Question for Coverites

[Tom Capasso]

coverite(n) - musician that copies previously recorded music in a performance setting, usually without looking at any type of music notation (except chords). Frequently used to describe more popular music players instead of classical players that are reading.

I've been working on a song for my band Sashi Tewari. We've added "Woman Across The River" from the new Allman Brothers album. I can play the song well enough to put the song across, but I haven't gotten down the fills, or learned every note that Oteil Burbridge plays. That made me think about what we need to include when we cover songs.

 

To me, there seems to be three aspects of a bass part to be considered:

• signature licks - for example, you can't play "Sunshine Of Your Love" or "Birthday" without that riff that defines the song. Another example is the riff in "I Shot The Sheriff" at the end of the verse.
   
  
• main pattern/feel - some songs have pretty much the same notes in all verses, in all refrains, etc. Creedence Clearwater Revival songs come to mind (though not all of them have this).
  
• every exact note (when the part is more complicated or varies).
  

(note - altering the arrangement affects how you look at this - I'm talking about mostly faithful covers)

.

Working on "Woman", it would take me more time than I have to learn every note (gig coming up). So I've got it to the point where I've got the right feel (actually, there are two "feels" in the song), and I get my fingers caught in the upper registers at times when there is a high fill on the original song. It works out pretty well, and the song comes across fine. But I know I haven't done justice to the tasty work on the original. There are songs on our list where I've changed the part to make it my own, and there are songs that would take me a ton of work for me to play every note exactly (if ever).

I'm OK with what I'm doing, though I'll be selecting some songs (like "Woman") to work on to extend my abilities. On The Doors "Love Me Two Times" I find I'm playing just about the exact notes (I like the part). On other Allman Brothers tunes it varies - the more "jammy" the tune, the less I'm likely to cover it exactly.

 

What do you do? I know we could all improve our playing, and re-studying our covers is an opportunity, but do you "coverites" tend to cover the key riffs and make it up from there? Do you 'shed until you can cover every note? What songs do you do one way or the other?

 

thanks

Tom

[Scoot]

I get it note-for-note if I can, but if the bass is buried in the mix (which is pretty popular with a lot of stuff we cover) then I just get as close as I can and copy the feel. But mostly it depends on the song like you said.

 

My rule of thumb is if I can pick out the bass line w/o doctoring the eq, then I'll take the time to learn it note-for-note. Besides, is there anything more irritating than your guitar player telling you that you aren't playing the bass line right? I can't think of anything.

[Bob Gollihur]

I have the long-held habit of playing whatever I feel like that fits within the character of the piece, unless, of course, there is a signature bass line that "makes" the tune -- and there are even exceptions there. My earliest commercial play was "faking" on double bass from fake book letter chords, or more often, by ear.

 

Call me lazy or creative; I'll readily accept either description.

[ibescotty]

Great topic!!

 

It really depends on the song and what we're doing with it.

 

We do a cover of 'Little Wing' that sounds nothing like any previous version and it's a standard Blues thing. I don't think I play that song the same way ever. It always sounds good though and I like the free form. So with this song I keep the main pattern and feel going but I add different fills and grace notes every time.

 

Now when I'm doing something like 'Turn it on again' it's a note for note thing. It's not a complex song mind but there's no room for variance in that song. I'm pretty trapped under the keyboards. Every Little Thing She Does is a note for noter as well. I guess the more modern stuff is note for note for the most part too. So I think it becomes a matter of styles for us.

 

Blues and Blues style rock songs are a little less rigid and allow a little more free form.

 

Hey as long as heads are bobbing, feet are tapping and buts are swinging we've succeeded!!!

 

Plus, as a semi serious hobbyist playing in a cover / original band I'd rather put more time into the originals we do. Now those I'm trying to do note for note. Succeeding 75% of the time I'm sure.

 

[jeremy c]

I play it note-for-note to the best of my ability. I still go back and listen to some songs that I have been playing all my life to see what I've changed or what new things I hear.

