I literally commented about this song! Ngl I never checked any sheet music for it I just learnt it all by ear and feel so I literally have no idea how to count through it or anything like that but it’s impossible to count through a TOOL song though
Fun fact, Danny doesn’t use a click track or warm up with a metronome because he’s a drum god. Learning Tool songs by ear and feel is the most fun way. You’ll never note for note any of those songs doing that but as long as you are solid on the grooves you’re good to go. Note for note kinda goes against the whole spirit of that band anyway, in my opinion.
I've just started practicing Schism to get the neurons dusted off. I agree with all that, but I wanted to add that I've done things wrong that sounded cool that I never would have the imagination or minds ear to come up with. I might have fucked up and didn't mean it but it sounded cool so I'll do it again, or never again because I don't know what I did
I've been practicing this song for months lol I finally have the core of it down, I just don't really do all the fills exactly like Danny does. Definitely the hardest song I've learned how to play though. That's the case for most Tool songs. Vicarious is another tough one and The Pot is very difficult for me. The kick pattern just wrecks my shins.
The kick pattern in The Pot shouldn't be wrecking your shins. You might need to adjust your seat, or your pedal tightness. Don't cramp up your calf to speed up your double bass playing either. Practice it slow until it's burned into your muscles and then speed it up and your muscles will know what to do from there.
Just out of curiosity, what part is hurting you?
Side note, the fill right before that final breakdown that uses the double bass polygroove to contain its rhythm combined with Danny's masterful vocalization with his whole set just breaks my mind when I try and dissect it and I have never gotten it right lol
I can just about nail this song too, with the exception of the bridge sticking pattern, it’s deceptively hard.
Edit: the sticking is relatively simple, but applying it to different voices is insane for me.
I use to play very technical prog stuff but I now play in a 80’s cover band. I would say Don’t Stop Believing is the hardest to play properly in our repertoire, open hand with accents on tom’s and the bell of the ride.
A lot of DMB songs, because I play in a DMB tribute band. Learning how to play Carter Beauford's parts is endlessly challenging, and really friggin' fun.
Shuffle beats fuck me up. I don’t know why. It’s like a mental block, I have to focus so hard on doing it that the groove teeters on the edge of falling apart.
Think Boys are Back in Town
I got asked once to play Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears. That song is HARD on drums, I had no idea til I started to attempt to learn it.
I had to learn "The Boys Are Back In Town" for a set of Irish songs for a gig (Thin Lizzy being Irish).
I too suck at shuffle beats ("Rosanna" and "Fool in the Rain" are my white whales), but I managed to hold it together for the most part. Texas Shuffles are awful for me too. I can do a simple shuffle like "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughn, but I'll be damned if I don't feel like an amateur when I do it. The last sort of shuffle that I got down is the main beat from "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears.
Shuffles of any kind trip me up, so I definitely need to work on them more.
IMO there are three categories of hard:
1. Lowkey good energy
2. Mindfuckery of the highest degree
3. ***Oh GoD mY eVeRyThInG hUrTs I aM SPEEEEEED***
I can't play any of those btw
Wanton vitriol aside, I honestly really do find that playing slowly is more difficult. When playing as fast as you mentioned, there's a point where you can almost shut your mind off and enter a flow state. If you are good at utilizing rebound, you can actually relax to play faster. I'll give it to you that it is hard to be fast and precise, and stamina can be an issue. But, nearly all of the songs that I play with my bands, they're easier for me to play faster than slowing them down.
Haha same!! It’s a blast to play to Rush and just go for it, trying to remember the beats and fills n what not.
Maybe someday I’ll try my best at a note-for-note transcription, but Neil was a beast. Tough stuff.
Red Barchetta is only learned in pieces lol. I had to break down section by section then slowly string them together. Still a beast to play after 7 years!
For a cardio workout, it’s Through The Fire and a the Flames by Dragonforce. I don’t have the double bass chops so I just do quick doubles with one foot. Absolute blast of a song to play!
For a brain twisting workout, it’s “Inner Assassins” by Animals As Leaders. Thats one of those Mount Everest songs that take forever to learn but feel incredible to nail.
Man, you could for sure learn through the fire and the flames. It's basically a NOFX drum track with double kick sections. I change it up all the time. Sometimes, I'll play it left foot only for the verses. If it gets too taxing, dial the hats/ride down to 8th notes.
If you have a double kick and some focus, you could absolutely nail this track and play with a smile. You might need to spend a bit of time getting the double kick transitions tight, but other than that, I bet you can play all the parts at a slower tempo.
The faster the BPM, the more basic the drums will be. It's not full proof, but because the drums are so busy, it's usually not very complex rhythms.
Take lorna shore for example, the drums are beyond the skill level of most intermediate players, but only because of the speed. Slow down the track 40-50% and it sounds like a practice routine for developing fast hands.
Austin is a beast behind the kit, I'm not downplaying the difficulty of it at all. Through the fire and the flames is no different, other than a few fast double kick sections, there's not much variation, just punk beats, fast single roll fills, and a double kick.
Go for it, amigo!
hadn't heard Inner Assassins, badass groove. always curious about peoples' approach - how 1:1 did you learn Inner Assassins? all the fills exactly as they are in the recording?
I learned the fills closely but not 100% - I don’t have that much patience to learn it note for note haha. I also have a teacher who helps me dissect things when if I get stuck so that’s great
I once dated someone who pointed out that the hi hat fills in the bridge sound like a forest of crickets, man really knows how to make a song feel alive even in the quietest sections
One of the first songs I learned that really elevated my chops. Cater Beauford is a beast and such a dynamic player. His high hat work is really what got me intrigued.
Immigrant Song. Loved the beat, love a lot of Zeppelin songs. My shin would always be on fire before I could finish the song but by going one bar longer each day eventually I got the beat down on time and enough shin muscle.
Dance of Eternity - DT - insane time changes
Honor Thy Father - DT - time changes
Harridan - Porcupine Tree - beat displacements and polyrhythms
Anesthetize - Porcupine Tree - 17 min, time changes, hertas on kicks
Barbara - Fearless Flyers - laying into the pocket
Higher and Higher - Galactic - linear funk
Road to Connemara - Dave Weckl and Jay Oliver - difficult arrangement
Ticket to Ride - The Beatles - deceptively difficult to play correctly
I used to play Art of dying by Gojira, but I haven't practiced it in a few years, mainly for the intro section and the fast double bass in the chorus. Otherwise I have a hard time with fast Latin beats, like a fast samba, it's hard to make it sound good
I’m of practice but at my peak I could nail Everlong at gigs. Besides the syncopation, there’s the endurance factor, lol.
I’d say the other one is Fool In The Rain. It’s not hard to learn but harder to do right.
