Question for all you cover band people

[Spraeg]

So, I've always been original music kind of guy. I've only ever played a handful of covers, I've never played in a cover band, and I can only remember maybe once or twice seeing a cover band in a bar. That being said, obviously I'm not familiar with covers, or what kind of songs cover bands play. Now that my original band is tanking, I've decided it's time to do some serious woodshedding, improve my skills, and maybe hopefully make a little bit of side money by playing covers. I've looked through some other threads on here trying to get a good idea of what cover bands generally play, and I've yet to find many common "standard" setlists. Obviously, every band is different, and every setlist is different, depending on the composition and skill level of the band, but I'm sure there's some songs everyone just *has* to have in their arsenal, I'm looking for ideas as to what those may be.

TL: DR Version: I'm starting to play covers, and I'm looking for suggestions of which songs would be good to know going into an audition.

Anyone got any ideas/advice/suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated.

[amosjones]

I would start here
Covers that are NOT over done?

[Spraeg]

Originally Posted by amosjones

I would start here
Covers that are NOT over done?

Thats just it, I'm looking for the ones that ARE over done. I'm looking for the songs that EVERYONE knows, things that I'd be expected to be able tom play at the drop of a hat walking into an audition. I seem to remember there being an "essential songs" thread, but I can't find it now, and it was mostly technique-type stuff.

[JTE]

Yeah, that "songs every bass player should know" thread is in General Instruction, so the slant of it is towards songs that have cool bass lines that you can learn from, not what kinds of things people expect to hear when they go hear a bar band.

This stuff is pretty regional. For example, lots of musicians decry having to had to play "Mustang Sally" and/or "Brown Eyed Girl". I've gigged as a cover band musician since 1977, and only started playing those two around 1977. On the other hand, it seemed like for decades, whether in a rock oriented or in a country band, I had to drag myself through playing various Lynyrd Skynyrd abominations every night for decades.

Here's a better choice than asking the TB collective. Go see local cover bands that are successful and note what songs they're playing. Pay attention to genre, how they market themselves, etc. See, my experience is that the precise songs are less important than the way the package is presented. My last band was doing a lot of Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Sam & Dave, Blues Bros., Stax, Motown, R'n'B, funk stuff. But we also did Stones, Zep, Beatles, Elton John, etc. It was the way the two women sang, how they worked the audience, and how they did the show that sold that band. Looking at the Sister Groove set list one would ask "No Supremes, only one Smokey Robinson, and you're doing Motown?!?". But it didn't matter, because we had other stuff that the crowd loved. Would a crowd love "Come Together" with the same musicians but different singers if we were billed as an R'n'B band? Probably not, but that was one of our biggest fan favorites.

Why? That's the second part of this. We didn't sound like (nor aspire to ever sound like) a particular recording. We did the songs, not the record. The song ain't the guitar solo, the arrangement, the string sound, etc. It's the SONG. Now we'd start with a recording, but there are a lot of different interpretations we'd listen to, and having four musicians with widely different backgrounds meant we all had different leanings when interpreting what was important in a song. The guitarist was a huge fan of Robben Ford and John Scofield, but also of The Sex Pistols and The Clash. The drummer came from a background of "southern rock" boogie where Skynyrd could do no wrong while the keyboard player and I despised Skynyrd. I'm a huge fan of real country music (before Garth Brooks fans ruined the music) and blues, but I don't think SRV was the savior of the blues. So, when we started working up "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" we of course had The Animals' version in our heads. But also Robben Ford's wonderful cover of it, and the keyboard player dug up Nina Simone's original version (pre-dates The Animals) too. We jumbled all that together and it sounded like Sister Groove.

Same with our closing song. It started out as a joke doing "Life In The Fast Lane" on the fly one night. We'd been messing around with P-Funk's "Give Up The Funk" at rehearsal that week too, when the guitarist said "play "Life In The Fast Lane" like a James Brown song. The Bootsy connection between "Give Up The Funk" and James Brown led me to playing a bass line on that Eagles' song that made the drummer cue me to start Sly & The Family Stone's "Thank You (Falletine Me Be Mice Elf, Again)". That became our end-of-show medley of those three songs= all because of two key things. First, we weren't slaves to a recording, and second, we reacted on the fly to each other's playing and how the crowd responded.

So, to find songs you should know? Find what songs are common threads in the area you live in.

