Am I missing out, by not knowing cover songs?

[bassboysam]

Doing originals, you end up writing parts that use licks you know - swimming in your own little pool of confidence, where you know what you're doing. Learning parts that other people wrote will stretch you - force you out of your comfort zone. I have been in original bands, and you know your tunes, in the keys and arrangements that they were written in, and....that's it. It's fun, but if someone asks you to do something else, you can suddenly be a fish out of water.

I'm doing church gigs now, and although there is some repetition of songs from one church to the next, I am constantly learning new tunes, and the different arrangements and keys you end up playing stuff in really stretches you (we play in whatever key the singer feels most comfortable in). I'm now much more flexible in terms of that stuff - this weekend, we're doing 8 tunes, and 5 are in D Flat (aka C sharp). I've never been in a band where we wrote tunes in D flat.

i don't think that has anything to do with originals vs covers. you can always stretch yourself with originals especially if you look outside of your genre for inspiration. as far as different keys goes, we as a band make sure we use all sorts of keys to change things up. as an instrumental band we feel that is important to keep things sounding fresh.

 

[non]

i have been on a metallica kick lately. cliff burton years. when you learn covers you come across things you might not have thought of like a way of phrasing or fingering a riff in a certain way. i was learning a rush song and my fingers just did not want to play a finger pattern so i could not keep up.
i found of video of geddy playing that part and saw how he played it. boom! now i get it!
so yes learning covers helps you add tools to your bass playing tool box.

 

[Bunk McNulty]

Hi! Mr. Mercenary just dropping by to say: If you are a hobbyist, you are free to do any damn thing you want, so why worry about it?

 

[SactoBass]

It will help your ear training.

Biiiiiiiiig +1

 

[HolmeBass]

Hard to say whether you’re missing out on some kind of professional development, but you are missing out on the fun of playing some of your favorite songs.

But beyond that, I always found that an originals band can get so much out of one or two well-chosen covers in their genre, or adapting a famous song from a different genre to their genre. I love new music but even I get a bit of listening fatigue after hours of all new-to-me songs. A well-curated cover gives your listeners a mental break with a familiar song, and you simultaneously place your band into a larger context and pay homage to some of your heroes.

So I am a bit surprised none of your originals bands does any covers at all. I recommend it.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

After being a hobby guitarist for decades, I became an avid bassist about 6 years ago, and am loving it. Now, because it's a hobby for me (albeit one I take quite seriously), I am having an absolute blast playing in three different original bands. And yet...

...I don't know a single cover tune. Many on here seem to advocate how much your playing can improve and inspiration can rise, if you study and play other bassists parts. However, being in three original acts, and being a composer as well, I just can't find the time.

Am I missing out, or worse, hurting my development, as a bass player??

You know songs bro. You learned how to play somewhere

 

[SactoBass]

After being a hobby guitarist for decades, I became an avid bassist about 6 years ago, and am loving it. Now, because it's a hobby for me (albeit one I take quite seriously), I am having an absolute blast playing in three different original bands. And yet...

...I don't know a single cover tune. Many on here seem to advocate how much your playing can improve and inspiration can rise, if you study and play other bassists parts. However, being in three original acts, and being a composer as well, I just can't find the time.

Am I missing out, or worse, hurting my development, as a bass player??

Neil:

We all have differing preferences (and thank goodness.....what a freakish science fiction world it would be if we all liked and did the same thing), so what I'm about to say may not interest you. But if you ever get in the mood to learn some cover music that will really open up your mind, learn to play note for note the entire Close to the Edge album by Yes. That's what I did back in the 70's, and to this day it still puts a big smile on my face every time I play it on my bass!

 

[InhumanResource]

After being a hobby guitarist for decades, I became an avid bassist about 6 years ago, and am loving it. Now, because it's a hobby for me (albeit one I take quite seriously), I am having an absolute blast playing in three different original bands. And yet...

...I don't know a single cover tune. Many on here seem to advocate how much your playing can improve and inspiration can rise, if you study and play other bassists parts. However, being in three original acts, and being a composer as well, I just can't find the time.

Am I missing out, or worse, hurting my development, as a bass player??

Yes. It's helpful to study things other people have created in order to learn new tricks. It can also be a stretch out of your normal routine to "figure out" a piece vs create your own. I find it fun to study non bass music, classical pieces and stuff not necessarily written for bass.

 

[nilorius]

You could take a solo songs like M.Miller - Mr. Pastorius. Long and hard to learn, but that works.