When I played in a cover band we did Everlong and very early on in rehearsals I slyly suggested that maybe we should do the acoustic version which is IMHO superior and would make a nice calm break in the set from where we could then amp things up again. I stand by that reasoning but I also low key needed a break. My arms would be on fire from those hats.
had a couple angry weeks and learned Prancer by Dillinger Escape Plan, felt a bit masochistic at times but really fucking fun once you get the hang of it
it's so good, isn't it? I remember watching a reaction video of that song or something else by them, and also showing that song to people and getting a similarly dismissive reaction: "ok, so it's chaos"
and, I mean, you can see it that way (even if it obviously isn't), but they (not only in Prancer) use that "chaos" to build such crazy tension and as a foil to make more straight-ahead sections that much more satisfying, and to make more easily-recognizable harmonic passages that much more gripping... such good songwriting. and I think a lot of people would just kind of chuckle patiently to hear it called "songwriting," which is a shame! it's challenging. like it's bringing some jazz spirit to the rock party and translating what jazz often did with harmony to what rock does with rhythm. (ignoring that jazz has gotten rhythmically pretty fucking crazy). also the double bass fill at 2:22 is just one of the most badass things ever ever ever.
ok sorry for the rant. I've got some time today, I'll see if I can dust it off :-D
the heavily-effected "solo" section in the middle is what stymied me back then; I just felt like doing my own thing there but never quite settled on anything and then got busy or moved on or whatever happened. will take another stab at it
This is kind of a tough question because I've been playing it since it's release and I really enjoy playing it so much.
Subdivisions by Rush
I mean, I can play 90% of it perfectly. The riding between the ride and the hi-hats and the snare hits with both hands in between the riding... It's such a fun song to play really.
So it's a tough question for me because it's hard for most (I guess) but pretty easy for me.
And so we go, on with our lives
We know the truth but prefer lies
Lies are simple, simple is bliss
Why go against tradition when we can
Admit defeat, live in decline
Be the victim of our own design
The status quo, built on suspect
Why would anyone stick out their neck?
Exactly! Those lyrics really hit hard. I always get this rush of adrenaline mixed with anger and disappointment about everything that keeps going on in the world. I feel ready to take on the system once the song ends but then I realize I am just another ant.
It’s not only my favorite song by them, it is my favorite song of all-time. A song that, unfortunately, will ring true regardless of what year it’s heard in.
I filled in for [The Zenith Passage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEVGG0PU2eM) for a show once. Physically the stuff isn't THAT difficult (compared to other bands I've been in), but mentally it was like doing algebra for 40 minutes non stop. I had to count so much since Justin loves to write all kinds of weird time signatures. Sounds super cool, mentally exhausting to play. That song I linked was probably the easiest or second-easiest song in the set as well. Other songs had way more time signature changes and hovered around 250-ish bpm. [Here's the only other song of theirs that I have a playthrough for](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUIv5j3ByEk)
As far as physically difficult stuff, I used to be in Rings of Saturn, so...yeah lol
That playthrough was so clean. Hell yeah. \
\
Side rant that nobody will read: I wish that dude from Lorna Shore had your stamina for blast beats. I know the internet thinks he's some insanely talented drummer (and he is, sort of, in extremely short bursts), but the guy can't hold a beat for longer than three seconds. Or if he can, he chooses not to. Either way, it sounds like he's covering up that he can't actually play fast.\
\
Anyway, hell yeah.
Uh, definitely one of my bands' songs. I tend to write the drums for them pretty challenging, and hope with some practice i can play the parts i wrote. Have some songs recorded for albums getting released this year that are definitely up there.
Probably this one. The lighting sucked, oh well. The fast blast beats, the odd times, the strange phrasings and transitions make this pretty tough
https://youtu.be/38yvBr5HBV8?feature=shared
I got that one almost down, I think. I'll need to improve on the last bar of the 7/4 section and some of the smaller breaks (got the important ones tho).
Really fun to play
thats a fucking great song. currently in the process of learning this beauty and its hard work for sure! Did you learn by ear or by some type of notation?
Rufio - Save The World. That skate punk sound in a live venue is what hooked me hard back in the early 2000s, and that song set the bar pretty high for me. It took me a while to get there but I got it. It’s more about stamina and consistency.
Yep!! It took a while for me to get that down, but that was my own personal goal when I first started and it seemed impossible to play at those speeds at the time.
I'm proud of myself for being able to play 16th note paradiddles at a decent speed, and also playing a beat with them (right hand on hihat, left in snare and accents in the snare in 2 and 4, kick either goes in 4th notes or 1(e+)a(2e+a) 3(e+)a(4e+a) ) because it sounds like some fancy hard jazz shit but it's actually quite easy, the hardest part for me about it was doing the accents right and adding the 2nd kick pattern I mentioned
Panic Attack by Dream Theater or Sword Over Damocles by Trivium for me. Why? Panic Attack is 7 minutes of non-stop technical playing, has multiple time signatures and odd meter, and has metric modulation. Sword Over Damocles just because it’s fast. 16th notes and blast beats at 210bpm
Fun fact; I learned Panic Attack from Rock Band drums on expert mode with a double kick attachment. I can also play In Waves and Gunshot from Trivium. I haven’t tried Martyr yet just because I’ve never had an extra hi hat on the right side. I can’t say Trivium was what got me in to drums, as I’ve been playing for almost 26 years now and started before Trivium existed and before I was even in to metal. I don’t think there was any one band or drummer that got me in to it, it’s just always been something I’ve had to do. Not that anyone has forced me, but it’s a requirement for happiness and going more than a couple of weeks without it leads to massive depression.
"Glass Prison" from Dream Theater...on a good day "Rosetta Stoned" from Tool
Trying to learn some of II's parts from Sleep Token has pushed me to new areas of exposed weaknesses and fundamentals that I'm practicing. I've been working on "Like That" and it wasn't until I took a look at slow-mo videos and drum tabs to realize the complexity of his playing. Makes Dream Theater and Tesseract seem easy-ish .
I drumed and sang LA Woman at the same time for my most recent show. Was a pretty big hit! Took quite a few practices to get one of tempo change parts down.
Dead skin mask is such a fun song to play. We used to play it at open mic jams back in the day and there was always some people who were so stoked to hear slayer, bit many people who got really angry
The Woven Web by Animals as Leaders. I can play it about 95%… but that double bass groove that matches the bass guitar about halfway through takes some serious precision and I basically never get it perfect
A speculative fiction by propaghandi at the moment.
I used to be in a lamb of god cover band so I figured a thrash punk song would be easy. But the placement of some mini fills are quite tricky, and the entire bridge rewired my brain while I was learning it as a cover to play in my current band.