John

[Phalex]

JTE hit it right on the head.

What kind of cover band do you want to be? Blues? (Big in your area I assume) Top 40? Classic Rock? Oldies? Country and Western? A variety band that does it all?

Pick a format that you think you can play and sell the crap out of, and do it.

I used to play in a "Classic Rock" band. After about 20 years, the "Classic Rock" tunes we did kinda morphed into "Oldies". My current band retains some classic rock stuff, as well as some blues stuff that are staples, but we've moved into the "Top 40" stuff as well. We're doing pretty good.

[ThudThudThud]

One thing about the transition from originals to covers is that it really broadens your musical knowledge and chops. I was in a similar situation and it really improved my playing having to learn a bunch of other peoples' songs.

I'd suggest putting a 'classic rock' or similar radio station on for a day, picking out the songs they play, then go learn them. Rinse and repeat.

[Spraeg]

Thanks alot for the tips, guys. I'm leaning more towards Classic Rock/Top 40 bar standards, so I guess I'm gonna have to suck it up and start going to see a bunch of cover bands. Thats very helpful, JTE, I was thinking more along the lines of "What do people want to hear" as opposed to "How do people want to hear xxxxx".

[DRafalske]

http://www.discjockeys.com/top_200.php

[Calebmundy]

Every band I've ever seen in Nashville plays "Hard to Handle". Most bands outside of Nashville too. A comprehensive list would be difficult to put together: it seems lile there are always regional leanings, but that one seems like a safe bet.

[ggunn]

If you are going to play weddings, you'll have to know the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey. Thank god the Macarena finally went away!

For holiday parties there is (of course) Auld Lang Syne as well as an assortment of secular Christmas songs.

Weddings and parties is where the money is.

[Disco Batman]

I'm in the same situation as the OP. Trying to bone up my cover songs so I can find a band to play in.

What I've done so far is just look up local cover band's websites and look at what they play.

[MNAirHead]

flip through gigmasters.com.. it's probably the most conscise listing of setlists on the net.

[Philbiker]

Originally Posted by DRafalske

http://www.discjockeys.com/top_200.php

Good start.

The key with playing in a cover band is being able to play anything when someone throws a chord chart in front of you. It helps to know Nashville numbers.

If there's a heavy riff involved ("Sunshine of Your Love", "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo", etc.) you should be able to pick it up QUICK. Have a good memory and be able to pick anything up fast and you'll be good to go.

Being able to sing good harmonies, or leads for some songs, is GIGANTIC.

BTW: Playing in a cover band is effing awesome. WAY better than playing in original bands IMO unless your songwriters are CRAZY talented. Few are. Audiences love songs they know.

[MatticusMania]

If youre playing in Jersey - anything you can pump your fist to.

[TheVoiceless]

Well I just made the same move myself for the same reasons. I can say from my experience that its best to just line up an audition and have them send you a list of songs to learn, or their entire set list (even better). And if you don't get the gig GREAT!! Go on another audition. Now either you already learned the songs for the last audition or you are learning all new songs. I've learned everything from Britteny Spears to Toto, Tom Petty, Flock of Seagulls, etc. If you are going to do covers, be diversified.

[ggunn]

I've gone the other way. After 17 years of playing in a moderately successful and lucrative cover band, I left it to play originals for virtually no money. I just got tired of playing YMCA and Play That Funky Music White Boy and pretending to enjoy it.

One man's meat is another's poison, I guess.

[hwystar]

I think "Man in the box" is the NEW "Mustang Sally".

[Phalex]

Originally Posted by hwystar

I think "Man in the box" is the NEW "Mustang Sally".

Crazy Bitch is the new Brown Eye Girl.

[bound'n'blocked]

I think JTE really hits it out of the park here. Pick songs and make them yours, dont try to play them exactly like the recording. My band does Refugee by Tom Petty but quite a bit harder than the original and folks love it. We also do Superstitious, but imagine, say, Zakk Wylde on the guitar...


BnB

[hrodbert696]

Tell you the truth, as a pretty new bassist, the threads about "songs you hate to play" or "songs bands must stop covering" have been a great resource for me to go find those standards that, much as we hate them, someone in the audience will probably want to hear. I probably never would have looked up Mustang Sally or Sweet Home Alabama since that's not what I listen to. Maybe we'll never play them, but I'm glad to know I've got them in the back pocket if someone wants them.