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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Surf Musician »

Permalink What's the hardest piece of music you ever learned to play?

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For me, it's the "Green Hornet" theme by Al Hirt, which I'm currently trying to master. What a workout! Tremolo picked stacatto sixteenth notes at 180 bpm, with almost no rests and alot of chromatic runs. After alot of practice with a metronome, I've got it up to 160 bpm cleanly.

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well, this isnt hard at all for me to play anymore, but i would say 'stray cat strut'...its not surf but still. i was just getting out of my punk guitar phase and learning that song pushed me to a new level, i'd only been playing guitar a few years back then and needed that.

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El Marabino, a Venezuelan Waltz by Antonio Lauro.

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
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I don't learn complete songs very often, normally just portions. There are two I learned back when I was just a couple years into playing guitar. They are chord melodies for Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire and Five Foot Two(Eyes of Blue). I've actually never heard Five Foot Two, I just learned it by reading music.

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Last edited: Sep 23, 2009 17:05:08

Bumble Bee twist. 4 years and still can't it right.

paul johnsons lead on 'baja' from the duotones plugged in and live.

www.surfintheeye.com

"Pacifica" by LSJ. I learned two different ways to play it. It was hard because i play upside down. I have to learn everything on my own.

The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587

Hungarian Rhapsody by Franz Liszt.

Oh wait! Did you mean surf tunes on the guitar??? Wink

Vince

Is this something you can share with the rest of us, Amazing Larry?!?

Guitar Concerto - De Aranjuez - Joaqui­n Rodrigo, deceptively simple melody, yet requires good timing and intonation to meld with the chords to create one of my favourite pieces.

This took me the best part of 4 months to get properly and still not completely mastered.

"Donna Lee" by Charlie Parker, and Chick Corea's "Spain" would be 2 of the hardest.

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

I remember having lots of trouble with slacktones's tiki bar crawl (and Im sure I f'ed up a lot too) ... I dont have much trouble with it now, only because we dont play it anymore, haha. Wronski's such an amazing guitarplayer.

@Ron , maybe you can copy some of Laka's moves (starts at about 3:15) and use this neaty trick to hold your guitar right side up. Laughing

Rules to live by #314:
"When in Italy, if the menu says something's grilled, don't assume it is."

https://www.facebook.com/The-Malbehavers-286429584796173/

I am still trying to smooth out "Ginchy" by the Venutres and "Meet Mr Callahan" by Les Paul......

It's hard to teach an old dude an new trick.....ed

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

El Cumbanchero. Great song that hardly anybody plays. Trying to come up with an arrangement for a 3 man band aint easy but well worth it.

WR....Wow!! Those guys are great!! Bushy bushy eyebrows? That was a very neat camera angle at 3:15. I need to have more of their music!! Me learning "Pacifica" is nothing compared to what some of you guys are doing.
What is a concerto? Oh well. Those Euro guys doing a song called "Oahu Luau".....now that's something i know a lot about. Hey, maybe i should learn that tune.....upside down!! hehehe
Mahalo WR!! Very Happy

The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587

the Entwistle bass part and the Townshend guitar chords from Quadrophenia's "The Real Me".

image

surfblaster
El Cumbanchero. Great song that hardly anybody plays. Trying to come up with an arrangement for a 3 man band ain't easy but well worth it.

i like Desi Arnaz' version of "El Cumbanchero"...you're right, it's a great tune ripe for the picking!

image

I've been struggling to learn the intro to a song called "Chaama" by this oudist named Said Chraibi. It's only 35 seconds or so, but it's tough. And it's a two-instrument arrangement so I've gotta learn it twice. Suicide

Most dificult surf song: maybe "Ricochet" by the Madeira... or one of my own. Twisted Evil
I actually used to not be able to play a couple of my own songs all the way through because I figured them out barehanded fingerpicking style before I was proficient enough with a flat pick. But I've got that under control now.

Not surf, but the intro and riff on The Beatles "And Your Bird Can Sing"......BEFORE Duh I figured out that there were 2 double tracked guitars doing it on the record!.......Had to do some funny reaching to get the harmony notes! G. Harrison used a capo a lot too! It's funny how much time I wasted learning things the "hard way"........always thinking that the players on the record were so good they would never have to do it the "easy way".

I guess the hardest for me was a song I can't recall on a Mike Auldridge dobro record. I have always liked dobro and this particular song really caught me. I didn't have a dobro, but the song had flatpick acoustic guitar accompany so I was playing that part. In the middle of the song, the guitar would play the dobro lead for a few bars. Took me about 4 months of 1 hour a night to get it down. This was back when I was just getting my ear training going and internet and Youtube were none existent so you could not "watch" Mike play it. Probably could not play the tune now on a bet.
Hardest surf/instro would be Bumblebee Twist. Spent alot of time on that one too, again not able to dial up YouTube and watch somebody like Nokie Edwards playing it.

2012-2013: FILTHY POLAROIDS

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