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Guys Who Only Play Covers: What Happened?

#221
boristhespider9 said:
Are you guys making "real" livings playing covers? Enough to pay your bills and save some money too? Can you support a family with it? It seems hard to believe unless you're in one of the absolute top wedding/corporate bands in a major city being paid 15-20k an event.
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Lots of people make a real living playing covers. They just play 5 or 6 nights a week.
 
#224
boristhespider9 said:
Interesting story. After playing originals for so long, were there any covers that made you cringe when you played them? Did you personally ever feel like you "gave up" in any sense by going the cover route or was it just "time"? Also, do you think you had a higher standard in the type of cover band you'd agree to be in due to your experience on the original band scene?
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Eh, not really. My experience playing covers at first was so limited that I didn't have any sense of what would or would not make me cringe. It was really after years of being in cover bands that started :)

In a way, I wish I'd bet on myself a little more with the band I'd spent so long working on with original material, but the situation became less tenuous as time passed. I look back now really and I'm amazed I had the drive and focus to go that far - I have that kind of drive and focus still, but lately it's been directed towards the business I own ...

Maybe not a higher standard, but by the time I got out of the original project I was playing in I knew that my playing was better than 98% of people I ran into and I just HAD to play with people that were up to my level. I mean, the guitar player in this project had a masters degree in music from the University of Georgia and we lived and played together for years - it was one long, long education in rock band 101 from scales to driving all night between club dates ...
 
#226
What happened? Nothing.
I play covers for the same reason you try to create your own music, it's fun. It's just a hobby, if someone wants to spend their entire life learning and playing covers, why not? Also, it's unfair to assume that everyone who enjoys playing covers doesn't make their own music.
 
#227
I think it's not as common for the bass player to be the song writer - we all can't be like Sting, Paul McCartney, Jaco, etc. I just play the damn bass and have a good time with it. I played in many original bands and unless you get signed, there 'aint no money it it. I make money playing in a cover band - not anywhere near enough to live on - have a day gig too. I'm also curious about the age of the OP. At some point, "it" just isn't gonna happen for you and you'll either sell all your junk - or enjoy playing in your cover band on weekends making a few extra bucks.
 
#228
phillybass101 said:
Gentleman, gentlemen. IMO Bass Players are some of the coolest Mofos on the planet so let's not forget this. Far too often we want to speak in absolutes and as far as I can tell in life the only absolutes I face are that I HAVE to pay my taxes or else, and one day I'm going to die.

I grew up in the inner city (Philly) and all us cats that got into music did so at first playing in a cover band before I was even aware of what a cover band was. We were simply emulating the songs by our hero bands and we were judged not only if we could play a song but how well we played it. It was a competition thing like, can you get that. Those players who could get that the best, were the best in the neighborhood.

There is nothing wrong with playing covers or being in a cover band that I can tell. Some of the best cover bands went on to develop their own sound and their own LPs. Again, there is nothing wrong with having aspirations of being a song writer and doing your own thing. If you can do that and that's what you want to do, then that is absolutley fantastic.

As you grow and develop as a musician and or song wiiter the reality of the life of a full time musician hits really hard. Some guys make that sacrifice and some don't. My skills are such that I could be a touring pro but for some reason or another I did not make that complete sacrifice and take that seemingly vow of poverty.

I went to college ended up with a Masters degree and have a well paying job and can buy any piece of gear I want. I also chose to be a free lance player as I do not dig the grind of being in a cover band that works regulary.

I have friends who went to Berklee but for some reason never became stars but do work as full time musicians. Some of them still ive at home with htier mothers. They do not have the responsisbilities I have and are free to pursue their passion.

Neither path is is the only path. Their are no absolutes.

I don't condemn the life of a full time musician but I can't afford to live off of $100 gigs at home and a tour here and there. I do not however discount the sacrifice my friends have made and am often jealous that I did not choose their path.

I grew up the late 60's, 70's and 80's. My best learning tool besides my weekly lessons were the radioi and the record player. Later came 8 tarck tapes and cassettes. Sheet music for my favorte funk bands was few and far between. Therefore due to the sheer amount of time practicing with my ear, I developed quita an ear. My wife swears I can play anything I hear.

In todays time, there are many training aids to help the process go a lot quicker. I too now learn from a combination of listening to a song , reading the lead sheet and or chord chart etc. This really helps expedite the process when you play with a singer who wants the change the key. You actually learn how to change the lead shert or chord charts accordingly which makes transposing the key for the whole group to go faster.

Not everyone who picks up an instrument has as a goal at first the desire to write their own or play their own music. This came for me much later in life. I never was aware of the the argument about COVER Bands, until I went away to college and joined a rock group. Never before had this becaome an issue in any band that I was in before. Hate to be cliche but it is different strokes for different folks.

I recently played a smooth jazz show with a female saxaphone artist who wanted me to come up with one of my own grooves to play for the show. We didn;t even rehearse it. I sent them the chords changes in an email the day before the gig and we just winged it. It was an orginal of mine I started writing as a latin based tume way back in 1991. I changed it to a funk shuffle. The leader recorded the show and My tune is one of the best in the show. Liltle did I know that I may have writing skills. This just sort of happened with no drive, or intent on my part. Now we're taliking about developing it into a real song that has great potential.

I say this to say we all come from all walks of life, different cultural backgrounds and because of this there are no absolutes that work as a cookie cutter solution and to each his own. Remember we're bass players even if we write songs, use our ears, tab, read sheet music or not. We are some of the coolest people on the planet. We can argue but let's not fight.

Guys of today, you do have more learning tools than guys may age ever had. Like Vicotr wooten says, don;t learn how to play with your eyes use your ears. Videos, tab, lead sheets, chord charts are all necessary I beleive but there is nothing as equally important as having a great ear. A great ear is just more than hearing something and spitting it back out. There is feel, tension, relief, syncopation, that percolating stuff we bassist can do etc etc.

Old school meets new school on TB so lets TB not shout at each other.
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Excellent post. (made it a little bit easier for me to read. :)
 
#229
So everyone knows, I have edited the original post by adding a couple of lines at the top to reflect that this is not a Covers vs. Orginals thread. The rest of the OP remains untouched.

If you've only played covers all your life or if you play both covers and originals, the original question does not apply to you.
 
#230
bwoodman said:
I think it's not as common for the bass player to be the song writer - we all can't be like Sting, Paul McCartney, Jaco, etc. I just play the damn bass and have a good time with it. I played in many original bands and unless you get signed, there 'aint no money it it. I make money playing in a cover band - not anywhere near enough to live on - have a day gig too. I'm also curious about the age of the OP. At some point, "it" just isn't gonna happen for you and you'll either sell all your junk - or enjoy playing in your cover band on weekends making a few extra bucks.
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I don't see why or how a bassist is less qualified to write a song than a guitarist.

Since several people have asked, I'm in my late 30s.

As I've said earlier in the thread, I don't see writing originals as something that's only worth doing if "it" is going to happen. Creative endeavors are rarely about "making it" or about any kind of financial reward. There are a ton of people in the world who write poetry, sculpt, paint, etc. without any intention of selling, or even displaying, what they've created.
 
#231
matante said:
I don't see why or how a bassist is less qualified to write a song than a guitarist.

Since several people have asked, I'm in my late 30s.

As I've said earlier in the thread, I don't see writing originals as something that's only worth doing if "it" is going to happen. Creative endeavors are rarely about "making it" or about any kind of financial reward. There are a ton of people in the world who write poetry, sculpt, paint, etc. without any intention of selling, or even displaying, what they've created.
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Do you own your own business, or do you work for someone else? We know you don't make money from music..... ;)
 
#235
guy n. cognito said:
So, what happened?
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So hypothetically speaking, let's say I took the easy, less risky path to be safe rather than a more gutsy risk taking venture that may have been more difficult and more satisfying in the end. I took the career equivalent of Brown-Eyed Girl rather than trying to write the next great rock tune.
 
#237
So something went wrong with guys who play jazz standards? Not buying your assertion. Sometimes it is not about "writing" something new but about putting your own interpretation on material that is already established.

Don't play that many covers these days in the traditional sense. Then again, if I step into play with someone, they start a song they've written and I improv a bass line over it, how the hell is that more of an original for me than if I did the same thing with a song someone other than the front man wrote. It is still a cover for me. Doesn't matter if the frontman wrote it or not.
 
#238
boristhespider9 said:
So hypothetically speaking, let's say I took the easy, less risky path to be safe rather than a more gutsy risk taking venture that may have been more difficult and more satisfying in the end. I took the career equivalent of Brown-Eyed Girl rather than trying to write the next great rock tune.
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Ok, so on a scale of 1-10, how big of a hypocrite does a person in your position have to be to criticize someone who made the exact same decision, only in a different, yet significantly less important aspect of their life? Why did you decide to take that safe path? Have you no pride in your career that you decided to take that easy path?
 

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