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Location: 6 String Ranch | What's the hardest music to play?
What's the easiest music to play?
Why? |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | Hardest - classical. Big stretches, intricate fingering, and mostly because the pieces are so long that you have to play them almost every day in order to remember them and not get them mixed up with other pieces in the same key.
Easiest - country. Three chords mostly - although, come to think of it, that might make them the hardest. Hardest because they are so boring it's hard to force yourself to play them. :D |
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Location: south east Michigan | Hardest?
I watch those finger style guys play and think their brains are just wired different. They play the base lines, melody lines, a fills without blinking.
And... I think story telling while playing (as in Alice's Restaurant) is also a much under rated talent. Like finger style it forces the brain to perform two very different things at one time.
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I have some video of a talented finger style guy and a story teller guy from the last open mic. I'll try to post them.
Bluegrass... done right... is more complicated that you might think.
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Easy?
Like Allison, I'd say the simple country songs.
Maybe the easiest thing to do is play a song poorly. |
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Location: SoCal | What Brad said about fingerstyle.
Easiest? None of it for me.... |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Hard... Fingerpicking.
Easy... Neil Young. Pete Seeger. (oh! and Green Day)
And I would really love to get that little Alice's Restaurant riff down. |
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Location: Flahdaw | For me, fast lead guitar, chickenpickin, good vibrato. |
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Location: Connersville, Indiana | Flamingo Music finger picking. No way I can move that fast. |
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Location: south east Michigan | Hey... isn't there some kinda unwritten rule that the guy who asks the question has to give an answer for himself? |
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Location: Budd Lake, NJ | Hardest? Anything done with a flat pick--and I'm not talking lightning speed here, just simple melodies or leads...I can pick a few melodies on mandolin, but on guitar? Not anything that you'd want to listen to...
Easiest? I learned to fingerpick first, so that's fairly second-nature now.
--Karen |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | Originally posted by kitmann:
Flamingo Music finger picking. No way I can move that fast. I think you're referring to Flamenco. |
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Location: Ohio | Hardest.....Classical (Listen to John WIlliams)
Easiest.....Folk music,,(PPM, Kingston Trio) |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | OK, I'll answer......
Hardest is Bluegrass, you are either right on or everyone knows you're not. I think it's harded than classical since classical is usually much slower and deliberate. Yes it's hard as hell but try it at warp speed two minutes into the tune and make it sound smooth.
Easiest, blues, you can be as sloppy as you want and can always call it style. |
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Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | Hard? anything I don't wanna play.
(whether or not I'm any good at it is a completely separate issue)
easy? whatever I just did.
No. Really. that's what I meant to play.
Country is hard to play convincingly, if you're not into it. There was a local girl (well, woman now....but she was a girl just last week in the 80's) who's promo line was "Country Music, not just played, but felt". I was disappointed that she wore absolutely NO felt! |
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Location: Texas | Any style played right................. is hard...
you need to find what you are best at...
fingerstyle, flatpicking, classical, strumming, rasgeado, power chords, swing, etc....they are all hard played right and nobody can play all styles right...(very few)
best advice I can tell you is:
find a style and stick with it!
IMHO, Flamenco guitar is the hardest... 'cause you need to be a one man's band...
bluegrass is very hard, and I am convinced that if you can play bluegrass you can play anything....
jazz is tough because there are so many variants; swing, bebop, django, etc...
rock, country, classical, it doesn't matter, ......
they are all hard played right...
enjoy! |
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Location: Connersville, Indiana | Thanks Challoway, I thought it looked wrong when I typed Flamingo instead of Flamenco, but mom always said I was not the brightest bulb in the glovebox.
Easiest to play.....12 bar blues, the hardest thing about playing this style is creating a song that has a great sounding hook so it does not sound like a Chuck Berry song all the time or another version of Muddy Waters. |
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Location: Verona,Italy | hardest: probably neoclassical and progressive heavy metal
easiest: blues
Imo folk and country can be straightforward but also pretty intricate in their most evolved forms. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Hardest: classical in all its forms (Gregorian, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, Contemporary, Opera).
