Top 10 Most Difficult Songs to Play

WatchMojo

Prepare for a musical journey that will leave your fingers cramped just watching! Join us as we explore the most technically demanding compositions ever written. From mind-bending piano concertos to impossible guitar shredding, these pieces push human capability to its absolute limits. Which virtuosic challenge impressed you most?

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most mind-bending and

00:11physically demanding musical compositions ever written.

00:23Number 10. The Black Page Number 1. Frank Zappa.

00:26Frank Zappa was a man who was known to challenge his listeners and his own musicians.

00:41So when he decided to write the frankly ridiculous drum composition The Black Page,

00:46the piece gained incredible notoriety. Zappa was famous for constantly cycling through band members,

00:51and with The Black Page Number 1, he had the perfect way of auditioning new drummers.

00:56Over the years, the piece eventually evolved into the more friendly on the ears The Black Page Number 2,

01:11and even a version that incorporates reggae and ska. But for our money,

01:15it's the original that truly melted our brains the first time we heard it.

01:19Number 9. Variations on The Last Rose of Summer. Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst.

01:33Celtic music and poetry provided the roots for what eventually became the beloved Irish song The Last Rose of Summer.

01:39But in the mid-19th century, when Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst got his hands on it,

01:49this once quaint tune became a spiraling mess of arpeggios, pizzicato, and some very difficult fingered harmonics.

01:56Ernst was a true virtuoso in every sense of the word.

02:09But to this day, his take on this song remains a mountain that only a small few violinists have the skill to even attempt to climb.

02:16It remains his most popular composition, and it's by far his most difficult to play.

02:21Number 8. Molto Arpeggiosa. Yngwie Malmsteen.

02:27Surely you expected this legendary Swede to make an appearance before too long.

02:38When it comes to the furious shredding of the great Yngwie Malmsteen,

02:41most budding guitarists realize pretty quickly that they'll never be able to play most of his songs at half-speed.

02:47Malmsteen has a lot of melodic sensibility, sure.

02:51But when he decides to go for broke and simply show off his speed and insane technique,

03:00you end up with a piece like Molto Arpeggiosa, a tour de force in speed picking and masterful accuracy.

03:07Elements of the song appear in his famous video Arpeggios from Hell,

03:10but to get the full effect, we suggest putting on some headphones and listening to the album track.

03:15Number 7. Mysterium. Alexander Skryabin.

03:26How about a piece that is truly impossible to play? Or at least it is now.

03:35Alexander Skryabin was commissioned to write this project in 1903, calling it Mysterium.

03:40He envisioned a truly bizarre feast for all of the senses that would break the confines of what a musical composition could be.

03:47Dancers, physical touch, and the listener's sense of smell would be attacked by this week-long composition.

04:00Yes, you heard us.

04:02The initial idea was for the piece to last an entire week.

04:05Unfortunately, 12 years into its creation, Skryabin died, leaving it only partially written.

04:10We also very nearly gave the nod to another extremely difficult Skryabin piece, Sonata No. 5,

04:16but Mysterium is simply on another level.

04:26Number 6. The Noonward Race. The Mahavishnu Orchestra.

04:29In the long pantheon of great jazz fusion musicians, it could be said that no greater unit was ever put together

04:36than the classic lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, led by guitarist John McLaughlin.

04:48These guys took the world of progressive rock and jazz fusion by storm in the 70s,

04:52introducing a level of virtuosity that has yet to be surpassed.

04:55You could probably find a dozen tracks that are worthy of a mention here,

05:06but if you've watched their legendary BBC performance from 1972,

05:11you'll know that the Noonward Race is a dizzying spectacle of everything that made this group so revered.

05:16Number 5. Studies for Player Piano. Conlon Nancaro.

05:28When someone claims that their composition is too difficult to actually be played by anyone,

05:33most people usually roll their eyes and assume they're just trying to hype up their work.

05:36But for Conlon Nancaro's studies for player piano, that was actually the point.

05:48He created these 49 movements to test the limits of the player piano, or the self-playing piano.

05:53What he ended up with was a series of musical etudes that are legitimately impossible to play.

06:06No human now, or any human who will ever live,

06:09will be able to perform these compositions from start to finish.

06:12This might make them one step further than difficult to play,

06:15but it still fits the criteria for our list.

06:18Number 4. L'Escalier du Diable. Gheorgi Ligeti.

06:29You won't hear a more anxiety-inducing piece of music than the aptly named L'Escalier du Diable,

06:34composed by Gheorgi Ligeti.

06:42That title alludes to the famed work of Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher and a mathematical function.

06:48Known in English as the Devil's Staircase,

06:50the work sounds like you're literally descending into the depths of hell.

07:01It's equal parts scary and enthralling,

07:03and it just so happens to be incredibly difficult to play on the piano.

07:07Hungary's Ligeti gets a 10 out of 10 for concept, execution, and complexity on this one.

07:12This is a piece that will tie your hands in knots.

07:18Number 3. Gaspard de la Nuit. Maurice Ravel.

07:25Some pieces are written to be beautiful.

07:28Others are simply written to be difficult.

07:30A real pain to play.

07:31Somehow, Maurice Ravel's 20th century masterpiece, Gaspard de la Nuit, succeeds in both areas.

07:43You don't just need to be fast and accurate to pull this one off.

07:46No, there's a level of grace and elegance that you need to have in your playing to make it sound right.

07:50When performing a musical composition is likened to, quote,

08:03solving never-ending quadratic equations,

08:05you know you've got a real kicker on your hands.

08:08Its first, and in particular, second movements,

08:10are considered to be some of the most challenging piano pieces ever written.

08:13Number 2. La Campanella. Franz Liszt.

08:23La Campanella is a true jack-of-all-trades when it comes to its difficulty.

08:26Not only is the tempo incredibly challenging,

08:36but the leaps that are needed are a constant issue.

08:39And you need the dexterity and accuracy of a true master

08:42just to ensure that you're landing on the right notes.

08:45Playing them with the correct sensitivity is another issue entirely.

08:4899.9% of piano players will barely be able to approach small sections of this one.

09:02And the fact that a piece this hard to play sounds so incredibly good on a melodic level

09:07is a testament to just how skilled and talented a composer Franz Liszt was.

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09:34Number 1. Piano Concerto No. 3. Sergei Rachmaninoff.

09:39When the legendary pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff came to the U.S. for the first time,

09:43he knew he needed something in his arsenal to dazzle his audiences.

09:48And so, his Piano Concerto No. 3 was born.

09:57Initially, it divided audiences due to its overbearing displays of its composer's speed and virtuosity.

10:02But once the world realized just how insane a piece of music this was,

10:06they accepted it as a generational composition from the Russian master.

10:09The level of skill needed to pull this one off makes it a very rare feat to accomplish,

10:21even among great pianists.

10:23And, to this day, it remains one of Rachmaninoff's most celebrated creations.

10:28What do you consider to be one of the most difficult songs ever composed?

10:38Let us know in the comments.

10:39Did you enjoy this video?

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