Guys Who Only Play Covers: What Happened?

[socialleper]

You really should fix how this is written because as is it's a load of nonsense. Laughably so.

You obviously mean simple chord structure songs with very basic time, no syncopation, etc. Right?


I'm just imagining what your renditions will be, based on tab alone, no learning by ear (which includes simply listening to the actual song), etc.

Are you not familiar with what a torrent is? If you want me to use a more simple phrasing I mean to go to a torrent site and download the entire album for free (like you don't know anyone what does that) then use the Google search engine to look up the tabs. Throw you ill gotten MP3s into you favorite media player and follow along with the tabs.
I tend to be a grammar Nazi, but in the computer world using the noun name of something as a verb for using it is common.
If you still aren't sure what I'm talking about go ask someone younger to translate the internet for you.

And yes, I am referring to simple songs. Anyone with a modicum of skill can figure out Hey Joe or Another One Bites the Dust pretty fast. They are very listenable because they are so simple.

None of which speaks to the OP (original post, if you weren't sure) though. I was illustrating that the tools to learn a cover now are ridiculously easy to get. MP3 + Tabs = done. Which may have something to do with why cover bands are so prevalent now.

 

[socialleper]

And my point is that your generalization isn't necessarily or even often correct.

Properly, emphasis on that word, learning a song and making it performance ready takes time and effort. Just learning the changes is simply the beginning.

Your going to have to be a little more specific here.
I said some songs are simple and easy to learn. Which is more or less true based on the talent of the player. While "Some music is easier to play than others" is a little general, it is completely and totally accurate. Some music IS easier to learn.
I also said the tools to learn a cover are stupidly easy to get. Again, they are. When I first started playing it was very hard to learn a song. You'd either have to do it by ear, which is a wonderful, yet difficult, talent; or by a book. Either way you'd have to play your tape or record back over and over to learn one part. With on-demand MP3s for any piece of music you can image, a media player that can rewind with a drag of a mouse, and more tabs floating around the internet than you can imagine, its SO much easier to learn a cover now. Again, based on the information I just gave you, this is a completely and totally accurate statement. It IS easier to learn covers now.

Proper is an interesting word. One should want to do one's best at all things. But I've been on this blue sphere long enough to know your average audience member wouldn't know a sour note if it hit them in the face. Most of them don't even know what a bass it. Every single musician is going to spin something a little different, so getting wrapped up in some idea of "perfection" is a waste of time. No one plays everything exactly the same, and you audience doesn't expect you to, if they are even paying attention.

 

[SactoBass]

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.

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

What happened??? I'll tell you what happened.

I was progressing along in life fine and dandy, playing bass, writing new songs, planning to be a very successful songwriter and rockstar, and then..........it happened! At first, I didn't know what the sound was. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw it.......a spaceship.......and it was headed right for me. I was driving my car at the time, and I was the only car on a rural road around midnight. I was scared to death, but there was nothing I could do. I slowed down and came to a stop, and the craft approached my car and came to a hover directly above me, about 50 feet above my car. Then, a blindingly bright light beamed straight down engulfing me and my car, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on my back on some kind of operating table with a bunch of alien-looking beings gathered around me. They had some kind of gizmo wired to my head. I then blacked out. When I came to, I was back in my car and the ship was gone. To this day, I have no idea what they did to me, but from that moment on, I had zero interest in writing songs and all I wanted to do was play cover songs. This all happened back in the 70's and I have been that way ever since.

That's what happened.

 

[Akami]

I do both. If it is on the internet, I'll learn it, but if something sounds wrong, or I like the idea of doing it another way, then I change it.

 

[socialleper]

When I started playing bass in 1972, there were no tabs that I knew of. (Yikes, there was no Internet back then!) So I began learning songs by ear. I got used to doing it that way, and over the years, I developed a knack for learning all of the bass notes by ear. I got so good at it that I would also help my guitar playing friend figure out guitar solos note for note. Many years later, with the invention of personal computers and tabs becoming available, I briefly took a look at a few tabs, and I discovered that many of them were incorrect. I realized at that point that the accuracy of the tablature would only be as good as the deciphering skill level of the person who deciphered the song and tabbed it. I knew darn well that some of the tablature was incorrect, so I told myself that I would trust my deciphering skills more than trusting some tab on the Internet. So I have always learned by ear, and I have been successful doing that for 40 years of playing bass. And I didn't just do it that way for simple songs. I learned every bass note to a bunch of YES songs from the 70's, and played in a YES tribute band.

I'm not bashing the tab method. I'm only saying what has worked for me personally.

Learning by ear is a great way to go. It trains you to hear music better, which I'm sure you'll agree is a great tool to have. Being able to sight read sheet music is also a great tool to have, one that isn't very common any more.

Do you find its easier to get shows as a tribute band, or cover band, than as a band that does originals?

 

[SactoBass]

Do you find its easier to get shows as a tribute band, or cover band, than as a band that does originals?

Yes.

I actually played briefly in a band back in the 70's that played covers as well as some originals. The cover songs were always the ones that the audience got into (because they recognized the material). When we played the original material, the crowd just kinda stood there as if they were watching paint dry. I will also admit that my heart wasn't into playing originals. That was the last band I was in that played any original material. Thank goodness!

 

[socialleper]

Yes.

I actually played briefly in a band back in the 70's that played covers as well as some originals. The cover songs were always the ones that the audience got into (because they recognized the material). When we played the original material, the crowd just kinda stood there as if they were watching paint dry. I will also admit that my heart wasn't into playing originals. That was the last band I was in that played any original material. Thank goodness!

Did the crowd reaction sour you on writing and playing originals? Why "thank goodness"; was there something about the process you didn't like?

 

[Ric5]

You know ... there was this guy called Elvis. He got really popular. He sold a lot of records, and played a lot of concerts. He got so big he was called "The King of Rock and Roll". He wrote only about 8 songs.

ELVIS WAS A COVER ARTIST!!

Gee what happened to him. Did he give up on his dream.

 

[rockosocko]

At the end of the day, if a person chooses to play nothing but covers, that is their perogative, and should not be judged for it. I have seen a lot of musicians who play their own music because they don't have the talent to play covers. Plus, there is a financail consideration to this as well; here in NYC, a geat original band would be lucky to make $100.00 for a gig where as a pretty decent cover band could expect to make four to five times as much for a gig.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Yea ok, if you say so. Makes no sense with regard to the OP's question. Flawed syllogism.

Okay, I say so. That was easy.

 

[rtslinger]

What happened Grunge happened and Hairbands fell from grace many casualties at the time we were one of many.
I continued writing and recording until my kids came along and I put my music on the backburner and decided to join a tribute band after the kids were old enough. Maybe someday I will put out original stuff again I have pen over 100 songs
and write nearly everyday. The cover thing is just to keep me active and on the scene and I love playing bass.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Are you not familiar with what a torrent is? If you want me to use a more simple phrasing I mean to go to a torrent site and download the entire album for free (like you don't know anyone what does that) then use the Google search engine to look up the tabs. Throw you ill gotten MP3s into you favorite media player and follow along with the tabs.
I tend to be a grammar Nazi, but in the computer world using the noun name of something as a verb for using it is common.
If you still aren't sure what I'm talking about go ask someone younger to translate the internet for you.

Snippy BS aside, what you wrote, again, was nonsensical. I know what torrent is and last I checked it involved AUDIO. Yet you were going to learn ANY SONG EVER WRITTEN with tab, NO LEARNING BY EAR, so what exactly were you going to do with the downloaded audio... look at it on a scope?

For an alledged grammar nazi your logic sucks. No offense.

And wouldn't a grammar nazi be aware that stating ANY SONG EVER WRITTEN would not limit that to simple songs only?

So... unless you're some sort of tab savant, your statemtent that you could learn any song ever written with it alone (again, no ear) in about half an hour is a complete load of crap.

Do you still not understand? Maybe you could use an older person to proofread your posts.

And yes, I am referring to simple songs. Anyone with a modicum of skill can figure out Hey Joe or Another One Bites the Dust pretty fast. They are very listenable because they are so simple.

NO LEARNING BY EAR. Your words. I pointed that out in my previous post. Duh.

None of which speaks to the OP (original post, if you weren't sure) though. I was illustrating that the tools to learn a cover now are ridiculously easy to get. MP3 + Tabs = done. Which may have something to do with why cover bands are so prevalent now.

If only they had an app for writing what you thought you meant...

 

[Febs]

NO LEARNING BY EAR. Your words. I pointed that out in my previous post. Duh.

Brad, you're digging yourself a hole here. It was prettyy clear from his post that he was talking about downloading a recording via torrent and tabs via Google and using them both to learn the song. When he says "no learning by ear," he meant that the tabs make it unnecessary to pull the parts off the record only by ear.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Brad, you're digging yourself a hole here. It was prettyy clear from his post that he was talking about downloading a recording via torrent and tabs via Google and using them both to learn the song. When he says "no learning by ear, he meant that the tabs make it unnecessary to pull the parts off the record only by ear.

Read the damn post. Did he mean no learning just by ear? And did he mean any song or just simple ones?

I didn't write the hole HE dug.

 

[gjbassist]

Where did the OP come up with this theory, and why have there been no other posts by the OP since starting this thread? If you are going to make a statement like this then why are you not on here defending your position?
I will tell you "what happened" to me. Life happened. I never planed on playing music for a living, just for fun. I went to school for something else, got married, had kids, etc. Had I got involved in an original band at an earlier age then maybe things would be different. As it is now, I would rather play clubs where people can sing along with and dance to songs they are familiar with.

