General Music Chat

You think you learned the cover song...and you comeback later to discover you had it all wrong?

I guess I'm puzzled as to How I missed it in the first place?

Back in the old pre-internet days, all the time.

Now, I just play along with the song on the 'puter until I've got it figured out.
The downfall is using guitar tabs you find online, some are so far off the mark it's pitiful. And how do you tell a friend (playing solo) that he must have learned from a bad tab?

Thats funny, Ive been playing the song Rock N Roll for years and years, during the first turn around Page does this little thing to accenuate the changes, just a couple of dabs, for years Ive played it a certain way, and the other day I was watching Celebration Day, and realized that I was way out of whack, LOL!

Happens to me all the time, some songs Ive been playing like that since I was a teenager and never really thought of them or revisited them, and then all of the sudden I find a real bad mistake, funny thou, whatever Ive been doing must have fit cause Ive never had anyone playing with me say, "Bubba you dont know that part!"

You think you learned the cover song...and you comeback later to discover you had it all wrong?

I guess I'm puzzled as to How I missed it in the first place?

Grant learning cover songs is a knack all its own. There are folks that are purist (me) and prefer playing the song as close to the most heard version. Then there are folks that prefer playing their own interpretation. These days I am a purist but I don't expect everyone else in the band to be. I have my own style of playing and can revert to that at anytime. Learning cover songs takes time and is a great source of ear training. Usually other folks in the band will help guide you. Not many people hear the song in the same way and that is why I say NOTHING will excell your playing ability and skills like playing in a band.

I hold a tremendous respect for good cover players.

It is, in many aspects, so much easier to write and play your own music.

Ive seen some of Haleys videos and he does nail the parts by the book, Im jealous Haley!!!!

On covers I always try to play the important parts by the book, the intros, the major riffs or at least do them "phonetically", if that makes sense.

I adlib the heck out of solos, but if its some solo that just makes a song, then I will ussually play it by the book or close enough that unless you are Haley you wouldnt know the difference.

On other solos, take ZZ Top, I just try to cop whatever Billy Gibbons does, you know the little pinch harmonics, the characteristic of the soloist. Zep, Page just kinda goes sloppy spastic. Most players have some sort of quirks to thier licks, and I try to use those ideas in my mind when I jump into a solo, but on a lot of songs, I really dont know what Im gonna play in a solo until I get into, to me thats the most fun, just letting go and letting the instincts take over.

What Ive learned is if Im having fun with what Im playing, then my bandmates seem to have fun, and then the audience has fun. Fun fun equals win win in my book.

My girlfriend & I have two wholly different approaches to playing covers, which is probably why we never do them.

She is from the "gotta play it verbatim, precisely as the original" school.
I'm from the "rearrange it into something new" school.
Consequently, she frets over making the smallest mistakes and I don't give a f*ck if it is in tune, in key, or anything.

You think you learned the cover song...and you comeback later to discover you had it all wrong?

I guess I'm puzzled as to How I missed it in the first place?

Nope.

I've had originals where months after song creation, or so, I've had one of these moments - Looking at Bass player: "You're playing that??"
Good times.

I've never played in a cover band that felt obligated to play songs as they were originally done. i've always played w folks who approached it from the standpoint of trying to bring something a little different to things.

of course i have played pickup gigs w bands whose ideal was to get as close to the original as possible and for some stuff i can enjoy that too.

i've never learned the exact proper way to play Blackbird but have always been able to get pretty close w my interpretation.

not long ago i was playing a solo instrumental gtr gig at a local bar on an off night. a few musicians walk in....you can always tell by the way they check out your gear as soon as they come in. anyway they nod over at me and one of 'em says to the other "hey, you should go up there and play Blackbird"...i was playing some reggae thing in G so i quickly spun it into a reggae version of "Blackbird".....they immediately started cracking up and nodding in approval. i don't know if they were more surprised i overheard their conversation or by my reggae version of it!

i finish and the drummer of their group (turns out they were playing across the street) came up, gave me a little polite respectful bow and said that was the best version he ever heard of it. then he dropped two twenties in my tip jar!

dunno if the tip would have been as generous if i played it straight like the mccartney version.

I am surrounded by "kindred souls of cover" ! Thanks Friends!

I've never played in a cover band that felt obligated to play songs as they were originally done. i've always played w folks who approached it from the standpoint of trying to bring something a little different to things.

of course i have played pickup gigs w bands whose ideal was to get as close to the original as possible and for some stuff i can enjoy that too.

i've never learned the exact proper way to play Blackbird but have always been able to get pretty close w my interpretation.

not long ago i was playing a solo instrumental gtr gig at a local bar on an off night. a few musicians walk in....you can always tell by the way they check out your gear as soon as they come in. anyway they nod over at me and one of 'em says to the other "hey, you should go up there and play Blackbird"...i was playing some reggae thing in G so i quickly spun it into a reggae version of "Blackbird".....they immediately started cracking up and nodding in approval. i don't know if they were more surprised i overheard their conversation or by my reggae version of it!

i finish and the drummer of their group (turns out they were playing across the street) came up, gave me a little polite respectful bow and said that was the best version he ever heard of it. then he dropped two twenties in my tip jar!

dunno if the tip would have been as generous if i played it straight like the mccartney version.

GEEEZZE we finally found some common ground.

Did I ever tell you about the time I got to see Milt Jackson?
38 years ago... small walk down bar in Boston... 5 dollar cover... Totally awesome... He LOVED every NOTE he played.

Did I ever tell you about the time Gary Burton gave an open concert in Boston? 90 degrees, 2 thousand people, and he went off on 20 minute tangents to give his band a break. WOW. Over 4 hours, in summer city heat.

You think you learned the cover song...and you comeback later to discover you had it all wrong?

I guess I'm puzzled as to How I missed it in the first place?

Because you are a very talented individual in your own right!

A lot of songs were performed using alternate tunings, which are not always convenient when you have to play 50 tunes with two guitars. So some songs have to be modified (played "wrong") such as "Honky Tonk Woman" or "No More No More".

A lot of songs were performed using alternate tunings, which are not always convenient when you have to play 50 tunes with two guitars. So some songs have to be modified (played "wrong") such as "Honky Tonk Woman" or "No More No More".

Yep, effen "Honky Tonk Woman" is so natural and intuitive in open tuning and fairly unnatural in std tuning. I can play it both ways but I generally avoid it.

As to the OP, I still play stuff wrong all the time. I come from the old school bluesmen: "take what you need and make it your own." That doesn't work everywhere but it is generally my goal when playing covers. The Yardbirds, The Beatles, The Stones, Hendrix, Credence, Dave Mason, Santana, EVH, SRV all played covers and did it their own way, often quite differently than the original. How cool is that!

Well this is prolly lame on my part, but I tend to lean toward as close to authenticity as my capability allows me...

The reason really has to do with that song-writing bug in me... it wants to know, feel and experience what the artist 'must have been felling and experiencing...

It's twisted , but i guess its my need for 'interprative' accuracy in honor of the artist I would be covering.

Its very painful sometimes...(Literally) to put mind, heart and soul in that direction... This is probably the number one reason I have avoided covers in favor of original work...

But If I ever hope to be song-writer, then I have to dwelve into the work of others, to understand what they saw, felt, heard...

I'm that kid in the high-chair, spell bound by the adults around me...sure to pick up their habits...make the distinction later, and bloom out from that, into my own, so to speak...