Always just like the record?

[Chazinroch]

Before an audition I reveal that I'm not a note-for-note guy. I'll catch the main hook or riff if it's prominent but I'm a bass player not a CD/mp3 player . If they want note-for-note, just like the original recording, then play the CD.

Tribute bands, maybe a different story. But they aren't my thing.

 

[IncX]

i do my best to learn everything note for note... but in cases of emergencies, i just learn the root notes and pedal 8th notes.

there are also some cases where the bassist is just too skilled that i couldn't do what he does note for note, so i end up making simple versions of some lines.

 

[onosson]

Tribute bands, maybe a different story.

Not necessarily - I've been playing in a tribute band for a decade, and I don't stick to the bass line as recorded. I play to the arrangement of the song, to the beat the drummer is laying down, to the melody of the vocalist, etc. Pretty much the same approach I take with original music, too - play the song, not the part.

 

[4001]

We need a "like" function on TBass. It's all about beer 4001.

I drink Moosehead. Not that cheap swill served at most clubs.

 

[4001]

If I start 'improvising' on a bassline, that usually means I'm bored with it.
Hard to get inspiration from playing a bassline that puts me to sleep.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

A recording is a snap shot in time. Old recordings are usually the choice of a producer, so what you hear is a take that was considered to be the one. So any instrument you hear may be just a compromise of time and money as being "good enough".

In the modern era, again it's producer led in as much as what you hear may not be what gets played live later. I know that there's not a single song I have recorded that gets played live as the record. Every line has the "meat and potatoes" of song, get that bit right and let the rest go.
It is the identifying of what is needed and what is not that is the fun in learning songs.

On the other hand you will encounter people that like to point out where you went "wrong" in a line, if you play them the original, then your line, you just explain your line fits better........end of story. But I will say learning as much as you can of the original line develops your ear and listening skills, which is a better end result than just making up parts you are un-sure of.

 

[Gaius46]

Well, I'm assuming....that most working bassists playing in clubs are playing music that dosen't require playing things note-for-note. Good for them.
I like watching musicians play things precisely. I have no interest in playing music that I can 'get away' with deciding which notes I will change to my taste and 'improvise' over.

Ahh, to each their own. Do what you want to the songs you cover. If I see a Rush tribute playing their version of those songs, I walk out. It's happened and it's an insult to the real band.

We're living in a world that seems to be less concerned about details and would rather be happy just doing the minimum and get away with it because it's just too much work to do things the right way...it might discourage and humble some. It might make someone want to quit. Well, it that is the attitude, then quit. Go play your video games and win using codes that others earned playing it the right way to get them, why bother trying to get to level 13 when someone else can do it for you??.
Cut corners, nobody knows the difference and you didn't have to put in one more minute trying to just attempt to play the song right. Too much work.
Hope the builder of your home didn't cut corners either. You won't notice. It looks good on the outside....

What makes you think that not playing note for note is taking the easy way out?

First understand that if you decide to do your own version of a song doing a full scale re-arrangement takes time and lots of work. More work that just memorizing the song and playing the original arrangement does. Try it some time if you don't believe me.

Edit: And what do you do when you're a 2 guitar, bass and drum band that wants to cover a song that has piano in it. The second guitar cannot just play the piano part. A guitar isn't a piano - the piano part has to be rewritten for guitar. Or do you only play 2 guitar bass and drum music?

Second, I'll reiterate that the original players often never play the song the same way twice - and that includes Rush. In real world music even classical soloists, who are as close to "by the book" as you're ever going to get, take liberties with the written music. Some even change notes. Music is alive, it's not some static thing on a record. The jazz guys will tell you music is a conversation between the musicians. A conversation. Not a memorized speech. And we're musicians. Not jukeboxes.

 

[steelbed45]

Not playing it note for note is not cutting corners. Music is a living, breathing, changing thing. The recording captures a single performance of the song and may never be played that way again.

Even when playing written parts what's on the page is open to interpretation. There are dozens of recordings of Bach's Cello Suites out there. The players all read the same music and they all sound subtely different.

Good point, which is why, to me, the thread title itself is somewhat of a misnomer. If I learn a line note-for-note, it is still not "just" like the record. Why? Because I'm playing it...and I sound like me.
Bach practically demands phrasing input from the performer to avoid sounding machine-like imo.

 

[JTE]

Never confuse "recording" or "arrangement" with "song". Frequently in the music I like, the recording is simply a record of a particular performance, not the "way it was intended to be played".