 

[Gaius46]

Your going to have to be a little more specific here.
I said some songs are simple and easy to learn. Which is more or less true based on the talent of the player. While "Some music is easier to play than others" is a little general, it is completely and totally accurate. Some music IS easier to learn.
I also said the tools to learn a cover are stupidly easy to get. Again, they are. When I first started playing it was very hard to learn a song. You'd either have to do it by ear, which is a wonderful, yet difficult, talent; or by a book. Either way you'd have to play your tape or record back over and over to learn one part. With on-demand MP3s for any piece of music you can image, a media player that can rewind with a drag of a mouse, and more tabs floating around the internet than you can imagine, its SO much easier to learn a cover now. Again, based on the information I just gave you, this is a completely and totally accurate statement. It IS easier to learn covers now.

Proper is an interesting word. One should want to do one's best at all things. But I've been on this blue sphere long enough to know your average audience member wouldn't know a sour note if it hit them in the face. Most of them don't even know what a bass it. Every single musician is going to spin something a little different, so getting wrapped up in some idea of "perfection" is a waste of time. No one plays everything exactly the same, and you audience doesn't expect you to, if they are even paying attention.

Sure. Apologies for being terse was posting from my phone with one eye on the TV last night
First you have to understand that I'm not merely speaking about learning a bassline. I'm speaking about learning a bassline and playing it with the rest of the band in a way that makes it dynamic and enjoyable for your audience.

I absolutely agree with you that the tools for learning songs are better now. MP3 players and software to slow songs down make it easier to hear what's going on.

But not to the point where it's brainless work for anything more complicated than a I-IV-V quarter note groove. And tabs, from my admittedly limited experience, don't really help a whole lot since many of the ones I've seen range from just usable to complete POS. And even when the writer gets most of the notes right the lack of rhythm information, which is at least half the job if not more for syncopated rhythms, is left to you to figure out.

So I don't agree that the technology and availability of tab has made life easier for cover players.

And then there's whole aspect of actually getting the song to a performance ready state. It's more than just making sure everyone knows the changes and can start and stop at the same time. There's dynamics to consider - there's nothing worse than a band that plays an entire song at the same volume, it's like listening to someone recite Shakespeare in a monotone. There's making sure the song grooves. There's vocal harmonies to be considered (my band has four vocalists and does lots of 3 and 4 part hamonies). There's considering where to fit it into the set list and how to segue from the previous and into the next song.

Case in point - one of the tunes we're currently working on is "Aeroplane" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I spent about 4 hours learning the line - and in this case I was working from an accurate transcription - and getting it up to speed (admittedly I'm a crappy slapper so that had something to do with it) and now we've worked on it for 4 rehearsals at about an hour a clip and it's almost to the point where it's performance ready. And it's not an overly difficult tune.

We could probably have gotten away with less work because as you say most audience members won't notice but I (we) will.

 

[pnut166]

And tabs, from my admittedly limited experience, don't really help a whole lot since many of the ones I've seen range from just usable to complete POS.

So I don't agree that the technology and availability of tab has made life easier for cover players.

There is some God - awful tab out there. In fact, for a beginner, tab can hurt more than help.

 

[Ric5]

There is some God - awful tab out there. In fact, for a beginner, tab can hurt more than help.

+1

 

[Ric5]

I will tell you "what happened" to me. Life happened. I never planed on playing music for a living, just for fun. I went to school for something else, got married, had kids, etc. Had I got involved in an original band at an earlier age then maybe things would be different. As it is now, I would rather play clubs where people can sing along with and dance to songs they are familiar with.

I at one point wanted to be a professional musician. But reality hit me in the face when I realized that most musicians don't make a lot of money playing music. I decided to go to Architectural school and get a career. Music is still a nice hobby. But not working as a musician full time for 40 years I am healthier, I have better hearing, and I made more money.

 

[boristhespider9]

It's actually pretty shocking to me how many of you have played bass for so long and never played in an original project or even desired to create original music. It's also surprising how many of you cite money as a key factor in your decision, especially those of you with day jobs that pay the bills anyway.

I did not decide to play bass to make money. I have indeed made money in both original and cover projects, but I've always just viewed that as icing on the cake. Funny money to buy gear and such. My day job pays my bills. In addition, because I have a day job, I am not concerned about the money, which gives me MORE freedom to play original music.

I like playing covers. The ones that haven't been beaten to death and are so pandering that it makes me cringe. However, I just couldn't imagine going through my entire "bass career" never playing original music. I take much greater pride in my accomplishments recording original music and playing it live than I ever do recreating a song that someone else became famous for.

Anyway, this thread has digressed significantly. I'd be more interested in hearing about the TRANSITIONS original music players had to cover bands after a certain point in their lives and musical careers. I do think that is what the OP was originally trying to get at in his inarticulate first post. Instead, many of you felt the need to jump down his throat to claim that "nothing happened" and "playing covers rules" and "I never wanted to play original music" and "you're ignorant about classical music" and "I make $x playing Mustang Sally and that's why" and "Elvis did covers" instead of addressing the fact that many people do make the transition from original music to covers for one reason or another. Many of those players still have their hearts in original music and not the latest radio hit of the day that someone else wrote.