Improperly Played Covers

[buldog5151bass]

To me, it's more about getting the groove than the exact notes - it bothers me more when the feeling isn't right. Two examples (recent sub gig I did) - Brick House and Play That Funky Music. I don't care if they play the exact notes, but everyone plays them too fast, which kiils the groove.

 

[Bullitt5135]

Sweet Home Alabama. Too many bands think this is a no-brainer song that eats up 5 minutes of the set. "Cool...3 chords! I can zone out for a few minutes!" If you skip all of the runs, fills and dynamics that make it interesting, then why play it at all?

 

[hrodbert696]

Sweet Home Alabama. Too many bands think this is a no-brainer song that eats up 5 minutes of the set. "Cool...3 chords! I can zone out for a few minutes!" If you skip all of the runs, fills and dynamics that make it interesting, then why play it at all?

True. I thought that way at first, then the classic rock trio told me, no, you have to hit those offbeat G chords in the chorus and you have to get the F-C thing at the right point. Makes it sound like a song rather than a mindless drone. After getting used to doing that for a couple years I played it with a different group that didn't nail those bits and it was so disappointing.

 

[lz4005]

I think OP means people who screw it up because they don't know better.

Yes! This exactly.
If you can make it work, make it better, sure do something different. But you can tell when people are playing it "wrong" because they're lazy or not good musicians.

 

[two fingers]

It doesn't bother me at all if people change things up a little. I do want them to get the signature licks, all of the changes and the feel right though. What bothers me is when I see a band half-assing their way through a tune, obviously just going through the motions because they are too $%*ing lazy to learn the song right. That is really contemptuous of your audience. If you are accepting money to play, be a professional.

This.

I do a lot of fill in gigs. You would not BLELIEVE how many times I have been on stage and found out (when it's too late to do anything about it) that we're going to be playing the chorus chords through the bridge because it's "close enough for rock n roll". Uh..... no it ain't. Learn the dang song or don't play it.

I have no problem with a band INTENTIONALLY making a song their own by changing the overall tone of it (like Priest did the Johnny B. Good mentioned earlier). But if you're going for the cover band thing, cover the song.

Take a listen to the actual bass line to Gimme Three Steps by Skynard. I have seem exactly one bass player nail it and I'm him. Not bragging. I just took the time to learn it. The other 400 bassists I have seen play it fake it.... at best. I have even filled in with bands who asked me during the set break "Why did you go so crazy on Three Steps??? We'll let you take a solo if you want one."

I just smile and say "I literally played it note for note like the recording. You've just never played with a bass player who took the time to learn it correctly."

 

[two fingers]

True. I thought that way at first, then the classic rock trio told me, no, you have to hit those offbeat G chords in the chorus and you have to get the F-C thing at the right point. Makes it sound like a song rather than a mindless drone. After getting used to doing that for a couple years I played it with a different group that didn't nail those bits and it was so disappointing.

Yeah playing it right makes it actually kind of fun to play!

 

[lfmn16]

I just smile and say "I literally played it note for note like the recording. You've just never played with a bass player who took the time to learn it correctly."

Hold it, you're saying we should take the time to learn a bass line???? Like the notes and everything????

Burn Heretic!

 

[Biggbass]

Any Journey song,
Any Lynyrd Skynyrd song
Any David Bowie song
Any Beatles song
Any Stones song
Any Eagles song
Any Kansas song
Any Styx song
Any Rush song
Any Pink Floyd song
Any ...well you get the idea

 

[tubedude]

It irks me to hear Journey covers too.

 

[JimK]

Cissy Strut. I don't think I've ever heard a cover where they played it like the Meters played it. I normally don't care too much, but the way most bands do this one ruins the groove for me.

Something like "Cissy Strut" does not bother me...I have heard killer versions that veered off sideways, blah.
Do you like Oz Noy's or John Scofield's versions?

 

[JimK]

Any Beatles song

Many cool covers versions of their stuff...
EW&F's "Got To Get You Into My Life"?
Jeff Beck's "She's A Woman"?
Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude"?
Aretha's "Long & Winding Road"?
...there's a whole album of Motown stars doing covers. Cool.
George Benson has a whole album of covers. Cool.

 

[INTP]

Something like "Cissy Strut" does not bother me...I have heard killer versions that veered off sideways, blah.
Do you like Oz Noy's or John Scofield's versions?

This points to a theme that's been mentioned already in this thread. When bands take a tune and make it their own, it can be refreshing. Either of these seem like making it their own, to me, and aren't what I would consider to be 'improper':





The blues jam version where it's trying to be like the Meters' version, but is not, is the one that made me chime in. I am choosing not to post an example, because I don't want to single anyone out.

 

[Ant Illington]

Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine never seems to get played with the right feel (not terribly surprising, I suppose, given that I live in Montreal). It pretty much always gets played too fast and without the light swing/bounce that the original possesses.

Guilty. Its the hardest "easy" song that I have to play. I transcribed the first 16 bars as it was getting impossible to remember. I gave the brief transcription to the regular bassist (25 years + and he's great) in the band I sub in and he said "oh, wow. I thought such and such...." haha. You win the internets with that call!

 

[JTE]

Like always, these threads descend into the fallacy that a recording is the song. The SONG is NOT the recording, nor the arrangement, nor a particular performance. Playing in cover band since 1976, the only people who really think it important to regurgitate a specific recording are the musicians in the audience who aren't gigging. If you're covering something highly produced and arranged like most modern R'n'B or whatever, then it's gotta be the same each time. But not the really interesting music. The Stones must be bad because Wyman actually played bass on the verses of "Honky Tonk Women", which is NOT how the record goes... The best of the Allman Bros was all about the interplay between all the musicians on THIS night in THIS room. So if we cover "One Way Out", does that mean we have to play the version that's from "Eat A Peach", including Berry's error coming in?

 

[MonopolyMoney]

Maybe it is a sore subject

 

[buldog5151bass]

Many cool covers versions of their stuff...
EW&F's "Got To Get You Into My Life"?
Jeff Beck's "She's A Woman"?
Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude"?
Aretha's "Long & Winding Road"?
...there's a whole album of Motown stars doing covers. Cool.
George Benson has a whole album of covers. Cool.

Joe Cocker made a career of it.

 

[LeeNunn]

I interpret the OP's complaint to be about laziness, not complete opposition to interpreting covers. My pet peeve on laziness is garage bands' understanding of the chord changes on the Allman's Bros' cover of Stormy Monday, especially here in the South. My favorite interpretations are Brad Mehldau's covers of Beatles tunes.

 

[bucephylus]

There are several perspectives on this topic. A significant aspect of pop music is to bring something fresh and in the moment to each performance, as opposed to reciting the piece like it is Beethoven.

That said, it is also appropriate and the mark of a mature player to study the original track and be aware of the original line as a reference. Being fluent with the original track creates cred to own the tune with appropriate changes in arrangement, feel, and line; as well as spontaneous "commentary." The better the familiarity with the tune, the more flexibility there is with rendition. Of course, when you are playing from a catalog of, say, 125 tunes, with rotation of current "hits" into the catalog; there can be a learning curve.

Ultimately, the purpose of entertainment is to entertain. And, another reality is that non-musically educated audiences will most often respond to feel over technical correctness. IMO, it is important to look at what a player does over an extended time vs getting ultra critical about specific performances. YMMV

 

[tlc1976]

It's one thing if they totally make it their own, it can be cool. Otherwise IMO just play the song correctly.

A couple common bar band covers that bugged me the most:

Brown Eyed Girl, where the E - F# - G go high, he just kept them low on the E string thru the song. Playing them high I always thought is what makes the song.

Knockin On Heaven's Door, instead of syncopated fills, he played this silly sounding fill of all 8th notes and did it exactly the same thru the whole song.

 

[Stinsok]

Speaking of "Gimme three steps," every band in the world plays the verse with "hit" from the kickoff/solo. I tell them the verse is "down" but it happens anyway.