Note For Note Vs. "Wiggle" Room

[sublimate]

I "reinterpret" all songs to use only open note fingers and mostly on the D and E strings (they call it a bass for a reason - higher notes are for wusses!).
So it's fair to say I use some wiggle room.
But I always get the rhythms spot on.
Well, unless they have something fancy like eighth notes or triplets. Then I wiggle them back to quarter notes.

 

[pglaser01]

I had a very odd experience a few years ago involving a pianist and a singer. It was a thing I do every year where a horde of history teachers and professors gather in Kansas City .

Odd things tend to happen in Kansas City

 

[BassUrges]

I tried to learn "What's going on" note-for note, but it's like 9 pages of sheet music and I have to play it on the 22nd.

 

[Pug the Pig]

Oh there's always Wiggle Room...

 

[pglaser01]

Honestly though I think the song can dictate whether note for note is needed.

I'll play Interstate Love Song, Gimme Three Steps, or Come Together note for note....but the 15,000th time I've played a 1-4-5 Blues in E or A? Or Rolling Stones' Miss You?

Yeah I'll experiment as long as it works for the tune/crowd

 

[Fredrik E. Nilsen]

When the original band that recorded a song plays live, they usually don't do it note for note or as recorded. Just saying.

Of course, but that's not an excuse for not learning it. Too many people can't be bothered with learning the original, and use every excuse available ("that's how /I/ do it" etc etc).

 

[RichardW]

The premise of the OP is that the bassist who made the original recording then plays the identical line every time he or she plays the song live. Does anyone think this is true? And what exactly is the point of playing note-for-note? Even if you did, you're still not Paul McCartney. Just play what you feel and make sure it works for the song.

 

[Max Blasto]

[QUOTE="lfmn16, post: 21213988, member: 202464

As for competition, playing exactly like the original isn't the most important factor in getting a gig. Yes you do have to be technically proficient, and yes you do have to 'know' the tunes, but showing up on time, prepared, without an attitude and exuding 'team player' vibe will get you way more gigs than playing 99% exactly like the original. Just my experience.[/QUOTE]

Dude, I want to frame this and put on the wall of every rehearsal studio, teaching studio, and recording studio I work at.

People play music for years without realizing what you've pointed out there.

Note for note cover bands are to American Music what chicken Caesar salad is to American cuisine: bland inauthentic and underwhelming empty calories for people too programmed to consume something other than the unoriginal.

As for completion, I'm not competing with bassists who play note for note because I can assure you there is no competition.

As for auditions, they are auditioning for me, so if they tell me to play note for note, I fire them.

If it's their band, first I take over their band, then I fire them.

Note for note. Gimme a break.

 

[madbass6]

Here's an argument in favor of learning covers note for note that I haven't seen on TB. It's COMPETITION. A player who learns note for note has an advantage over another who doesn't (everything else being equal).

that's up to the guy paying you ! Some say Just do your thing, (your groove etc.) & Some say HELL NO I want what's in the recordings and nothing less ! So before that audition be sure to do your home work on BL & ask around what they actually want!

 

[Firewraith]

Actually I was turned down for what I thought was a tribute band because what they really wanted was someone to jam the tunes . I'm pretty sure they had been butchering the tunes for so long that they thought I was playing them wrong .

Hmmm.... I didn't realize my bandmates were looking for a new bassist. Seriously though, with the cover band I am in now (not a tribute band) I can't listen to original artist recordings because it will throw me out of sync with the rest of the band. They can never replace me because anyone else they would get would use the correct song structure and be treated just as you were. I guess they can fire the drummer and call it a day though.

 

[Tony In Philly]

Many bands have different live versions of their tunes. I usually look to the live versions for ideas more often than the studio renditions. Therefore strict adherence to the original bass line can often be superfluous.

 

[Josh Kneisel]

For me I always learn what the original bass line is and then I play it like I would if it was me that wrote it. Which means some notes/rhythms may change, but the important recognizable stuff is there.

 

[glocke1]

I agree. It's the safe bet, and I've seen and had much more success going into an audition with an accurate or faithful bass line carefully copied from the recording. A too-clever interpretation of a well-known bass line usually makes a less favorable first impression--since you don't know these musicians your personal "flare" might wrinkle some noses. The rare exception would be a band that tells you up front that they want you to re-write the line and get creative, but in 40 years of playing in cover bands I can't recall ever hearing that. I have a high percent rate of beating the competition, and I'm sure a lot of that is because I initially learn a song straight and play it the way people are familiar with at the audition.

Now, after I'm in, and we get to know each other, things may change a little, but that depends on the mentality and goals of the project.

I agree with all of this..

I am however not a note for note player...I'll error on the side of caution and say I can recreate a baseline with an 80-90% accuracy rate depending on the tune. Theres always going to be something I miss.

Honestly at this stage of the game for me note for note is out of the question. I just simply don't have the time to devote to that, especially when I get a setlist two days in advance of a gig.

Heck...These days I even do what I consider cheating, and thats to go directly to an instructional video for a song where someone else is already telling you how it goes. It just isn't worth it to me to spend time sitting down working out a tune by ear when its only going to be played once every six months or so.

 

[guy n. cognito]

By "competition" I mean other musicians who are auditioning for the same position. The band does the judging.

My favorite thing to do to "note for note" guys: I hit the know licks and the hooks, and play everything else different. In my experience....I still get the gig 100% of the time.

 

[bfields]

But I am opposed to insisting on it in cover band situations. It is often the case that a cover band plays a tune where they don't have all the parts that are present on "the recording." Power trios may cover a tune that was originally recorded in a five-piece.

In fact, that's the common case for most cover bands: often the canonical version of a song that people have in their heads was recorded with tons of tracks: extra guitars, strings, horns, synths.... If you want to cover the song note-for-note you have to play to backing tracks, or bring along an orchestra (or at least several very busy keyboard players).

If you can't do that, then you often *have* to get creative just to make the song work at all.

It's less of an issue for bass players since we usually don't have the option of picking up those extra parts. But I recently joined a cover band as a keyboard player and oh boy am I running hard into this issue--way more parts to cover in the original recording than I can possibly catch with two hands, so how do I simplify while still keeping the structure and dramatic shape of the original?

 

[Billoney]

My favorite thing to do to "note for note" guys: I hit the know licks and the hooks, and play everything else different. In my experience....I still get the gig 100% of the time.

Whatever gets the job done.

 

[guy n. cognito]

Whatever gets the job done.

Ah...thought it was a competition?

 

[LT131]

It is not my concern if the original bassist did not get it right the first time.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

Depend ... in so much music, especially solo "artist", everything except the lyrics could be different and no one do care.

So why you should care ?

Playing Dream Theater or Rush not note for note is a receipe for disaster

 

[skwee]

I don't even like it when the original artist does exactly what is on the record :/