratman34]

Vai's lines in the cuttin' heads section of Crossroads. The arpeggios at the beginning I have down perfect.... at about 1/2 speed.

[Chris Rice]

That damn B7 in Norwegian Wood. John Lennon kicked my ass at the tender age of 14.

[fusion58]

One of the more recent challenges that springs to mind is a passage in a Carl Verheyen tune called "Holly House."

If you're familiar with the tune, I'm talking about the passage that goes from the last bar of the fourth 'A' through the "DS al third and fourth ending."

Quite the left hand workout - you have grab a series of chords that require pretty big stretches and change fairly quickly.

Parts of Carl's tune "Highland Shuffle" are challenging for the same reasons.

[rosscoep]

Oleo... Arghhh! I don't know why-I could never get it at speed.

[CharAznable]

King Crimson was the first band I got into that made me give up learning some of their stuff. Particularly Lark's Tongues In Aspic Pt I. It is so anti-idiomatic on the guitar... it sounds like Fripp sat down and wrote it on paper and figured out how to play it later. It just wasn't made for guitar fingers.

[Jube2550]

I'm still trying to play the hard setting of The Outlaws Green Grass & High Tides on X-box Rock Band and those plastic neck buttons are killing me.

Actually, I lost many hours on the Mean Street intro flash technique, what was I thinking, I'll stick to my two speeds, slow and slower.

[Nick67]

These may not be difficult to some, but they sure busted my balls!
Intro to "Let me Help" Billy Swan
Intro to "Long Cool Woman " by the Hollies

[Killcrop]

That descending run of drums, bass and guitar just before the solo on Spirit of Radio is giving me fits right now.

[6Tones]

Any solo by Alan Holdsworth

[ghost]

nothing speedy but first when i started playing guitar. About one year into it, i was working on the build up lick in sweet child o' mine where slash kicks on the wah. It was just so hard to get it to sound like the original recording.... i eventially got pissed and stayed up all night and stuck it on a loop... by 6am i had it down. : )


I worked hard on that one as a kid, too- cheers-:BEER

[ghost]

King Crimson was the first band I got into that made me give up learning some of their stuff. Particularly Lark's Tongues In Aspic Pt I. It is so anti-idiomatic on the guitar... it sounds like Fripp sat down and wrote it on paper and figured out how to play it later. It just wasn't made for guitar fingers.


Man, Fripp/Crimson BROKE me, BROKE me I tell ya...still can't play any of that 5h1t, ...sigh

[realityczech]

Barre chords.

Nothing fancy but as a kid it killed my hand for a time and after that everthing came easier even the use of the pinky finger in single note lines

[rwe333]

Silence... (pretty good at it now, WIP)

[shngn7]

I would now like to add the beginning of "You Enjoy Myself" by Phish. What a monster.

[justMe]

I had the tab and it still took me a month to learn Phil Keaggy's Pilgrim's Flight / Castle's Call. Recently I learned one of the sound clips for the Bogner Duende. I don't know who plays it, I've been at it for over a month and I still can't play it at tempo (no tab for that one).

[shane88]

black dog - nobody can play it :)

[DC1]

When I was in college. The main melodic part to Aaron Copland's Rodeo. I figgered if Keith Emerson could do it on organ... welll why not try it on guitar..


Fun stuff.


dc

[JB Eckl]

+1 for Scuttle Buttin'! I remember trying to nail that and the main riff from 'Couldn't Stand the Weather' until morning once. Sort of failed at both, but my playing improved that night.

Scuttle Buttin' will put hair on your chest, especially if you try to make it groove! That's the kind of lick that has to sound easy or it's a train wreck.

[re-animator]

Any solo by Alan Holdsworth

took the words right out of my mouth..... er..... keyboard.

[Lucidology]

...licks are easy...backing a singer will kick your ass...just guitar and vox...

You tell 'em bro ...

[eoshreds]

Colorado Bulldog actually caused pain in my hand, never happened before.

[triple_vee]

hey, looks like i'm the 3rd person in this thread to list scuttle buttin'! i get to play that one live after a very, very long time wood shedding with it.

right now, what's giving me trouble is the intro to Josie by Steely Dan...specifically the change from the 3rd to the 4th chord before the funky vamp kicks in. on a short scale, it's noticeably easier.

[Hacksaw]

Colorado Bulldog actually caused pain in my hand, never happened before.

hahah no doubt! add scarified for me.. That one I have given up on, maybe another day.

[doctorx]

What's the hardest lick you ever had to learn?

I would say the first time I went down on a woman.

[Wagster]

Where Were You by Jeff Beck.I have the hardest time with the intonation on that tune.I still don't have it down.Damn you Jeff Beck :FM

[fender tele]

Oh God where do I start......

Cliffs of Dover. That main theme of the song. I know the notes. There have been times I've played it perfectly & up to speed. Unfortunately, even though I've played it dozens of times, those perfect times are about 20%.

Right now it's open string scales, a.k.a. cascades. They sound so cool, but they don't make sense as I'm playing them. My fingers are going in a different direction than the sound I'm anticipating in my head, if that makes any sense.

[French Fry]

I would now like to add the beginning of "You Enjoy Myself" by Phish. What a monster.

Yeah, very tough. Great exercise though.

[French Fry]

The Pretenders 'Middle Of The Road' solo by Robbie Mcintosh has trainwrecked me for almost 25 years..Mind you, I can't really solo my way out of a wet paper bag..

We recently started playing this one. There is a repetitive lick in the middle there that I've had to replace with something else because I just can't play it that fast.

Great fun.

[matthet]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO9AhMqXs_s

haven't played classical in 5 years now, but that was my last piece. sure do wish i could play like that now!

[sharpshooter]

The classic version of "sleepwalk", by Santo and Johnny, he used a pedal steel, I'am trying on slide, in standard tuning. The notes I get, the feel and timing, well, that's a different story.

I keep telling myself, Slow down, Slooow down.

[Jimmydeez]

Dave Matthews "Rhyme and Reason"

Dave Matthews "Tripping Billies"

[jb1984]

oh, there's a few:

rush - intro to "spirit of radio"
the run in the first solo in "rosanna"
the "cliffs of dover" intro
nuno bettencourt. all of it.