Smoke On The Water - singing and playing

[Metal Chuck]

Alright, well my trio (guitar, bass, drums) is going to be playing this song at a concert in a while. I'll be at the helm on vocals and bass, my two questions are:

1. Will this song sound bad without a keyboard?

2.On a scale of one to ten, playing the ORIGINAL bassline and singing at the same time, how hard is it? Ten being the hardest and one being the easiest

[vindy500]

bum bum buuuum bum bum ba bum bum bum buuum bum bum

[Metal Chuck]

Originally Posted by vindy500

bum bum buuuum bum bum ba bum bum bum buuum bum bum

How helpful.

[Bottom Feeder]

Originally Posted by vindy500

bum bum buuuum bum bum ba bum bum bum buuum bum bum

That's actually the guitar line. The Bass line goes: ba daa daa da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da daa da da da da daaa da da.

Actually, the song might no be too tough to sing and play as the bass runs and fills are in between the vocal verse pauses. ie: "...at the Lake Geneva shoreline..." ba na na na na na na...

Does that make sense?

[vindy500]

well the guitar line is so much cooler....

[Bottom Feeder]

The guitar line IS one of the most definative and recognizable lines in what could be arguably be considered one of the great 70's rock anthems. Lotta people think the bass line is boring in its simplicity. I actually love playing it. It is very heavy for the period and it makes me want to drop my strap and sling the bass low. Really depends on if the person playing it creates that heavy feeling. I've heard it played by basssists who have no feel and it is very boring. But when I play it...

[Trevorus]

Why did you start this thread. This song was in my head a week or so ago, and it was hard getting rid of it. Now it's back!!!

[Lazylion]

Without keyboard, it will mostly be up to the g**tar player to make it happen. Go for it. Even my 14-year-old son loves that song. You can't go wrong!

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

I wouldn't play this tune (or most of DP tunes, for that matter) without a keyboard player. Yes, the opening guitar riff is the most recognizable part of the song, but I can't imagine it without an organ solo.

As for the second question, I only sing background vocals, but I tried singing it at home while playing and it's pretty easy for me. I'd say 1 or 2. It's a shame that Mother Nature didn't give me a nice voice, since I love to sing.

[IanStephenson]

It works fine without keys. Goes down awesomely.

The chorus/riff bit will be easy to sing over. The 8th notes do hae a really subtle groove to them though.

The verses are a bit more tricky depending on what you make of it, but you can strip it down. We often play it as the encore, so if it's been a good night I go a bit nuts and improv a crazy walking/arpegio line under it that would be really hard to sing over.

go for it - it's a classic.

Ian

[oldrocker]

This is a great song that works well without keyboards, but you could probably use a rhyhm guitar.

This is a very creative and under-rated bass line. He plays something different every time through the verses and lead, and think there is only only 1 note (C#) beyond the 3rd fret. Open stings are a must for me on this one.

[Metal Chuck]

Originally Posted by IanStephenson

It works fine without keys. Goes down awesomely.

The chorus/riff bit will be easy to sing over. The 8th notes do hae a really subtle groove to them though.

The verses are a bit more tricky depending on what you make of it, but you can strip it down. We often play it as the encore, so if it's been a good night I go a bit nuts and improv a crazy walking/arpegio line under it that would be really hard to sing over.

go for it - it's a classic.

Ian

Thanks bro, but what I was meaning to ask was if I played THE EXACT ORIGINAL bassline and sung at the same time how hard it would be.

And I'm only playing it because it's the closest thing I can play to a decent song when playing to 6th graders, this is the closest I can get to classic rock. If I played Neil Young I'd get booed off the stage.

[IanStephenson]

Originally Posted by Metal Chuck

Thanks bro, but what I was meaning to ask was if I played THE EXACT ORIGINAL bassline and sung at the same time how hard it would be.

To agree with "oldrocker" there is no "exact original". There are many recordings and they're all different. The essentials are real easy, and will get you by just fine. To nail every nuance of the varying versions and changes from verse to verse would be real hard, and pretty crazy anyway.

Basically you'll have no problems being "good enough".

Ian

[Metal Chuck]

Thanks man, that's the encouragement I need.

Time to rock the house.

[EADG mx]

It sounds fine without keyboard, my brother's band has done it many times. And the bassline is simple, mostly 8th notes, it's really easy to sing over.

[SirCanealot]

One of the first songs I learnt fully and I love playing it
And yeah, there are so many recordings with different changes... sometimes I'm not even sure if what I'm playing is "right", but whatever... I've ended up adding a few little tweaks of my own here and there anyway that I like.

But I can't sing and play this... unless I was to practice very hard. It's easy up until I get stuck at the:
---- ------
---5 ------
--5- -1-3-5
-3-- x3 ------

That slight shift completely kills me. I need to practice singing/talking/reading more while playing... :/

[Mrdak]

The bass line and the vocals follow each other in most of it. Chuck, practice it a couple times and you'lle see how easy it is. I say that, because it sounds like you haven't practiced it yet. You'lle see, It really is a zip to sing and play. good luck bro.

[johnvice]

It’s not that difficult a song to play on bass so I don’t see a difficulty in singing and playing bass simultaneously.

As for playing it in guitar/bass/drums (no keyboard) format, the thing to watch is that during the verse, there is a Bb chord change that they organ plays while both the guitar and bass ignore.

“(G)We all came out to Montreaux on the (Bb)Lake (F) Geneva shoreline”

Your guitarist should incorporate this change into the song.

[Metal Chuck]

To be honest right now I'm just really frustrated because I can't even hear the bass.....I can play the notes fine as usual, but I can't even hear the song in the bass and it's timing, god I'm so frustrated, UGH!

[FaithNoMan]

Play HIGHWAY STAR!!!!!!



..but then, you'd really need a keyboard player: /