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Classic Rock covers

J

jimmack

Jul 8, 2024
7
5
#1
Hi everyone. I'm a beginner bass player and am working on theory, technique, and all the other skills required to become a competent bass player. But I want to have fun when I practice as well, so I want to start learning some songs. I'm an older adult and my musical tastes are classic rock and some blues. Think the "Classic Vinyl" channel for those who have Sirius radio (my kids and my wife think I'm a dinosaur when it comes to music - and they're right) :) !!

Ultimately, I'd like to play for fun in a classic rock cover band, so I'd like to start building a repertoire as part of my practice. So... I'm interested in opinions from the bass world on the top two must-have classic rock songs a cover band bassist must have in their repertoire. I figure if I get enough responses, I should have quite a to-do list that will keep me busy for a long time!!

Thanks in advance everyone.
 
#3
There's a book called the Bass Tab White Pages music and tabs, you can use painting tape to cover it or sticky notes on the tabs, but it has lots of classic rock but mostly nearly every pop or cover band type of act band. If you join a group though be honest of your skill and they supply you up and maybe if you can get a teacher it can help!

But tried to avoid tabs if you can which will be kind of hard in classic rock since there is gonna be so many tabs of that genre and also you can buy sheet music but its gonna cost 2 dollars each one unless you get a plan on some website.

I would say in my area the bar bands are always playing stuff like Free Bird, LZ, and AC/DC, go around listen to a bit and see what is the tunes around your town.

Let me also end by saying just my 2 cents, I play mostly original, Indie, shoegaze and authentic blues and jams so not much classic rock but started that way!
 
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#4
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Just make sure the nightstand has a tasteful floral arrangement that compliments the covers.

I'd advise searching for some of the many threads here on TB covering that topic, otherwise this thread may be a cover of a cover of a cover.
 
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#6
jimmack said:
Hi everyone. I'm a beginner bass player and am working on theory, technique, and all the other skills required to become a competent bass player. But I want to have fun when I practice as well, so I want to start learning some songs. I'm an older adult and my musical tastes are classic rock and some blues. Think the "Classic Vinyl" channel for those who have Sirius radio (my kids and my wife think I'm a dinosaur when it comes to music - and they're right) :) !!

Ultimately, I'd like to play for fun in a classic rock cover band, so I'd like to start building a repertoire as part of my practice. So... I'm interested in opinions from the bass world on the top two must-have classic rock songs a cover band bassist must have in their repertoire. I figure if I get enough responses, I should have quite a to-do list that will keep me busy for a long time!!

Thanks in advance everyone.
Click to expand...
First it's smart that you want to blend "study" with actual songs. Doing nothing but running scales and arpeggios gets tiresome very quickly. IT critical foundation that will eventually allow you to learn songs very quickly, but it's not especially fun.

Honestly, your best bet is to just start learning songs from groups you like. Just get the hang of how bass lines are crafted. In the classic rock realm, a lot of songs use similar concepts that are easily portable to other songs. Most of the "must know" songs you're asking about are the stuff you'll burn out on soon enough so I wouldn't tell you to start getting sick of them right off the bat. If you need a finer filter, IME, look at these bands as sources for popular cover band songs:
CCR, Beatles, Stones, Skynyrd, Sabbath/Ozzie, Eagles, Doobies, Van Morrison, Joe Cocker, Deep Purple, Bryan Adams, John Cougar, Van Halen, SRV, Jimi, ZZ Top, Black Crowes etc : If it's on your Classic Vinyl channel, it's likely a solid candidate for your request.

These days, 80s and 90s music is considered classic rock, which it just isn't, but a lot of bands feel the need to play stuff from this period to feel like they're playing "newer" music.

At this point in your journey, it's more important to be having fun with the effort than it is to learn specific songs that are "required" - there's plenty of time for that. And once you figure out how YOU learn songs, you can start building a practice that allows you to learn songs quickly. To me that's one of the overlooked skills a band mate can have - the ability to put a song together in a day or 2. When you get that first list for audition, you'll be glad you know how to quickly work up songs.
 
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#7
See what songs musicians on the internet kvetch and moan about playing. Learn those.

The usual suspects:

Sweet Home Alabama
Mustang Sally
Hard to Handle
Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Summer of 69
Most any ZZ Top or AC/DC hits.
Play that Funky Music

And anything else happy people in bars enjoy dancing and singing along to.
 
