Rush's Most Technically Difficult Song?

[Snaked]

You Bet Your Life is technically the most difficult RUSH song for me to listen to. :P

 

 

Does that count?

[KennyLee]

Xanadu and La Villa require a ton of feel on the guitar. That's where a lot of guitarists fall short. A lot of soul in those pieces. Challenging on bass and drums, too at times.

YYZed is challenging but never a doubt on it live. Too comfortable with it.

 

 

Bingo!

 

I get annoyed when I hear how Alex's stuff isn't difficult to play or that it's all about Geddy and Neil and how technically difficult it is to play their stuff. There is technical ability and then there is feel and soul. No one can touch Alex's feel. He has the best tone of any guitar player I've ever heard. It's just a beautiful sound that's so crisp and kind of emotional. I have heard plenty of Rush cover bands and, while they can play the tunes, the guitar "sound" just isn't the same. Only Alex can do what he does. The riff in Double Agent. Is it technically hard? Maybe not. Can anyone repeat the same sound? Doubtful. His solo in No One at the Bridge and Limelight are both technically easy to repeat but no one can touch the soul.

 

Tone is so important to me. Songs that come to mind are Red Barchetta, Limelight, Hemispheres, Spirit, Caravan, and Double Agent. The song with the most feel and soul in my opinion is Jacob's Ladder. The part right after "Bright unbroken beams" and Alex comes in with that easy to play, but impossible to repeat sound. It gives me goosebumps

 

You should check out our guitar player. Youtube won't do it much justice but his tone is glorious. Very Lerxst.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2MnexBLiU

That is a very good cover, Kenny. :ebert:

 

Your guitarist's tone is wonderful. :)

 

Thanks. It almost upsets him at times to hear about how good his tone is.

 

"No one ever compliments my playing, just my tone". :(

 

I do tell him though that the tone wouldn't come through if he didn't play so well. :)

[CygnusGal]

Xanadu and La Villa require a ton of feel on the guitar. That's where a lot of guitarists fall short. A lot of soul in those pieces. Challenging on bass and drums, too at times.

YYZed is challenging but never a doubt on it live. Too comfortable with it.

 

 

Bingo!

 

I get annoyed when I hear how Alex's stuff isn't difficult to play or that it's all about Geddy and Neil and how technically difficult it is to play their stuff. There is technical ability and then there is feel and soul. No one can touch Alex's feel. He has the best tone of any guitar player I've ever heard. It's just a beautiful sound that's so crisp and kind of emotional. I have heard plenty of Rush cover bands and, while they can play the tunes, the guitar "sound" just isn't the same. Only Alex can do what he does. The riff in Double Agent. Is it technically hard? Maybe not. Can anyone repeat the same sound? Doubtful. His solo in No One at the Bridge and Limelight are both technically easy to repeat but no one can touch the soul.

 

Tone is so important to me. Songs that come to mind are Red Barchetta, Limelight, Hemispheres, Spirit, Caravan, and Double Agent. The song with the most feel and soul in my opinion is Jacob's Ladder. The part right after "Bright unbroken beams" and Alex comes in with that easy to play, but impossible to repeat sound. It gives me goosebumps

 

You should check out our guitar player. Youtube won't do it much justice but his tone is glorious. Very Lerxst.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK2MnexBLiU

That is a very good cover, Kenny. :ebert:

 

Your guitarist's tone is wonderful. :)

 

Thanks. It almost upsets him at times to hear about how good his tone is.

 

"No one ever compliments my playing, just my tone". :(

 

I do tell him though that the tone wouldn't come through if he didn't play so well. :)

As a musician, I've always felt that complimenting another musician's tone is one of the highest compliment one can give.

 

You all sound great (great tone) especially since you're covering challenging material.

 

:)

[Mr. Not]

The Hemispheres album :o

 

And I can't think of much else worth listing after I mentioned that one.

[Steel Rat]

Vapor Trails has an under-appreciated degree of sheer difficulty. Yeah, La Villa, Xanadu, Jacob's Ladder, Tom Sawyer, and Freewill are all pretty hard to play, but at least you know what they're doing. With Vapor Trails, it's so easy to get lost in the overwhelming confusion in the entire album, just try to ever learn any part of Peaceable Kingdom - its verses are in a weird, fast, transmuting meter of 3. Earthshine is a complicated mess of meters and pseudo-tonality, too. As a musician who's got a bit of a knack for picking things up by ear, I had a hell of a time understanding the form of most Vapor Trails songs.

 

For that matter, I've never seen a cover of Freeze, and it's never been played live. I've been craving to see anyone manage to perform that dark, aggressive nightmare with all the mad intensity it deserves.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Steel Rat

[KennyLee]

Kid Gloves and Bravado are walks in the park and Vital Signs is surprisingly not difficult. The rest... yeah.

 

Playing bass and singing Circumstances is always something I have to really pay attention on. My favorite bass line also, btw. Busy, aggressive and melodic.

 

Bravado I was more referencing the drum parts towards the end. Like I said, I don't play but I've heard many a drummer say the ending section is incredibly difficult. Sad to hear Vital Signs isn't more difficult because I love it. The bass in that song is gorgeous. I just love everything about that song. It's one of my absolute favorites.

 

Here's a clip of us doing Vital Signs from the last show. The triggers and pedals keep it interesting but you can see how autonomous the main bass riff is. Like I said, tough to learn and get but once you got it, you got it.

 

[Empty Mindless Spectre]

I really love the drums towards the end of that song. So intense!

