General Music Chat

I've met musicians who couldn't do a cover if you paid them a million dollars, and other musicians who couldn't write a good song to save their life. Each musician finds his niche, and there's no shame in either path. I myself like doing both.

someone please kill this topic...its all been said and all been done,for fecks sake people give it a rest,my head hurts.

LOL Irish, so true! But everytime some sanctimonius ego-tripper tries to enforce their opinion I feel obliged to supply a healthy dose of reality.

The reason it keeps "coming up" is because of the nature of the majority of users on the forum. From what I have seen, it is lop-sided in favor of guitarists who play covers - which by nature requires an occassional post from those of us who compose, and not all on gee-tars.

It's not that big a deal. Just a balance thing.

The reason it keeps "coming up" is because of the nature of the majority of users on the forum. From what I have seen, it is lop-sided in favor of guitarists who play covers - which by nature requires an occassional post from those of us who compose, and not all on gee-tars.

It's not that big a deal. Just a balance thing.

I pretty much agree with that. Everything needs balance.

amen....to that.

Well, I'm glad we all agree that no one here is unbalanced . . .

Not that anyone probably cares but again I will state, the apitimy of the state the art, is writing and performing original tunes.

A person who performs even a mediocre original will receive more respect from me then some one who does an awesome cover.

IMO it is far easier to imitate then create.

Not that anyone probably cares but again I will state, the apitimy of the state the art, is writing and performing original tunes.

A person who performs even a mediocre original will receive more respect from me then some one who does an awesome cover.

IMO it is far easier to imitate then create.

It is very hard to create, I agree with that point. I am still learning how to create music in the sound I want it in.

What's really hard is creating it a sound or style you don't feel comfortable in.

Now that must be complex, lol. I do not know if I have ever tried that one. I am interested in so many types of music that I do not think I have ever come across one I would completely turn away from, and not write in, for that matter. However, now that I think about it, I could not write in a country music sound. I hate country music, no offense to any country music lovers out there. Just always felt that it all sounded the same.

At any rate, peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

Not that anyone probably cares but again I will state, the apitimy of the state the art, is writing and performing original tunes.

A person who performs even a mediocre original will receive more respect from me then some one who does an awesome cover.

IMO it is far easier to imitate then create.

Tell that to some poor sucker that needs to feed and clothe himself and the only way he can is by doing covers... even a wedding or 2 once in a while... I have more respect for those that actually make a living playing any kind of music than those fukkin' snobasses that woud rather work at Mickky D's than play anything but their own tunes and actually could never eek out even a pitiful living if they had to depend on their own originals to put food on the table for them and their families.

Been there....done that. My original band "Camouflage" had tons of gigs blah blah blah... but we ended up practically playing for free everywhere to prove ourselves... the stress of it all broke us up before we really got to any point of actually making some money...ya gotta live.... ya gotta survive... not all of us still lived at home at 18 years of age!

Not that anyone probably cares but again I will state, the apitimy of the state the art, is writing and performing original tunes.

A person who performs even a mediocre original will receive more respect from me then some one who does an awesome cover.

IMO it is far easier to imitate then create.

Tell that to some poor sucker that needs to feed and clothe himself and the only way he can is by doing covers... even a wedding or 2 once in a while... I have more respect for those that actually make a living playing any kind of music than those fukkin' snobasses that woud rather work at Mickky D's than play anything but their own tunes and actually could never eek out even a pitiful living if they had to depend on their own originals to put food on the table for them and their families.

Been there....done that. My original band "Camouflage" had tons of gigs blah blah blah... but we ended up practically playing for free everywhere to prove ourselves... the stress of it all broke us up before we really got to any point of actually making some money...ya gotta live.... ya gotta survive... not all of us still lived at home at 18 years of age!

Well your entitled to your opinion.

Me, personally, would never pay to see a cover band when I can pay to by the CD or see the real deal.

As I have stated many times before 99.9% of musicians will never go anywhere in music or make a living at it anyway and another field of endeavor is probably a wise choice.

Also as I have stated categorically if you have not reached some sort of success doing originals in a reasonable amount of time it's time to re-tool or find another band. If your happy playing covers there is no shame in that. It's just IMO a different league.

I see I have to tell this story again. I was in a band for several weeks and we were just getting things together. We had four songs finished and every practice more and more people showed up untill we had no room for anymore. It was nuts. We had more then two hunderd on more then one occasion show up at our suburban home basement practice space. I was being requested for tapes (yea that long ago) to the point we were buying lots of a hundred. We then started receiving letters from all over the country and Europe and everyone was asking where they could see us and when the album was coming out. Again, we were playing together for only like 5 or six weeks and were not even trying to promote ourselves or make money. It was the furtherst thing from our minds at the time.

This is the difference between a band that is on to something and one that is wasting it's time. This is how quick doing originals things can take off.

So your next question is "Ok, how come you never went anywhere Mr. Bigmouth?" Our bass player knocked up his girlfriend and being the honorable guy he was he felt it more responsible to take care of his future wife and child then play in a band. It was the wrong decision and we tried to tell him he could do both but he wouldn't have it.

The band was successful because of everyone in it. We were hundreds of times better together then we could ever be on our own or with other players. So that was that. I have never found a group of guys to play with like that since. Actually two of my tunes posted "The March to Victory and Escape" are with that drummer. Those tunes we made up on the fly as we played. They are 100% improvised in one take, and he and I had not played together in 15 years. If you listen to those tunes that are totally improvised picture a singer and bass player who could do the same, and then picture when the four of them sit down and actually arrange and write.

Lastly in closing I have always been in all original bands and we have gotten paid and and at times, pretty well. When we didn't get paid well, we got other perks that made up for it and thus worth our while.

It was very cool to walk into a club and be treated like a celebrity and not have yourself or anyone with you pay for a drink ever.

You are entitled to your opinion, apparently, Wegman. Which I fairly agree with. See, when I think about it now, I think covers are good for bands who are not planning on going passed "Bar band." But, if you are planning on going anywhere, you have to start interspersing your originals into your general set list. You can start out with a cover song to get the crowd ready and then interject your music, or just play your own songs. If you are good (As this has been said already), then they will love you and cheer for you. If you are bad, then as you said already, go back to the drawing board and work on yourselves.

I am going to start a band, I think, by the middle of next year. By then I should be fluid enough on guitar to play in a band. Right now, I am working out a couple of names in my head. I am not looking to be a career musician, just to gig and jam. So, I probably will mainly do covers. But, once in a while I would like to put some originals in there. Also, I would like to sometimes solo out on the guitar (I have some pieces now that I think sound good and I will begin smoothing them out when I am ready to).

I stick with my view, if you want to go pro, throw those originals in. But, if you just want to make a couple of bucks or just gig, stick with the covers (Maybe once in a while throwing in an original, which as I said, I would do).


At any rate, peace out, GuitarAnatomy.