Am I The Only One?

[Lozz196]

19 hours ago, stewblack said:

As I sat learning the bassline I couldn't help but wonder - am I the only person on this forum never to have played Mustang Sally? Am I in fact the only bass player in the world who had to sit down and learn it?

What about you? Are you the only person alive who has never played Superstition? Not been asked to learn Play That Funky Music? Mr Brightside entirely unknown to you? Not had the pleasure of  a quick Brown Eyed Girl?

You are not alone, Stew, I’ve never learned/had to learn any of those. I remember a few years back a girl down my local was a singer and on an open mic night she asked me if I’d play guitar for her - she rattled off all the “regular” songs and was quite put out that I didn’t know how to play any of them.

[super al]

4 hours ago, Blink said:

Superstition is a great dance track played at the right speed (not too fast). We morph into Rappers Delight, Good Times, Another one Bites the Dust etc. before bringing it back for the 3rd verse.

Aw... I like the sound of that, a funky medley.

Never played Superstition until 2015 I reckon, now played it for 3 bands (all in E).

Hey @stewblack your almost ready to dep for me now! You'll have to learn Betcha By Golly Wow though 😎

[4000]

I’ve never played Mustang Sally. And I won’t. Ever. 

[Crawford13]

19 hours ago, stewblack said:

19 hours ago, chris_b said:

 

Spot on. The Bruno Mars songs are great fun to play. Losing my musical snobbery was such a gift.

This should be comment of the month. Such a great point, if no one had musical snobbery the music scene would be a better place.

[spectoremg]

20 hours ago, stewblack said:

... lovely bit of Jamerson to get my teeth into...

Surely Carole Kaye?

[grandad]

I'm afraid I've not played any of the songs mentioned here and wouldn't recognise most. I don't know who Mr Bruno Mars is. In fact I don't know what half the posts on BC are talking about.

Musical snob, well yes and no. To my mind I have good taste. It does however evolve from year to year.

If you are in a covers band and the money is important then a certain amount of playing what the audience want seems to be difficult to avoid. If that is balanced alongside ones you love playing then I guess that's the most most suffer.

[stewblack]

20 minutes ago, spectoremg said:

Surely Carole Kaye?

Well I think she wrote every bassline ever written but this one sounds terrifically Jamersonish to me!

[Maude]

2 hours ago, Crawford13 said:

This should be comment of the month. Such a great point, if no one had musical snobbery the music scene would be a better place.

I kind of agree, but my having never played, or wanted to play, those aforementioned songs has nothing to do with snobbery. I honestly believe that there are a vast amount of songs that average pub punters will enjoy and dance to, and you don't need to play the same songs as the band last week, and the week before that and so on. There's seventy years of popular music to draw from, surely we can think of a set that other bands don't play that folks still love. 

I'm a 46 year old male playing Britney Spears, Girls Aloud, Katy Perry and Pink on doublebass. I don't think you could possibly class that as music snobbery. 

🙂

[stewblack]

I absolutely meant no slight on anyone else. I was literally owning my own snobbery which was visceral and very real. 

[bassbiscuits]

Surely these days Wonderwall must be among the cheesiest, most overplayed songs ever? A Brown Eyed Girl for our generation, if you like.

I remember nipping out from a pub gig to a cashpoint at half time and passing a beggar playing Wonderwall in the street with his dog. I got back to the pub and our band opened the second half with it.

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, bassbiscuits said:

Surely these days Wonderwall must be among the cheesiest, most overplayed songs ever? A Brown Eyed Girl for our generation, if you like.

Agreed - that is one I won't do. Actually a group, I won't do any oasis. And you wouldn't know just how many people have got very arsey about it.

[bassbiscuits]

11 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Agreed - that is one I won't do. Actually a group, I won't do any oasis. And you wouldn't know just how many people have got very arsey about it.

Good work sir - I play some if I have to while depping but in my solo stuff I have a blanket ban on Oasis. 

I figure people can go anywhere to hear Oasis songs. They don't need to come to see me. 

And yeah, a lot of punters can't fathom that I don't know any ha ha!

[machinehead]

I play Mustang Sally quite happily.  I wonder how many of us play it as per the original recording?  I know I wasn't.  This is interesting:

https://www.bassplayer.com/lessons/rb-gold-mistake-sally

Frank.

[Bluewine]

On 20/11/2019 at 15:09, stewblack said:

BL has come back from her holidays got stoned listening to some godawful new soul track and decided it's what the punters down the Dog and Trumpet want for their knees up at the weekend. No problem, I'll learn whatever I'm told to, but don't see this one lasting. She has also asked us to learn Grapevine so lovely bit of Jamerson to get my teeth into and handy to have in my repertoire. However the third track we will be throwing out there unrehearsed is Mustang Sally.

As I sat learning the bassline I couldn't help but wonder - am I the only person on this forum never to have played Mustang Sally? Am I in fact the only bass player in the world who had to sit down and learn it?

