Has any Song Totally Defeated You?

[LowB_FTW]

Have you ever tried to learn a song and it was just frustrating you so much trying to get it down that you just walked away from it?

 

I tried really hard to get the bass line for Money by Pink Floyd, but there's a change from verse to bridge (I think, it was about 15 years ago) that I just couldn't get my fingers to work properly on. hahaha

 

You know when you know the notes you want to go to, but because your fingering is in a different position/shape before the change that you literally just trip your fingers over each other?

That change in Money was like that for me.

 

I was at the point where I thought I had to relearn how I was playing it to make the changes possible. Which, at the time, that just seemed mental to me, but was probably the correct course of action if I wanted to carry on with it.

 

I may give it another go sometime, but not today. 😂 

PTSD or something about that song now. Hahaha

 

Mark

[Beedster]

I never struggle with the hand end of things, I do struggle with timing and feel i.e. the brain end. A song that comes to mind is Down On The Corner by CCR where the line is simple but the timing deceptively hard, or at least a lot harder than a cursory listen and play-through would suggest 

[bassbiscuits]

I think Weather Report “Heavy Weather” defeated me about 25 years ago when I bought it.
 

I managed to learn Birdland pretty accurately but Teen Town utterly lost me.

 

In the days before YouTube and other online resources, it was beyond the scope of listening and working out by ear or stop/starting my CD player. 
 

Haven’t tried since. 

[thebrig]

Rhythm Stick! 😖

[tubbybloke68]

Everything Gentle Giant ever done…..x 

[MoonBassAlpha]

3 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

I think Weather Report “Heavy Weather” defeated me about 25 years ago when I bought it.
 

I managed to learn Birdland pretty accurately but Teen Town utterly lost me.

 

In the days before YouTube and other online resources, it was beyond the scope of listening and working out by ear or stop/starting my CD player. 
 

Haven’t tried since. 

Me too, even with the help of online tutorials/ YouTube etc. My fingers don't move fast enough to even do the first 2 bars 

[pst62]

3 hours ago, thebrig said:

Rhythm Stick! 😖

Ditto! Never went back to it either. 

[Sean]

Not because of chops or technique but just the Bill Wymanness of it, Beast of Burden. Ended up watching Darryl Jones doing it live and copied what he does.

 

Actually it's really tough to emulate Bill Wyman's playing, it's just really odd, I find. Note choices, note placement, attack, it's all very unnatural to me. It's years since I played a Stones song but I suppose the approach I'd do next time is either copy Darryl or compose a DIY version and graft on the bits that stand out in the mix.

[bassbiscuits]

10 hours ago, thebrig said:

Rhythm Stick! 😖

I can just about manage Rhythm Stick, if there’s an R in the month and with a fair wind etc etc….

[SimonK]

14 hours ago, LowB_FTW said:

Have you ever tried to learn a song and it was just frustrating you so much trying to get it down that you just walked away from it?

 

I tried really hard to get the bass line for Money by Pink Floyd, but there's a change from verse to bridge (I think, it was about 15 years ago) that I just couldn't get my fingers to work properly on. hahaha

 

You know when you know the notes you want to go to, but because your fingering is in a different position/shape before the change that you literally just trip your fingers over each other?

That change in Money was like that for me.

 

I was at the point where I thought I had to relearn how I was playing it to make the changes possible. Which, at the time, that just seemed mental to me, but was probably the correct course of action if I wanted to carry on with it.

 

I may give it another go sometime, but not today. 😂 

PTSD or something about that song now. Hahaha

 

Mark

 

When I was a youngster I used to take it as a matter of pride learning all the tutorials in Guitarist magazine... until bloody Guthrie Govan became one of the tutors. I can still play about half of the piece that destroyed my ambitions to become a lead guitarist...

[Grooverjr]

Rhythm Stick I can get at 102bpm now but 104 is just that bit too fast. Funny how that small difference is enough to throw me.  Same with Teen Town, but the difference is more like 20bpm. I still enjoy playing it as an exercise. Chemtrails by Beck is the one that just twists me too much. Too much pick work and remembering stuff!

[Count Bassy]

1 hour ago, bassbiscuits said:

I can just about manage Rhythm Stick, if there’s an R in the month and with a fair wind etc etc….

I'm a bit like that, but there has to be an X in the month.

[lozkerr]

18 hours ago, LowB_FTW said:

You know when you know the notes you want to go to, but because your fingering is in a different position/shape before the change that you literally just trip your fingers over each other?

100%. There are a couple of bits in Paradise By The Dashboard Light that throw me every f'n time. Most of the verse is a simple twelve-bar, but there are a couple of places where the rhythm changes and I just cannot get them right. Play them through slowly, yes - but as soon as I try to increase the tempo, even by a few bpm, my fingers are all over the place.

 

I haven't given up on it yet, as I hate being beaten, but it's very frustrating knowing where my fingers need to go and them deciding to do something else!

[chriswareham]

White Coats by New Model Army. It's been a few years so perhaps I should give it another go, plus a quick search on the intertubes has this cover that will probably help with the bits I couldn't get:

 

[SteveXFR]

Bridgeburner by Mutoid Man

My left hand just gets tied in knots

 

 

 

 

 

[EssexBuccaneer]

Immigrant song. It’s not totally defeated me because I’m not giving up, but the runs are *so* quick!

[Rodders]

I Want You Back - Jackson 5, one of my favourites but as hard as I tried, slowing it down bit by bit etc, I could never get it up to the speed of the track..

[diskwave]

Weirdly, 'I will Survive' from my old summer season days. Easy to play but the feel is very strange. Its neither a solid octave or a synchopated rythmn. other than that anything fast by the the wondrous Bernard Edwards and I'm toast. Ive always hated it when youve kinda got the line but its never quite right....most annoying.

[snorkie635]

95% of our current set. 🤣

[chris_b]

Defeated? Not yet.

[thodrik]

13 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

Bridgeburner by Mutoid Man

My left hand just gets tied in knots

 

 

 

 

 

Love that band. 

[SteveXFR]

4 minutes ago, thodrik said:

Love that band. 

 

If you ever get the chance to see them live, do it. They're really entertaining and brilliant performers plus Jeff Matz bass is even better live than on the records

[fretmeister]

Classical Thump.

I spent about a year on that and I just couldn't get the parts to work together. 

 

I hardly ever slap now, and when I do it's 1970s disco type rather than Mr Wooten style.

[SteveXFR]

On 31/03/2025 at 00:39, chriswareham said:

White Coats by New Model Army. It's been a few years so perhaps I should give it another go, plus a quick search on the intertubes has this cover that will probably help with the bits I couldn't get:

 

 

New Model Army's bassist has a really unique style to get his tone, he uses a pick and picks really close to the bridge.

[Reggaebass]

I haven’t been defeated yet on the reggae and dub front , but a few other basslines I like are really challenging for me from different genres ,  and unless I devote myself totally on them ill never get them down properly, they are, 
Rhythm stick 

Stomp- brothers Johnson

Some of James Jamerson ones