What Do You Think Of This ?

[gareth]

17 minutes ago, TimR said:

If you're in a tribute band there's a fair chance you have the same instrumentation. 

 

If the song you're covering has a 9 piece with keyboards, brass, backing singers etc, and you have guitar, bass and drums, you're going to really struggle playing the tune exactly as per the original. 

 

Just get the structure, chords, melody and feel right. 

I’ve seen these guys a few times doing Steely Dan

 

The bass player amazingly does lead vocals and those bass lines together with horn section and bvs, etc

 

 

[PaulWarning]

On 17/09/2021 at 16:11, gareth said:

I agree with all your points @Bluewineexcept this one 

 

“4. If you play covers, spice them up a bit. Obviously, I'm not asking you to fundamentally change the song. However, adding some kind of twist to make it your own and the listening experience unique for the audience will make you more memorable.”

 

I played in one of Essex, UK’s most successful/popular rock covers band doing over 100 gigs a year with each gig packed 

 

But that band had a golden rule - play the song exactly as the original recording.

 

And that’s what made us successful/popular 

 

As a bass player you can watch cover bands and you can hear when the bass player has simplified a line 

 

For instance

 

1. Killers Brightside does he get all the chords in the quiet section

 

2. Muse Hysteria does he get all the notes

 

And other players would do the same so a drummer would as on Zeppelin Rock n roll does the drummer get all the fills 

People appreciated hearing our covers exactly like the record without any changes and definitely no extended guitar solos 😂😂

yes and no, we do punk covers fairly faithfully, being a punk band, but other covers we do like Daydream Believer, Leaving on a Jet Plane, 500 miles etc we punk up

Edited September 19, 2021 by PaulWarning

[Trueno]

53 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

yes and no, we do punk covers fairly faithfully, being a punk band, but other covers we do like Daydream Believer, Leaving on a Jet Plane, 500 miles etc we punk up

I would love to hear some of that. I’m always saying we should do something like that and I’m just met by blank looks. I think the guitarist learns all his stuff from those “Play the songs of Free” type books and can’t deviate at all.

[PaulWarning]

4 minutes ago, Trueno said:

I would love to hear some of that. I’m always saying we should do something like that and I’m just met by blank looks. I think the guitarist learns all his stuff from those “Play the songs of Free” type books and can’t deviate at all.

 

[Bunion]

These guys have toured the world playing covers a little differently.

 

 

[TimR]

8 minutes ago, Trueno said:

I would love to hear some of that. I’m always saying we should do something like that and I’m just met by blank looks. I think the guitarist learns all his stuff from those “Play the songs of Free” type books and can’t deviate at all.

 

It's a lack of imagination or experience of playing many different genres. I played with a drummer for years who was like that. Until he heard a cover version by someone else doing something clever when he'd say we should do that version. 

 

Currently in a rock band playing modern pop with a rock edge and the guitarist is slowly coming round to just because the original is piano, strings and acoustic guitar, doesn't mean that's how it must always be played. 

[Lozz196]

13 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

 

Your guitarist has a great sound there Paul

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

Your guitarist has a great sound there Paul

yes doesn't he? till he blow up his Marshall valve amp and bought a tranny one, he packed up playing abut 6 years ago, when he got it right he was good, trouble is towards the end he made a lot of alcohol and lack of practice induced mistakes, shame

[Bluewine]

21 hours ago, peteb said:

 

Hey Daryl, great to see you back on the forum posting again.

 

Everything you say in the OP is spot on. As regards to point 2, a trick I was told as a kid was to make eye contact with someone about ten or fifteen rows back in the audience. Everybody in the vicinity then thinks that you are playing to them. Another thing is when you are not moving around is to have a stance where you look comfortable and in control. Just stand with your feet planted a bit apart and relax. You don’t have to go the “full Slash”, although that can work if you are prepared to commit to it, but it does make you look more like you belong on the stage. Be careful not to do it when you’re offstage, or you risk looking like a tory MP who has been on a course and is adopting a Blackadder 3 power stance! 

 

I have just been to see a band that a couple of friends play in. the BL / guitarist / singer / frontman is an excellent musician and engaging enough. The rest of the band can play OK, but there is no show – the gaps between each song are too long, everyone on stage is static and there is no real communication with the audience. People enjoyed listening to them, but won’t remember them tomorrow and won’t go out of their way to see them again. Putting on some sort of a show (and we are not talking being OTT, just communicating with the audience) is important!

