Playing songs in a covers band you dont always like.?

[ubit]

What I want to know is, with this revelation that it should only take one listen to learn a song, is the "what song are you learning" thread now defunct?

 

It will be the "what song are you lear.......ah, it was on in the background, forget that, what's next?" thread

[ubit]

15 hours ago, TimR said:

One listen through to learn most covers.

 

It'll hardly be the first time you've ever heard the tunes.

 

 

This is hurting me head.

[ezbass]

8 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

 

But that wasn't my point. 

 

I'm sure there are loads of songs that you can play the bass notes to after one listen - but to get the rhythm, subtlety, note placement and feel for the bassline for any given song requires far more than one listen through. It needs more than one play though let alone one listen through

 

[Leonard Smalls]

Talking of learning songs, my band once did Stanley Clarke's School Days, which was to segue into Bootsy's I'd Rather Be With You (North Sea Jazz Version).

It actually took us 2 goes to get note-for-note perfect, including both solos, using my ancient Kawai Sleekline and tape-wound strings. And funnily enough it was possible just by using the correct finger technique to reproduce all Bootsy's octave, distortion and qtron fx.

 

 

[Newfoundfreedom]

4 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

Talking of learning songs, my band once did Stanley Clarke's School Days, which was to segue into Bootsy's I'd Rather Be With You (North Sea Jazz Version).

It actually took us 2 goes to get note-for-note perfect, including both solos, using my ancient Kawai Sleekline and tape-wound strings. And funnily enough it was possible just by using the correct finger technique to reproduce all Bootsy's octave, distortion and qtron fx.

 

 

 

2 goes?

 

You must be cr@p!

[Leonard Smalls]

10 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

2 goes?

 

You must be cr@p

Indeed!

We were all rather mortified at our ineptitude...

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

 

Oh so that was you was it?

 

I went home, checked, and Alan Longmuir definitely played Ab on the end of the 2nd line of the verse on Bye Bye Baby

Nope sorry but it was definitely G#

[TimR]

1 hour ago, ubit said:

 

 

This is hurting me head.

Why. Most cover versions should be on people's radar from hearing them on the radio. Loads of them, apparently, are played by practically every other band. 

 

Sitting down and actively listening to a song with your bass in your hand should be all it takes for the majority of songs you'll be asked to play. 

 

Most songs follow a simple format and chord progression. The bass lines consist of notes within the scale and chord.

 

Which leaves a chunk of material you may have to listen to several times to pick out. 

 

No one said you should be able to learn all cover songs from hearing them once on the radio. 

 

The key word here is listen. 

 

 

[dmccombe7]

9 hours ago, TimR said:

 

Maybe. I've only been playing for 40 years, in thrash metal original bands in the 80s, in big bands, theatre pits, down the dog and duck, function bands, jazz quartets, depped for various bands. Alongside pros and very good semi-pros. 

 

My general advice would be to play absolutly everything and anything with as many different people as possible. And don't practice tunes you know, stick Spotify on random and just play along to whatever comes up, whether you like it or not.

 

It's not about fancy licks and complicated lines, it's about getting the simple stuff right. 

 

I've had band leaders, on meeting me at the dep gig, say keep it simple and watch me for the changes. 

 

I've never had one say, play loads of flashy stuff and improvise to make it all more exciting. 

Its probably like most jobs, if you do the same job often enough you get better at it and you pick up on the finer details the more you do it.

Would have to say that for me you're background puts you above the average covers player. That's an impressive list of experience @TimR

Dave

[ubit]

8 minutes ago, TimR said:

Why. Most cover versions should be on people's radar from hearing them on the radio. Loads of them, apparently, are played by practically every other band. 

 

Sitting down and actively listening to a song with your bass in your hand should be all it takes for the majority of songs you'll be asked to play. 

 

Most songs follow a simple format and chord progression. The bass lines consist of notes within the scale and chord.

 

Which leaves a chunk of material you may have to listen to several times to pick out. 

 

No one said you should be able to learn all cover songs from hearing them once on the radio. 

