By the Record or " With Our Own Twist"?

[Adjectives]

No, you have to go with the flow and make the song work, especially if your a hired gun and not a permanent member.

I used to play (occasionally) with a lead singer that was a little scatterbrained. He would sing verses out of order, so you would just have to lay back and see if the chorus, bridge, or another verse was coming next.

LOL! As a singer who tends to take liberty with cover melodies, I've been there. However, switching a couple verses, verses throwing choruses and bridges in the wrong place are two different things in my opinion. I feel song structure is important to get correctly as some people out there usually are very familiar and that structure is probably what helped the song get traction.

With the melody line...when I'm asked to learn a new song I'll listen to it on repeat for maybe an hr. Then put it away and sing it how it occurs to me. It's funny when sometimes I'll then listen to the song again months later and I'll have been singing it quite differently than it was written. I feel this adds my own spin to it though =)

 

[Passinwind]

Glad somebody said that.

I've yet to hear any band I've heard live play anything note for note off their album. Songs evolve over time. And what works for a recording session won't necessarily work for live performances - and vice versa.

A sufficiently qualified, talented and confident musician doesn't need to feel chained to a given arrangement unless he or she has specifically been told to "play it from the score."

I saw Pink Floyd play DSOTM three times. The first was right before the album dropped, when the project was still called Eclipse. There may have been subtle changes later, but we had nothing to compare to. The next two times were as close to note for note as I've ever heard anyone manage. That was great once, and actually pretty boring the last time by my reckoning. They were an early adopter of using tracks, which was probably the only commercially viable way to replicate the album live at that time.

 

[40Hz]

There's an actual market for Deadhead bands that play "tribute shows" more or less note for note. So if I wanted to I could go out and hear my first show, 04/06/71, theroretically I could. Not my cuppas at all, but if you build a market they will come, I guess.

True. But the Dead have played so many shows over their long career that I doubt anybody could play a version of any Dead song that the Dead themselves hadn't played the exact same version of at one time or another. That's just statistical probability.

 

[DavC]

sorry ... terminally twisted ..!!

i always noticed even back in the early 70's when i started playing bass/gtr ... i would learn the '45' radio version ... then noticed the album version was usually a bit different ... then the 'Live' Lp was usually even more different ...

which i thought was cool ... so i'd learn what i liked best from all those versions to make my version ...

later on , i'd play along to learn tunes and still pick out certain riffs that i liked , and learn them note for note ... still finding my own version ..

might be because i played in various orchestras on various instruments and played classically piano ... so i had my fill of playing things exactly note for note as written ..!!??!!

then i started studying jazz and various herbs ... = twisted ..!!

 

[Passinwind]

True. But the Dead have played so many shows over their long career that I doubt anybody could play a version of any Dead song that the Dead themselves hadn't played the exact same version of at one time or another. That's just statistical probability.

I know where you're coming from, but I never heard them do Call Any Vegetable or Immigrant Song in a medley with Chinacat/Rider...

And yes, my old band actually did that, and with horns to boot.

 

[Adjectives]

I have always believed there is a big difference between choosing to play something different from the original recording, and not being able to play it like the original recording…or not willing to put in the effort.

One of my bands, (Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2) is a Nu metal cover band. Our guitarist who is the point man is very adamant about playing songs EXACTLY as written. That's fine with me as other projects of mine take varying amounts of liberty with any covers performed.

 

[Adjectives]

More importantly, "putting your own spin on it" should never be an excuse for half @$$ing it through a song.

Agreed wholeheatedly.

 

[40Hz]

They were an early adopter of using tracks, which was probably the only commercially viable way to replicate the album live at that time.

Tracks, and pitch and time correction are (IMO) two of the worst things to ever be introduced to live music performance.

I'd prefer a scaled down version to an overproduced technological showcase. But maybe that's just me. I like to be pleasantly surprised and impressed at a show. If I'm going to put up with the aggravation and inconvenience of attending a live show I don't want to hear the exact same album or DVD of a show I've got sitting in a rack back home.

It's interesting with the Moody Blues, who were one of the earliest and more orchestral bands. When the tech wasn't there yet, they did as much as they could with what was available at the time. And what emerged was a more focused and edgier "rock version" of their studio sound. Something I personally thought sounded better. Tull was the same way. Live Tull was a hardcore British rock band first and foremost. Something that surprised (and delighted!) many people on hearing them live for the first time.

 

[Pings Bass]

When I was a kid, we learned songs from records, or from other kids who had learned from records, and most of the kids weren't good enough at it to get it right, so we had our own versions.

Now I'm pretty good at it, but I've never played in a real cover band, so I've never wanted to do it exact. Sometimes there's an iconic bass line or fill though, and you at least want to refer to that in your version I think.

 

[BwanaDust]

I was just picking at ya. Happy Thanksgiving!

No problem. Same to you. I wasn't upset at all. One of the reasons I'm digging doing solo stuff instead of bands, is that I have no restrictions on how many tunes I do or which tunes I try. This past week I created solo guitar arrangements for "Lighthouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants, "God Give Me Strength" by Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" by the Police and "Head Over Heels" by Tears for Fears.