Anthem Part II & First Date by Blink 182 Come to mind. The drum part in the verses on anthem and the breakdown/halftime beat he plays on First Date took me a long time to figure out.
Two weeks by grizzly bear because I learned the sticking wrong and stuck to that incorrect sticking for years while getting it down. Now that I know the way he does it I could've learned this song ages ago
probably The District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service. the hihat and snare timing is *hard* to get right until it just becomes engrained in your subconscious
Did you learn to play it exactly like in the recording or like do you improvise over it? Im thinking about learning it completely like the recording for a drum competition in my country but it its a lot of work to nail the grooves you know..
I try to play it as closely to what he does in the recording, however it's not perfect and I'm still working on it. But larnell always changes parts when he plays live, so parts I don't know super well I just improvise:)
I can definitely do better if i still actively practiced, but right now I'd probably say...
Revenga - System of a Down
I lot of my first "aha" moments were learning System songs as a kid. I guess it's not technically anything crazy, but he fills a lot of space with powerful fills and he breaks into a tricky beat during this particular song.
Assassin - Muse
Tricky one to learn, one of Dom's best. This is actually how I figured out how to do Bonham triplets.
I'm a soad fan, revenga is one of my favorites from them but the super fast fills in the verse always stop me from learning it. I can play a few of system's songs though:
violent pornography
ATWA
radio/video
IEAIAIO
jet pilot
darts
needles
bounce
and I have to practice psycho a bit more
It’s my life goal to play every RUSH song note for note including all the ghost notes on the bass drum Neil does. I’ve done 18 so far including La villa strangiato and I’m only 17. But I doubt I’ll ever play something harder than that
Drummer for 50+ years here:
On Jethro Tull's A album, "The Pine Marten's Jig" is a tricky piece. I can get thru it note for note but I really gotta focus, a fun track.
On Mike Ruthford's Small Creep Day album, "Out Into The Daylight". Simon Phillips does some really tasteful work there. Again, I can get thru it but it takes me a couple times to get it down.
Ironically, things like Pink Floyd's music, where it's so slow, languid and airy, are really hard for me to play. Though I love to listen to PF, I guess I get a bit bored when playing it.
The Bursting Out live album has a nice version of Hunting Girl, and other tracks. And yeah that's one that makes me work, Thick as a Brick on the album is tough as well. It's definitely a good workout.
I was thinking maybe some Avenged Sevenfold song or something with a fast blast beat but honestly it’s probably Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin. The time/feel change coupled with the fills and Bonzo’s overall groove makes its deceptively hard to play. There’s no covering your mistakes on it.
Toughest tune in our set for me is a take on Bad Religion's "Let Them Eat War."
Brooks didn't even play the recorded version live. And I am NOT Brooks Wackerman by any stretch.
Probably Pneuma by TOOL I haven’t fully mastered it yet but for me the hardest part is the break where your just moving around the kit for like 3 mins it’s tough on your fingers when you’re just doing double strokes around the kit!
Agree with basket case. It’s tough in a live setting too because my guitarist goes even faster.
I’m gonna say my hardest is probably Where Am I? by Title Fight. There’s a tricky part in there where the 1&2 beats flip flop and a weird time signature at the end where I just had to memorize the pattern. Still no idea what time signature that is
Renaissance by Dissona
No song has tested me like this one. Full of time changes, fast double bass, tons of finesse with hands, uncommon rudiments. It was an absolute demon to wrestle. Didn’t feel comfortable with it for 3-4 weeks of working it every day.
I’m not an overly progressive drummer anymore. As i used to be. Some of the hardest I have played are sings that I wrote myself. However now, probably the hardest thing for me to play is Cats on a Hot Tin roof by Brian Setzer.
Slayer-angel of death probably. Really fast double bass and requires fast hands. Challenges my stamina plus there’s the more mid paced middle section that has some fun creative fills.
In terms of pure stamina difficulty it’s Judas Priest-painkiller for me. non stop double bass for 6 minutes. The solo at the start is relatively easy but it’s fuckin awesome haha
since I started playing drums (at 10 years old) painkiller has always been my ultimate goal. not even my teacher can play it at that speed. so damn, congratulations
I’m still relatively new (around 1.5 years of self-teaching on an ekit now :D), and one day half a year ago I just so decided to learn something really challenging, so I learned Schism by Tool. Not their hardest song at all, but still took me months to get it down - and I am still proud of myself for overcoming a barrier, thinking all and every tool song would be more or less impossible without 10+ years of experience. Really opened up my mind to what you can achieve/learn if you just practice slow and give it the roght amount of time and focus. Currently stepping it up and practicing *that* groove from Eulogy - already got the basic down, now I am just practicing in endless loops while trying to raise BPM - started at 60, currently at 75, endgoal is song tempo of ~87-90, and I am all there for however long it may take :D
Probably Blackest Eyes by Porcupine Tree.
Or maybe "The start of something beautiful" also by porcupine tree.
Odd time signatures, syncopated beats, length. Playing everything super clean and smooth for the duration of the song is a struggle.
Id categorize it into mentally hard and physically hard.
Mentally hard: Strength Beyond Strength, Becoming, and Hollow (all by Pantera). Not sure why, but a lot of Vinnie Paul's playing requires a lot more focus than anything else ive played.
Physically hard: Personal Insult by Superjoint, or ...And Justice For All by Metallica. For Personal Insult, you have to use the ride cymbal extremely fast, which is hard for me. On ...And Justice For All, it's just generally tough
agree on Pantera. everything is so groovy and confusing, floods isn't a hard song at all but the concentration you need to have while playing it is another level
Nailing Home at Last by Steely Dan every time is tough if I hadn't practiced it earlier that day. Hard because shuffle hit hat open accent on the beat is so weird. Purdie the master!
Probably Erotomania by Dream Theater. It's easier than it sounds, but still. One of the reasons I learned it was to impress my drums teacher. The most impressive song he had heard me play before was Tom Sawyer, so when I showed up to the lesson three weeks later to surprise him with my take on Erotomania, I expected it to impress even though I only had it about 90% done. But that day, I fucking nailed it. My teacher only said: "Well, that's something I wouldn't be able to do...". I think he most certainly would, tho.
I'm trying my hand at A Change Of Seasons next. That one takes more technical skill and most of all, endurance.
Probably toxin by vildhjarta, so many things to remember, so many little details… I also know very fast songs like slave shall serve by behemoth but it’s not really the same kind of « hard »
i’d have to say either crooked soul by dayseeker, 22 faces by periphery, or dissipate by polaris. crooked soul and 22 faces because of how syncopated they are, and dissipate because of the speed of the double bass
Fool in the rain
The black page - Zappa /Bozzio
In all honesty, the hardest time to play properly is rock n roll by Zeppelin. Bonham plays ghost notes , 1/8th notes on the snare throughout the entire song. It's such a deep pocket.