 

The perfect reproduction of the part doesn't always work when others in the band are not playing their parts note for note, or when there were many instruments on the recording and you're trying to play it with a 3 or four piece band.

 

If I'm in a rush, or in a band which doesn't really care, I will learn the signature licks of the song and the feel and then make up something.

 

Often I am requested to learn a song for a wedding. We will play this song once at the wedding and then (hopefully) never again. I'm not going to kill myself over this.

 

When auditioning for a band, I will learn everything on the tape or cd which I am given ahead of time. Then I will ask if the band wants it the way the "other guy" played or if they want to hear my contribution.

[...]

Originally posted by Bob Gollihur (bob@gollihur.com):

Call me lazy or creative; I'll readily accept either description.

lazy, creative bastard...

 

I tend to play stuff pretty note-for-note when I do covers. Especially on songs where there are really signature bits in them, be it fills, the entire bassline, whatever. If I covered "Good Times Bad Times", I'd hate myself forever if I didn't play that bass fill that JPJ does after the first chorus note for note.

[Joel Wilson]

I'm a whore: Tell me what you want, and pay me. If you say "play whatever you want" I grab a trumpet and blow.

[...]

Evelyn, a modified dog

Viewed the quivering fringe of a special doily

Draped across the piano, with some surprise

 

In the darkened room

Where the chairs dismayed

And the horrible curtains

Muffled the rain

She could hardly believe her eyes

 

A curious breeze

A garlic breath

Which sounded like a snore

Somewhere near the Steinway (or even from within)

Had caused the doily fringe to waft & tremble in the gloom

 

Evelyn, a dog, having undergone

Further modification

Pondered the significance of short-person behavior

In pedal-depressed panchromatic resonance

And other highly ambient domains...

 

Arf she said

 

[Tedster]

Originally posted by Bumpcity:

Evelyn, a modified dog

Viewed the quivering fringe of a special doily

Draped across the piano, with some surprise

 

In the darkened room

Where the chairs dismayed

And the horrible curtains

Muffled the rain

She could hardly believe her eyes

 

A curious breeze

A garlic breath

Which sounded like a snore

Somewhere near the Steinway (or even from within)

Had caused the doily fringe to waft & tremble in the gloom

 

Evelyn, a dog, having undergone

Further modification

Pondered the significance of short-person behavior

In pedal-depressed panchromatic resonance

And other highly ambient domains...

 

Arf she said

 

HAHAH!!! I haven't heard that Zappa tune in years!!! Can instantly hear Frank's baritone booming it out!

 

As for cover tunes...well, note for note is nice, to catch the ideas of where the player wanted it to go.

 

What note for note REALLY means is "That's the way he or she happened to play it on the take they kept and decided to release". It can be a good starting point, especially if there are signature licks, or other fills that you'd like to add to your repertoire.

 

But, aside to those, even the guy/girl who played it in the studio will very rarely repeat exactly the performance rendered on the particular take you hear on your CD. So, my suggestion, to borrow a very annoying recent catchphrase "start inside for a framework, then...uhh...think outside the box".

 

BTW...most excellent bass dudes and dudettes...I'm an oldie myself, so I like oldies, and a lot of the old harmony bands of the 60s (including Beatles, Beach Boys, Association). I happened to be listening to an old Mamas and Papas tune "I Saw Her Again Last Night". Really neat bass line in that tune! I never noticed. The bass makes that tune!

[Graham56]

As listener I'm not too keen on not-for-note covers. Yes, you need to capture the feel, and yes, you need to play the strong 'signature' licks of a song.

 

But even if the band is playing all non-original covers, I like to hear something of the band themselves that they've added to (or taken away from)the song.

 

Graham

[alexclaber]

I don't like playing covers but I have learnt a fair bit from the ones I've performed. In particular, learning Le Freak made me realise how hard it can be to really nail some of those old disco grooves.

 

My take on this is if the bass line is one of the song's hooks then you've got to stay pretty close to it, but the rest of the time I just go for the overall feel and harmony; e.g. for "What's going on" I do the Jamerson thang throughout, but there's not way I'd bother trying to exactly replicate his part on the recording.

