Playing covers - how accurate do you need to be?

[Skinnyman]

I once auditioned for a band where the guitarist insisted that every note played, sung or struck had to be identical to the original. He used a Kemper and spent ages moaning that patches claiming to be the "Hendrix" sound or "Gilmour from The Wall era" weren't right and he needed to model his own.

I didn't get the gig (largely because i wasn't good enough in those days) but i came away feeling i'd dodged a massive bullet. I then spent years learning bass lines by rote - years that improved my finger strength and dexterity but taught me nothing about how to structure a bass line as all I ever did was regurgitate the parts without analysing them.

Lessons with a brilliant teacher helped me get past this and taught me to develop the right part for the particular combination of band and song.

His example was Living On A Prayer. You have to play That Riff. It's expected and an integral part of the song. But no-one really cares what you play in the chorus so long as it drives the song along.

I've played in a 3 piece band where there's a lot of "space" and the bass has to cover some of the melodies or fills that were played by keys or strings on the original. I've also played in a five piece where the guitarist and keyboard player are filling the musical canvas and i have to rein it back to simple, supportive bass lines.

So, unless you're in a tribute band, covers can be as close or as far from the original as you like provided they're played well.

The acid test is whether the audience enjoy listening to them.

Other opinions are available and equally valid

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, Skinnyman said:

I've played in a 3 piece band where there's a lot of "space" and the bass has to cover some of the melodies or fills that were played by keys or strings on the original. I've also played in a five piece where the guitarist and keyboard player are filling the musical canvas and i have to rein it back to simple, supportive bass lines.

I've had two rehearsals now, it's evident everyone has spent a good deal of time learning their parts. A few times I've made (to me) major errors like playing the chorus and verse riffs the wrong way round or missing out a big fill because I lost track of where we were.

None of them has noticed, which is a bit depressing as it means they haven't noticed all the bits a I got right.

Plus they all love Saturday Night's Allright for Fighting because it's so simple... 😲

 

[chris_b]

46 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

None of them has noticed, which is a bit depressing as it means they haven't noticed all the bits a I got right.

Unless they are total howlers, you might know the notes are not the ones you intended to play, but no one else will. Why are they going to pick you to pieces just for a bum note or two?

You can get it wrong and screw up the song, or you can be playing the wrong line every time, I'm sure they'll notice that and will probably mention it. If your mistake was one riff or only for a bar or 2, why bother to bring that up? They'll know it will be right next time and if you're getting the feel of the song right, what's a couple of bum notes between friends.

You might describe a few dodgy notes as poor choices but if they are in the same scale they're not technically wrong.

[martthebass]

6 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I've 

Plus they all love Saturday Night's Allright for Fighting because it's so simple... 😲

 

I hope you’re being ironicalistic on that...just about to bring that into the Glam set and I feel my fingers are gonna melt by the end.....

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

I hope you’re being ironicalistic on that...just about to bring that into the Glam set and I feel my fingers are gonna melt by the end.....

Indeed! It's easy for THEM, the whole thing is driven by Dee Murray's bassline, which I can't claim to be duplicating!

There is a Nickelback version which as far as I can see removes virtually any need to move your left-hand...

[ambient]

As long as it’s recognisable. It’s not an exam is it?

[Little Dragon]

In a pub watching a band last night and they covered Town Called Malice. I could hear the bass wasn't as the record but no one seemed to notice. Foxton put some tricky to imitate bass lines in to Jam songs and I've never heard Down In The Tubestation done as per but everyone seems to enjoy them anyway.

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, martthebass said:

10 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I've 

Plus they all love Saturday Night's Allright for Fighting because it's so simple... 😲

 

I hope you’re being ironicalistic on that...just about to bring that into the Glam set and I feel my fingers are gonna melt by the end.....

This is what I'm trying to keep up with! Getting there ...

 

Edited April 28, 2019 by Stub Mandrel

[martthebass]

37 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

This is what I'm trying to keep up with! Getting there ...

 

...well that ain’t what I’m playing lol. Then again we’ve keyed it down and I ain’t going 5 string on it!  Might have to use the Rick instead of my usual Mustang....

Edited April 28, 2019 by martthebass

[Woodinblack]

On 28/04/2019 at 21:58, Stub Mandrel said:

This is what I'm trying to keep up with! Getting there ...

 

We have that in our set, goes down well. In fact we first played it before it was ready as there had been a fight earlier and it seemed appropriate!

[PaulWarning]

We've just started playing with a guitarist who is depping for us for a few gigs, so far he's picked three songs, rightly, we're playing wrong,  we've been doing them for years and nobody's ever said a word before, he's a bit OCD about it, but he doesn't like changing his guitar tone to match songs, hates loads of pedals, bit odd really

[dmccombe7]

On 28/04/2019 at 17:57, martthebass said:

I hope you’re being ironicalistic on that...just about to bring that into the Glam set and I feel my fingers are gonna melt by the end.....

We do that in our 70's Glam Rock tribute band. Didn't find it too difficult but you need a fair bit of finger stamina on the end setion especially when our keys player has a solo in the end section. The little triplets he does on the verse G and F are kinda cool tho. Love playing this song. For me its about keeping the bass driving and it seems to work well live that way.

