theanalogmiddleagedman Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I thought I would throw another lame question out there since this is a slow period... What do you think is the band's most technically challeging song for all three of them? I have never played the drums, guitar or bass, although I do play a mean trombone, but I would have to guess that is is one of these: La VillaFreewillCygnus Book 2 Those are just my guesses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vols1118 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 The band would tell you La Villa and the Hemispheres album as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Powderfinger Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 As a longtime drummer and guitarist, I'd cite La Villa Strangiato. YYZ and Natural Science come to mind too, just off the top of my head. Cygnus X-1, Book II: Hemispheres is certainly complex, but the tempo is much more manageable than some other selections, not that I could play it proficiently... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastille Dave Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 LVS & YYZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusicalAbby2112 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 La VIlla, yyz, Cygnus 1&2, 2112, Fountain of Lamneth, By-tor and the snowdog... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Bay Rush Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I often hear YYZ being talked about as one of the tougher songs to play. I disagree... the main riffs really are very straight forward and simple and there aren't much at all in the way of odd time signatures in the whole song, other than the opening morse code piece. And, that's simple too. For my money, La Villa HAS to be the hardest song for drums, guitar and bass. I've been playing drums all my life and now, at 50, I'm still not sure if I'm playing it right. The solos at the end are nuts, but do-able. The whole songs is crazy really. The guitar solos (including the opening on classical guitar) are maybe THE best Alex has ever done. The bass solos near end, in and out of the drum solos are wicked. Hemispheres is really not too bad on drums at all, but guitar and bass, I don't really know. It sounds tough... but I don't play guitar or bass. I still don't know how Geddy could ever sing AND play that damn thing at the same time - without losing his mind. Talk about patting your head and rubbing your balls at the same time... or however that saying goes. :D 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
default236 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Jacobs Ladder, Natural Science, and Digital Man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New World Kid Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 (edited) As a drummer, one that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Where's My Thing. It's not from the classic era, but there are some mean fills and off time grooves going on in that thing. It's from that era when Neil wanted to be jazz, and had some of the technicals down, but not the feel as much. So you get this weird Neil Peart intensity and feel, with a few groove and rhythmic ideas that are pretty alien to rock. Once Neil 'mastered' jazz, he became much more laid back on just how his filling was happening I think. Might have been a bit of "jazz overcompensation" on his part, knowing that he wasn't quite there yet with it internally. It it harder than La Villa? I dunno, probably depends on your personal style and set up and such. Just a thought. Edited March 20, 2013 by New World Kid 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tas7 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 It's playing the songs as a band that's insanely difficult.We used to speed up when we attempted La Villa but even a song like Limelight that sounds straight forward is difficult time wise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MMCXII Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 the band were asked this exact question once and their answer was Natural Science.. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunder Bay Rush Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 As a drummer, one that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Where's My Thing. It's not from the classic era, but there are some mean fills and off time grooves going on in that thing. It's from that era when Neil wanted to be jazz, and had some of the technicals down, but not the feel as much. So you get this weird Neil Peart intensity and feel, with a few groove and rhythmic ideas that are pretty alien to rock. Once Neil 'mastered' jazz, he became much more laid back on just how his filling was happening I think. Might have been a bit of "jazz overcompensation" on his part, knowing that he wasn't quite there yet with it internally. It it harder than La Villa? I dunno, probably depends on your personal style and set up and such. Just a thought. Very interesting... I actually forgot about the instrumentals of the new era. "Where's My Thing" is a killer to play, so is the "Main Monkey Business." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del_Duio Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Hemispheres, LVS or maybe Digital Man.Drums and bass on DM are insane as you all know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John V Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 the band were asked this exact question once and their answer was Natural Science.. I also think it's "Natural Science". One of my favorites also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShlappinDahBass Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 BU2B2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushgoober Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Dog Years /thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayTheRoot Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 La Villa is an effing killer. Every time I seem to have the bass or guitar part down I find a new subtlety that I didn't notice before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayTheRoot Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Also, humorously enough, Geddy's most challenging lines can probably be found in the earlier non-prog material.. Anthem and Working Man are bass boot camps. Also, stuff like Analog Kid and Digital Man are extremely complex. Lord knows how they wrote those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theanalogmiddleagedman Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 the band were asked this exact question once and their answer was Natural Science.. That's funny. I was watching the Snakes video version of NS and that is what made think of the question. I think this is definitely a tough one and one of my favorites, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dscrapre Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 (edited) Probably La Villa Strangiato or Natural Science. I've heard that Main Monkey Business is ridiculously hard too, Geddy said so on the Wall Street Journal video chat. I don't know how bad it would be for Alex. It seems pretty tough on drums too. Also, I'm not sure how Geddy can play the Anarchist live. The chorus sounds brutal. Edited March 20, 2013 by Dscrapre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShlappinDahBass Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Probably La Villa Strangiato or Natural Science. I've heard that Main Monkey Business is ridiculously hard too, Geddy said so on the Wall Street Journal video chat. I don't know how bad it would be for Alex. It seems pretty tough on drums too. Also, I'm not sure how Geddy can play the Anarchist live. The chorus sounds brutal. Newb bassist here..The chorus to the Anarchist actually isn't too terrible. It's a fairly straightforward bass song. But the chorus does sound pretty amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dscrapre Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Newb bassist here..The chorus to the Anarchist actually isn't too terrible. It's a fairly straightforward bass song. But the chorus does sound pretty amazing. I meant how does he play it while singing. That seems to be the horribly difficult part. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate1647 Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I agree about The Anarchist chorus, for Geddy anyway. The vocal line and the bass line are completely backwards rhythmically and tonally. COMPLETELY blown away that he does it so easily live. He's even stated that he knew it was gonna be a "motherf**ker" to play live. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShlappinDahBass Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Newb bassist here..The chorus to the Anarchist actually isn't too terrible. It's a fairly straightforward bass song. But the chorus does sound pretty amazing. I meant how does he play it while singing. That seems to be the horribly difficult part. Oh. Yeah. That makes sense lol. I never understood how he could do it on Digital Man. My goodness. He's a machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tombstone Mountain Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Nothing mentioned from HYF? Is there an EASY song to replicate on that album? Lots of stuff to trigger while playing bass and singing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorraine Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 the band were asked this exact question once and their answer was Natural Science.. Hahahaha Knew it! I don't anything about playing an instrument, but I knew that had to be one hard song to do. It is one of my favorites too. Sometime it stays in my brain for weeks and I can't get it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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