Song- Knockin' on heaven's door. Cover band- Short intro>verse>verse>chorus>guitar solo>chorus>another guitar solo cause the song's only 2:45>2x chorus>outro Jam band- Rhythm guitar until most of the others figure out what song, and key it is>bass comes in, not on the 1, and not on the root>One singer starts, but realizes he does not know the words>the other singer starts>guitar solo>band misses the modulation cue, and is playing in two different keys>train wreck averted by KB player>guitar solo>verse>no one knows the words to next verse>guitar solo>modulate back down to original key>barely noticeable crash and burn>keyboard player starts playing a line that hints at segue to next song>space jam for five minutes while bass player walks off stage for a rest>next song. Now tell me- Who had more fun?
Seems to me they are both cover bands. One group just knows the songs. Knockin' is right up there with Free bird for me. I think an audience would prefer the first band.
To answer the question, most likely the jam band had more fun. I mean, the cover band just played another non challenging classic rock cover perfectly while the jam band "made art" possibly on some reasonable to hi grade drugs.
Hi, One of these sounds like a job. Which is ok. The other sounds like adventure. Thank you for your indulgence, BassCliff
No mention of the drummer in either scenario, so my money's on the drummer. Even in scenario 2, he could just lay back and watch the dumpster fire in sheer amazement, as long as he could 4/4 his way through it. Must have been hilarious from his perspective, and his band mates will never hear the end of it.
I've been in some 'blues' bands where the lead guitar meanders around until the drummer figures out the beat and then the rest of band figures what song the guitar player is leading up to. This is for every song. Believe me, it's not art.
Dropping in low Ds and Cs and a high fill and decending line here and there, applause and getting paid. I had more fun. In my old band i used to slowly ascend through the whole progession hitting roots, thirds, fifths. The rythum player stuck with a nice on point strum during the run.
Cover bands vs jam bands is like comparing apple and oranges! Cover bands by rule of thum should be more organized and commited to doing things organized and the rite way or at least try ! Jam bands are excakly that, jam bands! Having fun, just jamming !
The real question is why would any kind of band play that song? It had it's place, but nobody needs to hear it any more. IMO, YMMV and all that...
There's nothing worse than a "lead" guitarist who gets you lost. I was in a band with a guy like that once who needed a damn compass on his pedalboard. You never knew if he was tuning up, noodling, channeling Wes Montgomery or playing an intro. You had no choice but to wait until it got sorted out enough to recognize it. Very stressful.
Who had more fun really comes down to the individual players. Some people are control freaks who don’t like or can’t improvise at all others enjoy it. My originals band is a mix. Half the band loves improvising, the other half is super anal about everything being well rehearsed with basically no improvisation on stage
Huh? In both instances, the singer never yelled "Gimme some reggae!", followed by 8 or so bars of forced-sounding reggae? Carrots.
Neither. Knocking On Heaven's Door is the worst song to cover on Earth and bands should only have to play it as a penance for some major violation. I think I'd rather play a Mustang Sally>Brown Eyed Girl>Stairway to Heaven>Despacito>Disco Duck medley all night than Knocking On Heaven's Door once.