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Cover Bands: a Question

KeithBMI

KeithBMI

Jul 28, 2005
7,393
9
37
Metro Detroit, Michigan
#1
My band finished our first payed gig tonight but we played a very short set. We have a couple of originals, but we mostly just jam out for extended periods. We want to cover some famous songs but I was wondering how most bands go about finding the music.

Is there a score? Or does everyone have to purchase music for their instrument?

Can you buy single songs? Or do you have to get the whole artist's collection?

Thanks. :D
 
#5
Always tried to learn the songs by ear myself. Very rare occasion when I'll try to find the music (usually tab) somewhere. For me to look for a transcription, the bass would have to be buried so far under the mix that I couldn't hear it or just extremely complicated.

I have found the Tascam Bass Trainer to be an extremely useful tool for learning covers and greatly reduces the time it takes me to learn a song. The loop function is an invaluable time saver and the pitch shift has been great for those occasions when my band wants to play a song in a different key.

Having a full time job and a gig schedule that seems to get heavier by the month, I'm all for anything that reduces the time it takes to learn the songs.
 
#7
The bands I have been in usually the members of the band will suggest a song(s) to cover and either have a copy or get a copy of the song. When P2P was free and legal it was great for this, but most of the time I found myself picking up a CD anyway seeing how I was usually in a band that I enjoyed the music I was playing. Having something like iTunes is a valuable tool if you only need one song.

As far as learning the songs it was 98% from ear. If I found myself short on time or had a few songs to learn I would try and find a transcription online. If I was in a new band situation and had a lot of songs to learn and not a lot of time to commit them to memory I would usually make cheat sheets with cord progressions and the form of the songs.

I can't remember the last time I went out and paid for sheet music. I think it was the Led Zeppelin complete book back in 1980somthing.

It is definitely worth your time to learn songs by ear. The more you do it the easier it becomes and with a little extra ear training you will be surprised how your ears open up to hearing music. Just hearing little things like the difference between a Major cord and a minor cord will make learning the bass line much easier than trying to pick out the bass line note for note.
 
#8
Yeah - what everyone said here... Most music you buy is not really accurate anyway. It get's you in the neighborhood, but usually falls short of getting you to the door.

In the day and age of digital, using the recordings is a pretty easy way to learn songs. You can stop, rewind, slow down, and other things to effectively disect at song pretty easily.

Back in the old-days of analog tape or albums we did not have it so easy. Rewinding and Fastforwarding tape is much more clumsy then popping the play-back head right where you want it and looping a part.

On parts that are hard to hear, a tab can occasionally help you work it out - but for the most part use the recordings.
 
#10
When our cover band started out, we would write a list of songs we wanted to play and what some of our family/friends wanted to hear.

We would loook through our CDs, go on youtube, find anything that we can listen to and learn the song to perfection. every little detail, every swoop, pluck, funk, stomp etc...

This is a great chance for you to work on y our ears when it comes to hearing the notes rather than looking at false tabs on the web. Tabs would be a great starter if ou REALLY need the help, but don't go with what the tab says all the time. Listen ot the bass parts carefully, and you decide what you should play. Don't be lazy, keep listening to those parts. What I do is I plug my bass in to my amp and goes right in to the computer. I turn down the bass off whatever song is played and I jam along with it to perfect all of the bass parts.

But good luck tho!!!
 
#11
Our band was a 5 piece so what we did is have each member write down 20 songs they wanted to play. at next rehersal we presented our 20 songs. Right away we axed any song than any member in the band did not want to play. That will clear 40 songs right away. Alot of times we had multiples in the end we got it down to 40 songs in about 2 hrs or 4 or 5 beers each. than proceeded to make a practice disk with the 40 songs we were going to do and spent the next 4 months learning those 40 songs before we played our firtst gig. We played 3 shows at 3 different venues and after that we had a feel for what the crowd liked and didn't and proceeded to axe songs that did not go over well. All in All we have about 20 songs we play today that we played 6 years ago when we started and we are forever taking songs out and adding new ones. The thing is now we know over 200 songs and if you need to pull one out of the hat you will be able to do so over time.
 
#13
So, the general consensus seems to be that most of you learn covers by ear. Me too. I’m curious. Do you learn them note for note. I don’t, unless the song has a strong bass hook, like the intro to Phish’s Down with Disease. We used to do that song and I played the intro as close to Mike’s version as I could get it. Otherwise, I get the progression down and then do my thing with it, without changing the song too much of course. how about the rest of you?

Pontz
 
#14
I learn the distinctive parts note-for-note (like in Free's "Alright Now" - that signature bassline after the guitar solo - or the Violent Femmes, "Blister in the Sun" - the bombastic bass break) But otherwise I use a 'get into the original bass player's head' technique where I learn the part from the angle that I feel the original player created it from. That usually keeps me right where I need to be and allows me to expand on the part without straying too far from where it needs to stay. I try to 'channel' the original players' when I play.
 
#15
I learn most stuff by ear, and will try to play the lines as close as possible to the original, especially any standout riffs (the Free riff that tZer mentioned for example....).

Most of the time the only people that would notice my lines not being 100% correct would be other Bass players in the crowd.
 
#16
You get to a point, like our band, where we pick 3 cover songs to learn for next practice (usually 6 days apart).
Each person learns their part at home. Generally, if you have been doing this for a while, you can listen to the song. I like to get the tab, also, if ther eis tb. But remember, 3/4 of the tab out there is tabbed by someone who is tone-deaf, so they are generally not correct. They might be correct for the most part, but as a whole they are not. One song might have 6 different tabs. Use the tabs to help speed up the process, but do not rely on them. Now, back to the "you get to a point..." statement. You get to a point that each person learns their piece at home and after playing the song about twice as a band, we have it. Now some arrangements are a bit more difficult with stops, etc...But it sure as hell beats the farting around at practice "jamming" (Which seems to be what everyone thinks is the way to do it) Maybe for the creative process as an original band it works, but definately not as a cover band. Jamming just wastes time and does not help you learn the songs.

By the way, if you are playing covers, learn the song as close to the original as possible. People want to hear it how it is on the radio or the CD, not how you think it should be.
 
#17
perfdavid said:
You get to a point, like our band, where we pick 3 cover songs to learn for next practice (usually 6 days apart).
Each person learns their part at home. Generally, if you have been doing this for a while, you can listen to the song. I like to get the tab, also, if ther eis tb. But remember, 3/4 of the tab out there is tabbed by someone who is tone-deaf, so they are generally not correct. They might be correct for the most part, but as a whole they are not. One song might have 6 different tabs. Use the tabs to help speed up the process, but do not rely on them. Now, back to the "you get to a point..." statement. You get to a point that each person learns their piece at home and after playing the song about twice as a band, we have it. Now some arrangements are a bit more difficult with stops, etc...But it sure as hell beats the farting around at practice "jamming" (Which seems to be what everyone thinks is the way to do it) Maybe for the creative process as an original band it works, but definately not as a cover band. Jamming just wastes time and does not help you learn the songs.

By the way, if you are playing covers, learn the song as close to the original as possible. People want to hear it how it is on the radio or the CD, not how you think it should be.
Click to expand...

+1 for all the above.

I use www.tabrobot.com most of the time. Its a tab search engine but sometimes you just have to go and google. but as perfdavid said, most of the time they are wrong. one really anoying thing is you will get the same wrong tab on all the tabsites. you can spend all evening going from one site to the next and its all the the same crappy one.
I too find it just helps speed up things but dont use them too often.
We do a lot of weddings and we have to learn a song for the first dance. normally this will be a full on slushy song that we never want to play again so the tabs help us learn the songs quickly.
 

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