 

[FDR Jones]

If you've been playing bass for 6 years and never once felt the desire to play someone else's song... it's not your thing. Just do your thing.

 

[mikewalker]

You have undoubtedly had a whole lifetime of immersion in covers - just from all the music playing in the background. You hear everything whether you want to or not

 

[juggahnaught]

After being a hobby guitarist for decades, I became an avid bassist about 6 years ago, and am loving it. Now, because it's a hobby for me (albeit one I take quite seriously), I am having an absolute blast playing in three different original bands. And yet...

...I don't know a single cover tune. Many on here seem to advocate how much your playing can improve and inspiration can rise, if you study and play other bassists parts. However, being in three original acts, and being a composer as well, I just can't find the time.

Am I missing out, or worse, hurting my development, as a bass player??

No.

Listen to the music you like (and maybe some you don't), and if you find bass parts you like, learn to play them. You might like Jamiroquai, or some Jaco stuff, or maybe you're into calypso and latin basslines - or maybe you've discovered Archspire and realize you love technical death metal basslines. Stuff like this can influence your playing and expand your mind. But you - especially as a composer and musician - you don't need to be yet another bassist learning Mustang Sally.

Enjoy your playing.

 

[Ekulati]

You're a musician with no desire to ever play one of the billions of pieces of this magical art form to come before you in millennia of human creativity?

Wow. Ok.

 

[kevindahl]

I am not trying to be rude but I find it remarkable that you never worked on any music than your own. No classical, jazz, rock, blues? Never tried to play back a melody you heard? Never jammed a cover badly? Never sang Happy Birthday, You are my Sunshine or Auld Lang Sang? Do you like playing the originals and are you feeling challenged?

I guess that one does not have to study any other music if you are content. I really could never be musically satisfied playing in a band like U2. All musicians have different drives and motivations. That's why there are bassists like Victor Wooten and bassists like me Bottomline its up to you and not us to tell you what to practise.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

After being a hobby guitarist for decades, I became an avid bassist about 6 years ago, and am loving it. Now, because it's a hobby for me (albeit one I take quite seriously), I am having an absolute blast playing in three different original bands. And yet...

...I don't know a single cover tune. Many on here seem to advocate how much your playing can improve and inspiration can rise, if you study and play other bassists parts. However, being in three original acts, and being a composer as well, I just can't find the time.

Am I missing out, or worse, hurting my development, as a bass player??

Hard to tell without listening to your recordings.

 

[Malcolm35]

Just wondering, what is different in playing a cover or an original. I'd think it would follow the same things, i.e. Stay in key, play notes of the active chord, to the rhythm the song is asking for.

Perhaps jamming enters into it, if so grab a progression that fits and hang on.

No I am not a note by note guy. If I am jamming I'm happy if I am close and getting no fish eyes.

 

[Cricket55]

Just my two cents, but if by “covers,” you mean learning Wagon Wheel or something to satisfy audience demand, then you might not be missing out on too much.

On the other hand, I don’t think I would have learned any instruments at all if it hadn’t been for hearing other people’s music and saying “Yeah! I want to play that, too!” So there are plenty of songs I learned over the years for gig purposes, but lots of others I learned just because I liked them and wanted to. And there’s a LOT you can learn from everything out there, just for enjoyment, growth, improvement... etc.

I’ve never once played YYZ or Free Will on a gig, but I really like the songs and learned them anyway. Just an example. Lots of great stuff out there to both learn and learn from: jazz standards? Latin? Motown? Bach? Or ???

So yeah... if you’re happy with what you’re doing, why change it? But for me, lots of “learning covers” just has to do with hearing something I like and wanting to know how to play it, just because.

 

[TIMD]

If you mean learning covers by just learning to copy, note for note what they play, and regurgitate it at will, then no, you're not missing anything. Other than possibly some ear training.

If you mean learn to play covers in order to analyse the parts, why they work, what makes them good, etc., then yes, you are missing out on something.

I agree with this 100%

 

[TIMD]

Trying to figure everything out on your own is almost like reinventing the wheel. If you can learn approaches, theory and techniques used by other why wouldn’t you?

if you were a visual artist you would learn the techniques and study works of art by those that came before you. If you were can athlete you would look at what the greats did before you. Why would music be any different?

 

[Topkat13]

I suppose some might think so, while others, perhaps, would not. Perhaps a topic best researched on Wikipedia???