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#8
just joined one myself a couple months ago, still rehearsing and getting our song list together, there are so many but we'd need atleast 40 songs.
currently this is just a short list..Still adding.

Aerosmith - Cryin
Aerosmith - Sweet Emotion
Black Crowes - hard to handle
Bon Jovi - living on a prayer
Bon Jovi - Give love a bad name
Bryan Adams - Heaven
Chris Stapleton - tennessee whisky
CCR - Travelin Band
Def Leppard - pour some sugar on me
Fleetwood Mac - Go your own way
Georgia Satellites - hands to yourself
Grand Funk Railroad - some kind of wonderful
Grand Funk Railroad - Were an American Band
Guns n Roses - Sweet Child of Mine
John Cafferty and Beaver Brown Band - On the dark side
John cougar Mellencamp - Hurt so good
Led Zep - Rock n Roll
Los Lobos - La Bamba
Nirvana - In Bloom
Nirvana - Lithium
Pat Benatar - Hit me with your best shot
Pat Benatar - Heartbreaker
Patty Smyth - Warrior
Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
The Beatles - Saw her standing there
 
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#9
Last band I joined convinced me to grab a decent-ish tablet from a pawn shop and put "set list helper" on it.

I've found that the lower premium version (it will scroll for you) is nice. I simply search for lyrics, and download a version that has had lots of traffic. These versions are kinda just the lyrics with basic chord structure and the guitar chord above the lyrics. The reason I like those is I still have to figure out the bass part, but I know if, for example, the song was recorded tuned alternatively.

Once I have memorized the basic chord structure and changes, the little runs and twisty parts come pretty easy.

And you've learned it... not simply used your device as a crutch to simply play it.
 
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#11
I pretty much grew up listening to Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM, so I know exactly the kind of music you want to play OP. You're flashing me back to my teenage years when I was first learning how to play bass.

Here are a dozen songs that I learned:
1. The Beatles - Day Tripper
2. The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There (I knew that I was going to be a good bassist once I mastered this one)
3. BB King - The Thrill Is Gone
4. Cream - Sunshine of Your Love
5. SRV & Double Trouble - Pride And Joy
6. Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Chile
7. Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love (there's a YouTube video with John Paul Jones showing viewers how to correctly play this song on bass)
8. The Doors - LA Woman (great choice if you have a baritone for a lead singer)
9. CCR - Green River
10. BB King & Elton John - Rock This House (this one is from the 2000s, but it's a blues song that works with the genres you want to learn)
11. Yes - Roundabout
12. The James Gang (or the cover by The Black Keys) - Funk #49
 
#12
mrcbass said:
These days, 80s and 90s music is considered classic rock, which it just isn't, but a lot of bands feel the need to play stuff from this period to feel like they're playing "newer" music.
Click to expand...
That stuff is played on Classic Rewind, the sister channel to Classic Vinyl on Sirius XM. Classic Vinyl plays rock music from about 1964 to 1976 ("the first generation of classic rock") - the British Invasion to the start of the arena rock era. Classic Rewind plays rock music from about 1976 to 1990 ("the second generation of classic rock") - starting in the arena rock era to the beginning of the alternative rock dominated 1990s.

I prefer Ozzy's Boneyard and to a lesser extent Liquid Metal. The former is classic hard rock and heavy metal, including speed and thrash metal. The latter also plays thrash metal, but there's plenty of emphasis on death, doom, and other forms of extreme metal.
 
#14
jimmack said:
Hi everyone. I'm a beginner bass player and am working on theory, technique, and all the other skills required to become a competent bass player. But I want to have fun when I practice as well, so I want to start learning some songs. I'm an older adult and my musical tastes are classic rock and some blues. Think the "Classic Vinyl" channel for those who have Sirius radio (my kids and my wife think I'm a dinosaur when it comes to music - and they're right) :) !!

Ultimately, I'd like to play for fun in a classic rock cover band, so I'd like to start building a repertoire as part of my practice. So... I'm interested in opinions from the bass world on the top two must-have classic rock songs a cover band bassist must have in their repertoire. I figure if I get enough responses, I should have quite a to-do list that will keep me busy for a long time!!

Thanks in advance everyone.
Click to expand...

Just two?? :D

If I really have to limit myself to two songs that are super-classics, instantly recognizable, beginner-level (for bass) rock anthems, the first that came to my mind were Rainbow - Since you've Been Gone and Journey - Don't Stop Believing, but be aware that these are SO overused that some bassists here will balk at hearing them mentioned :laugh:
 

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