Hardest Songs to Play on Bass Guitar

The Top Ten
1 Tommy the Cat - Primus

I agree YYZ is very hard, but this song is just impossible. YYZ is fast, but Tommy is extremely fast, slap, and just insane. #1 for sure

Man, this is probably one of the hardest. In some parts, it sounds very loud.

2 YYZ - Rush

It was between this song and Tommy the Cat for me. YYZ is just so fast and spread out with the random bass solos. Tommy the Cat is extremely fast while slapping/popping. It's a tie.

Good and hard to play. But it is nowhere near as hard as any Victor Wooten piece. He invented the double slap and is the only bass player to master the technique.

Seriously? You're putting Metallica and LZ higher than Rush? No way, man. It's insulting for Ged.

3 (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth - Metallica

The start and the others are easy, but the end part with the drums and the development is very hard.

4 Pow - Graham Central Station

Won't say it's the hardest, but it's quite hard.

5 The Trooper - Iron Maiden
6 My Generation - The Who

Entwistle was amazing, especially when you consider the '60s guitar he was playing.

7 Hammer Smashed Face - Cannibal Corpse

Crazy song. Random bass solos and very complex.

8 Steppin' Out - Joe Jackson
9 Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10 The Dance of Eternity - Dream Theater

When I first played this, I thought it pretty much done by the end of the sweep section. But no... the song went for another 5 minutes and my arms died midway.

With all the time signatures, not to mention the impossible bass solo... One of the hardest.

If you can play this song on the bass, you will be able to play anything you want.

The Contenders
11 Aeroplane - Red Hot Chili Peppers
12 Nikrishto - Aurthohin

"Aurthohin - Nikrishto (RockNation III)" It's on YouTube. Never believed it would be that much of difficult. Always thought it was a slap bass played at the intro, never thought a tapping bass sounds like this.

It's fast. But Guti (The Finale) was technically better/hard. Especially the last tapping part.

13 I'm The One - Van Halen

Michael Anthony is my favorite bassist of all time.

Michael Anthony can actually play!

14 Around the World - Daft Punk
15 Classical Thump - Victor Wooten

Hope you have hands made out of solid iron, because otherwise your hands will turn to mush before you even get halfway through the song.

16 Peace Sells - Megadeth
17 Guti (The Finale) - Aurthohin

Different bassists tried to cover it. No luck. No one could play like him. Just couldn't get the speed like him.

18 Not Fragile - Bachman–Turner Overdrive
19 La Villa Strangiato - Rush
20 Hysteria - Muse

Not a complicated bass line but keeping up with the tempo throughout the whole song is hard.

21 Hamburger Train - Primus

Most bassists say this is extremely tricky, frantic bass playing for nine minutes.

22 The Glass Prison - Dream Theater

This should definitely be in the top 5. It's 13 minutes of torture.

23 Heartbreaker - Led Zeppelin
24 God Fixation - Petra
25 Fight Fire with Fire - Metallica

There are not many people who can play this like Cliff did. The bass is insane in this!

It's fast. I don't know how Cliff did this.

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