Need difficult stuff to practice

[gnoll]

I've been playing much more than usual lately and I've become kind of bored with the stuff I normally play (even if I haven't mastered it yet by any means).

So I'd like some suggestions of really difficult stuff/techniques/exercises etc. to try and learn. Like what's the hardest stuff possible to do on a guitar? I want something challenging that's really gonna take time to learn.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

necrophagist has a metric ton of tricky riffage.
same with spawn of posession.

 

[budda]

Jazz.

 

[Amer Alameddine]

A lot of death metal is challenging if that genre is something you like.

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

I've been playing much more than usual lately and I've become kind of bored with the stuff I normally play (even if I haven't mastered it yet by any means).

So I'd like some suggestions of really difficult stuff/techniques/exercises etc. to try and learn. Like what's the hardest stuff possible to do on a guitar? I want something challenging that's really gonna take time to learn.

Learn any track from Stephen Taranto's Permanence EP. Tabs available via SheetHappens.

 

[Mathemagician]

A lot of Polyphia will push your technique.

 

[gnoll]

Cool, I'm checking out the mentioned stuff!

It's easier with more specific recs though, like a certain part or technique or such even. I tend to not have patience to learn whole songs, I kinda just want the really difficult parts to grind out and add to my toolbox.

 

[bostjan]

I don't know where you are at right now, technically, nor musically, but here's some stuff I find challenging and fun:

Buckethead - Jowls
Symphony X - Out of the Ashes
Blotted Science - Synaptic Plasticity
Dream Theater - Under a Glass Moon (if you have a nice floating trem) or Erotomania (otherwise)

Maybe a little less difficult, but still fun:
Tim Follin - Silver Surfer NES Theme Song
Brad "Buster" Jones - The Wizard of Oz
Mattias IA Eklundh - Print This
Hellecasters - Ghosts of 42nd Street
Django Reinhardt - Djangology
Al Di Meola - Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway
Lecuona - Malaguena
Focus - Hocus Pocus (Seriously, try it, it's much more difficult than people give it credit)

 

[Amer Alameddine]

Down Picking: Master of Puppets - Metallica (intro riff)
Alternate Picking: Far Beyond the Sun - Yngwie Malmsteen (run right after intro)
Sweep Picking: This Godless Endeavor - Nevermore (run right after the bridge, you'll know it when you hear it)
Legato/Tapping: Autotheism part 2 - The Faceless (the run right before the ending solo)
Tremelo PIcking:

Hope these help you out.

 

[budda]

Cool, I'm checking out the mentioned stuff!

It's easier with more specific recs though, like a certain part or technique or such even. I tend to not have patience to learn whole songs, I kinda just want the really difficult parts to grind out and add to my toolbox.

Sounds like the difficult part is learning a whole song then try doing that first!

edit: I'm the guy who would skip learning solos, this is should not be taken as grandstanding

 

[mastapimp]

When I challenge myself, I try to play stuff that's a little out of my comfort zone like fingerstyle pieces or chicken picking licks. Pierre Bensusan, Laurence Juber, Michael Hedges, Jerry Reed, Earl Klugh...
Other times I'll transcribe a song that doesn't have any tabs or is obscure that nobody is trying to play (Kevin Huffnagel stuff, Marty Friedman's solo material, James Murphy's solo material).

 

[BenjaminW]

I've been trying some Yngwie songs recently, and am gonna try and learn some Michael Schenker songs entirely by ear.

But I think Yngwie is more up your alley if you want something actually difficult to play.

 

[Fenriswolf]

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Cool, I'm checking out the mentioned stuff!

It's easier with more specific recs though, like a certain part or technique or such even. I tend to not have patience to learn whole songs, I kinda just want the really difficult parts to grind out and add to my toolbox.

String Skipping : Racer X - Scarified
Alternative/Economy Picking : Dionysus - Divine
Difficult Picking : Imperanon - Blade + Shadowsouls
Awkward fingering : Maksim - Cubana
Arpeggios with legato : Rusty Cooley - Under the Influence
Uncoventional Arpeggios : Shane Gibson - Emo Village Pillage
Tapping Arpeggios : My "own" lick
Alternate Picking Shred : Sonata Arctica - Picturing the Past + Wolf And Raven + Don't Say a Word
Downpicking + Shred : DOOM - E1M1
Sweep Picking - Sweep it like a Janitor

Some of my personal favourites all included in a tab pack below.

 

[gnoll]

This thread is gold, thanks everybody.

 

[Pietjepieter]

Cool threat, some random hard stuff I try to practice and fail but anyway:

Nevermore - Born chorus riff: alternate+economy picking
Mastodon - Divinations verse: hybrid picking
Random Obscura riffs: lots of string skiping / alternate picking
Archspire - remote tumor seeker intro riff: string skipping
Paul Gilbert / Racer x - technical difficulties: alternate picking and switching between 16e noteds and sixtiplets
Tried some Monuments lately super cool for down picking (Animus intro riff is cool)

(note most of the above I can not play at full speed but fuck it, thy are fun riffs )

 

[gnoll]

Erotomania

I have to say this quintuplet thing is so awesome. I love how it uses these 3nps patterns but turns around at the perfect time to not repeat any notes, and at the same time giving it the awesome quintuplet timing.

 

[Joan Maal]

 

[termin8or44]

I'm surprised no mention of Protest the Hero yet!

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I used to say Protest the Hero to anyone looking for difficult songs to learn but mine and everyone else’s tabs on UG are blocked so you have to buy the semi-correct tabs from sheet happens now.