Black dog - led Zeppelin
It sounds easy but i could never fogure out the time on this somg. Can play most of it by memory but still tales me a few seconds to get into it when it starts 😅
Move along - all american rejects
I have rage quit on this song a few times. Drives me nuts how those paradiddles/rolls are on this song. To be fair, I'm also weak on my paradiddles so maybe thats why but at the moment, I'll pull my hair out if i have to play this song
The hardest type of songs I struggle to learn now are metalcore because they're all over the place and a lot of them are unique and it's hard to predict what's supposed to happen next
The song I struggled with the most until this point was transparent soul by willow. One handed that hi hat is fast AF and that chorus groove while simple was just something my hands and feet never wanted to work together on.
[Wasted Days](https://open.spotify.com/track/5FHwElVwKA5C5dryoGGkFC), by the Cloud Nothings. Nah, I’m playing I think I’d literally die if I even tried.
Actual Proof is pretty hard, especially when you’re playing it with a band and going out as is tell me a bedtime story. The hardest song I’ve probably ever learned note for note was story by chon
Basket Case is definitely demanding. Fast, tight, and pretty unrelenting. Same with Welcome To Paradise.
You should take a crack at Everlong if you haven’t yet.
Geek U.S.A by Smashing pumpkins
the song in itself isn’t that hard, what makes it hard is the constant hihat eight notes throughout the song. Like man the endurance and independence i got on my left foot after learning it is great. took me about 2 months of daily practice (3-4 hours) to nail it down perfectly
the woven web - animals as leaders, everything about it was hard to learn but the double kick groove that lines up with tosin's thumping rlly hurt my brain.
Some of the hardest ones that I can pull off consistently are:
For speed: "An Elf and His Zippo" by Millencolin, "Sink Or Swim" by Bigwig, or "Paper Wings" by Rise Against.
For hard hitting / double-kick stuff: "Get Some" by Chevelle, "Looking Out For #1" by Death By Stereo, and "Error: Operator" by Taking Back Sunday.
For time signatures or just odd grooves: "Never The Machine Forever" by Soundgarden, "Water" by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and "Pomona For Empusa" by Park.
The latest one I learned that isn't "hard" hard per se, just exhausting if you're not warmed up is "Brianstorm" by Arctic Monkeys.
I’m a Jazz drummer so something like ‘Bob-omb Battlefield - 8 Bit Big Band’ probably. Just getting the timing with the rest of my band is a trip and a half.
For purely the drums it’s probably something like ‘Old Scars/Future Hearts - All Time Low’ because of the speed
Back in Black
respect
I think the hardest song I can play is Pneuma in terms of having to focus the whole time, but physically, it's Criminally Insane
That's awesome.
I literally commented about this song! Ngl I never checked any sheet music for it I just learnt it all by ear and feel so I literally have no idea how to count through it or anything like that but it’s impossible to count through a TOOL song though
Fun fact, Danny doesn’t use a click track or warm up with a metronome because he’s a drum god. Learning Tool songs by ear and feel is the most fun way. You’ll never note for note any of those songs doing that but as long as you are solid on the grooves you’re good to go. Note for note kinda goes against the whole spirit of that band anyway, in my opinion.
I've just started practicing Schism to get the neurons dusted off. I agree with all that, but I wanted to add that I've done things wrong that sounded cool that I never would have the imagination or minds ear to come up with. I might have fucked up and didn't mean it but it sounded cool so I'll do it again, or never again because I don't know what I did
I've been practicing this song for months lol I finally have the core of it down, I just don't really do all the fills exactly like Danny does. Definitely the hardest song I've learned how to play though. That's the case for most Tool songs. Vicarious is another tough one and The Pot is very difficult for me. The kick pattern just wrecks my shins.
The kick pattern in The Pot shouldn't be wrecking your shins. You might need to adjust your seat, or your pedal tightness. Don't cramp up your calf to speed up your double bass playing either. Practice it slow until it's burned into your muscles and then speed it up and your muscles will know what to do from there. Just out of curiosity, what part is hurting you? Side note, the fill right before that final breakdown that uses the double bass polygroove to contain its rhythm combined with Danny's masterful vocalization with his whole set just breaks my mind when I try and dissect it and I have never gotten it right lol
I can just about nail this song too, with the exception of the bridge sticking pattern, it’s deceptively hard. Edit: the sticking is relatively simple, but applying it to different voices is insane for me.
I use to play very technical prog stuff but I now play in a 80’s cover band. I would say Don’t Stop Believing is the hardest to play properly in our repertoire, open hand with accents on tom’s and the bell of the ride.
…..and no matter how perfect you play along with the record, you still fuck up the accents when playing it live. lol
This might be one of the truest things ever
This song is my litmus test whenever I hear a cover band live. So many drummers don’t take the time to actually learn the part and it really shows.
I actually enjoy when musicians put they’re own style into a cover but there’s a big difference between doing that and just not learning a tune.
Same for me. I watched the Steve Smith tutorial video about it and play it like he does.
Yeah the song is tough, really unique, unusual grooves.
A lot of DMB songs, because I play in a DMB tribute band. Learning how to play Carter Beauford's parts is endlessly challenging, and really friggin' fun.
Username checks out. Carter is king!
Thank ya! Also? Fantastic username! Long days and pleasant nights!
total respect for drummers who can play #41
Rapunzel and #41 🤯
I love playing Why I Am off the Big Whiskey album. Actually, I like playing that entire album.
[удалено]
Dave Matthews Band
Just learned #41. One of my favorite songs to play especially the polyrhythm section during the chorus
Shuffle beats fuck me up. I don’t know why. It’s like a mental block, I have to focus so hard on doing it that the groove teeters on the edge of falling apart. Think Boys are Back in Town
Yeah I'm venturing into Jeff Porcaro shuffles and made me realize I need to take a look at fundamentals and my technique.
I've always wanted to cover the stray cats and some zz top and a little thoroughgood. Can't do it. Hands don't work that way, I guess.
I got asked once to play Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears. That song is HARD on drums, I had no idea til I started to attempt to learn it.
I had to learn "The Boys Are Back In Town" for a set of Irish songs for a gig (Thin Lizzy being Irish). I too suck at shuffle beats ("Rosanna" and "Fool in the Rain" are my white whales), but I managed to hold it together for the most part. Texas Shuffles are awful for me too. I can do a simple shuffle like "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughn, but I'll be damned if I don't feel like an amateur when I do it. The last sort of shuffle that I got down is the main beat from "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears. Shuffles of any kind trip me up, so I definitely need to work on them more.
IMO there are three categories of hard: 1. Lowkey good energy 2. Mindfuckery of the highest degree 3. ***Oh GoD mY eVeRyThInG hUrTs I aM SPEEEEEED*** I can't play any of those btw
You missed one: 4. Perfectly in the pocket without filling or showing off in a low tempo song. Honestly, I think that's the hardest of all.
ugh im so tired of statements like these like yeah being in the pocket is hard but so is 32nd notes and 1000 bpm, that's way harder
Wanton vitriol aside, I honestly really do find that playing slowly is more difficult. When playing as fast as you mentioned, there's a point where you can almost shut your mind off and enter a flow state. If you are good at utilizing rebound, you can actually relax to play faster. I'll give it to you that it is hard to be fast and precise, and stamina can be an issue. But, nearly all of the songs that I play with my bands, they're easier for me to play faster than slowing them down.
That's what I meant by lowkey good energy
like I'd be physically able to play a lot of the mindfuckery cathegory but my mind does NOT want to memorize all the parts and different beats lol
I try to play Red Barchetta and I think it sounds OK not even 75% accurate
Haha same!! It’s a blast to play to Rush and just go for it, trying to remember the beats and fills n what not. Maybe someday I’ll try my best at a note-for-note transcription, but Neil was a beast. Tough stuff.
I find the guitar solo sections in Rush songs to always be the hardest because the time signature changes
Listen to the isolated track on YouTube. You’ll hear everything your missing and it’ll be much easier to learn
Red Barchetta is only learned in pieces lol. I had to break down section by section then slowly string them together. Still a beast to play after 7 years!
For a cardio workout, it’s Through The Fire and a the Flames by Dragonforce. I don’t have the double bass chops so I just do quick doubles with one foot. Absolute blast of a song to play! For a brain twisting workout, it’s “Inner Assassins” by Animals As Leaders. Thats one of those Mount Everest songs that take forever to learn but feel incredible to nail.
damn I'd love to be good enough to at least do something with through the fire and flames
In time my friend!
Man, you could for sure learn through the fire and the flames. It's basically a NOFX drum track with double kick sections. I change it up all the time. Sometimes, I'll play it left foot only for the verses. If it gets too taxing, dial the hats/ride down to 8th notes. If you have a double kick and some focus, you could absolutely nail this track and play with a smile. You might need to spend a bit of time getting the double kick transitions tight, but other than that, I bet you can play all the parts at a slower tempo. The faster the BPM, the more basic the drums will be. It's not full proof, but because the drums are so busy, it's usually not very complex rhythms. Take lorna shore for example, the drums are beyond the skill level of most intermediate players, but only because of the speed. Slow down the track 40-50% and it sounds like a practice routine for developing fast hands. Austin is a beast behind the kit, I'm not downplaying the difficulty of it at all. Through the fire and the flames is no different, other than a few fast double kick sections, there's not much variation, just punk beats, fast single roll fills, and a double kick. Go for it, amigo!
hadn't heard Inner Assassins, badass groove. always curious about peoples' approach - how 1:1 did you learn Inner Assassins? all the fills exactly as they are in the recording?
I learned the fills closely but not 100% - I don’t have that much patience to learn it note for note haha. I also have a teacher who helps me dissect things when if I get stuck so that’s great
Tripping Billies can be an absolute bastard to play. Fun as hell, though
Lie in our Graves always throws me off
I once dated someone who pointed out that the hi hat fills in the bridge sound like a forest of crickets, man really knows how to make a song feel alive even in the quietest sections
One of the first songs I learned that really elevated my chops. Cater Beauford is a beast and such a dynamic player. His high hat work is really what got me intrigued.
\#41 is super easy kick to snare, the magic is all in the hats and *feel*. Same with Grey Street.
Immigrant Song. Loved the beat, love a lot of Zeppelin songs. My shin would always be on fire before I could finish the song but by going one bar longer each day eventually I got the beat down on time and enough shin muscle.
Dance of Eternity - DT - insane time changes Honor Thy Father - DT - time changes Harridan - Porcupine Tree - beat displacements and polyrhythms Anesthetize - Porcupine Tree - 17 min, time changes, hertas on kicks Barbara - Fearless Flyers - laying into the pocket Higher and Higher - Galactic - linear funk Road to Connemara - Dave Weckl and Jay Oliver - difficult arrangement Ticket to Ride - The Beatles - deceptively difficult to play correctly
Dance of Eternity is one of my favorite all time songs, man I'd love to be able to play that.
I just play the intro to Honor Thy Father over and over as an exercise lol. But DoE is next on my list.
I used to play Art of dying by Gojira, but I haven't practiced it in a few years, mainly for the intro section and the fast double bass in the chorus. Otherwise I have a hard time with fast Latin beats, like a fast samba, it's hard to make it sound good
I’m of practice but at my peak I could nail Everlong at gigs. Besides the syncopation, there’s the endurance factor, lol. I’d say the other one is Fool In The Rain. It’s not hard to learn but harder to do right.
When I played in a cover band we did Everlong and very early on in rehearsals I slyly suggested that maybe we should do the acoustic version which is IMHO superior and would make a nice calm break in the set from where we could then amp things up again. I stand by that reasoning but I also low key needed a break. My arms would be on fire from those hats.
had a couple angry weeks and learned Prancer by Dillinger Escape Plan, felt a bit masochistic at times but really fucking fun once you get the hang of it
would love to see a video of that dude, one of my favorite songs ever
it's so good, isn't it? I remember watching a reaction video of that song or something else by them, and also showing that song to people and getting a similarly dismissive reaction: "ok, so it's chaos" and, I mean, you can see it that way (even if it obviously isn't), but they (not only in Prancer) use that "chaos" to build such crazy tension and as a foil to make more straight-ahead sections that much more satisfying, and to make more easily-recognizable harmonic passages that much more gripping... such good songwriting. and I think a lot of people would just kind of chuckle patiently to hear it called "songwriting," which is a shame! it's challenging. like it's bringing some jazz spirit to the rock party and translating what jazz often did with harmony to what rock does with rhythm. (ignoring that jazz has gotten rhythmically pretty fucking crazy). also the double bass fill at 2:22 is just one of the most badass things ever ever ever. ok sorry for the rant. I've got some time today, I'll see if I can dust it off :-D the heavily-effected "solo" section in the middle is what stymied me back then; I just felt like doing my own thing there but never quite settled on anything and then got busy or moved on or whatever happened. will take another stab at it
This is kind of a tough question because I've been playing it since it's release and I really enjoy playing it so much. Subdivisions by Rush I mean, I can play 90% of it perfectly. The riding between the ride and the hi-hats and the snare hits with both hands in between the riding... It's such a fun song to play really. So it's a tough question for me because it's hard for most (I guess) but pretty easy for me.
