The 'I can't play it!' thread

Nitefly · 8 Apr 2006 at 19:55

Its time to swallow your pride!

I thought it would be an fun idea to vent all frustration that us musicians had and name some pieces of music that no matter HOW long or HOW hard you try, you just can't get it sounding right! Those annoying pieces that have you slamming you guitar into you amp and throwing your keyboard out of the window!

Encouragement is allowed, but absolutely NO willy waving, and by that I mean 'Thats easy!'ing. There nothing more frustrating or egocentric than a musician claiming he is better than you. And please no 'All its takes is practise'.... I mean c'mon, ya think? I know that!

So, I'll start:

Two 'songs' that instantly come to mind are -

Sweet child of mine - Guns N' Roses
The widdly 'slow -> fast' bit!
What a lovely song, after a lovely 'slower' solo at, 4.03 Slash breaks into this short burst of notes that builds up before the triumphant string bends that follow! Gah, I NEVER end up playing this spot on. Not that it annoys me too much because it sounds so random anyway but its just.... GRRR!

I'm sure someone will agree with me!

The bendy lick thing-
Same solo. At 4.30 theres this bendy fast thing that absolutely KNACKERS my fingers out. Its so exhausting! Getting those bends to spot on pitch as well as playing that fast eludes me still.

Satch Boogie - Joe Satriani
Nope you're wrong. Its not the middle bit, its THE DAMN INTRO that gets on my nerves. AFTER YEARS I still can't get it to groove, and I play it so noisily with the correct distortion that I have to wonder how he plays it so finely.

GRRRRRRRRRRR!

Your turn

SidewinderINC · 8 Apr 2006 at 19:57

i cant play that sweet child bit either, and it really annoys me! i usually end up putting stupid amounts of wah on it to cover up my suckiness!!!

raz0rr · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:11

DragonForce - Through the Fire and the Flames.

So fast, it'll melt your face off.
Drumming to that is a pure stamina-fest.

SidewinderINC · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:11

^ have you actually tried to learn it?

ruffneck · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:43

everything I try to learn...which at the moment is some Jack Johnson stuff

lol

but I have only been playing 4 months

SidewinderINC · 8 Apr 2006 at 20:46

i think at the moment mainly for me its the solo from "back in black" but ive only half assedly learned it, if i sat down and properly attempted it it wouldnt be so frustrating!

a song thats always been annoying for me is painkiller by judas priest, sweeping makes me

raz0rr · 8 Apr 2006 at 22:18

SidewinderINC said:
^ have you actually tried to learn it?

Yes.

My legs feel they're about to fall off about halfway through the first bar.

Flying_V · 9 Apr 2006 at 09:21

Master of puppets and battery spring to mind, my arm gets tired!

Spirit7 · 9 Apr 2006 at 09:25

Black Star by Yngwie Malmsteen....it's just a killer to get absolutely right.. :S

-C

SidewinderINC · 9 Apr 2006 at 09:31

Flying_V said:
Master of puppets and battery spring to mind, my arm gets tired!

fretting hand or thrashing hand

Chronos-X · 9 Apr 2006 at 09:31

Sweet Child O Mine - I can play before and after the short fast run where the Wah pedal kicks in - that bit always gets me

Does anyone find when you learn to play a song it reduces its "magic"? - When a song I know plays I can't help but visualise the chords or some fingering - sometimes I think ignorance can be bliss!

* I will add as a side-note that Slash never really got that bit good again live either - he probably just went absolutely fret-potty on the take and didn't think about it too much.

Nitefly · 9 Apr 2006 at 10:11

Chronos-X said:
I will add as a side-note that Slash never really got that bit good again live either - he probably just went absolutely fret-potty on the take and didn't think about it too much.

Hah, knew I wasn't alone, thats three of us so far.

He proberly took a hundred takes and chose the best!

(I'm off on holiday till friday so I expect more replies. Lose the ego!

)

Oh and definately Battery, the triplet riff thing.... eludes me!

SexyGreyFox · 9 Apr 2006 at 10:14

In 36 years I've never tackled a song I can't do.

(Thats why I'm still on 3 chords and get the singing role)

SidewinderINC · 9 Apr 2006 at 10:17

haha, should have left out the subtext, more subtle

PikeyPriest · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:40

Something i have always wanted to play but cant get it to sound anything like it should is the guitar solo in Beat it - MJ (is it van halen or someone playing it??). No matter how hard i try to learn it, it never sounds like it should (ie it sounds crap and im not even sure its the same song)

. Quality solo aswell

SidewinderINC · 9 Apr 2006 at 11:41

yuh, beat it is van halen. black or white is slash.

bcjames · 9 Apr 2006 at 14:31

December Flower still has me going round in circles. I got over the first hurdle of learning most of it, then was on getting it up to speed. Now im away from a guitar for a fortnight im back to square one probably :rolleyes:

Sic · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:08

ha, cool thread.

i can't sing Dashboard Confessional - Remember to Breathe and Muse - Microcuts.

Chris Carabba's voice goes all high but it's really harsh, and i can't emulate that with my voice. i normally end up going all squeaky!

Matt Bellamy has a quite astonishing falsetto voice, and the vibrato is, well, it's pretty damn difficult to do. that's the only muse song i havent been able to nail

Chronos-X · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:15

Sic said:
Matt Bellamy has a quite astonishing falsetto voice, and the vibrato is, well, it's pretty damn difficult to do. that's the only muse song i havent been able to nail

There's some incredibly high notes in Plug in Baby

Sic · 9 Apr 2006 at 15:22

Chronos-X said:
There's some incredibly high notes in Plug in Baby

they're not extended through the whole song. i can manage it for a bit then my voice dies. his vocal chords can take a full tactical assault and stay in tact perfectly for a very long time!!

talented git