John

 

[bassinplace]

As of currently, I always strive to learn a bass line note for note from a recording. This is because I'm learning and I find I can learn a lot this way in terms of ear training, song structure and note choices. I personally would never use tab for anything. I've got two perfectly good tabs attached to my head that work just fine!

 

[DWBass]

There was just another thread on this subject but I'll bite.

I try to learn the original bassline note for note.......if I can! Does not mean I PLAY them note for note. I like to get inside the original bass player's head. I always add my touch [how I would have played it if it was me in the studio] to things though. Some songs just have to be true (or pretty close) to the original if the bassline is a signature part of the songs (I.E. Another One Bites The Dust, Good Times, Boogie Oogie Oogie, etc.)

 

[obimark]

Even Geddy does not play his own basslines note-for-note- He plays the recognizable pieces very close, but often throws in different fills, and sometimes whole different basslines. What he recorded is not the BE-ALL END ALL, it is simply what he put down on that take, on that day. Point in case watch the live videos, he plays those signature fills in YYZ just a little different on MOST of them.

I don't think some have enough maturity to understand that putting your own spin on parts of cover songs, is not a bad thing, and certainly doesn't mean you can't play it the way it is recorded. It means you are going to be respectful to the feel of the song, but have your OWN voice. (and many songs DO NOT have a signature bass part at all , ie EVERY AC/DC, Nickelback, and FOO FIGhters song.)

 

[colcifer]

Never.

 

[klokker]

I'm "basically" note for note. Love Her Madly is a great example. There's some signature stuff in there, I think its essential. I really don't care if anyone notices or not.

But I don't do every single riff or note. Heck, I have a lot of songs to learn usually in a short period of time. Once in a while I throw in my own stuff. But basically I do my best to cover the bass part.

 

[Jim Nazium]

I will cast another vote for "depends on the song". If the bass line is really a recognizable part of the song - "Money" by Pink Floyd, "Day Tripper" by the Beatles - then I'll try to play it just like the record. Otherwise I'll just try to get the right feel.

 

[Stumbo]

+1 for learning a song note for note as a practice/ear training exercise. Also helps develop technique, especially the more complicated lines.

That being said, I play close to the original line(except for signature lines) but improvise along the way to keep things interesting.

 

[lfmn16]

Not bad. Three pages and it hasn't gotten nasty yet. I remember a thread on this subject last year that got really bad.

I don't care what anyone else does, but for me, unless I'n doing a new arrangement:

I play signature riffs as close as possible to the original
I play the same groove as the original
I play it close enough that 99.99999% of the audience doesn't know the difference
I have fun with it

There are so many variables that a band never really sounds like the original anyway; do you have the same number of guitars; same instrumentation (keys, horns, etc.), same number and gender of background singers; same equipment, etc., etc., etc.

Also, and this is key for me, what did you agree to when you joined the band. My current band I told them I wasn't going to play everything like the record and I wasn't playing root/5th all night. I want to play music that's challenging for the bass and I want to be an equal part of the band, not in a support role 100% of the time.

Live and let live. It only gets nasty when someone says that their way is right and my way is wrong.

 

[JimmyM]

A bass player walk out on my gig because we don't play stuff note for note? Plenty more people stay than leave on my gigs, so bye. Ain't here to entertain musicians.

 

[PlungerModerno]

Most people that write tabs don't know what they are doing.

This - you can benefit from transcribing SO DO IT!

Seriously though, even detailed official sheet music might contain slips and might even be of a different version than the recording.

Usually not though - tabs are no more than a starting point - at first they get you rolling with simple songs, and later they are a way to check a song fast - but only as a starting point, not verbatim - unless you like the tab version better of course.

Lots of recordings have multiple tracks and effects, and depending on the role / performance, you might be better of reworking whole sections of the song - eg. make it swing if it's drab and could use it, or simplify that bit you can't quite 'get' yet. Or play that awesome thing you came up with while transcribing. It's fun - and helps with 'feeling' the piece IMO

 

[obimark]

Where exactly is anyone getting sheet music for any of your typical Rock songs? Usually this is a Piano Vocal Guitar arrangement that doesn't ahve anything even close to the actual bass line, it is basically a Piano bass part.

Just curious, not that I am knocking reading music, but other than some jazz I am not sure what actual bass transcriptions anyone is finding? In 25 years of playing I ahve seen few and far between that were not tabbed.