What about you? Are you the only person alive who has never played Superstition? Not been asked to learn Play That Funky Music? Mr Brightside entirely unknown to you? Not had the pleasure of  a quick Brown Eyed Girl?

Try listeningg to Maceo Parkers live version of Mustang Sally with Sweet Charles singing lead vocal.

Blue

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, Bluewine said:

Try listeningg to Maceo Parkers live version of Mustang Sally with Sweet Charles singing lead vocal.

Blue

Put a big smile on my face.

[Dr.Dave]

Played Mustang Sally for years but it was always venue dependant. Town/transient type pubs. Always got women up dancing , usually a few up on stage as backing singers. We ended it by going into 'Shout' and the roof would fall in. No idea what key we did it in - various probably , depending what key we ended the last tune in. Certainly we never learned or rehearsed it.

 

[Mykesbass]

22 hours ago, grandad said:

If you are in a covers band and the money is important then a certain amount of playing what the audience want seems to be difficult to avoid. If that is balanced alongside ones you love playing then I guess that's the most most suffer.

It's not just the money. If you are playing in a covers band you should really be happy to play crowd pleasers. Nothing like playing to an enthusiastic audience, and without a fanbase you are not going to get that with an esoteric collection of obscure back catalogue.

[Linus27]

I played Mustang Sally for the first time a few weeks ago. We were at a club waiting to go on and our singer said that she thought it was this club that asked if we can play Mustang Sally last time. Everyone in the band said they knew it apart from me but I was happy to play it, so we did and it went down a storm. We have since kept it in our set and I've learnt to play it properly.

[Dan Dare]

On 21/11/2019 at 20:50, spectoremg said:

Surely Carole Kaye?

Nope. JJ. Unless you're being ironic about the furore a few years back regarding Carole Kaye's claims to have played on virtually everyone's records.

Regarding the wider point, I can't understand why so many are unhappy about playing obviously popular numbers. Yes, I get that, as musicians, we probably listen and appreciate more widely than the average person, but it's no hardship to have a floor full of people dancing at a gig (and even less of one to be booked back because you went down well).

And if you play a few obvious crowd pleasers and get people on your side, there's more chance they will be inclined to listen to and even appreciate those less well-known numbers you like to play.

[JapanAxe]

I've played all of those songs and actually like most of them - as long as they are played properly. I can't tolerate half-arsed attempts at cover songs.

I used to sing the CCR version of Grapevine while playing it on guitar - brilliant number.

[bumnote]

9 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Nope. JJ. Unless you're being ironic about the furore a few years back regarding Carole Kaye's claims to have played on virtually everyone's records.

 

according to Ed Friedland its Tommy Cogbill’ 

[chris_b]

3 hours ago, bumnote said:

according to Ed Friedland its Tommy Cogbill’ 

It was. They recorded it at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

[gjones]

On 21/11/2019 at 06:59, CamdenRob said:

I have never played a cover 😕

For many years I was in the same boat. But when I did start playing them my playing got better. Because some covers can really stretch you - they're not all Mustang Sally.

[grandad]

I would say that playing to the crowd, by extension, would lead to a similar playlist for all.

So I suppose, depending on age and where you are in your musical life and why you play all go to shape your attitude as to what and where. In other words, where are you coming from.

It would appear that a fair few here are young, in a covers band, like to please the crowd and see the approving blandishment from a crowded dance floor as exoneration. I have many aquaintances who just want the approval of strangers. They just want to be liked and a round of applause just fills them to the brim with happiness, (I'm not entirely immune from this either).

And that's OK, if that's where you are. But others here are not, they are elsewhere.

With a number of years playing in a covers band behind me I am now able to enjoy my dotage by making amends for lacking a musical education and play with and learn from 3 talented amateur musicians in a loosely described Jazz quartet with an occasional young girl singer.  The set-list is decided collectively by what we enjoy playing.

Coming to the point, there is one tune aforementioned that we usually end our set with. It's MOONDANCE.

Now I remember listening to the ASTRAL WEEKS and MOONDANCE LPs in 69/70. So into the next century and I get to play an instrumental version with sax, trumpet and rhythm guitar and myself on bass guitar. Very much our own take with the brass both taking it away and then returning and my own bass line in the lower octave. It always receives applause. So, guilty and unrepentant.

 

 

 

Edited November 23, 2019 by grandad

[Newfoundfreedom]

I used to have a constant debate with my old guitarist about covers vs originals. Nothing wrong with doing covers, but I much prefer the creative process of writing and creating original music. He just couldn't get his head around the fact that I wasn't interested in "pleasing a crowd", and for me, the enjoyment came from the creativity involved. He would say I only wanted to play what pleased me and not the crowd so I was being selfish. I would argue that he only wanted to play covers to get the adoration of the crowd, therefore it was him being selfish. Hey ho. Perhaps both were true.