• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Do you "overplay" covers

Do You "overplay" covers

  • Never I stick to the original cut as close as passable

    Votes: 18 7.6%

  • Rarely, I sometimes add to the sonic space, depending on the track

    Votes: 116 48.7%

  • I offer up my own interpretation, solo, whatever I think the song needs

    Votes: 92 38.7%

  • Carrots, cover food for bassists.

    Votes: 12 5.0%
  • Total voters
    238
#41
When i was 19-22 i played in a cover band with a bunch of guys in their late 30's/early40's. The band gigged all the time and I made great dough. I was honored to be asked to join a mature (well, mature for musicians!), well-established band. I guess in an endeavor to prove myself worthy, I over-played quite a bit. I was just getting good at the bass and I was learning alot because I was on stage for fifteen hours a week. I was just an excited kid and I wanted everybody to be as excited as me. Now I'm 33, I play in the church band and do some side gigs here and there. My playing has calmed down considerably and I think I'm a more solid bass player than I was at 21. I have also had to keep drummers stable like some of the previous posters. That helped steady my groove for sure. Also, many of the albums I played on in my later twenties happened to be songs that just sounded better stripped down so an alteration of my playing was necessary. Even now, I do like using most of my neck when I play, I just not as frantic to fit every possible run into every possible gap.
 
#44
I like to stick reasonably close to the recorded bass parts. The reason we are a covering a song is because the studio version "works" and the reason it "works" it because all the parts came together right. So why mess that up? I don't learn parts note for note but I do learn the signature licks and rhythms. Most of my variations take the form of a run or a slide here or there, or sometimes playing a stretch in a higher or lower octave if I feel like it fits the dynamics of the song better that night. I never play a song the exact same way twice but I also never leave any doubt what song it is from the line I'm playing.

That being said, sometimes the band will wind up taking a song at a different tempo than recorded (usually faster), and when that happens sometimes the recorded bass part doesn't work anymore and I have to scale it back (i.e., fewer notes). Or, maybe the drummer isn't quite copping the same feel or has taken liberties with the kick pattern or whatever and at that point I give myself license to do what I need to do to lock-in to what the drummer is laying down and make the song "feel" right again.

I had a similar experience to the OP a few months ago, seeing a cover band where the bassist was technically very good but was just playing way more notes than the recorded version... and not locking with the drummer very well in the process. I was with a couple of the guys in my former band at that show and I told them that if I ever got close to overplaying that badly they should warn me, and if I still kept doing it they should fire me. It was painful to listen to.

For a cover band, it's all about getting the crowd off their asses and on the dance floor... so they get thirsty, buy beer and make the bar owner money. And if you're really killing it, they're on their cell phones calling and texting their friends to come down and join the party. That band I saw had a big light show, good sound and songs everyone knew... and NO BODY on the dance floor (in a club where people dance at the drop of a hat). If we're playing popular tunes, the singer's working the crowd but nobody's dancing, the drummer and I aren't doing our jobs and we need to pull back on the flash and find a groove. That's the way we look at it, anyway.
 
#45
Moderation is key -

The flash is fun for not only the musician but the crowd as well. However if that is ALL you do, it wont stand out and will quickly become boring, because they've now seen your tricks for the last 10 songs.

If you play it low key for a bit, and then all of a sudden throw out the chops, they will have much more impact because they will be compaired to the more laid back bits you played earlier, and will appear more flashy than they really are because of it.

It's all about getting the most impact out of those tricks.
 
#47
Good discussion. I've always been a bit progressive minded, and consequently have been a bit of an overplayer. I realized that pretty early on, and switching from guitar to bass was a big step for me, and since then i'm still paring down the unnecessary stuff.

On covers I totally agree with most of the opinions here; stick to the groove, serve the song, fill it in a little if there is room for it, but busy playing can totally undermine a solid feel, just as the OP's example illustrates.

I know you hear it all the time, and I read it all the time here, but it really comes down to tasteful, dynamic expression. Busy bass players bore me. I'm learning to hold down fat, hearty lines that make people move. If people (musicians) in the audience don't realize that I have flashy skillz at the end of the night, so what? Am I looking to serve the music, or prove that I can play a lot of stuff? Meanwhile I think there is a lot of room for interpretation in a lot of cover music, like others have said, especially if it is not a bass driven song. I feel this way about the drums also; a few tasty fills in a song go way farther than the already mentioned 'lick at the end of every four bars'.

I read a quote yesterday from a pro bassist who basically said if you get bored holding it all down, you need to pick another instrument. I think he's right.
 
#49
all depends on the song for me. some songs have signature parts and i'll cop them. more often than not, though, i find my own way around them. i'd like to think i don't overplay but i imagine i do now and then. i don't care...as long as it sounds good, that's all that counts.
 
#50
I will play my own lines in certain places, if the original bassline is rudimentary, as long as it doesn't change the timbre of the song. That is unless we are doing a cover in a different style, like say taking Tush and turning it into a speed metal song. Generally, if a bass line ( or guitar hook for that matter) is hard, cool or widely recognized, it should stay and in any event, if you're going to cover a song, whether you play it correctly or not you should at least know how to. Faking your way through Red Barchetta with elementary bass lines is completely unacceptable in my opinion.
 
#51
Floyd Eye said:
I will play my own lines in certain places, if the original bassline is rudimentary, as long as it doesn't change the timbre of the song. That is unless we are doing a cover in a different style, like say taking Tush and turning it into a speed metal song. Generally, if a bass line ( or guitar hook for that matter) is hard, cool or widely recognized, it should stay and in any event, if you're going to cover a song, whether you play it correctly or not you should at least know how to. Faking your way through Red Barchetta with elementary bass lines is completely unacceptable in my opinion.
Click to expand...
playing red barchetta in front of a crowd unless you're rush is unacceptable to me. geez, why not just read out of the encyclopedia instead?

:D

:hiding:
 
#52
I play in a three piece, so a certain amount of bass busyness helps to fill out some tracks. If its an iconic line, and up front in the original track, I stick to it, no matter how simple ,(where is my mind, zombie, ect) . Other wise it's open season. An example, Fleetwood mac's dreams. Pretty much F & G start to finish, to prevent left hand seizure, I throw in a snappy little run under the drum riff every four bars or so. As it is masked by the drums and no one really hears it makes very little difference to the song, but it keeps sleep at bay. Is that over playing? probably. :hiding:
 
#55
Take a song like "Loser", by 3 gay guys or whoever the **** it is. There's a song that may go over well in bars, but to me it is a POS, so I play interesting bass lines instead of the drivel on the recording.

Now "Sound of Madness" also isn't my favorite song, but it's OK and the bass is interesting, so I play it precisely as it was recorded.

Sometimes I will play or arrange songs ( it is my job to arrange all the songs apparently) the way the original bands perform them live too.
 
#57
LAPetrarca said:
Perfect answer.......well put! :bassist:
Click to expand...
i don't think it was perfect or particularly well put, for that matter. everyone needs to find their own way to play, not follow some set of arbitrary "rules" because it doesn't fit into someone else's paradigm. it's funny how many people claim to hate overplaying then mention guys like jamerson as their role models. jamerson overplayed a LOT. but he made it sound good. THAT is what is important.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jinglesmeowmeow
#60
Pilgrim said:
I play in a surf band so it's important to stay close to the originals. Where I deviate is usually in spots where the original has a passage that's hard for me to play, or where I need to fill in for a change someone else in the band made.
Click to expand...
ya, you play in a band where the way you play bass is pretty specific to the genre, huh?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back