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Cover band rant...

#42
If playing covers is what makes you happy, then go for it. There's no rule that you ought to write and perform originals just because you can. The couple in the original example were parents it was said. Perhaps they didn't lack ambition as much as they had ambition for other things, like their family. Just a thought...
 
#43
I started playing bass 15 months ago. I and my band have learned 35 covers. We are all just starting out and man have we learned a lot from those songs. We just dont hack a cover, I dont ride my E string for 3 hours. We all make a consious effort musically and vocally to sound like the artist we are covering. We all take individual insrument and vocal lessons too. My point is by learning all these songs we learned so much about song structure, effects, vocal hormonies, lead patterns..you name it. So we applyed this stuff and wrote 3 good originals. My point is covers are not our life. We can play a show anywhere anytime with our covers but it has launched us into bigger and better things, it has taught us a tremendous amount about music and I am happy for taking the last year to learn from these other great bassists and artists by playing covers. It has opened our eyes to music by learning from 35 different artist and how they write.
 
#45
Originally posted by Tim Cole
Not to start an argument here ric, but unless you're making a good living with original music, I hardly consider it bigger, or better.
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It means more to me personally, it's bigger and better for me. I like doing covers but there is nothing like jamming a bass line I wrote and have people approach me and think I have been playing and writing for 10 years on bass...
 
#46
Many posts have nailed it in my opinion, as to the reasons for both covers/originals.... I'll mention what I consider "reality" in terms of the gigging musician...If your a young musician (i.e. SINGLE, and free to go where the winds take you without any worries as to others, like ..um...wife, kids etc.)..Then it is purely up to you where you apply your efforts. Indeed as long as you feel fulfilled from what you are producing then you win. In my college days I had dreams of being rocker for a living, and music being my life(I majored in music in school both jazz/classical)...I found that as I grew older my life became richer(married, kids, own a bussiness)...Being a life long musician, at some point I came to terms with the "reality" of having to earn a living so of course I, but also my family could eat and live in a house...The motivation I have fostered to provide a living, I would be willing to bet surpasses most "original band" efforts.......I now play Jazz "covers" with combos(bass for hire) and usually that entails reading fake books, songs picked by whoever set up the gig(somtimes the song selection by our geriatric host leaves somthing to be desired)...On the flip side, my reading skills have never been better, solos by the dozen, and getting a minimum of 25.00$ an hour to play with bands requiring NO REHEARSALS(a job paying 25-50 an hour to play music definitely beats burger king)....I see it as a wonderful way to earn extra income doing somthing I love....I still work on originals with musician buddies for our own ends, but without a doubt: original band=motivation is a misguided notion, one I think might(no offense ment) come from a lack of experience/wisdom.....(or I am just a failed, crusty, music curmugedon)
 
#47
Originally posted by JimK

If lugging my crap around for a one-hour set wasn't bad enough...sometimes we played LAST & I would have to be there the whole night awaiting our go(if one or both of these 'warmup' bands were 'crappy'...OK. Usually, they were loud AND 'crappy'). ;)
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Or the other way around, playing first and having to sit through 2-3 sets of possibly crappy original music to get your $30 to split with the rest of your bandmates.
 
#48
Originally posted by Joe Nerve
do you know that people laugh at new yorkers when they say y'all. i say it even more now.
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...and sometimes they do that here to transplants from Boston.

:D


Originally posted by Zharlon
...Then it is purely up to you where you apply your efforts...
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Exactly, if you want to put energy into developing a rock solid original group or gigging in a cover band... Great, then use and shake what yo mamma gave ya!

IM'h'O, why sit at home when you can earn a buck, network, get free food/beer and meet some interesting people? Especially when it is only going to further your ablities and strengthen your stage savvy. Plus, it is with the skills you already have, why waste 'em.


Originally posted by Zharlon
...but without a doubt: original band=motivation is a misguided notion, one I think might(no offense ment) come from a lack of experience/wisdom.....
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Motivation depends strongly on discipline (not in a militant-strict way, just keeping yer sh!t on track) and desire, whether is it shedding 'Donna Lee' ('cover') or writing a tune ('original') that was inspired by it. They both need fuel.







*I think that the 'lack of experience/wisdom' paradigm, might be what was responsible for starting a thread about this, in the first place. Again IM'h'O.
:)
 
#49
Not sure if this was written above, as I don't feel like reading all the replies, but I'm forced to throw in my 2 cents.

Not everyone joins a cover band to become famous. For me, I have a full-time career and play bass as a hobby. I have no desire to sit and write my own music, although I love playing and will still be playing many years from now.

