Am I missing out, by not knowing cover songs?

[Rib 13]

it depends on what your goals are as a musician...…...to me, knowing and playing diverse covers in multitudes of genres, especially understanding their dynamics, helps make a more complete player....but that doesn't mean not doing covers makes you any less of a player - the same music theory of Western music still applies (assuming that's what youre doing)......Especially if youre young and your goals are the brass ring, sometimes the golden handcuffs of immersing yourself in covers and making money with them can lead you astray of your aspirations

After all: all covers started as somebody's original

 

[punchdrunk]

Yes

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Not at all.

 

[J Gold]

I call troll .

 

[lermgalieu]

Yes. I have a few friends who can’t jam because they only know their originals.

What do you mean “can’t jam”? Never held me back in that sense.

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

Wow..... I've been playing for over 5.5 decades. So doing covers at times was always in the program. And really how I learned new chops. So I'm just kind of wondering how you advance your chops, techniques, and develop your style.

Kind of a confusing question to most bassists I'd think. Since most of us have learned our craft from our heroes. I'd say most players have a list of influences that allowed them to be the players they are today.

 

[bearfoot]

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

You are a composer, so you already know the answer to #1 is yes. It could not be any other way. This part is a black and white question, fortunately. Binary. You may as well have asked if a zero is a zero.

Hurting development? No. You are changing your development by choosing this more isolated path, and I will guess you get a positive feeling out of that, for some reason. I see the value in it, but for me it does not outweigh the value of, just an example, playing some orchestral or cello works on bass guitar. Or having a Fake Book slapped down on a stand, and connecting with some jazz roots. I'd hop at the chance to do that. Because I get great value out of those experiences, and bring it all along with me in my playing afterwards. I don't want isolation, I want to drink in as much as possible, knowing that even at maximum saturation, it will only be a tiny % of all music.

Also, I have some bad news for you. You already know some cover songs. It's too late....

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

I've got a question, Does your original bands have gigs and a following and get paid? Or is this as you first stated "A Hobby". Do other musicians in your area see you as a musician of some good repute?

Sometimes you've got to get out of your own world to really experience the world that is out there.

 

[bbh]

What do you mean “can’t jam”? Never held me back in that sense.

They are incapable of playing just about any cover. Don’t ask me why but they are very far from professionals.

 

[lermgalieu]

They are incapable of playing just about any cover. Don’t ask me why but they are very far from professionals.

Ok got it. To me “jamming” doesn’t necessarily mean playing covers. That said, people with a decent ear and grasp of basic theory should be able to pick up jam-oriented tunes and play along.

 

[bbh]

Ok got it. To me “jamming” doesn’t necessarily mean playing covers. That said, people with a decent ear and grasp of basic theory should be able to pick up jam-oriented tunes and play along.

Same here and I didn’t do the best job of saying what I meant. They can’t jam because they can’t follow progressions or undisclosed changes by listening. Actually, one guy can do a one chord jam if you’d call it that.

 

[lfmn16]

Would a writer benefit from studying literature other than his own?

+1

Or a painter that never visits an art gallery? I'll never understand this mindset that educating yourself somehow "taints" your creativity.

 

[Neil Folkard]

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.

Well, I just have a much stronger desire to create my own music. And with three separate outlets, there isn't much time left over to play others' stuff. I really don't understand how so many people, seemingly, have no interest in making their own original music. I do understand how if you are a working musician, chances are highly likely that you need to play covers to make a living. That I get. I guess that listening to other people's music is one of my great passions, just not playing it.

 

[Neil Folkard]

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!

Well, a classic album, to be sure, and I do own a Ric...my only fretted bass, lol. And, there are now isolated bass tracks available to learn it, but still...if my own music is to 'progress' forward, I need to put the time in on it. Especially since in two of the three bands, there are some demanding bass parts, to be executed.

 

[Neil Folkard]

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.

I used to learn some covers on guitar (Tool, Porcupine Tree, ELP, Yes, etc.), but they require constant attention, to remember them. Not exactly three-chord bands, lol. And I suppose, if the guitarist bust into Xanadu during a break in rehearsal, then I try to play along, but that's about it!

 

[Neil Folkard]

I knew a couple of people who couldn't jam or play cover tunes. Nor could they really get people to easily understand their original music. I taught them some fundamentals, and it castrated them. They went from writing/producing stuff i'd never heard and felt was different, to crap. (I feel really bad about it to this day). I'll never teach someone who has 5 or 10 years of self taught and written songs again. I feel i did them a disservice.

Wow, that's interesting. A cautionary tale, perhaps. I can relate somewhat. It's not that my original stuff is necessarily hard to understand (at least, I don't think so!), but if you are not used to thinking about odd time signatures, or key changes in songs, then yes, some people, don't relate to stuff like that, easily.

 

[Neil Folkard]

Agreed 100%

No matter how good your own original music is, you simply have no idea what you do not know. Creating your own music is a powerful way to learn, but one of the biggest mistakes you can make is the assumption that you have nothing to learn from others.

Oh, I'm quite sure that I could learn tons from other players. But, maintaining knowledge, practice and rehearsal time for three original bands, is a time consuming proposition. One that I am loving, but time consuming, none-the-less.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

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

 

[Neil Folkard]

I think there's a lot of good to be had in learning covers, especially if you're a writer. You can learn how good songs are constructed and arranged, you get ideas you may not have thought about, and a whole lot of great songwriters have a background in learning covers. A lot don't, too, though, and some claim it gives them a unique perspective, which I get. Too many of them think they're doing something very original by not having any background in doing covers, though, and a lot of them are simply reinventing the wheel and calling it new.

I certainly get ideas from others. I came up with a part on a new song I am working on for the prog/fusion project, and suddenly realized a chunk of it sounded familiar. Turns out I had borrowed/liberated/stole/inadvertently came up with the same notes on the first part of a saxophone riff from King Crimson's Pictures of a City. Since I went in a different direction after the first handful of notes, I'm sticking with it. It's amazing all the stuff that lies unconsciously dormant in your brain, that sometimes finds its way to the surface.

I wonder how many people over the years have innocently come up with riffs, only to later realize, that they are from an existing song?

 

[mambo4]

maintaining knowledge, practice and rehearsal time for three original bands, is a time consuming proposition.

Everything must be learned one song at a time, regardless of how long it takes. Maybe start a thread describing your level of knowledge, and asking for which cover songs have the most to teach.