Easiest: live hard rock
Because: Classical is incredibly exacting. Each note must have a certain character, volume, sustain, decay, expression. Or else it's wrong. Only virtuosi or near virtuosi need apply.
For Hard Rock, cranking the amps to 11 covers all mistakes. Heck mistakes are encouraged! Certainly one way to encourage lousy playing is to redefine it as good playing. |
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Location: Newington, CT | On second thought, Country Artist is right: "Any style played right................. is hard..."
However, I think that you'll be able to arrive at playing certain genres sooner than others. And, with THAT as the criterion, I stand by my previous post.
Kids starting up a garage band don't start out with Mozart... |
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Location: Flahdaw | Meditation #57 is the hardest SONG I ever tried to learn. I finally gave it up when my wife ran an icepick through my brain. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | For me, it isn't so much the style of music, but rather the speed. For instance, we recently played a 4/4 song that increased about half way in to 220 beats/minute, and it required oddball passing 1/8 note chords. Reading rhythm charts at this speed for unfamiliar chords is nearly impossible for me. Best I could do was hit one out of maybe 10, or find the critical single passing note and try for it, or just mute the previous chord and let the keyboardist do it. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by dark bar:
Meditation #57 is the hardest SONG I ever tried to learn. I finally gave it up when my wife ran an icepick through my brain. Did the icepick meet with any resistance? |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | probably only on the scull..... |
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Location: south east Michigan | Alan... did you just take a shot at dark bar? |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | looks that way |
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Location: Flahdaw | Hey now, there's no call for that kind of behavior. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | OK, a rubber ice pick |
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| Somebody's been JeffeyPopped. |
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Location: Newington, CT | Originally posted by Slipkid:
Alan... did you just take a shot at dark bar? I wouldn't do that...just an innocent question. |
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Location: Flahdaw | I've always been kind and polite to everyone, then POW....out of the blue, AlanM takes a shot at me! |
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Location: Newington, CT | I wouldn't do that. You're mistaking me for someone else. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Originally posted by dark bar:
I've always been kind and polite to everyone, then POW....out of the blue, AlanM takes a shot at me! !!!!!!!!!????????
Must have been the peach coloured shirt.... |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | DB, you're in Florida, what are you doing sitting at a computer??
I'm up north and it's totally VFB weather up here and I got nothing else to do except practice for open mic. Guess I'll go do that now.... |
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| In Bizzaro World, kind and polite mean "sarcastic and caustic." |
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Location: Flahdaw | Originally posted by Beal:
DB, you're in Florida, what are you doing sitting at a computer??
Technically I'm at work.
Hypothetically I'm very busy.
Specifically I'm goofing off.
Futuristically I'll be looking for a new job. |
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| Back on topic, there's a pattern emerging:
The hardest thing I\'ve played.
The second hardest thing I\'ve played.
Among the easiest I\'ve played.
Gotta admit, though, good bluegrass is probably harder. |
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Location: Nashville TN. | for me Jazz or Bluegrass hardest...
Easiest Country |
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Location: Flahdaw | Good stuff.
Some stuff I was trying to learn was the hardest stuff ever....til I learned it. Then I moved on to something else even harder.
I don't TRY to learn hard stuff. I learn stuff I want to play and sing. Sometimes it's hard...sometimes it's real easy. |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Pachelbel's Canon?
I play that... No where near as well as G8r.
I've had people stop in their tracks and come back when I play that.
(but the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall is nearby, so they are people who know how to play it) |
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Location: south east Michigan | Here's a link to a fingerstyle guy from the open mic last week.
Beatles Melody - Kevin
There's "hard" and there is "impossible". The above clip I concider "hard". What guys like DiMeola, Legg and the like do is "impossible" for me so it's useless to even concider.
