what's the hardest guitar riffs/solos to learn ever?

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Nicole_Rose said:
anything by michael angelo batio with his double guitar is really hard. i don't know if it's the hardest but it for sure ain't easy.

this isn't with his double guitar but it shows off some mean talent. he shreds but shows some feeling too. https://youtube.com/watch?v=jut4ltgZNxo

check out some of his stuff with his double guitars too.
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this one isn't bad for his double guitars. there are much better ones out there though, i just can't seem to find them again. https://youtube.com/watch?v=rutyA12z3Ok
 
No good answers. I was pretty competent at the meedlymeedly guitar, I could play Satch Boogie, Far Beyond the Sun, most of Cliffs of Dover, or almost anything I cared to put time into. Lotsa thrash metal covers, with note-for-note Skolnik and Friedman solos. Then I got into SRV, and it took me three or five years to learn to play halfway decent blues guitar. I joined a fried's sloppy-ass indie rock band a couple years ago, I'm only now getting a real feel for how it's supposed to be played (but I've had many other things occupying my time...).
 
Allan Holdsworth with Jean Luc Ponty on Enigmatic Ocean.

Pick one . . .
 
Farview said:
You think that's shreding. Check this out.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=KceDSAolwmY

He even shows you how to do it.
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if that's representative of his style i much prefer michael batio. i don't normally like shredders because there's very little melody in it. in the beginning of his career michael batio was like all the rest... pure speed. but in his later stuff he has a much more melodic style, even in his speed playing. and that appeals to me much more than a pure speed guy.
 
Nicole_Rose said:
if that's representative of his style i much prefer michael batio. i don't normally like shredders because there's very little melody in it. in the beginning of his career michael batio was like all the rest... pure speed. but in his later stuff he has a much more melodic style, even in his speed playing. and that appeals to me much more than a pure speed guy.
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No, it is not representitive of the entirety of his style.

Batio's early stuff was more like Randy Rhodes. He has been around since the early 80's, when the RR stuff was as cool as it got.

Batio's speed work, especially with the double and quad guitar, is mostly nonsense. It's just noise and show that has no relation to scales or anything else musical. His melodies are cool, and he does have some great textures that he throws in every once in a while, but a lot of what seems incredible is just a lot of posing.


If you want to listen to an extremely musical guy, look for Tony MacAlpine.
 
Farview said:
If you want to listen to an extremely musical guy, look for Tony MacAlpine.
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+1 on this suggestion. Haven't heard him in a while.

Farview--I'm assuming that was you that David Shankle mentioned at the end of the video? I thought it was a cool video--thanks for posting.
 
When it comes to rock guitar, the big thing to me is this: can you tell who's playing when you hear it? Lots of guys cop Yngwie licks, but none capture the feeling and emotion that Yngwie is somehow able to inject into his playing. I can't listen to him long, but he's the master of that style. Joe Satriani is the same way... how many guys do you see on yewtewb who can play his stuff note for note, but the performance is unmoving, at best? Then there is Vai. His stuff just doesn't compute in my head. Some of it has, like when he played with David Lee Roth. But for the most part, his playing leaves me uninterested because of the lack of melody. So, it's more than just learing the notes... I'd rather shoot to learn how a guy is able to make his playing emotionaly interesting. How to play with "feeling," and create a voice on the instrument. Take that away from your heroes and add it to your own sense of melody, and then you'll truly have something worthwhile.

But, I shall answer the question as asked. I would say that the "hardest" thing to play would vary from person to person.
So, to me, the hardest things to learn are anything that involves fingerpicking.
Like classical guitar. Lots of those guys got it goin on! I can't suggest any in particular, but some have been suggested. By the way, wasn't paganini a violinist?
The other "most hard" for me is chickin' pickin' that makes use of finger pickin'. Matter of fact, I've spent hours in times passed trying to learn some solos off of a country record, not understanding that the guy was finger picking. Of course, I never succeeded, but I did learn some cool stuff in the process. Search on Youtube for Brent Mason, or Scotty Anderson, or Brad Paisley. They are all very accoplished at this style.

Peace!

~Shawn
 
eyema_believer said:
I'd rather shoot to learn how a guy is able to make his playing emotionaly interesting. How to play with "feeling," and create a voice on the instrument.~Shawn
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I don't think you can teach or learn that. That is where the soul and heart comes in.
 
eyema_believer said:
But, I shall answer the question as asked. I would say that the "hardest" thing to play would vary from person to person.
So, to me, the hardest things to learn are anything that involves fingerpicking.
Like classical guitar. Lots of those guys got it goin on! I can't suggest any in particular, but some have been suggested. By the way, wasn't paganini a violinist?
The other "most hard" for me is chickin' pickin' that makes use of finger pickin'. Matter of fact, I've spent hours in times passed trying to learn some solos off of a country record, not understanding that the guy was finger picking. Of course, I never succeeded, but I did learn some cool stuff in the process. Search on Youtube for Brent Mason, or Scotty Anderson, or Brad Paisley. They are all very accoplished at this style.

Peace!

~Shawn
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One of Scotty Andersons best. Finger pickin and Chicken pickin a jazz standard on an acoustic and doing all those runs and arps that the shredding fret wankers love so much. Difference is he's doing it on acoustic and every note has to sound and he hasn't got banks of reverb and distortion to hide behind. He also has that extra thing that is a feel for improvisation. Saw him do this at a show once and he didn't repeat himself in over 10 minutes. Cool guy.

If some one could send me the tab I'd like to have a stab at it.;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_0F_UeoAUc&feature=related
 
Pat Metheny: infinitely inventive use of scales, all over the damn shop. I can keep up for about half a bar (on a good day, and on cocaine) only to be left in the dust. Holy cow. All that, and you get to hear him in a department store elevator on the odd occasion! Then there's Classical/Flamenco. There's this three fingered dude who runs rings 'round me, too. Sob.
 
It's that thing running around in your head all the time. The one that you would love to be able to play.

Say what you will, but any of that fast shit you can learn by practicing for a while. Improvisation will take you a lifetime to learn, and you still won't be able to play that damn thing in your head.


But if you want to know what's really hard, it's getting the interpretation of the classical stuff down. Case in point:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG7y_CD9rMg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtgiYhu_kO0&feature=related


Sorry about the volume differences. I thought I had seen another version of her doing this that was a better recording, but I can't find it. But Sigovia's got more soul. Why? Because he'd been playing that piece for about 60 years at that point. You pick up some things.

I'm not knocking Vidovic here, by the way. She's a fine player. She's just young. Give her 60 years, and she'll get there.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
I would have to say for rock Randy Rhodes and Malmsteen, for jazz styles just about all of them.

Rock On
 
Slightly off topic, or at least off instrument, but seeing as Paganini was mentioned earlier... how about Franz Lizst. This guy managed to squeeze more notes per second (piano) than I've ever heard. Some of it was kind of like the mindlesss shredders around now in that he was just trying to push extreme speed and technicality but also had some beautifull compositions too, very unusual phrasings with mind blowing difficulty thrown in everywhere. If you like extreme shred you would probably like Franz Lizst too, check him out.
 
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