Is "Brianstorm" The HARDEST Arctic Monkeys Song on Guitar?

Exploring the hardest Arctic Monkeys songs to play on guitar, contrasting with my popular "easiest Arctic Monkeys song" video featuring the beginner-friendly 505. "Brianstorm" is one of the few songs I couldn't get gig-ready in a cover band - Matt Helders' drumming is next level, and the guitar parts are equally challenging.

"Brianstorm" combines semiquavers (one-e-and-a-two-e-and-a) at 165 BPM - there aren't many popular songs faster than that. The main riff is straightforward, but the tempo makes it brutal. Jamie Cook's part requires precise muted string work (shown as X's in tab), while Alex Turner's part rapidly alternates between frets eight and nine. The hardest section is the tremolo picking with slight rhythm pauses - it's easier to keep picking continuously than to add those stops.

For tremolo picking technique: keep motion small, pick close to the bridge where the string moves less (near the neck pickup the string moves more, making it harder). Keep the pick on the side of your first finger. The song is also very difficult to play and sing simultaneously due to the syncopated, off-beat phrasing.

"Knee Socks" is the most annoying and frustrating to get right - not necessarily the hardest, but the most fiddly with its slides. There isn't loads of accurate tab available (I recommend Songsterr with two R's for rhythm notation). It's not too fast but requires precision.

"Arabella" has that War Pigs-inspired riff and a pretty awesome solo straight out of Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way" with Jimmy Page influences too. Learn the Lenny Kravitz song and you'll be able to handle this solo - nothing too tricky technically.

"Crying Lightning" at 107 BPM is manageable, using eighth notes throughout. The solo features bends and is an extension of "Teddy Picker's" approach with odd intervals, but we're not talking Metallica-level complexity. The song uses similar techniques to "Teddy Picker" including that effect where you start and stop during the solo.

"Pretty Visitors" is noted for extremely fast, heavy, frantic almost thrash-metal riffing, but at 85 BPM using quavers (not semiquavers), it's not actually that fast. Drop D tuning but very manageable.

The roadmap to mastering Arctic Monkeys: Many songs use descending picking patterns working through Andalusian chord progressions - similar to Noel Gallagher's "Live Forever" solo. Start with "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" which has similar staccato rhythms and frantic energy. Practice getting comfortable on the thickest two strings, work on your minor scales (harmonic minor especially), and build up the tremolo picking technique used throughout their catalogue.