 

The key word here is listen. 

 

 

 

 

I can't believe you are still touting this rhetoric. If you had just said it's possible to play a lot of pop songs after  VERY FEW  listens, I think most people would have accepted that. But to say MOST songs can be learned after one listen and if you can't do that you shouldn't call yourself a bass player  has caused such controversy and derision.

[ubit]

16 minutes ago, TimR said:

Which leaves a chunk of material you may have to listen to several times to pick out. 

 

No one said you should be able to learn all cover songs from hearing them once on the radio. 

 

 

This is quite different from your earlier posts

[TimR]

13 minutes ago, ubit said:

 

 

This is quite different from your earlier posts

 

No it's not. 

 

Lots have people have taken my comment that most songs can be learned with one listen literally and then extrapolated that to all songs with one listen or you can't call yourself a bass player.

 

I've never said that. 

 

At one point I questioned whether anyone should be playing in cover bands if they've not heard the covers that the audience will be familiar with. I'd question any musician who doesn't listen to a very wide range of genres. You're painting yourself into a corner. I didn't say you couldn't or shouldn't. 

 

At no point did I say they shouldn't call themselves bass players. 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by TimR

[upside downer]

15 hours ago, TimR said:

Seriously, are you guys really bass players?

 

 

[TimR]

4 minutes ago, upside downer said:

 

 

Don't see how? It was a question. 

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, TimR said:

At one point I questioned whether anyone should be playing in cover bands if they've not heard the covers that the audience will be familiar with. I'd question any musician who doesn't listen to a very wide range of genres. You're painting yourself into a corner. 

 

I don't need your approval nor to meet any criteria you set in order to play in a covers band.  "I'd question any musician..." - what are you, the music police?  Just look after where your own fingers are on the fingerboard.

[dmccombe7]

Unfortunately for me i never listen to the radio at all. Even in the car i listen to songs on a USB stick.

 

Bass playing is and always has been just a hobby for me so i dont class myself in same league as others like @TimR that obviously have far more experience than i do. I've been playing for over 40 yrs and i rate myself as reasonably competent and can play most things with a little practice except Slap bass cause i'm not a huge fan of it. Some songs i can pick up very quickly and other more complex ones like @Reggaebass Hit Me take a good bit longer. 

I'm ok with that. If others can pick up songs really quickly i'm jealous of that but they have probably put more effort and work into their playing over the years than i have and i dont want to crticise someone for that. 

Dave 

 

[lozkerr]

4 minutes ago, TimR said:

Don't see how? It was a question. 

And a very loaded one, which unless you're severely autistic, is something you knew perfectly well when you posted it. The fact that you attracted such a big pile-on last night should tell you something.

[Marvin]

I suppose like most I've mixed feelings about this re: the original question.

 

In most covers bands most of the songs I've played I've never really had a strong like or dislike about them. Some of them have been interesting and fun to play, others not so much. I've been sent audition lists and seen a song or 2 and thought 'oh dear god, not that one again'. But in the main I suppose I've been ambivalent about the songs themselves and more interesting in whether the band as a unit works.

 

There's stuff I wouldn't consider playing, if someone said 'do you fancy joining a Black Lace tribute band?' I'd politely say no thank you.

 

On the few occasions I've played songs I've loved it's always been a disappointment. The Thrill Is Gone simply doesn't sound right without BB King, it's sort of ingrained into my head   

 

A few years ago I was in an originals punk/indie band. I must admit most of the material wasn't my thing (the songs not the genre). The band was ok as such, however every gig we played no one was interested. Actually the best compliment we got was from the owner of a local music venue. We were supposed to be supporting a band  one night, midweek, but they had to cancel. We had a gig on the Saturday so asked if we could just play for free as a practice, the owner said yes. The singer was late, so whilst waiting the guitarist, drummer and myself had one of those half hour blues/rock/psychedelic jams that we all used to do and forgot about. The owner said 'that was great, you should play more stuff like that'  🤣🤣

[FinnDave]

21 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

At one point I questioned whether anyone should be playing in cover bands if they've not heard the covers that the audience will be familiar with. I'd question any musician who doesn't listen to a very wide range of genres. You're painting yourself into a corner. I didn't say you couldn't or shouldn't. 