My goal, when I started playing, was to get into a band as a hobby, drink alot of beer, and rock the house with whatever music the band wants to play. For me, it's nothing more than a hobby which I really enjoy and do every day for at least an hour.

Also, I don't really consider myself a "musician". I'm a hack but I love playing and I'll probably never take lessons because (a) I don't have the time and (b) there are no good teachers on the island.
 
#51
Originally posted by RicPlaya
It means more to me personally, it's bigger and better for me.
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I agree(sorry, Tim). I have always kept my day job...so, for me, music is about fun & doing what I want(sometimes I wanna play in some halfbaked esoteric "Originals' band", sometimes not).

Truthfully, I spent money to play in one of my "originals' band"(I tried to use the only whatever "Cover" money I earned to underwrite it!).
;)
 
#53
As long as we're all kicking into this more, let's not forget all those other musicians without talent who played covers:

- Joe Cocker - Little Help From My Friends
- The Who - Summertime Blues
- Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones, S. R. Vaughn, Aerosmith, and just about any band who played blues
- Motown groups who all did many of the same tunes (most of whom did not do the writing)
- Beatles - Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Chains, Kansas City, etc.

C'mon, let's make the issue more fun - What are your favorite covers?
 
#54
Whatever floats your boat. There's no better or worse, if you're having fun it doesn't matter whether you're doing originals or covers.

At the minute I'm in a covers band doing 60s/70s rock, R&B and soul tunes and it's a great laugh. I've been in original bands in the past and enjoyed them massively too, but it was a struggle to get gigs and decent pay I have to admit, there's just not any decent venues for original bands around here. Therefore, I'm at a stage where I'd rather just do the covers.

BTW Brad, you must be in a hell of a good cover band to have got that much sweet gear, nice!

I'm thinking of starting up another band to do some dancey funk/soul stuff, hopefully getting a brass section and all. While I'm on that subject, anyone got any good suggestions for covers, here's a few that I had in mind already so you've got an idea what kind of stuff I'm looking at:

Average White Band- Pick up the Pieces
James Brown- I Feel Good, Get Up Offa That Thing, Super Bad, Sex Machine
MJ- Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Billie Jean
Stevie Wonder- Superstition
Sly & Family Stone- If You Want Me To Stay

Any input appreciated :)
 
#55
If you're going to cover a song, you have to listen to the song and use your ears and knowledge of music theory to determine what the bass player is playing. It's not always easy to say "I want to cover song X" and then listen to song X and just start playing along. I have known groups of people who have gotten together to play music, realized that no 2 players knew any of the same songs and then tried to learn some covers together and found it hard to figure out their parts and cover the song, so they just decided to write originals. If you play originals, your parts can never be wrong. :hmm: Do you think they were better musicians than a cover band that can learn their parts and cover popular songs?
 
#56
Originally posted by Jeff2287


After all, who wants to buy a CD of a band playing someone else's music pretty much exclusively?
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Anybody who enjoys orchestral music. Or most jazz fans.

Would you or your guitarist look down on his folks if they played Mozart and Beethoven in an orchestra?

Stop judging other people and do what makes you happy.
 
#57
Originally posted by Matthew Bryson
If you're going to cover a song, you have to listen to the song and use your ears and knowledge of music theory to determine what the bass player is playing. It's not always easy to say "I want to cover song X" and then listen to song X and just start playing along. I have known groups of people who have gotten together to play music, realized that no 2 players knew any of the same songs and then tried to learn some covers together and found it hard to figure out their parts and cover the song, so they just decided to write originals. If you play originals, your parts can never be wrong. :hmm: Do you think they were better musicians than a cover band that can learn their parts and cover popular songs?
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Nice Matt!!!! So true. Why do a lot of these bands do only originals? I'd say a lot can't hack the covers, you can usually tell the ones that do only originals for that reason.
 
#59
Having had some experiences in the original scene in aust, Its great to have ambition and drive, but make sure the reason you play originals is FOR YOURSELF. It can spend years and years and years smashing your head against a wall. Nothing wrong at all with covers, its given me a full time living for 4 years compared to zero dollars from original music. Its not like the monopy guy is going to waddle into your gig one night and take the pain away, its a hard slog. You play because you like to, and if you make money from your craft well you are fortunate. :cool:
 
#60
Geez - I think it comes down to this - unless you are bound and determined to go for broke and be a star, there are only two rules:

1. Play what you enjoy playing;
2. Play what the audience wants to here.

Other than that, who gives a #$^&%!#**%$!@# about what someone, or some band, wants to play...

To quote the late, great Zappmeister - shut up and play your guitar.

:bassist:
 

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