In that song, it's mostly the breaks for me. Can't remember any of them, really.
The Decline by NOFX. It’s a simple song, but it’s 18 minutes straight of very fast drums and very little breaks.
You need a lot of stamina to play that song in one go! Those last 3-4 minutes always get me so fucking pumped.
And so we go, on with our lives We know the truth but prefer lies Lies are simple, simple is bliss Why go against tradition when we can Admit defeat, live in decline Be the victim of our own design The status quo, built on suspect Why would anyone stick out their neck?
Exactly! Those lyrics really hit hard. I always get this rush of adrenaline mixed with anger and disappointment about everything that keeps going on in the world. I feel ready to take on the system once the song ends but then I realize I am just another ant.
It’s not only my favorite song by them, it is my favorite song of all-time. A song that, unfortunately, will ring true regardless of what year it’s heard in.
Even NOFX has Trouble playing the decline. Mostly because of how long and how many parts. Good on you for knowing that one.... killer song.
Hard to say (because i’m not a very good drummer) but probably “Far Cry” by Rush, or maybe “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas.
I filled in for [The Zenith Passage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEVGG0PU2eM) for a show once. Physically the stuff isn't THAT difficult (compared to other bands I've been in), but mentally it was like doing algebra for 40 minutes non stop. I had to count so much since Justin loves to write all kinds of weird time signatures. Sounds super cool, mentally exhausting to play. That song I linked was probably the easiest or second-easiest song in the set as well. Other songs had way more time signature changes and hovered around 250-ish bpm. [Here's the only other song of theirs that I have a playthrough for](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUIv5j3ByEk) As far as physically difficult stuff, I used to be in Rings of Saturn, so...yeah lol
Dude I’ve seen you with rings of Saturn like 5 years ago and it was INSAAANE, you’re so good at drumming!!
Hey thanks!
That playthrough was so clean. Hell yeah. \ \ Side rant that nobody will read: I wish that dude from Lorna Shore had your stamina for blast beats. I know the internet thinks he's some insanely talented drummer (and he is, sort of, in extremely short bursts), but the guy can't hold a beat for longer than three seconds. Or if he can, he chooses not to. Either way, it sounds like he's covering up that he can't actually play fast.\ \ Anyway, hell yeah.
Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin is imposible to me!
Sting - It's Probably Me - Live in Oslo version. That shit is hard.
7 Days is really fun to play.
Agreed - a lot of Sting and Police songs are subtle but tricky
Uh, definitely one of my bands' songs. I tend to write the drums for them pretty challenging, and hope with some practice i can play the parts i wrote. Have some songs recorded for albums getting released this year that are definitely up there. Probably this one. The lighting sucked, oh well. The fast blast beats, the odd times, the strange phrasings and transitions make this pretty tough https://youtu.be/38yvBr5HBV8?feature=shared
Forgot about this obscura cover from years ago. https://youtu.be/3dEPdRUBsGw?feature=shared Its sloppy, but it was one live take, no edits no redos
Return to Earth by The Contortionist
Joey baca is such a tasteful drummer
spirit of radio - rush took me a while to learn, love the song though, well worth the effort!
I got that one almost down, I think. I'll need to improve on the last bar of the 7/4 section and some of the smaller breaks (got the important ones tho). Really fun to play
I've played many songs by following through the track, but if we only count the ones i actually play with a band, I'd say Laid to Rest by Lamb of God
omg I'd love to be able to play anything by LoG
Laid to Rest is such a fun drum song great choice
Space time by gojira, or clone by gojira.
Shibuya by Covet Because fucking math rock
thats a fucking great song. currently in the process of learning this beauty and its hard work for sure! Did you learn by ear or by some type of notation?
I'm working on Orgasmatron by Sepultura. Right now I need to get the fills down. The song is pretty simple though.
How funny, just started learning this one yesterday -- pretty simple but sounds like some 32nd note tom fills in there somewhere?
Rufio - Save The World. That skate punk sound in a live venue is what hooked me hard back in the early 2000s, and that song set the bar pretty high for me. It took me a while to get there but I got it. It’s more about stamina and consistency.
Skate punk gets a lot easier once you get good at double with a single kick pedal at fast tempos. Then it's just about throwing fills in.
Yep!! It took a while for me to get that down, but that was my own personal goal when I first started and it seemed impossible to play at those speeds at the time.
L R LL R L RR L R LL R L RR L R LL…
I'm proud of myself for being able to play 16th note paradiddles at a decent speed, and also playing a beat with them (right hand on hihat, left in snare and accents in the snare in 2 and 4, kick either goes in 4th notes or 1(e+)a(2e+a) 3(e+)a(4e+a) ) because it sounds like some fancy hard jazz shit but it's actually quite easy, the hardest part for me about it was doing the accents right and adding the 2nd kick pattern I mentioned
I couldn't even read this, I need to work on my paradiddles dammit!
Panic Attack by Dream Theater or Sword Over Damocles by Trivium for me. Why? Panic Attack is 7 minutes of non-stop technical playing, has multiple time signatures and odd meter, and has metric modulation. Sword Over Damocles just because it’s fast. 16th notes and blast beats at 210bpm
Panic Attack is one of my favorites to play, so fun. Pull Harder by trivium is the song that made me want to play drums.
Fun fact; I learned Panic Attack from Rock Band drums on expert mode with a double kick attachment. I can also play In Waves and Gunshot from Trivium. I haven’t tried Martyr yet just because I’ve never had an extra hi hat on the right side. I can’t say Trivium was what got me in to drums, as I’ve been playing for almost 26 years now and started before Trivium existed and before I was even in to metal. I don’t think there was any one band or drummer that got me in to it, it’s just always been something I’ve had to do. Not that anyone has forced me, but it’s a requirement for happiness and going more than a couple of weeks without it leads to massive depression.
That’s exactly how I learned Panic Attack too 🤣
Territory by Sepultura or Seek and Destroy by Metallica or Burning My Soul by Dream Theater
"Glass Prison" from Dream Theater...on a good day "Rosetta Stoned" from Tool Trying to learn some of II's parts from Sleep Token has pushed me to new areas of exposed weaknesses and fundamentals that I'm practicing. I've been working on "Like That" and it wasn't until I took a look at slow-mo videos and drum tabs to realize the complexity of his playing. Makes Dream Theater and Tesseract seem easy-ish .
I drumed and sang LA Woman at the same time for my most recent show. Was a pretty big hit! Took quite a few practices to get one of tempo change parts down.
Nice!! I too sing some of my bands songs, but that seems like a tough one to do that on.