 

 

Can't agree with that. I've played in several covers bands without ever having heard the originals of their songs. I just play to the chords. In some cases, I might hear a song on a pub jukebox and think it sounds vaguely familiar and realise it is the original of something I've played, but as I never listen to any 'pop' music, it is new to me. Doesn't change how I play the song.

 

It is years since I've sat down and listened to music - even my shelf of treasured Grateful Dead CDs is looking rather dusty.

[bassman7755]

3 minutes ago, FinnDave said:

 

Can't agree with that. I've played in several covers bands without ever having heard the originals of their songs. I just play to the chords. In some cases, I might hear a song on a pub jukebox and think it sounds vaguely familiar and realise it is the original of something I've played, but as I never listen to any 'pop' music, it is new to me. Doesn't change how I play the song.

 

It is years since I've sat down and listened to music - even my shelf of treasured Grateful Dead CDs is looking rather dusty.

 

Try playing All right Now "just playing the chords", that would be amusing to watch.

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, TimR said:

My general advice would be to play absolutly everything and anything with as many different people as possible. And don't practice tunes you know, stick Spotify on random and just play along to whatever comes up, whether you like it or not.

 

It's not about fancy licks and complicated lines, it's about getting the simple stuff right. 

 

I've had band leaders, on meeting me at the dep gig, say keep it simple and watch me for the change

 

There's a big difference between winging it  which takes more confidence than skill, and doing the job well.

 

In the blues band  its great for confidence building, because there's a common musical language and conventions, even if you aren’t playing a twelve-bar. For example, its rare to have a true bridge. This means when on unfamiliar territory you can still anticipate enough to sound reasonably tight, and when you do know the material you can go off piste with confidence.

 

In the covers band even something as simple as Chasing Cars - sure you could probably play it without having heard it before, but to do it well there's a fair bit of dynamics and stop start to learn. A better example would be Purple Rain where you have to build your playing over the song and can be fairly improvisational, but you need to know when and what you're building up to.

 

Of course there are songs you can learn on a single pass, but on clser inspection most turn out to have subtlety you need to tease out to do them justice.

 

If it was really that easy, why is such a large percentage of onlne tab wrong - I recently got a site to correct its "offical tab" for Green Onions FFS!

[Stub Mandrel]

2 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

There's a big difference between winging it  which takes more confidence than skill, and doing the job well.

 

In the blues band  its great for confidence building, because there's a common musical language and conventions, even if you aren’t playing a twelve-bar. For example, its rare to have a true bridge. This means when on unfamiliar territory you can still anticipate enough to sound reasonably tight, and when you do know the material you can go off piste with confidence.

 

In the covers band even something as simple as Chasing Cars - sure you could probably play it without having heard it before, but to do it well there's a fair bit of dynamics and stop start to learn. A better example would be Purple Rain where you have to build your playing over the song and can be fairly improvisational, but you need to know when and what you're building up to.

 

Of course there are songs you can learn on a single pass, but on clser inspection most turn out to have subtlety you need to tease out to do them justice.

 

If it was really that easy, why is such a large percentage of onlne tab wrong - I recently got a site to correct its "offical tab" for Green Onions FFS!

 

I should add that I agree trying to play along with random songs is a great way of developing skills. It isn't a way to learn how yo play them  it isa way to improve your improvisation

[Boodang]

For me the level of dedication to the cause is more impressive than someone's level of skill. 

[FinnDave]

18 minutes ago, bassman7755 said:

 

Try playing All right Now "just playing the chords", that would be amusing to watch.

 

Got me on that one - but never been in a band that plays it.

[TimR]

29 minutes ago, bassman7755 said:

 

Try playing All right Now "just playing the chords", that would be amusing to watch.

 

Just play TO the chords. If you know the chord the individual notes are usually pretty intuitive. You shouldn't have to be sitting there picking out individual notes of a run.