[Lorraine]

Is the bass part in Kid Gloves hard to play? It sounds to me like it would be, but what do I know? Edited December 19, 2015 by Lorraine

[JARG]

Is the bass part in Kid Gloves hard to play? It sounds to me like it would be, but what do I know?

 

We used to do it and our bassist never complained that it was all that hard.

[Fridge]

Maybe not one of their hardest, but a surprisingly awkward one to nail correctly on guitar is Lakeside Park.

[JARG]

Maybe not one of their hardest, but a surprisingly awkward one to nail correctly on guitar is Lakeside Park.

 

I've never tried the play the song, but it sounds like it would indeed be very hard to get that lanky feel just right.

[Duke1]

Hemispheres... There is just so much going on. Brilliant.

 

Even when broken down and played on one of those mid 80's electronic game consoles it just highlights how much melody, time changes, stops and starts etc there is in it. Such a brilliant composition.

 

 

 

[KennyLee]

Is the bass part in Kid Gloves hard to play? It sounds to me like it would be, but what do I know?

 

Kinda is, actually. A lot of harmonizing footpedals going on too. It's not overly complicated but for some reason my hand is always a little sore after playing it. lol

 

Could be cuz our drummer tends to play it fast. ;)

[greg2112]

Off the top of my head:

 

LVS

Freewill

NS

[JARG]

Is the bass part in Kid Gloves hard to play? It sounds to me like it would be, but what do I know?

 

Kinda is, actually. A lot of harmonizing footpedals going on too. It's not overly complicated but for some reason my hand is always a little sore after playing it. lol

 

Could be cuz our drummer tends to play it fast. ;)

 

Your drummer's tempo is different than the tempo set by your guitarist?!

[Lorraine]

Is the bass part in Kid Gloves hard to play? It sounds to me like it would be, but what do I know?

 

Kinda is, actually. A lot of harmonizing footpedals going on too. It's not overly complicated but for some reason my hand is always a little sore after playing it. lol

 

Could be cuz our drummer tends to play it fast. ;)

 

I would listen to it and point out the part, but I can't remember which bootleg it was. The reason why I love bootlegs so much is that on many of them a certain instrument is more enhanced than you would hear on the album. Consequently, I hear things that I would never have noticed on the album cut.

 

All I know is that to watch Geddy play that bass, he makes it look so easy which just goes to show what a consummate pro he is.

[KennyLee]

Is the bass part in Kid Gloves hard to play? It sounds to me like it would be, but what do I know?

 

Kinda is, actually. A lot of harmonizing footpedals going on too. It's not overly complicated but for some reason my hand is always a little sore after playing it. lol

 

Could be cuz our drummer tends to play it fast. ;)

 

Your drummer's tempo is different than the tempo set by your guitarist?!

 

Funny you say that. Because of the quick delay on the guitar on the intro you would think it would set a good tempo but for whatever reason it gets fast. Not ridiculous "I can't keep up" speed but it makes the song a workout.

[DistantEarlySignals]

For Geddy I'd say Turn The Page

[MMCXII]

They've been asked the question. And the answer was Natural Science.

 

They once also mentioned Main Monkey Business but mainly for Neil and it had more to do with remembering the parts as opposed to finding it hard to play.. if my memory serves..

[New World Kid]

Where's My Thing needs some drummer love. For me, it sits in an almost uncomfortable place between rock, jazz, and Peart.

[HemiBeers]

They've been asked the question. And the answer was Natural Science.

 

They once also mentioned Main Monkey Business but mainly for Neil and it had more to do with remembering the parts as opposed to finding it hard to play.. if my memory serves..

Other than the solo Natural Science is not too tricky for the guitar part. I think the difficulty for the band is that there are quick time signature changes that can quickly turn into a trainwreck if not done correctly. Especially in the 'wheels within wheels' part.

[micgtr71]

Countdown has a lot going on. Alex plays the bass line with his feet when Geddy is playing the keys. Geddy triggers keys when playing the bass. And, it is in changing time signatures. May not be their toughest, but it looks hard to me.

[Duke1]

Kid Gloves and Bravado are walks in the park and Vital Signs is surprisingly not difficult. The rest... yeah.

 

Playing bass and singing Circumstances is always something I have to really pay attention on. My favorite bass line also, btw. Busy, aggressive and melodic.

 

Bravado I was more referencing the drum parts towards the end. Like I said, I don't play but I've heard many a drummer say the ending section is incredibly difficult. Sad to hear Vital Signs isn't more difficult because I love it. The bass in that song is gorgeous. I just love everything about that song. It's one of my absolute favorites.

 

Here's a clip of us doing Vital Signs from the last show. The triggers and pedals keep it interesting but you can see how autonomous the main bass riff is. Like I said, tough to learn and get but once you got it, you got it.

 

 

Nice job. Good effort on YYZ as well, love the little tap on the head at 1:11... Great stuff...

[Lorraine]

Countdown has a lot going on. Alex plays the bass line with his feet when Geddy is playing the keys. Geddy triggers keys when playing the bass. And, it is in changing time signatures. May not be their toughest, but it looks hard to me.

Which one are you watching?

 

Even my husband wonders how Geddy is able to play bass, sing and trigger at the same time.

[bordercollie]

Countdown has a lot going on. Alex plays the bass line with his feet when Geddy is playing the keys. Geddy triggers keys when playing the bass. And, it is in changing time signatures. May not be their toughest, but it looks hard to me.

Yeah, but Alex is playing the most basic rhythm guitar part imaginable while messing with foot pedals. That isn't difficult at all.