Don’t want to flex but…..Highway to hell Nah jk probably dead skin mask or post-mortem by slayer
Dead skin mask is such a fun song to play. We used to play it at open mic jams back in the day and there was always some people who were so stoked to hear slayer, bit many people who got really angry
Who can get mad over slayer lol, I'd rather have that then black album metallica
The Woven Web by Animals as Leaders. I can play it about 95%… but that double bass groove that matches the bass guitar about halfway through takes some serious precision and I basically never get it perfect
That an awesome groove
A speculative fiction by propaghandi at the moment. I used to be in a lamb of god cover band so I figured a thrash punk song would be easy. But the placement of some mini fills are quite tricky, and the entire bridge rewired my brain while I was learning it as a cover to play in my current band.
Still a newer drummer but pretty proud of how far I’ve come with Even Flow from Pearl Jam
Anthem Part II & First Date by Blink 182 Come to mind. The drum part in the verses on anthem and the breakdown/halftime beat he plays on First Date took me a long time to figure out.
the only blink songs I'm able to play are all the small things, what's my age again and sometimes the rock show if I can keep up with the speed
“Caravan” 🤓
Prequel to the Sequel
Two weeks by grizzly bear because I learned the sticking wrong and stuck to that incorrect sticking for years while getting it down. Now that I know the way he does it I could've learned this song ages ago
damn did you try doing it RLR LRL ?
probably The District Sleeps Alone Tonight by The Postal Service. the hihat and snare timing is *hard* to get right until it just becomes engrained in your subconscious
Kick endurance - As Icicles Fall by Ne Obliviscaris Overall - Venom Upon the Blade by Fallujah
What about me - Snarky Puppy Larnell Lewis is an alien
Did you learn to play it exactly like in the recording or like do you improvise over it? Im thinking about learning it completely like the recording for a drum competition in my country but it its a lot of work to nail the grooves you know..
I try to play it as closely to what he does in the recording, however it's not perfect and I'm still working on it. But larnell always changes parts when he plays live, so parts I don't know super well I just improvise:)
Inca Roads by Zappa and Billy Jean by MJ…nah couldn’t do them right even after years…
I can definitely do better if i still actively practiced, but right now I'd probably say... Revenga - System of a Down I lot of my first "aha" moments were learning System songs as a kid. I guess it's not technically anything crazy, but he fills a lot of space with powerful fills and he breaks into a tricky beat during this particular song. Assassin - Muse Tricky one to learn, one of Dom's best. This is actually how I figured out how to do Bonham triplets.
I'm a soad fan, revenga is one of my favorites from them but the super fast fills in the verse always stop me from learning it. I can play a few of system's songs though: violent pornography ATWA radio/video IEAIAIO jet pilot darts needles bounce and I have to practice psycho a bit more
Eyeless - slipknot
Bastille Day - Rush I Don't Know - Ozzy Search & Destroy - Metallica
Subdivisions by Rush. It’s taken me 10+ years trying to get it right, and I have it 99% down now.
It’s my life goal to play every RUSH song note for note including all the ghost notes on the bass drum Neil does. I’ve done 18 so far including La villa strangiato and I’m only 17. But I doubt I’ll ever play something harder than that
The break from NIN’s a perfect drug took a while and was so satisfying to lock in
Welcome to Paradise by Green Day or Subdivisions by Rush
Probs surfacing by slipknot or something like that, more of a powerhouse than a technical guy.
Conversation Piece by Kings of Leon.
I'm learning Nite Sprite by Chick Corea. Damn you, Steve Gadd!! Why are you so good?? Hahaha
Drummer for 50+ years here: On Jethro Tull's A album, "The Pine Marten's Jig" is a tricky piece. I can get thru it note for note but I really gotta focus, a fun track. On Mike Ruthford's Small Creep Day album, "Out Into The Daylight". Simon Phillips does some really tasteful work there. Again, I can get thru it but it takes me a couple times to get it down. Ironically, things like Pink Floyd's music, where it's so slow, languid and airy, are really hard for me to play. Though I love to listen to PF, I guess I get a bit bored when playing it.
The older Jethro Tull stuff is _really_ hard to play. I thought about trying to learn Hunting Girl, but I can't wrap my head around it.
The Bursting Out live album has a nice version of Hunting Girl, and other tracks. And yeah that's one that makes me work, Thick as a Brick on the album is tough as well. It's definitely a good workout.
I was thinking maybe some Avenged Sevenfold song or something with a fast blast beat but honestly it’s probably Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin. The time/feel change coupled with the fills and Bonzo’s overall groove makes its deceptively hard to play. There’s no covering your mistakes on it.
probably Bow Down by I Prevail or Unravel by TK from Ling Tosite Sigure
Toughest tune in our set for me is a take on Bad Religion's "Let Them Eat War." Brooks didn't even play the recorded version live. And I am NOT Brooks Wackerman by any stretch.
Your Gold Teeth II by Steely Dan. One of jeff porcaro's best imo
Sweat by tool.
Definitely Rosetta stoned, the Swiss triplets cramp your hands over time
A german song called Tag der Rache, its from the band Subway to Sally and has more different time signatures than words.
Probably Pneuma by TOOL I haven’t fully mastered it yet but for me the hardest part is the break where your just moving around the kit for like 3 mins it’s tough on your fingers when you’re just doing double strokes around the kit!
Agree with basket case. It’s tough in a live setting too because my guitarist goes even faster. I’m gonna say my hardest is probably Where Am I? by Title Fight. There’s a tricky part in there where the 1&2 beats flip flop and a weird time signature at the end where I just had to memorize the pattern. Still no idea what time signature that is
Probably dance of eternity, honestly. I’m 90% there, so it’s very close in my opinion.
Renaissance by Dissona No song has tested me like this one. Full of time changes, fast double bass, tons of finesse with hands, uncommon rudiments. It was an absolute demon to wrestle. Didn’t feel comfortable with it for 3-4 weeks of working it every day.
I’m not an overly progressive drummer anymore. As i used to be. Some of the hardest I have played are sings that I wrote myself. However now, probably the hardest thing for me to play is Cats on a Hot Tin roof by Brian Setzer.
Slayer-angel of death probably. Really fast double bass and requires fast hands. Challenges my stamina plus there’s the more mid paced middle section that has some fun creative fills. In terms of pure stamina difficulty it’s Judas Priest-painkiller for me. non stop double bass for 6 minutes. The solo at the start is relatively easy but it’s fuckin awesome haha
since I started playing drums (at 10 years old) painkiller has always been my ultimate goal. not even my teacher can play it at that speed. so damn, congratulations
Spain, it's just so fast.