 

Alex

[Tedster]

Yeah, always good to put your own stamp on it.

[Flemtone]

Great topic, Tom!

 

Both my electric and acoustic bands play all covers, and I pay the song and the original bass player or acoustic player the respect of keeping their original line as a starting point. However, I don't stick to the original note-for-note, because I'm a 'Live' recording junkie. My philosophy is "if you can't do it live, then you're a studio creation'. So, I'll troll Usenet and hit the 'bootlegs' groups, buy lots of live albums, see the bands whenever possible, and see what works best in front of a live crowd. From there, I'll add fills, if I think the song could use them (I'm not an 'up the neck' type of player, more motown/folk/singer-songwriter influenced player). We change things as the mood suits us, but always with the original message of the song paramount in our minds. (Somehow, the thought of a shredder version of "By Way Of Sorrow" seems a little, er, 'out there'...but I digress)

 

That being said, it irks me no end to see a cover band that keeps true to a tune, then have some bass player soloing all thru the piece. It makes me think "Well, we know he/she can do THAT, but what about the FEEL of the song???"

 

"Keep it simple, Stupid" is my feel on playing. It doesn't work so well on Dead tunes, 'cause Phil is all around the place, but never in a spot you'd expect him to be. I grew up listening to him and Jerry pass lines back and forth, virtually all live, and it continually shows me my limitations, especially if I'm singing lead on a tune. However, I can play a Sara Lee bassline and not have any need or desire to change a single note, because it just doesn't need it.

 

I guess, in the long run, these players are just like us...they just happened to be in the right place with the right sound at the right time, but that doesn't make them perfect, or infallable. If someone covered one of my basslines note-for-note, I'd be honored, but if they changed it to make it more punchy or more subtle, and if it worked better than mine, I'd listen...and learn.

 

Peace,

Tim from Jersey

[davebrownbass]

Well, I don't play in a cover band...don't do tunes that are supposed to faithfully replicate a familiar tune.

 

That is to say, most of the time.

 

In the praise band, almost all of the stuff I play is previously recorded, and the recorded versions are quite familiar to a segment of the audience.

 

Not bragging here, but this band is adept at "on-the-spot arrangement. When we play these tunes, they seem to more or less come out with signature breaks, fills and style. Often radically different than the original. Throw some reggae in there; we often even through jazz turnarounds in there...communicating to each other through feel. We don't even rehearse.

 

On the other hand, when I played Grease, the music director wanted to make the musical "More like the movie." That meant adding "Hopelessly devoted to you" and "You're the one that I want."

 

2 covers, of songs I've never actively listened to.

 

In rehearsal, she had a piano arrangements of Hopelessly, and I followed the triplet infused piano part exactly. Seemed to work, sounded like I remembered it, so...good enough.

 

However, for "you're the one..." she had written out a chord chart. That rehearsal, and the next, I just played the changes and style with my limited recollection of the tune. However, the kids could sing with it, and everybody seemed to be satisfied.

 

Except me. I had to know how the tune went.

 

Do you know how hard it is to find a copy of the "Grease" soundtrack? Got it on closeout at Wal-Mart...what a great resource for musicians (They also are the only ones who have VHS of the original "Tommy" I've found out...have to order online. If you've not seen this, you gotta!)

 

I listened and after a couple of times I had the basic patterns of the lines down...at that point I could've faked it.

 

But I wasn't satisfied. I did an exact transcription of the line, which I put in with my music and played from.

 

Then, after having the damn thing perfect, I immediately started re-constructing it...taking the original bass line and adding my own fills and stuff.

 

If that tells you about the way I think. I want to be faithful, and then go beyond faithful. As if I were the original player continuing to evolve the line.

 

BYW: that CD is still rolling around in the back of the Kia; anybody need it?