 

Thanks Pete,

 

In my Area I think after a year of allot of

" Covid Down Time" we all learned how important it is to treat the audience well and connect with them.

 

After every show Jenny and her husband are out talking to everyone in the crowd that stayed and came out to see us.

[Bluewine]

On 16/09/2021 at 06:23, ubit said:

Good advice but I find planning what you are going to say can be a problem if like us, you were playing the same places in a small town. The old "Hello Cleveland, this is one from our first album" doesn't wear here. When half the audience sees you around town you can't come away with rock star stuff or you would get crucified. We used to face up to the fact that most people were there to get pished and pick up girls, not listen to an old rock band.If we could get a cheer or a clap after a song we were delighted.

I saw a local unsigned band and the front guy says;

 

" We're going to do some of the old stuff"

 

My thought, " what old stuff? "

 

Lol

 

Blue

[Woodinblack]

Not really interested in seeing some cover band do something exactly as the original, got a jukebox for that - I want to hear an interpretation. We tend to ska a lot of things up, but anyone who does their own interpretation is worth listening to.

 

Our singer has no problem with the talking to people before and after the show, in fact even during its kind of hard to stop him, he is not a man for staying on stage!

[TimR]

16 hours ago, gareth said:

I’ve seen these guys a few times doing Steely Dan

 

The bass player amazingly does lead vocals and those bass lines together with horn section and bvs, etc

 

 

 

I'm not a great fan of this kind of band. Very corporate/cruise ship/wedding band, type of thing. 

 

There's something missing, just feels a bit like they're  'playing the dots'.

[TimR]

15 hours ago, PaulWarning said:

 

Classic. We used to do Postman Pat in the late 80s. Went down a storm. 

 

It was shortly after Nellie the Elephant hit the charts and we wondered what we could do in a similar vein. 

Edited September 20, 2021 by TimR

[Trueno]

I heard a thrashy version of the Shake ‘n’ Vac advert song once. It was pleyed really well and sounded brilliant.

[TimR]

18 minutes ago, Trueno said:

I heard a thrashy version of the Shake ‘n’ Vac advert song once. It was pleyed really well and sounded brilliant.

 

It does make you wonder why you spend hours learning a complex tune when 30 seconds spent picking up 3 chords for a song with catchy lyrics goes down a storm. 

[Woodinblack]

26 minutes ago, TimR said:

 

It does make you wonder why you spend hours learning a complex tune when 30 seconds spent picking up 3 chords for a song with catchy lyrics goes down a storm. 

 

Because I would pay to go and see someone like steve wilson play his songs live, but while I could appreciate someone doing a good version of the shake and vac advert, I wouldn't pay any money for it.

[TimR]

4 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Because I would pay to go and see someone like steve wilson play his songs live, but while I could appreciate someone doing a good version of the shake and vac advert, I wouldn't pay any money for it.

 

Millions of Beatles fans would disagree. 😆

[Trueno]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

It does make you wonder why you spend hours learning a complex tune when 30 seconds spent picking up 3 chords for a song with catchy lyrics goes down a storm. 

I agree… but the killer is good musicianship. Everyone needs to be as tight as a gnat’s chuff… unlike our current under-practised guitarist who manages to come in a microsecond late on all the important bits…

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, TimR said:

 

Millions of Beatles fans would disagree. 😆

 

The beatles did shake and vac? Now my respect for them has gone up!

 

[Trueno]

47 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

The beatles did shake and vac? Now my respect for them has gone up!

 

Without the Beatles there would be no shake n vac song.

[Woodinblack]

12 minutes ago, Trueno said:

Without the Beatles there would be no shake n vac song.

 

So we do have something to thank them for after all!

[Trueno]

37 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

So we do have something to thank them for after all!

Oi! Steady now…

[TimR]

This is getting all a bit Demolition Man.

 

I'm guessing the Shake n Vac chords are a fairly simple 3 chord type blues progression. 

[yorks5stringer]

Going back to pauses and dead time between songs: we have a Banjo player who spends more time out of tune than in and between songs is usually tuning too. The best one of our singers can come up with  is " Err..... we'll just wait for the Banjo to get in tune' or the Banjo player himself will ask "How do you tune a banjo", " With wire cutters", to tumbleweed!

 

I have to remind the singer to say when it's a song we've written rather than a cover and the band leader herself is not the most social on stage and sits down on a stool. Her view is it's all about the music and to be honest I think she'd be happier playing her songs in the kitchen on Saturday night!

 

If I called the band understated that would be an overstatement........!

 

 

[Stub Mandrel]