Most difficult Opeth songs on the guitar?

[Weakness]

Damn, I had/have a hard time @ Benighted

 

[xDetonatorx]

Opeth songs are not amazing because of how hard they are to play. They are cool because of how well written they are.

 

[xDetonatorx]

WTF? The Lotus Eater sounds VERY easy, for me one of the most difficult songs is Ghost of Perdition, I can't play the acustic part because I suck at sweep picking.

When is there sweep picking in GoP? Do you mean economy picking? The only clean/acoustic sweep picking I've ever heard in an Opeth song is the last 6 notes of the 3rd riff from Closure.

 

[Iki-ilkkuja]

The Leper Affinity has some tricky riffs.

Indeed. As I've played quite a lot of music that requires fingerpicking, I'm familiar with the acoustic parts. They're usually simple, but when it comes to riffing like that in The Lepper Affinity, I suck.

 

[Yaow!]

When is there sweep picking in GoP? Do you mean economy picking? The only clean/acoustic sweep picking I've ever heard in an Opeth song is the last 6 notes of the 3rd riff from Closure.

Indeed. You should NOT be sweep picking that part, it will be near impossible to sound tight, and it is bad for your technique to sweep parts like that.
There never is really any sweeping in Opeth, even in peter lindgrens solo's the arpeggios are played to slowly to be sweeped.

 

[To rid you disease]

personally i find alot of the picked acoustic stuff to be hard, especially on ghost rev. finger picking has a totally different feel to it and skipping strings with a pick is so much harder.

 

[affinityband]

i think really anything off still life is far more fiddly than most opeth songs, esp the moor. Never had a problem with ghost of perdition though

 

[Noel]

That's pretty much nothing compared to many other ones out there, like Laiho. (doesn't matter if you like CoB or not.)

Well there's always someone better, Bodom is nothing next to Necrphagist or Nile in terms of singing and playing, all I was saying is that Mikael never gets any recognition for playing hard riffs and singing at the same time.

When is there sweep picking in GoP? Do you mean economy picking? The only clean/acoustic sweep picking I've ever heard in an Opeth song is the last 6 notes of the 3rd riff from Closure.

Well.... you got which part I talking about , and yeah it's obviously not sweep picking since the notes keep ringing while you play the next one

 

[Discursion]

^ Yeah it's only three strings that are ringing... just like a chord played in arpeggio.

I really don't think The Lotus Eater or Heir Apparent are the hardest songs to play. I think Mikael's hardest riffs are those he must sing over it while playing them. Take for example Deliverance. There are two or three riffs that are really hard to play while singing, trust me. Another example : Serenity Painted Death. Anyone knows how to play the chorus? Alright, now sing over it. Good luck. Now back on the main topic (most difficult song on guitar only, without singing along)... let me think...

Let's go in order.

I don't know enough about Orchid to tell anything about it.
Morningrise is nothing particularly difficult. Advent could be the hardest one (on the album), I think.
My Arms, Your Hearse, well not too bad, there are a lot of strange chords but again, not extraordinary.
Still Life is probally one of the most difficult album to play. The accoustic parts are way more complexe. There are some mad solos too, like in White Cluster. Serenity Painted Death and Face of Melinda are probally the two hardest songs on the album.
Blackwater Park has The Leper Affinity and the title song Blackwater Park that both have a good difficulty.
On Deliverance, Deliverance is with no doubt the hardest song.
Damnation could be skipped, I guess. But there are some pretty good riffs in there. The riff we were talking about above is one of them. Windowpane is probably the hardest one.
Now comes Ghost Reveries with many hard(er) songs like Ghost of Perdition and The Baying of the Hounds.
On Watershed, I don't know what to think. The Lotus Eater and Hessian Peel are the harder song.. oh and Heir Apparent (but not really..)

I'll try to make my list of hardest song by myself and correct me if you feel you need to, because I'm not sure about what I'll write. Those in bold are the harder from all in my opinion.

Advent
Black Rose Immortal (memory?)
When
The Moor
Face of Melinda
Moonlapse Vertigo
Serenity Painted Death
The Leper Affinity
Bleak
Blackwater Park
Deliverance
Ghost of Perdition
The Baying of the Hounds
The Lotus Eater
Hessian Peel

 

[NicholasDWolfwood]

That's pretty much nothing compared to many other ones out there, like Laiho. (doesn't matter if you like CoB or not.)

laiho is a wanker who can only perform his material correctly in a studio. live, he fucks most of it up, especially leads. his rhythmic parts aren't hard to sing over for most of the songs.

 

[Iki-ilkkuja]

laiho is a wanker who can only perform his material correctly in a studio. live, he fucks most of it up, especially leads. his rhythmic parts aren't hard to sing over for most of the songs.

Yes! He's always sucks on the leads when playing live. I've seen them once and that was enough. He's truly overappreciated.

 

[HemeHaci]

It's not like he is playing jingle bells.. Everybody can fuck up from time to time, I remember Mikael fucking up in the beginning lead of the Drapery Falls which is incredibly easy. And his live performance is not *that* shit come on!

 

[Discursion]

Alexis Laiho and his stupid rebel sex drugs and rock n roll attitude are just ridiculous and.. ridiculous. I have no respect for the new direction the band has taken and I don't think he used his talent wisely.

 

[Hedon-]

Masters Apprentices isn't hard as well until the polyrhythmic part ("I hold my breath and wait...").

i cant find any polyrhythm in that part

 

[L0bster]

Usually the songs would generally be rather easy, but with a tricky part thrown in a little now and then. Mike also has some acoustic skills hard to match, and of course Åkessons solos on Watershed.

 

[Noel]

For me every single finger picking part is impossible I NEVER tried to learn it because I never liked it, now I regret that so much I can't even play Metallica's Unforgiven intro

 

[Lateralus14]

Well I guess Opeth isn't that difficult in the grand scheme of guitar playing but I've been playing like two and a half years and wasn't all that dedicated for the first year and a half so I find some of the stuff pretty difficult.

Also, Discursion, I'm really surprised you put Blackwater Park up there. That's the first Opeth song I was able to play (though I didn't try the solo for a while). If BWP goes up there then The Funeral Portrait should at least. Also, Hessian Peel is a really easy song except for the solo and the riff around 7:00 if you ask me..and I would still put Beneath the Mire on there just because the first two solos can be pretty fast (I learned the 3rd one last night though and its pretty easy + its the coolest one..)

 

[Yaow!]

Yes! He's always sucks on the leads when playing live. I've seen them once and that was enough. He's truly overappreciated.

Dude he doesn't usually 'fuck up' leads, he just changes them around from time to time, as most guitarists do. I'd say if anything alexi laiho fucks up his vocals live, he obviously forgets words sometimes and screams random jibberish into the mic.
But having seen them live, i have to say CoB is pretty tight, not nearly perfect though.

 

[Deadly Badger]

Agreed; the ending rhythm on "Harlequin Forest," was tricky.

 

[nocturno91]

The bit after "...all sins undone" in Closure is tough. You really have to stretch your fingers for the first part.