Anyone else start to hate a song after they star covering it?
 

So I usually have this dilemma: I want to cover songs I like, but I usually start disliking a song after I practice it and cover it too much.
Is it just me, or do you guys get tired of songs after working with them too long?

It really depends for me. If the crowd gets into it while we're playing it, then I can usually get past any distaste I might have otherwise playing a song in my music room. I feed off the crowd in most cases. I'll play the crap out of Brown Eyed Girl with nobody in the bar just to do my job right. But if the crowd is getting into a song, it doesn't matter to me at all if it's a favorite in my iPod (or even used to be).

I get sick of songs quickly. If I don't learn new sings to shake things up, it drives me to complete boredom.

Yes I get sick of some song we cover pretty quickly anymore. The problem is they are good songs the crowd digs so what are you to do?

It happens a lot to me. I just start to change it up. Improvise a little. Sometimes change it quite a bit. Gotta keep them guitarists on their toes ;) Last time I played In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed I just took it off into a totally different vibe, brought it back, took it to another place and then brought it back. Everybody dug it. :bassist:

I hate playing songs that I really really like, because they just become 'playing songs' rather than 'listening songs'.

I don't however become sick of playing it, I just can't really bring myself to listen to it.

Yeah, a couple.

Mustang Sally - about 35 years ago. Sweet Home Alabama, too.

Copperhead Road.

Old time rock and roll. Used to love the crap out of that song. Now, I don't hate it, but it's certainly not a favourite.

Ironically, we also play Gimme One Reason, same key, much less to do, yet I love it every time.

Roadhouse Blues and Rocky Mountain Way are also loosing their lustre.

I will get sick of songs I really liked after a few gigs if they don't get much crowd reaction. Other than that, I don't think I've ever really gotten sick of playing any song live.

Of the songs that I have had to to practice for band situations, they usually end up 'skipped' when they come around on the iPod if I'm not practicing or learning them. There are some songs I have played live that I didn't like before and don't like after, but I have to love 'em while playing them live.

Luckily, the songs I like to practice to are never the ones the bands want to play, so that makes it easy.

Rocky Mountain Way-

The Bass Players' Thorazine.

I tell band managers goin in that I wont play:

Creedence :spit:
Cougar :spit:
Petty :spit:

Ive also seen a lot of negative attitude toward Mustang Sally.

I could include:

Cocaine :rollno:
Turn The Page :rollno:
Sweet Home ---- (Name your city, county, or state.) :rollno:

I dislike most songs for the first few years they are out. Then I learn to like them. Yet, if there are females on the floor dancing, i will learn most anything.

Really? Maybe it's because my band is so jammy (is that a word?), but I love playing that. It's not a lot of notes, but playing with the feel is great fun. Sometimes i'll start it tight and funky, then go big and (not really sloppy, but dig in etc) and bring it back. Sometimes disco octaves, or walk around real jazzy like- that song is a blank slate, I love it.
Different strokes, I guess.

While I do get sick of some songs sometimes, I could work past that if it was just a personal issue, no problem. Unfortunately what I find happens is that an over-played tune gets stale for the whole band. It becomes rote and the magic wanes. That's why I feel it's always good to rotate songs in and out of the set, give a tune a 2 or 3 gig rest and when you come back to it its fresher and more spontaneous again, while still firmly locked in arrangement and execution.

Hummm.... that would cost me gigs and bands...people love that stuff.

Wait till you've been playing the same songs for 44 years!!!! Funny how I still enjoy the heck out of some, yet others make me gag. It's just part of the game I guess.

This sounds like a set list from That Band That Plays Everything The Audience Is Presumed To Like With Zero Regard To All Other Quality Material Available. I couldn't play in that situation unless all these songs were being personalized. I need the money but I'd rather stay home than be classic rock sonic wallpaper.

I find that once you learn how to play a bassline that you've admired that it kind of takes the "mystique" away. Like when you listen, instead of "Wow, how does he do that" it becomes "Meh, I know how he does that." It's kind of like when you're a kid and you find out how a magic trick is done or when you find out that professional wrestling isn't real - you just can't look at it in the same way as you used to.

Years ago, I was a top 40 radio DJ. Talk about burning out on songs! Every 2.5 hours...here comes Rhiannon again...LOL.

Not yet good enough to gig as a cover bassist, plus the day job is high maintenance. Someday though, I look forward to playing a lot of those same old songs that I was so tired of back in the day. Especially if it makes the booties shake. :bassist: