Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

Not to long ago i was jamming with my friends when our rhythem guitarist started playing sweet home alabama, well long story short we got in an argument. he wanted to cover it but me being the bandleader said no. only originals.Well, finally we agreed on the no originals idea, but i wondered what does the crowd prefer? originals or covers?

Originals are more enjoyable for the musicians. Audiences like the familiar, unless your originals are really kick-ass.

I often get requests for some of my songs, & it makes me feel like I really accomplished something.

There are specialized audiences, sometimes, where, like in an open mic situation, only originals are allowed, though.

It's a personal thing.
I prefer originals.
But to be honest have really not done a lot of covers.

Everytime you play you have to think of it as one time original experience.
The crowd will never be the same, the musicians will never be the same, the feeling will never be the same.
That is the great thing about live music,,,, It is all original.

Very "ZEN" of you Glen.

Music is actually a very personal God given gift to be shared at any venue that is available.
It is even greater if the work that is involved is appreciated.

THE most argued topic since I've been playing music. At this point I like doing both. To have a band do one or the other and not both doesn't make any sense to me. If a song is good and your band wants to put it in their repertoire then go for it. Doesn't matter whether it's cover or original. Make everybody happy. You happy. Audience happy. It's all about musical happiness. If you perform ANY song and you get no crowd reaction, either dump it or work on it some more until you get the response you're looking for.

GLENJ wrote:Music is actually a very personal God given gift to be shared at any venue that is available.
It is even greater if the work that is involved is appreciated.

AMEN !

I think you have to define "enjoy" before you can answer the question.

And even then, I don't think it matters.


I started out playing covers. I have enjoyed it greatly, but that is because we have chosen to play new material; we don't do classic rock and we don't feel compelled to play what the standards are. So we treat the cover tunes like originals - we play what we want to play. And if people like it, great (and the times we played out, people have liked it).

But recently I got invited into an all originals band, and I am enjoying that even more. I am enjoying it for a lot of reasons - I'm playing with some incredibly talented musicians who have a load of passion; I also happen to think they write fantastic music. So there's just a pure joy in playing their stuff.


I've also been doing some writing of my own, and the stuff I've written I really enjoy (if I didn't, I'd just ditch it).


So... I guess my answer would be: I enjoy all of it. It's not whether a song is an original or a cover than makes the difference to me, but whether the song is one that I like. If I like the song - if I think it's good - then I enjoy playing it.


The other thing is: if you're a musician with any creative juices at all, you are going to want to compose at some point in time. So don't limit yourself.

When I founded my cover band, our original plan was covers. But we always held open the option that we could add original tunes at any point in time if we came up with something we liked.

So if you're having a disagreement with a bandmate about original vs. covers, my advice would be: don't have that argument. If you decide as a band you want to focus on covers, fine, but always leave open the option of adding an original tune if someone brings something to the table they the group approves of.

Never close down options - always leave 'em open.

Yeah Colors. that is why it is so special to hear music from you and we had a real special treat when JW posted posted some of his own material. Not to put down music that has become mainstream, but much of your own personal music is MUCH better. The list of really great music that has been posted here, that is all new, is tremendous. I LIKE IT.

fisherman bob wrote:THE most argued topic since I've been playing music. At this point I like doing both. To have a band do one or the other and not both doesn't make any sense to me. If a song is good and your band wants to put it in their repertoire then go for it. Doesn't matter whether it's cover or original. Make everybody happy. You happy. Audience happy. It's all about musical happiness. If you perform ANY song and you get no crowd reaction, either dump it or work on it some more until you get the response you're looking for.

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That pretty much sums it up, along with Philbymon's response: "Audiences like the familiar, unless your originals are really kick-ass."
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When it comes to performing there is nothing I enjoy more than performing Originals.
Nothing matches playing one of your own songs for the 1st time for an audience, and seeing effusive emotions in their eyes. It's great knowing that YOU have done that for them.
If I play 'Sweet Home Alabama' - half the audience might love it - but . . .
. . . somebody else wrote it.
Sure - it makes them happy.
But, when I play, I play for me, and I share it with an audience.
If I just wanted to make people happy, I could offer to clean their windshields, or something.
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A couple months back I stopped at an open mike. It was a heavy metal bar.
I played right after the popular house band. They played metal and hard rock covers, and they were really excellent.
Cover after cover . . . the crowd ate them up.
. . .
OK, so, next up is me.
No one there knew me.
A solo guitar - playing instrumentals, not even singing.
And I was playing songs that no one there had ever heard.
And, not even that, but I had the balls to play jazz in a hard rock / heavy metal bar!
. . . would you be willing to try that?
. . . worried about getting booed off-stage?
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How do you think it went over?
Well - they LOVED it. I held the crowd with a different style of music, and all original songs. After my '3 songs,' they were asking for more. Each song I played was a different style; I forget how many I played, finally - about 25 minutes or so . . .
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So - that's my take on covers vs. originals, right there . . .
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But - if it makes YOU happy to play all cover songs which you like, and share that with an audience - then - for you - that is what it's all about.
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When you perform, it's best to play what YOU like to play; . . . because then you'll be performing at your best . . .
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Just, whatever you do - make sure you ARE performing your best.

ALan, just goes to show that good music is appreciated by everybody, regardless of genre...

although, i want to be proffesinal and do no covers i decided to do the cover song. You know just for fun. and to make sure no one in the band was pissed. you know no hard fellings. Plus i have to admit that is a badass song

This topic is older than dirt but I'll bite.

Andrew, go along with it if they are more friends than bandmates. But if it goes against what your intuition told you and these aren't close friends, start looking for a situation that more closely fits what you want to do. You could waste a lot of time just "going along" to make others happy. If you are the band leader call a meeting and describe your vision. Invite others to leave if they don't share the same mindset.

yeah there more friends than bandmates