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Guys Who Only Play Covers: What Happened?

M

matante

Nov 3, 2003
2,397
2,522
#1
EDIT: This thread is for bassists who started out with a desire to create original music and later stopped creating originals but continue to play covers. If you play both originals and covers, the question does not apply to you. If you've always played covers and never had an interest in creating originals, the question does not apply to you.

THIS IS NOT A COVERS VS. ORIGINALS THREAD.

I have a hard time believing that someone who decides to buy an electric bass and learn how to play it does so with the intention of only playing covers.

I can imagine people who want to play the violin, cello, even the piano, with no desire to make their own music, but electric bass guitar? I doubt it. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

There are a lot of guys on talkbass who only play covers and don't seem to have any interest whatsoever in making their own music. A lot of guys also seem to enter every discussion, whether it's about amps, strings, or basses, with the assumption that the intended use is to play covers.

So my question to you 'cover guys' is, what happened? At what point and why did you give up on making your own music?
 
#2
Hmmmmm..... Well. A lot of people play an instrument as a hobby. So it's fun. It's a personal thing. And a lot of people don't have time, personnel, or the creativity to write their own stuff. It takes a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK. And people with families can't take that much time away from home to spend fruitlessly working on music that has a 1 in a million chance of being heard/making them famous. Playing covers gives you a chance to play music with friends, have fun, and gives you something to strive for and a personal and fun goal to reach. And it can make you A LOT OF MONEY. I've brought home as much as $400 for one gig. But regardless of the money. Playing music is about having fun.

I do both. The creative stuff is just for fun with friends. But I actually play music (covers) as a second job in the Air Force. So I've got the best of both worlds. But I don't get payed to play my music. So I spend time getting better at playing the stuff that does. And I've met a ton of great friends, gone a lot of places, and had a crap load of fun doing it.
 
#3
matante said:
I have a hard time believing that someone who decides to buy an electric bass and learn how to play it does so with the intention of only playing covers.
Click to expand...

Why? I was inspired to play the music I heard on radio and records. I bought a bass and did so - and became pretty darn good at it if I do say so myself.

matante said:
I can imagine people who want to play the violin, cello, even the piano, with no desire to make their own music, but electric bass guitar? I doubt it. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)
Click to expand...

Why do you think that people who play these instruments don't want to make their own music? You do know that Bach and many other "classical" composers were fantastic improvisors, right? They wrote it down after composing it on the fly.

matante said:
There are a lot of guys on talkbass who only play covers and don't seem to have any interest whatsoever in making their own music.
Click to expand...

What's wrong with that? I mean, if you don't want to play covers that's fine, but why belittle me for doing so? I enjoy playing covers. I find it quite challenging and rewarding.

matante said:
So my question to you 'cover guys' is, what happened? At what point and why did you give up on making your own music?
Click to expand...

Nothing happened. I am doing exactly what I want to do.
 
#5
I did the originals bands up to my mid 20s and it was fun at the time. These days, Im 41 and do not want to play to 3 people who dont clap after each song. Im doing it as a hobby and for fun, and I would rather do that in front of a packed house who are into it. Thats me though.
 
#6
mebusdriver said:
Hmmmmm..... Well. A lot of people play an instrument as a hobby. So it's fun. It's a personal thing. And a lot of people don't have time, personnel, or the creativity to write their own stuff. It takes a lot of work. A LOT OF WORK. And people with families can't take that much time away from home to spend fruitlessly working on music that has a 1 in a million chance of being heard/making them famous. Playing covers gives you a chance to play music with friends, have fun, and gives you something to strive for and a personal and fun goal to reach. And it can make you A LOT OF MONEY. I've brought home as much as $400 for one gig. But regardless of the money. Playing music is about having fun.

I do both. The creative stuff is just for fun with friends. But I actually play music (covers) as a second job in the Air Force. So I've got the best of both worlds. But I don't get payed to play my music. So I spend time getting better at playing the stuff that does. And I've met a ton of great friends, gone a lot of places, and had a crap load of fun doing it.
Click to expand...