With regards the OP's point i generally play the most noticeable bass parts or parts thatpeople will recognise note for note and the other parts as close as possible. Sometimes as the song progresses in the set i'll add a bit more detail if i know i've missed something. The band very rarely notice whether i've played it exactly note for note but they have made complimentary comments on my playing. I'm happy and i'll take anything that's offered no matter how trivial 

Dave

[dmccombe7]

1 minute ago, PaulWarning said:

We've just started playing with a guitarist who is depping for us for a few gigs, so far he's picked three songs, rightly, we're playing wrong,  we've been doing them for years and nobody's ever said a word before, he's a bit OCD about it, but he doesn't like changing his guitar tone to match songs, hates loads of pedals, bit odd really

I hate when that happens 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

so far he's picked three songs, rightly, we're playing wrong,

We've decided to do Song of a Baker. I've found at least four different versions. I don't think Kenny Jones and Ronnie Lane worried about counting bars...

[dmccombe7]

On 28/04/2019 at 21:58, Stub Mandrel said:

This is what I'm trying to keep up with! Getting there ...

 

I play almost same as he does but i play the riff between verse and chorus when he's singing Sat nights alright alright alright down at lower end using open D i think it is. (just trying to remember while sitting here typing) and i don't recognise the little Geddy riffs this guys putting in near the end but its pretty much the same as i play.

Quite enjoyed listening to it. Fantastic Rik sound in the clip.

Dave

[Stub Mandrel]

3 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

i don't recognise the little Geddy riffs this guys putting in near the end but its pretty much the same as i play.

The original fades and I think what he plays at the end is completely improvised! We've agreed I'll just do the little trill then go round again. Three times for some unknown reason...

I've really enjoyed learning it.

[dmccombe7]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

The original fades and I think what he plays at the end is completely improvised! We've agreed I'll just do the little trill then go round again. Three times for some unknown reason...

I've really enjoyed learning it.

1st time we did it at rehearsals was without a keys player and it still sounde great and just a good rockin song to play.

Dave

[Stub Mandrel]

Did our rehearsal last night on fretless to see which songs sounded best on it. Saturday Night went fine but Stay With me was challenging - on the main riff I normally just 'pop' my middle finger to lazily go from e-string to d-string, but it doesn't work very well without frets, and I kept forgetting to move my fingertip across!

 

Also had a discussion with our lead guitarist about a potential covers band 🙂 We have similar musical tastes and both want to learn songs quickly and get gigging, not be forever 'trying out new material'.

[steantval]

Just an observation, surely if you are doing covers and the original used a fretted bass, why use a fretless, it will lack the attack IMO.

I would personally use a fretted most of the time.

Edited May 8, 2019 by steantval

[Stub Mandrel]

12 minutes ago, steantval said:

Just an observation, surely if you are doing covers and the original used a fretted bass, why use a fretless, it will lack the attack IMO.

I would personally use a fretted most of the time.

To be honest was first and foremost an exercise in seeing if I could concentrate enough for two hours and play a random selection of songs accurately on my fretless.

Plus, we are covering not duplicating and there are one or two songs where I think it fits. One is Crazy Little Thing Called Love where I also turned the tone right down (p-bass) and might even stuff some sponge in the ashtray just to max-out the original rock & roll feel.

I only found myself short of dynamics on one song, so I just switched my compressor off  🙂

[Stylon Pilson]

56 minutes ago, steantval said:

Just an observation, surely if you are doing covers and the original used a fretted bass, why use a fretless, it will lack the attack IMO.

I would personally use a fretted most of the time.

On this subject - my band has finally got round to replacing our keyboard player, so on Saturday night we're going to be playing a bunch of songs that we haven't been able to do for a while. A couple of which I'm going to play fretless on (It's My Life by Talk Talk and Boys Of Summer by Don Henley). At my request, these have been placed adjacent to each other, to minimise instrument changes. They are #2 and #3 in our second set. I'm now considering also playing fretless on #1, which is In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins, so that I start the set on the fretless and only need to change instrument once. I think I'll get away with it - what do you reckon?

S.P.

[Muzz]

Sounds like a plan; I'd say all three songs would be much more interesting with fretless, too. I wish I could co-ordinate bass changes (not to fretless, but it'd be nice to use different basses for different parts of the set*) but our BL calls songs as he goes - mostly from the setlist, but sometimes more off-piste - it's a kind of DJ thing: he's good at reading a crowd/room, and building the energy, and it works, so I don't really mind, but it means sometimes I literally don't know what's coming next. I generally watch the presets on his Helix... 😕🙂

 

* I only bring two - not exactly Claytonesque, I know, but I have to carry them myself...

[steantval]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

To be honest was first and foremost an exercise in seeing if I could concentrate enough for two hours and play a random selection of songs accurately on my fretless.

Plus, we are covering not duplicating and there are one or two songs where I think it fits. One is Crazy Little Thing Called Love where I also turned the tone right down (p-bass) and might even stuff some sponge in the ashtray just to max-out the original rock & roll feel.

I only found myself short of dynamics on one song, so I just switched my compressor off  🙂

I thought all the ashtrays were throw away when the smoking ban kicked in 😀

[tauzero]

12 hours ago, steantval said:

Just an observation, surely if you are doing covers and the original used a fretted bass, why use a fretless, it will lack the attack IMO.

I would personally use a fretted most of the time.

I use a fretless all the time in the covers band. And in the originals band, come to that.

[steantval]

44 minutes ago, tauzero said:

I use a fretless all the time in the covers band. And in the originals band, come to that.

I suppose it depends what type of covers you are doing.