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I know you might not make through the whole clip, but you get the idea. |
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Location: liverpool ,england | i tried to learn mason wiliams classical gas a few times but failed lifes to short !! i just keep going over my favorite top 10 stuck in a rut wish i had more time to push myself but work & children keep getting in the way. |
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Location: Newington, CT | That's some good stuff, G8r! I'd buy tickets to hear you play! |
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Location: south east Michigan | Easy, hard, or in between ... all well done g8r |
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| Thanks, gents. |
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Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Bluegrass is hard?? You sure, Beal?
Even these lil kids can play that stuff! |
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Location: Atlanta, GA. | Yeah... but, can they play without watching their hands??? ;) |
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Location: south east Michigan | This is hard to do.
singing / talking |
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Location: Jet City | I don't know why y'all are saying country is the easiest. I've always admired the country pickers of old, especially this guy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi4W3qH4xxs
I'm in agreement with CountryArtist. It's all hard to me, jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, latin, and hell, I've even heard some great guitar work in disco, so it's all difficult if done right.
And OMA, Neil might be easy to strum, but not so easy if done right. Well, except for his electric guitar stuff. That's never really impressed me much. |
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Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | While I tend to agree with what Beal sais below... I also think this is VERY subjective. There are Classical, Bluegrass, and even Shredders who do what they do with ease and it's 2nd nature to them. Check out Ben Lacy sometime. You'd think he has 3 hands and he does everything so effortlessly.
Lets face it. Music is not Rocket science. I truly believe that anyone who dedicated themselves to practicing and learning can master just about any style they want. I wish I had the time and motivation.
Bottom line... If you want to play like someone who plays four to six hours each day... you need play 4 to 6 hours each day. End of story.
Originally posted by Beal:
OK, I'll answer......
Hardest is Bluegrass, you are either right on or everyone knows you're not. I think it's harded than classical since classical is usually much slower and deliberate. Yes it's hard as hell but try it at warp speed two minutes into the tune and make it sound smooth.
Easiest, blues, you can be as sloppy as you want and can always call it style. |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Originally posted by Mr. Ovation:
If you want to play like someone who plays four to six hours each day... you need play 4 to 6 hours each day. End of story.
That says it all. A very talented student once told Itzhak Perlman that she would give her life to play like him. He responded, "I understand. I did." If you want to be the best in the world, then you increase your chances by dedicating your life to the cause. |
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Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | "I truly believe that anyone who dedicated themselves to practicing and learning can master just about any style they want."
Except people with timing issues. I have had students who couldn't keep time if their life depended on it. No metronome or foot tapping could help them. These kids couldn't even clapp in time.
Then I read "Musicophelia" by the same Doctor who wrote "Awakenings", Oliver Sacks. Great book about music and the brain. It seems there is a timing gene that some people toitally lack, and there is nothing that can be done for them. |
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Location: south east Michigan | I also think it's much more that just determination.
There is such a thing as being "gifted". |
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Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by CanterburyStrings:
Except people with timing issues. I have had students who couldn't keep time if their life depended on it. No metronome or foot tapping could help them. These kids couldn't even clap in time. :D I can relate!
I am okay (sorta) when I am playing solo.
But I cannot keep-time with a backing track, metronome or another player.
I cannot pay attention to two things at once, I think... |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I don't generally subscribe to the gifted theory, mostly because I usually hear it from people who have never spent any effort on anything, (I'm not talking about you, Brad) but the timing theory is interesting.
I used to explain my meager musical gifts by saying that I was born with rhythm because my parents were devout Catholics and used the rhythm method for all 5 of us, but people don't get it anymore. |
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Location: Nîmes, south of France | What's the hardest music to play?
The music which is not inside your heart.
What's the easiest music to play?
The music which perfectly fits your soul.
Why?
Each music contains one different spirit. |
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Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Arnaud....just beautiful! |
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Location: Munich, Germany | Hardest? Bossa Nova. Not to play, but to play and sing along. Always wonder how Joao Gilberto did it.
Easiest? Everything Johnny Cash played.
Best regards,
Kurt |
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Location: Location Location Location | Hardest? Bossa Nova. Not to play, but to play and sing along. Always wonder how Joao Gilberto did it. |
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What do you think?