+1

I think that was an excellent response to the OP's inquiry.

Simply put, "different strokes for different folks". Different people have different interests, which is exactly the way it should be.

We all make choices. I chose to focus my career efforts in the field of civil engineering, and I now enjoy a successful six-figure job overseeing a staff of very competent civil engineers, and I have a very healthy retirement package waiting for me. Life is good!

I am 56 years old, and I started playing bass at age 16, so I have been playing for 40 years now. I have been in many bands, mostly classic rock cover bands (including a YES tribute band). Music is just a hobby for me, and for me it's all about having fun. I couldn't care less if I get paid to play (that level of compensation is usually trivial anyway).....for me it's all about the love of music and performing some of my favorite tunes. It is very liberating to be able to enjoy performing music without having to worry about whether I am gonna receive $42 or $51 dollars. :rolleyes:

So when the OP asks "why did you give up on making your own music", my response to that is, I never gave up on anything. I never had the interest to begin with, so there was nothing for me to give up. It's kinda like asking me why I gave up eating lima beans. I never liked them in the first place. Other people who like lima beans are welcome to scarf down as many as they want to! Go for it! And if writing original songs with incredibly impressive lyrics such as "ooh baby, I'm gonna give you my all" (followed by really heavy sounding bar chords) is what a person loves to do, then by golly, go for it! ;)
 
#7
matante said:
I have a hard time believing that someone who decides to buy an electric bass and learn how to play it does so with the intention of only playing covers.

I can imagine people who want to play the violin, cello, even the piano, with no desire to make their own music, but electric bass guitar? I doubt it. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

There are a lot of guys on talkbass who only play covers and don't seem to have any interest whatsoever in making their own music. A lot of guys also seem to enter every discussion, whether it's about amps, strings, or basses, with the assumption that the intended use is to play covers.

So my question to you 'cover guys' is, what happened? At what point and why did you give up on making your own music?
Click to expand...

that's a completely ridiculous perspective to take on (what i assume to be an opinion of) classical music.

you posses the most severe musical ignorance if you think someone like yo yo ma or glenn gould or leonard bernstein were not making their own music.
 
#8
What happened? Nothing "happened". I played original music for many years, including a stint with a Nashville guy that actually had a #1 hit. That was a good band, and we couldn't make a dime. I got into playing covers because some of my friends were doing it and asked me to come play with them. It was a good way to learn different styles and stretch my skills. Kind of took off from there...especially as I started to actually GET PAID for playing good music with good players.

For me, the "goodie" is to be able to get up onstage with a bunch of guys I respect musically and entertain people. I still sound like me - I'll play signature bass parts in the songs, but most of the time, I'm playing what I want to play. I don't really think of it as playing covers (or originals); I'm just playing music, and having a great time doing it.
 
#9
matante said:
I can imagine people who want to play the violin, cello, even the piano, with no desire to make their own music...
Click to expand...

Since you're a creator of orginal music...I suggest some time be spent using your creativity imagining a world full of bass players playing only covers.

No need to denigrate others to make yourself feel better. :)

Please post links to your tunes so we can be be enlightened by your aural presence.
 
#10
I have about half and half. The sad fact is that I am not, will never be as good as a real pro. I've had great moments jamming but a real bassist will come up with netter bass lines than I can.

So it get a thrill out of playing a real good bass line that someone else wrote. I also get a thrill out of playing my own stuff.

The fact I doubt if I can come up with something as cool as Handy.
 
#11
The answer to "What happened" is.........nothing happened. I bought a bass to play music. Thats what i do. I play in cover bands (which helps pay the bills), I record both my own music and do sessions for other original music. Please don't assume just because a bass player plays covers that somehow he/she is a sellout or has lost anything by playing cover tunes. I prefer to be a working musician and playing covers is where the bulk of my work comes from. If someone does not play covers, thats just fine too. My desire has been to be the best musician I can be in any given situation and make my musical contribution a favorable one.
 
