Always just like the record?

[DWBass]

Frankly, I seriously doubt those in the note-for-note camp are as accurate as they say they are. You know, that ghost note in the 54th bar that's not exactly like the other third bars when the "B" part comes back around again. Or the 32nd & 48th bar that tie the eighth notes as opposed to playing them like the rest of the tune. As they say on Monday Night Football, C'mon man.

Can't speak for anyone else but.......If I can hear it, I'll try my best to cop it. I tend to pick up the little things like that. Many folks don't put that extra time into their listening to songs. Not only do I listen to songs, I listen to them all day long for weeks and even then some. I'm a hard worker when it comes to learning songs. I don't play around! That doesn't mean I'll always play it when I'm playing live.

But that's just me!

 

[DWBass]

+1

I think that the only place most of the note-for-note players play songs 100% accurately is in their minds. Not to say it never happens, but I'm very skeptical. If anyone would like to post a recording from their last gig (bass audible please) to prove that they play all the songs 100% like the recording, I'd love to hear it.

I think this is where we start to hear "maybe not all of the songs 100% accurate."

I don't think the majority of us 'note for noters' said we play everything note for note but that we learn the songs note for note. Doesn't necessarily mean we play it live that way. Mainly because the rest of the band isn't! Myself, I have played some songs note for note. I will post a song I played in an old band. I learned it note for note but kinda just played what fit into what the rest of the band was playing.

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And for good measure. Invalid Link Removed

Here's another on a demo I recorded a couple years back. I know the song note for note but his track had a different groove so I took some elements from the original and grooved the rest. Trust me though, I know the original like the back of my hand.

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[lfmn16]

I don't think the majority of us 'note for noters' said we play everything note for note but that we learn the songs note for note. Doesn't necessarily mean we play it live that way. Mainly because the rest of the band isn't! Myself, I have played some songs note for note. I will post a song I played in an old band. I learned it note for note but kinda just played what fit into what the rest of the band was playing.

If you didn't claim to play songs note for note then you are NOT a note-for-noter and my post doesn't apply to you. I'm not sure what your tracks are trying to prove, other than you don't play songs note for note; which is really my point.

 

[Christian Joseph Allbee]

When I first started playing bass (December 2011), I absolutely had to learn bass lines note-for-note (or so I thought) and if I couldn't figure it out in a few days, I would move on to something else. This slowed down my progress for a long time.

One day, however, while I was jamming with my sister (who plays guitar), we played a song that I didn't know the bassline to, so I had to wing it. It was then that I realized that it doesn't matter how you play it as long as it sounds good.

So, the point is that while (in some cases) knowing the exact bassline doesn't hurt, you shouldn't rely solely on replicating a bassline or it will slow down your growth as a bass player and musician in general. Making your own bassline also helps you to develop your own style of playing.

 

[ecapdeville]

No... never... i have been playing bass for +20 years... and the only bass line I play exactly as the record is "All my loving" the beatles´ song.

 

[Bass173]

My basic opinion of this is the same as my opinion of some singers I've met in cover bands:
I am not JPJ - I will NEVER sound as if I were, so don't ask me to. I will however get you to the party.
Likewise, YOU are not Robert Plant, please stop you're hurting my ears. Just be you.

 

[PrairieDogma]

I've been in groups that aren't even chord for chord, let alone note for note. That can work and put your own stamp on a song, but only if everyone agrees to play the same thing.

 

[bogie1519]

To me just get it as close to the record as you can. And do your on thing without changing
up the tune completely. Just the other night i caught a live TV gig with Sting and Vince Gill
doing a cover of Every Breath You Take. And Sting which i don't if he wrote the song or not
was not laying it down nothing like the original. hell i guess if he wrote it he can play it any way he wants to.

 

[KingRazor]

I try to match note for note, mostly to see if I can. That and what they play in the recording is often more interesting than what I can come up with on my own.

 

[SurferJoe46]

It really matters a lot if you're playing something that's iconic: Hey Jude, Strange Days, Long Train, etc., since those are so well known that if you vamp a line, it stands out badly.

If you're playing 'Juke Box' where someone calls out a song name and you try to play it, you've got some room to improvise, but if you have that song stored in your head with the correct notes and segues, then it sounds pretty good.

Some of the best times and these are also the most exciting ones, come from really nailing a song that the band has never done together before. When it jells, it's pure sex!

Last week we all groaned when someone called Tomorrow Never Knows, and we all finished together and on the same key.

Did we slaughter it? Prolly - but gawd it was fun. (My bass line was perfect, however)

Rules are made for breaking - but hitting all of the right notes is an orgasm.