Do you listen to tunes you cover?

[TimR]

I was going through my iPod library last night. I usually download songs we are going to play and drop them into a playlist so that I can find them easily if we need to reference them at practice and so that I can listen to them in the car when trying to learn them.

It occurred to me that once we have learned them, I may listen again after a few months just to see if I missed anything, but in general I never listen to the original tunes again once we've learned them.

So how many people actually listen to the originals of songs they play.

[Tait]

depends if its a song i like. if i wouldnt have listened to it before, i probably wont listen to it after. if i did listen to it before, then learning it with my band wont change anything.

[witterth]

all the time!
Iv'e found despite how hard Ive worked first time,on a cover, I can often find a little something (in my keeness to get on with the set)there Ive missed. all to often. and even on simple stuff

[bubinga5]

yes thats why i play them..

[phil_the_bassist]

I tend not to with the pub covers I was in, and the same with the Jam stuff I've just plowed thru...but all the funk/disco/motown stuff I've played I always still listen to, will always listen to, and cannot think of a situation where I wouldn't listen to all of 'em!

Why would anyone take Master Blaster (Jammin') off a playlist?!

[scottReederstoenail]

Speaking with my drummer head on.I learn the track as per the Cd then it mutates into something nothing like the original after a period of time.

[TDM]

I listen ot most of the stuff I cover, but that's mainly because we only cover songs we like.

Btw. I managed to read your thread title as "Do you listen to your truss rod cover?" - I must be dyslexic!

[Stingray5]

[quote name='thedonutman' post='595150' date='Sep 10 2009, 09:46 PM']Btw. I managed to read your thread title as "Do you listen to your truss rod cover?" - I must be dyslexic! [/quote]
So doesn't [i]everyone[/i] hear voices coming from their truss rod cover???

[teej]

Of course - but I make sure I never listen to a track [i]before[/i] we start covering it .

[EssentialTension]

Some more than others but yes.

[harvey1-8]

I usually run through our cover set list at home a few days before a gig, regardless of how well I know the songs. I like to be prepared.

[The Funk]

[quote name='TimR' post='595057' date='Sep 10 2009, 07:51 PM']So how many people actually listen to the originals of songs they play.[/quote]

All of the ones I've picked for F E. Not a lot of the ones the others have picked in the Doom band - but the stuff I already used to listen to still gets rinsed.

[sshorepunk]

I have a playlist on my i-pod for the covers we do, don't do them very often as we do our own stuff most of the time, so I've got to make sure they stay in my mind. We always do MC5 Looking at You in our own set though, cool tune and most poeple ask, "MC5 who are they?"

Also have another playlist with our own demo tracks on

T

[stevebasshead]

I'll play along with them in the house if I need to refresh my memory but I rarely stick 'em on just to listen to. On the odd occasion I do I'm often surprised by 2 things, first how I've missed and/or added little things to the bassline and second, how much more we tend to rock-up the tracks.

I much prefer our versions which might sound big-headed (it's not meant to be) which I think is how it should be in a covers band. A perfect recreation would be a bit of a technical exercise (but not without some merit) whereas I think music should live and breath through the musicians playing it and it benefits from putting some of ourselves into it. After all, even the original artists tweak and adjust their parts when playing them live.

[Dr.Dave]

I listen to a song we want to cover enough to get the gist of it. I'm not interested in what the bass players doing , I come up with my own part. In fact , that what our band does as a whole. Where's the fun in copying?

Because we also have a trib band we can't quite take that attitude but we still roll our own to a degree.

I rarely listen to a song we do after we start doing it because I a) don't want to be influenced and it's arrangement might stick in my mind and I'll end up arseing up our version.

Edited September 11, 2009 by Dr.Dave

[TimR]

I'm not even sure if we play any tunes that I would have on my iPod if we didn't play them.

They're all great songs, good to dance to, the audience love them and great to play, but they're just not what I would chose to listen to outside a party environment.

[teej]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='595781' date='Sep 11 2009, 04:02 PM']I listen to a song we want to cover enough to get the gist of it. I'm not interested in what the bass players doing , I come up with my own part. In fact , that what our band does as a whole. Where's the fun in copying?[/quote]
oh yes. our stuff is from back in the '40s anyway, but we'll only take the basic lick and a lyric and from there on it's ours' - that's a traditional and respectable approach to blues

[OutToPlayJazz]

Strangely, no. I usually learned all covers from the band while "jamming" or from the sheet music when doing covers. That way, it was always my own interpretation of the bass part.

Only time I did a lot of listening was when I did a Blondie Tribute. I was doing 5-minute takedowns of the basslines and fills during rehearsals as I was so busy with work at the time!

[witterth]

I tend to think you should get as close to the original as is possible,
maybe its just my paranoia/pride but I can't be doing with the thought that someone out there is thinking....
"he didn't do that right because he cant"
could just be undiagnosed OCD though

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='Stingray5' post='595203' date='Sep 10 2009, 10:41 PM']So doesn't [i]everyone[/i] hear voices coming from their truss rod cover??? [/quote]

I used to hear rattling from my truss rod. But then i realised you were supposed to TIGHTEN it for it to work!

I do listen to the songs we cover. I really enjoy the music we're doing in our band. But then again i suppose we're not being paid for it. I don't know if i would ever do songs i didn't enjoy just to make a bit of money but i might do if things got desperate.

[BigRedX]

Interesting thread. The covers band I play with does mainly 70s rock singles, so it's the music I was into as a teenager. It's not really the music that I listen to out of choice these days as what I buy at the moment is nearly all electronic-based - a style of music that didn't really exist back then.

Although on the whole I enjoy the music and not just because I like playing bass in a band (which for me allows me to enjoy pretty much anything if I'm playing it) and about half the set was on CDs or records I already owned, I did notice a couple of things about the music I was learning.

1. In most cases the songs sounded a lot 'heavier' in my memory than the actual recordings.

2. When listening to the albums the songs came from I was struck by the amount of 'filler' on there. For every rock classic there was at least 3 rather predictable and tedious blues workouts that did absolutely nothing for me. Even bands like The Who, who had always struck me as making their own unique way through the 60s and 70s had a tendency to slip into the clichés of the time when they weren't writing hits.

[witterth]

2. When listening to the albums the songs came from I was struck by the amount of 'filler' on there. For every rock classic there was at least 3 rather predictable and tedious blues workouts that did absolutely nothing for me. Even bands like The Who, who had always struck me as making their own unique way through the 60s and 70s had a tendency to slip into the clichés of the time when they weren't writing hits.

damn right, now you mention it !!

Edited September 13, 2009 by witterth

[TimR]

[quote name='witterth' post='597093' date='Sep 13 2009, 10:11 AM']2. When listening to the albums the songs came from I was struck by the amount of 'filler' on there. For every rock classic there was at least 3 rather predictable and tedious blues workouts that did absolutely nothing for me. Even bands like The Who, who had always struck me as making their own unique way through the 60s and 70s had a tendency to slip into the clichés of the time when they weren't writing hits.

damn right, now you mention it !![/quote]


With the advent of single track downloads, I wonder how long the album will last.

[TimR]

So are there any tracks you specifically avoid listening to because your band or another has covered them and completely destroyed them?

[JTUK]

agree with the comment about never bothering to rip off the bass line...

I get the jist and make it work, I hope... we aren't clones...!!!