#12
groooooove said:
that's a completely ridiculous perspective to take on (what i assume to be an opinion of) classical music.

you posses the most severe musical ignorance if you think someone like yo yo ma or glenn gould or leonard bernstein were not making their own music.
Click to expand...

Please reread my post. I never said what you claim I said.

That fact is that a lot of people, probably the vast majority, take up those instruments with the desire to play, but not the intention of becoming composers. (And many of them have no desire to play but do so to placate their parents.)

The vast majority of bass guitarists, on the other hand, buy their first bass with the intention of joining or starting some type of pop/rock band when they're in high school. Their ultimate goal is to record albums and become stars. I think only a tiny percentage would pick up the bass with the ultimate dream of being in a cover band.
 
#13
lowstrung5 said:
The answer to "What happened" is.........nothing happened. I bought a bass to play music. Thats what i do. I play in cover bands (which helps pay the bills), I record both my own music and do sessions for other original music. Please don't assume just because a bass player plays covers that somehow he/she is a sellout or has lost anything by playing cover tunes. I prefer to be a working musician and playing covers is where the bulk of my work comes from. If someone does not play covers, thats just fine too. My desire has been to be the best musician I can be in any given situation and make my musical contribution a favorable one.
Click to expand...

I don't, and please don't assume that I consider playing covers to be a bad or undesirable thing. I'm only being realistic in the way the vast majority of us picked up the instrument and am curious as to how and why our intentions with the instrument change over time.
 
#14
matante said:
The vast majority of bass guitarists, on the other hand, buy their first bass with the intention of joining or starting some type of pop/rock band when they're in high school. Their ultimate goal is to record albums and become stars. I think only a tiny percentage would pick up the bass with the ultimate dream of being in a cover band.
Click to expand...

Matante: with all due respect, I believe you are incorrect in the above assumption.

I started playing bass 40 years ago at age 16, and my only interest was to play cover songs in bands for fun. I'm now 56, and my interest remains the same. I never wanted to write songs, record anything, or become a star. I just wanted to have fun playing music. Still do! :D
 
#15
matante said:
I'm only being realistic in the way the vast majority of us picked up the instrument and am curious as to how and why our intentions with the instrument change over time.
Click to expand...

It never changed over time for me. Maybe I am in that "tiny percentage" you mentioned earlier. And if that's the case, thank goodness, as the last thing I wanna do in life is be a sheep! LOL!
 
#16
One thing many people forget (or simply do not know) is that 45-50 years ago most singers and bands did not write their own stuff. There were composers who provided them with songs, arrangers who told them what to play, and sometimes even other musicians to do the recording.

Bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Byrds, The Who and just about everyone started doing almost nothing but covers or getting original material from professional composers. Anyway, to get back to the original question, at this point in my life I'm quite happy trying to play (and learn) from someone else's good bassline and don't miss that much doing not-so-good original material, either a band mate's or mine.
 
#17
I hate everything I come up with. The few things I've liked enough to actually complete still suck. I'd love to join a collaborative effort with a band or another musician but after looking around in this town it just wasn't happening.

Nowadays I'm just content with noodling around and playing stuff I listen to. I love hearing a killer bass line or riff then learning how to play it.
 
#18
hufe said:
at this point in my life I'm quite happy trying to play (and learn) from someone else's good bassline and don't miss that much doing not-so-good original material, either a band mate's or mine.
Click to expand...

+1

When I was in a YES tribute band, it was great fun trying to make sure I played every note correctly. That kept me quite busy, as we played the entire Close to the Edge Album and a bunch of other Yes songs from the 70's. Mr. Squire plays a lot of notes! Plus, having to learn those contrapuntal harmony vocals and play the bass at the same time kept my brain plenty warm!
 

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