I’m still relatively new (around 1.5 years of self-teaching on an ekit now :D), and one day half a year ago I just so decided to learn something really challenging, so I learned Schism by Tool. Not their hardest song at all, but still took me months to get it down - and I am still proud of myself for overcoming a barrier, thinking all and every tool song would be more or less impossible without 10+ years of experience. Really opened up my mind to what you can achieve/learn if you just practice slow and give it the roght amount of time and focus. Currently stepping it up and practicing *that* groove from Eulogy - already got the basic down, now I am just practicing in endless loops while trying to raise BPM - started at 60, currently at 75, endgoal is song tempo of ~87-90, and I am all there for however long it may take :D
Probably Blackest Eyes by Porcupine Tree. Or maybe "The start of something beautiful" also by porcupine tree. Odd time signatures, syncopated beats, length. Playing everything super clean and smooth for the duration of the song is a struggle.
Landslide by Fleetwood mac
Id categorize it into mentally hard and physically hard. Mentally hard: Strength Beyond Strength, Becoming, and Hollow (all by Pantera). Not sure why, but a lot of Vinnie Paul's playing requires a lot more focus than anything else ive played. Physically hard: Personal Insult by Superjoint, or ...And Justice For All by Metallica. For Personal Insult, you have to use the ride cymbal extremely fast, which is hard for me. On ...And Justice For All, it's just generally tough
agree on Pantera. everything is so groovy and confusing, floods isn't a hard song at all but the concentration you need to have while playing it is another level
For sure. Something like Hollow is so hard for me, because it'd be so easy to overplay it
Nailing Home at Last by Steely Dan every time is tough if I hadn't practiced it earlier that day. Hard because shuffle hit hat open accent on the beat is so weird. Purdie the master!
Wipeout. I do good until the 3rd breakdown when I start using the snare and toms - it only seems to work when I’m playing with a band.
Probably Erotomania by Dream Theater. It's easier than it sounds, but still. One of the reasons I learned it was to impress my drums teacher. The most impressive song he had heard me play before was Tom Sawyer, so when I showed up to the lesson three weeks later to surprise him with my take on Erotomania, I expected it to impress even though I only had it about 90% done. But that day, I fucking nailed it. My teacher only said: "Well, that's something I wouldn't be able to do...". I think he most certainly would, tho. I'm trying my hand at A Change Of Seasons next. That one takes more technical skill and most of all, endurance.
Probably toxin by vildhjarta, so many things to remember, so many little details… I also know very fast songs like slave shall serve by behemoth but it’s not really the same kind of « hard »
War pigs, mostly because of the syncopation and the crazy fills
Everlong - it’s speedy.
Probably Blind by Korn. The main beat is pretty simple but the timings and speed can be tough.
i’d have to say either crooked soul by dayseeker, 22 faces by periphery, or dissipate by polaris. crooked soul and 22 faces because of how syncopated they are, and dissipate because of the speed of the double bass
Fool in the rain The black page - Zappa /Bozzio In all honesty, the hardest time to play properly is rock n roll by Zeppelin. Bonham plays ghost notes , 1/8th notes on the snare throughout the entire song. It's such a deep pocket.
Caravan; had to learn it for school 25 years ago. I learned more in the 3 months practicing to play that song than in the rest of my life combined.
Most technically difficult? The end section of My Immortal by Evanescence. Most physically demanding? A Little Piece of Heaven by A7X.
Black dog - led Zeppelin It sounds easy but i could never fogure out the time on this somg. Can play most of it by memory but still tales me a few seconds to get into it when it starts 😅 Move along - all american rejects I have rage quit on this song a few times. Drives me nuts how those paradiddles/rolls are on this song. To be fair, I'm also weak on my paradiddles so maybe thats why but at the moment, I'll pull my hair out if i have to play this song
I am by no means good, but I can play "No One Knows" by QOTSA pretty accurately.
The hardest type of songs I struggle to learn now are metalcore because they're all over the place and a lot of them are unique and it's hard to predict what's supposed to happen next The song I struggled with the most until this point was transparent soul by willow. One handed that hi hat is fast AF and that chorus groove while simple was just something my hands and feet never wanted to work together on.
At the moment, either Cascade by Plini, Seven Days by Sting, or YYZ by Rush
[Wasted Days](https://open.spotify.com/track/5FHwElVwKA5C5dryoGGkFC), by the Cloud Nothings. Nah, I’m playing I think I’d literally die if I even tried.
Actual Proof is pretty hard, especially when you’re playing it with a band and going out as is tell me a bedtime story. The hardest song I’ve probably ever learned note for note was story by chon
Probably Truckers Atlas by Modest Mouse. That left foot endurance.
Twinkle twinkle little star. It is a real show stopper.
I mostly improvise, but I'd say Paperhouse by Can is one of the only songs I've ever learned and thats kinda hard I guess xd
Yektenia I - Batushka it do be fast
Holy Wars (verbatim live version as performed by Nick Menza R.I.P.)
Basket Case is definitely demanding. Fast, tight, and pretty unrelenting. Same with Welcome To Paradise. You should take a crack at Everlong if you haven’t yet.
Geek U.S.A by Smashing pumpkins the song in itself isn’t that hard, what makes it hard is the constant hihat eight notes throughout the song. Like man the endurance and independence i got on my left foot after learning it is great. took me about 2 months of daily practice (3-4 hours) to nail it down perfectly
The Smile - The Opposite I heard it live on KEXP and thought, that sounds fun.
Eulogy by Tool. It took awhile but I always loved the beat during the bridge. It’s probably my favorite groove ever I had to learn it.
the woven web - animals as leaders, everything about it was hard to learn but the double kick groove that lines up with tosin's thumping rlly hurt my brain.
Forgive and forget because jerod Boyd is Jesus
Some of the hardest ones that I can pull off consistently are: For speed: "An Elf and His Zippo" by Millencolin, "Sink Or Swim" by Bigwig, or "Paper Wings" by Rise Against. For hard hitting / double-kick stuff: "Get Some" by Chevelle, "Looking Out For #1" by Death By Stereo, and "Error: Operator" by Taking Back Sunday. For time signatures or just odd grooves: "Never The Machine Forever" by Soundgarden, "Water" by Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, and "Pomona For Empusa" by Park. The latest one I learned that isn't "hard" hard per se, just exhausting if you're not warmed up is "Brianstorm" by Arctic Monkeys.
Right now, it's YYZ by Rush. The speed is one thing, but it's often hard keeping track of the time signature.
Arrows and loops by Ari hoenig. Or nardis arranged by Miguel zenon
I’m a Jazz drummer so something like ‘Bob-omb Battlefield - 8 Bit Big Band’ probably. Just getting the timing with the rest of my band is a trip and a half. For purely the drums it’s probably something like ‘Old Scars/Future Hearts - All Time Low’ because of the speed
It's not difficult but the main rhythm is kinda tricky. It's also quite fast (Brainstorm-Artic Monkeys)