[humabass]

Tom, I pretty much take your approach. If I feel that the bass line is important to the compositional aspect of the song and is a widely recognized line by the average audience member I'll play it note for note. If the bass line is rather generic I'll capture it's feel and do my own thing which allows me to have more fun and the guy in the audience to not even realize it's not the exact same line. I refuse to play in a cover band where I'm required to play it "just like the record". As far as covering a tune with Oteil fills,well...that's a challenge! I think I would try to capture the feel of the fill and do what I'M capable of,people still get goosebumps when B.B. King vibratoes just one note

[fig]

Good timing on this post. Since I've offered myself as fill-in for other bands, I make it a point to listen to all of their songlist, even if I've played the song for years and years, because as mentioned earlier, there's alot of subtle stuff I pick up listening again.

 

So this recent fill in gig I'm doing required a bit of homework on my part, as there are two derivatives of this situation. A three piece and a five piece version. Mostly different songs, using the same drummer and one guitarist. The drummer complimented me in saying it sounds like I've been playing with them for a long time, and Phil McCormick, from Molly Hatchet, told our guitar player it sounds like we've been together for years. Those two compliments made me feel pretty damn good. Part of it is maybe a testament to my playing ability, but most of it is just doing the homework. That's my only secret. I don't have incredible technique, I just like to lay back in the pocket and drive.

 

So I get the flavor of the bassist for each song, keep signature lines intact, and life is good. Of course if the band wants to really change up a cover song, then that's another matter.

 

I heard a bass player the other night who had great technique, but the bassline flavor for most of the songs was totally wrong. I mean really wrong. If he'd do his homework, listen to those songs and get the flavor, he'd be killer.

 

There are some songs that require an almost note for note playing. They are well defined and an integral part of the song. But on the whole, most I do require just getting the flavor, picking out some subtle stuff I think is cool, adding some of my own riffs and fills, and watch the butts shake!

[The Bear Jew]

Well, since I'm not in a cover band, when my original bands decided to cover songs, we're free to interpret them however we wish.

 

This is great for me, because I sometimes hear other things in songs that aren't in the original versions.

 

In spite of this, I pretty much stick with playing the important parts of the songs as they were originally written (the parts that grab my ear), especially when there are really noticeable signatures in the instrumental bits. I just play them at different tempos or with different feels, depending on the way we're interpreting them. I mean, what would "Summer Breeze" be without that little lick after the chorus? Even Type O Negative had to keep that in there... at about 2 mph.

[BenLoy]

I try to get it note for note.

 

Sometimes I'll get creative and throw something in, depending on what everyone else is playing. Other times I'll be very strict about copping stuff note-for-note.

[NickT]

My major covers band is a modern pop band that doubles up as a Kylie Minogue tribute act. Most of these tunes tend to be quite highly programmed and so covering all the bases with guitar, bass, drums and keys can be quite a challenge. Most of the time we try to keep pretty close to the original arrangements and so although I don't learn parts note for note, I get pretty close and the feel is always right on.

 

About a third of the time we take a different approach. Either because there is too much programming to play it like the original or for some reason we are either really into or REALLY not into the way we are playing the song. In the case we tend to rearrange somewhat. Most of the time we try to think what we would do if we were the MD for the act and play it like we are their live band. When we take this approach the harmony stays pretty much the same, apart from the odd hit and maybe a tritone substitution or two along the way. But also the parts are flexible (within the parameters of the song.)

 

For example our version of Kylie's "It's In Your Eyes" has a Latin solo section before the last chorus, the chorus of Jennifer Lopez's "Play" has hits on the second quaver of beats 3 and 4 every 4 bars, where the phrase ends. (This hit is a dominant chord a semitone above the tonic.) The most radical change is the piano and vocal jazz style version of "The Locomotion" which we segue into "Step Back in Time" in the middle of the Kylie set. "Step Back In Time" is inspired by her live version. We go full on disco with it, so lots of octaves and a bit of slap, I can't remember what her guy played on the live version.

 

After all this rambling, I think my answer to the original question is...for the most part I learn the feel and the chord changes whilst not necessarily learning note for note. If there are signature licks or riffs then obviously those I transcribe. When we rearrange...then the parts get freed up somewhat.