By the Record or " With Our Own Twist"?

[filmtex]

I will respectfully disagree. I've seen bands all over the U.S. The most successful cover bands play as close to the original recording as possible. Most bands that I've seen doing their own interpretation typically do so because they either can't play the song the way it was written or they're too lazy to learn it. They have the "It's good enough" attitude.

This seems to be the norm around these parts, and the difference between this, just play something close style, and "good", rehearsed, bands is obvious to me when videos, photos and websites never reflect accurately which players might show up to play. Seems like there's an abundance of fairly generic players playing fairly generic versions of well-known songs.
/disclaimer- I book a music venue that has live music four nights a week. The differences among bands in regards to the topic here is striking! /disclaimer

 

[Ekulati]

I think it depends. But in many cases, saying you never care to learn, for example, something like Deacon Blues, note for note, is saying you lack musicianship and you know so much that you simply cannot learn anything from great players who've gone before.

If you put "your own spin" on things, which has its place and I have done, it needs to be very different from the original, and very good.

Otherwise you're not a musician, you're a lazy hack. And it doesn't matter if the audience doesn't know. YOU will know.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I think it depends. But in many cases, saying you never care to learn, for example, something like Deacon Blues, note for note, is saying you lack musicianship and you know so much that you simply cannot learn anything from great players who've gone before.

If you put "your own spin" on things, which has its place and I have done, it needs to be very different from the original, and very good.

Otherwise you're not a musician, you're a lazy hack. And it doesn't matter if the audience doesn't know. YOU will know.

I don't agree with the first paragraph. Thee are songs where the bass line is iconic and for which the original line is essential for any reasonably faithful cover but there are more songs where this is not the case. Given this, where the standard bass line is not particularly intrinsic then it becomes a value judgement about how bestvto use the time. If I can get 90% of the line right in 10% of the ti me snd no one is going to notice and there are more pressing things to be done I will do the other things. It's not lazy, just pragmatic.

In some instances the only thing you learn by playing as on the original is how it was played as the bassists had no.secret sauce.

 

[Ekulati]

I don't agree with the first paragraph. Thee are songs where the bass line is iconic and for which the original line is essential for any reasonably faithful cover but there are more songs where this is not the case. Given this, where the standard bass line is not particularly intrinsic then it becomes a value judgement about how bestvto use the time. If I can get 90% of the line right in 10% of the ti me snd no one is going to notice and there are more pressing things to be done I will do the other things. It's not lazy, just pragmatic.

In some instances the only thing you learn by playing as on the original is how it was played as the bassists had no.secret sauce.

I agree with the first paragraph. I do that myself on SOME songs, the 90% factor. Case in point, played in a Beatles trib: I played c. 95% of Nowhere Man like the record. Just as Macca did live on the 66 tour, because it's not a part that needs to be 100% duplicated. But I played Penny Lane note for note.

But I still think many players hide their lack of musicianship behind the "my twist" veil.

 

[GBBSbassist]

The guideline I've always followed is this.

Originals band that is doing a cover? Do the cover but in the style of your original bands' music.
Cover band? Stay true to the originals if you can.

 

[jdh3000]

I play mainly for country artists locally. It's a mix of originals and covers. No one plays the covers by the record. I do not waste my time learning a bassline note for note if the guitarist plays his own solos and the band plays a song with an extra 5 here and no walk up to the 4 etc... I was really just wondering if this is normal or if others experience this on the regular. To me as long as I can have a solid practice or two with the rest of the band and the bass and drums are together and all chords are correct I have no problem not playing 100% to the record, but I was wondering what others thought. Thanks in advance.

I'm the same way... When I joined this band I had the feeling they wanted it just like the record, so I was spending a lot of time working up songs like the record... I discovered we'd usually learned a new song and play it out once or twice and no more, so...
Also I learned some of there stuff from their recordings with former bass players comparing it to the original, and those guys were adding in their own stuff.

That's what I had always done before, so I just focused on getting signature lines down, keeping it simple when when needed as to not over play, and other times creating parts that enhance the song by using more dynamics with the drummer.

This is live sound, very few original artist do their songs just like the recording, why should we?

 

[mikeyjm2]

"With our own twist" only if it's purposeful and sounds good. As others have said, if we're trying to do our own twist because someone can't learn the part then I'd rather skip the song.

 

[Nashrakh]

Whenever we play a song not as written, it's because our keys guy has an itch to scratch. He's typically bored to tears with the stuff we play in that band (50s RnR, and he's classically trained)

 

[mdlewis]

Note for note is one thing. Lotsa country songs have a rhythmic hook (like a stanza of 2/4 thrown in a normal 4/4 cadence) that I've found that many folks just ignore. I find this far more irritating than worrying about the non-essential notes. But for me at least, in country, because it's so minimalist, some of those notes ARE essential.