I've got upwards of 150 tunes and I've pretty much started playing nonstop (with maybe a ten minute break) just so I could get in all the songs. I enjoy the workout and the venues love it. I've been averaging 100.00 extra in tips and half the time the manager's slip me some extra cash, because of it.

I'm kinda amazed at myself, because I used to lose my voice every night back in the eighties, and now I can easily do three and a half hours without a problem.

Have a great holiday!

 

[The Bass Clef]

There's more than enough tribute bands everywhere now that I'll leave the note for note renditions for them. I just make sure all the main, memorable parts are in there for my cover band - sometimes that's a guitar part/solo, sometimes that's a bassline, etc... The hooks and the vocals are most important. My band, like most cover bands, doesn't have the instrumentation to do a lot of songs note for note (2 guitars, bass and drums). So often one of the guitar players will have to play a signature horn line for example, on the guitar... or even drop one of the guitars for a song and they'll play a tambourine or some other percussion instead. This automatically makes the song "our version", so at that point we embrace it and do the best we can and have fun. Personally, I usually have more fun watching other bands do this than watching bands trying to play everything just like the album (and often failing and just sounding like a 2nd rate version of whoever they are covering).

 

[bearfoot]

I like to use the original artist's (and/or original bassists') arrangement as my initial springboard , it tends to reveal subtleties and inversions I might not have noticed otherwise. It might reveal a tempo question, like I have found happens with "Spinning Wheel", people want to rush through that tune, and it ruins the groove.

Ultimately though, it just depends on how much I dig the original bassline. If it's a bassline that grabs me, I have to learn it note-for-note. This is often very illuminating, you can get some sense of how that player's bass-brain works, and it broadens your own approach. I make my own lines about 90% of the time. The 10% are going to be songs like "Living in the Past", "Drive my Car", etc.

 

[TexasEdition]

The best answer is "it depends". And the biggest factor is.... How pleased is the crowd?

If you are just playing some standards and covers, it's not necessarily important to play is exactly as it is on the record. Hell, even the original artists play their own songs different live. Just play it well and do it some justice. Who cares as long as the crowd is drunk and happy?

If you are in a "tribute" band focusing on 1 or 2 artists, then by all means, every effort should be taken to make sure accuracy in tone, tempo, and instrumentation should be taken seriously. You tribute crowds will be a little more demanding.

I don like to learn new songs exactly as they were recorded because it puts me in the mindset of the original artists. And once you learn a half dozen or so of their songs, you start to unlock the "toolbox" of embellishments they use and can incorporate them into your own playing.

 

[Clark W]

Have enjoyed the discussion. But I got to hit the road. Thanksgiving dinner is calling. I'm sure my mom and my aunt haven't covered the recipes ingredient for ingredient as was handed down by my grandmother for some time now. But I'm going to enjoy it anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

 

[Joe Nerve]

This...

I have always believed there is a big difference between choosing to play something different from the original recording, and not being able to play it like the original recording…or not willing to put in the effort.

And this...

It's all a case by case basis for me. If I think a song requires a more note for note approach, I'll do it. If not, I won't. And the last thing I think about is what other musicians think unless they're in the band. If they want to come do my job for me, they're welcome to, but most don't since I don't split fees. And if they want to say something to me about it, I'll just kindly show them where the exit door is.

I used to be a hard ass about N4N, but the more I'm playing the more I'm learning and I'm finding its not always the best approach. A lot depends upon what the rest of the band is doing. I also think its tough to keep Wagon Wheel alive playing it note for note, live.

I do still believe the best approach is always to learn it N4N first, and then take it from there, and I am quite CERTAIN that unless completely redoing a tune with a band's own interpretation, a cover band does much better the closer they come to sounding like the original recordings. People rave when a band sounds exactly like the recordings. They don't rave when a band is tight and sounds nothing like the originals. They never even notice if a band is tight .

 

[74hc]

If a band plays the cover with their own interpretation, it doesn't make them less, musician-wise. This is regardless of whether they can or willing to play it exactly note for note, dynamics for dynamics, jumps/repeats for jump/repeats, articulation for articulation, etc. as the original recording.

To be more succinct of my point, it's almost impossible to play it exactly as the original recording. There's too much small nuances to duplicate. Heck, even the original artists don't do it exactly live.

 

[Acoustic356]

I play with an artist who will do one night as a solo artist, and another with a band. In order to make some songs work as a solo artist, he has to rearrange some of the songs that means the iconic line doesn't work.

When I play with him, I just groove.

When I play on my production, it's note for note.

As Regi Wooten says "Do what it takes to keep the gig..."

 

[The Bass Clef]

I've also had a lot more people come up to me and comment about how they really liked our take on such and such song way more often than I've ever had people comment on how we nailed every single note just like the recording. In fact, I can't recall a single time that anyone's ever said a thing about how we played something NFN (and we do play some songs like that).

 

[vvvmmm]

But, honestly, I don't think anyone is ever suggesting playing Pink Floyd's Money with just root notes or a rock and roll walking bass line...

That would be, eh, interesting ...

Respect:

 

[Nephilymbass]

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.

Never been that into playing covers straight. It's why I prefer doing "acoustic" cover gigs or why when my originals bands have done covers it's never even in the same key. For example
Makes it more fun imo