 

[jdthebassman]

when I learn a new song I like to get as close to the original, once I learn it, get the feel I add my own interpretation with some swing in it since most of the material I play in my GB band is the four on the floor laptop music that is stiff as a board. If there is ostinato parts I get them note for note. I have turned down bands that want to play note for note what is the point get a DJ and play the record. sometimes my parts are better than the original.

 

[logicman69]

Depends on the band. My current band is very "to the record". We do this because we play with a sample track on a good amount of songs so we have to stay consistent with that. Another reason is we don't practice. We tell everyone the song to learn, we all learn our parts, and come to the gig ready to play.

 

[TuneIn]

Any band can play a song poorly, I prefer to play songs with my bands well, and if people can't keep up the song gets pulled. No room for wankers on my stage, or deaf guitarists for that matter.

 

[Eric Swaim]

Jazz, is interpreted music, Country, Rock not so much. People are used to hearing the right chord changes and basslines as well as guitar solo's. Those who do not play it correctly are usually lazy players or players who think they are above the original lick.
Cover/original bands that put there own twist to a cover, I have no problem with they are making it fit their style (Van Halen did a great job doing this).

If a Jazz player played the same solo lick for lick night after night, he would loose his audience sooner than later.

My two cent with 40 years experience, go out there and lay down the groove. Spice it up a bit when needed, but dont rewrite you Rock and country players.

 

[lordradish]

I haven't done a ton of cover band gigs, but I do often notice a correlation between how different the band sounds from the original and the ability to play it like the original. When learning, unless I'm told otherwise, I always start with learning a bass line as originally played. And I often get frustrated when I show up and see that some didn't put in that effort, often due to laziness or the limits of their own abilities.

 

[CarpeBasso]

I heard a fantastic band downtown at an art walk playing Motown-era songs. The bass and percussion was note-for-note throughout. The guitar, horns and harmony vocals also were, but when they took a solo they made it their own. Bass & drums remained true to the song. I think this is the best way to serve classic songs everyone knows. They delivered the product in the manner expected but still got to show off their individual creativity and musicality. I didn't want them to quit and the crowd grew like iron filings to a magnet until everybody forgot about the sidewalk painters and craftsmen and were in the street grooving!

 

[Spectrum]

If we all played exactly like the record, half the songs we'd play would fade out at the end. I swear to god I saw one local band do that here in the '80s. Not sure if they were being serious about their craft or just taking the piss.

I saw a band once that could do that scarily well, everyone would quiet down, including the drummer, and actually fade out, and they were good enough to pull it off, great dynamics control and practice.

 

[JohnMCA72]

I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody has complemented me for "nailing" a bass part, when in reality what I was playing wasn't even close!

I generally play something that works, which is often different from the original. Seldom am I in a band where we have the same instrumentation as played on the original song (never mind over-dubs!) so adjustments need to be made or else big holes may be left in the arrangement. Even the original players seldom play the same thing live as what was recorded in the studio.

Sometimes I'll learn a part note-for-note, just as a learning exercise. The part may or may not get played that way 100% in a performance.

 

[NeckPickup]

Unfortunately, one bandmate once dubbed me "Rain Man" for being able to "parrot" every bass line so accurately. That being said, most bandmates appreciate it when you've obviously done your homework, especially when your role is to lay down a solid foundation. Plus by taking the time to learn them accurately, you immeasurably improve your ear, as you become better able to distinguish subtle timing differences and note nuances, plus you increase your musical vocabulary for when you're not copping a bass line. All that said, if I'm playing a Phish song, even they never play the same song the same way twice, so you have to know when it makes sense to do so.

 

[KDHBass76]

(snip) I generally play something that works, which is often different from the original. Seldom am I in a band where we have the same instrumentation as played on the original song (never mind over-dubs!) so adjustments need to be made or else big holes may be left in the arrangement. Even the original players seldom play the same thing live as what was recorded in the studio.

Sometimes I'll learn a part note-for-note, just as a learning exercise. The part may or may not get played that way 100% in a performance.

What he said. I'll typically learn a song note for note, and then decide what the performance really needs (could be the note-for-note, could be something else). If you think about it, the version on record may be less the definitive take than it is the best take available (or pieces of takes spliced together).

If I'm stuck being the lead vocalist (as in my current band), I have to give attention to making that work. In all cases, I play in the service of making the rhythm section sound like we know what the hell we're doing...whatever that might entail.

 

[RBrownBass]

If you don't have too many covers in your setlist to begin with, it probably isn't going to be all that painful copying a hit song note for note. A lot of times, when a crowd hears somebody else's song, they expect to hear it as they've heard it before.