Do You try to replicate songs you learn exactly or put your own interpretation?

[martingitdave]

If I’m learning a cover tune, which is frequent, I seldom learn it note for note like the record. Sometimes I make it more simple. Sometimes I make more complicated, or change the key, etc. One thing I’ve learned performing is that no one except the two guitar players in the audience want to hear a singer songwriter like me play more than about 4 bars of a solo. [emoji12] As a solo player I usually try to Travis pick or spice up the rhythm and melody.

[Andromeda]

Considering I'm a baritone and every song I love is performed by a tenor I'm forced to put my own spin on these songs while staying as close to the spirit of the song as I can.

[Rudy4]

When I hear something I like it usually turns a little key that unlocks something a little different about the song or tune. That's what I go for when playing someone else's work.

If I wanted to simply re-create the same thing I'd just listen to the original artist.

[donlyn]

You try to replicate songs you learn exactly or put your own interpretation?


Simple answer is I play the songs the way I like.

But first I listen extensively to get a feel for the song. This also means I am listening to a song differently, not necessarily for enjoyment. I work out the chords and the lyrics (if any) and get a basic working version of a song. That's when the fun begins as I play around with it and see what comes out.

I mostly play solo these days, so while I am working on a song I have to personalize it so that I can get a version I am happy with and not sound like I took short cuts with it. While this is going on, I am also working out an arrangement on how to play it; do I want an instrumantal part, and will it mirror and or mimic the melody? Sometimes the melody just forces its way first, and then I will definitely use that in whole or in part as an intro, break, outro, or combinations of all three.

In the process, I sometimes find I don't think it is a good piece for me to play, and I will stop work on it and start another song. Sometimes I get back to abandoned work. Sometimes not. I have some nearly complete stuff that I just don't want to do, mostly because it just doesn't feel right.

I fingerpick all my instruments using my nails as picks. Often when I am learning a song, I use arpeggios to play the chords and rarely use any strumming at this point. Or even at all.

To sum up, I don't see the point of learning something "note for note" when I really like to put my stamp on it. Along the way, I am not afraid to change rhthyms, style, genre, chords, melody, or anything else to make it more interesting to me.

Don
.

[pvfederico]

My instructor, Mario, gives me a video of a song (that we arrange together) -- but only of the left (fretting) hand. I figure out out what I want to play with the right hand from experience. I never learn a song note for note, and never use tabs.

If I know what to do with the left hand, the right hand can easily figure out its thing.

For example, I'm just starting to learn Besame Mucho. There are 15 chord changes in the verse alone -- different shapes all over the neck. For me, that's the hard part. Once I know what to play with the left hand, the right hand figures out the rest.

He plays the song very classically, whereas I may decide to Travis pick it.

[jaymarsch]

I do both but if I start out covering it like the original, if I really inhabit the song and commit to the full expression of the emotion of the song, it eventually morphs into my own version.
Best,
Jayne

[Sasquatchian]

I pretty much always make them my own. Friday I had my gf lay down accordion tracks on a couple of Lyle Lovett songs I was working on. She's always telling me that I'm adding or dropping beats, but I kinda go by how I want it to feel. In this case, she pulled up the original on her iPhone and said - Oh, he did in four and you're doing it in 6, but it still works only with a different vibe. And then yesterday, on a little road excursion, an old Townes Van Zandt song came on my phone in shuffle mode and for some reason, she was counting it out. It was nominally in 4, but had exactly one line in a chorus in 3, but just once. I guess the lesson is that any way it sounds good to you is good for me or anyone else.

[Glennwillow]

When I learn a cover song, I learn it pretty much note for note off the original recording. I have learned to be quite accurate by actually playing along with the original recording until my instrumentation sounds like it's part of the mix. I do that because I still want to learn, and I still want the challenge of adapting to someone else's style.

However, I never try to sing like the original artist. I have my own voice and I'm not interested in being a mimic or an impressionist. Also, after I have learned to play it the original artist's way, I find that as I practice singing the song with the artist's accompaniment, I end up morphing into my own version of the song that is still very recognizable but also provides my own take on it.

Audiences want to hear something recognizable when they hear a cover, but they don't expect to hear a copy. And they don't expect to hear someone trying to sing like the original artist.

It's a challenge to learn how to play covers really well.

- Glenn

[Inyo]

My cover versions constitute interpretive integration of melody lines with personalized rhythmic pulsation designed to convey enough tune similarity with the original recording that one can immediately identify the song. Although I do not attempt to inject every note and nuance of the original arrangement into my solo acoustic instrumental 6 and 12-string guitar covers, I nevertheless consistently strive to maintain fidelity to melody, regardless of obvious differences in structure and meter I might purposefully incorporate into my unique renditions.

A bit more. With regard to my original compositions, I consider my own musical creations legitimately unique entities; while inspiration and influence-derived incorporations remain difficult to quantify, possibly generating in not a few individuals a genuine consternation derived from hyperventilating hyper-sensitivity to disturbing preoccupations with potential accusations of plagiarism--that is to say, while somebody could theoretically elaborate with substantiated revelatory documentation where several of my songs resemble previously published sources--I do not incur insomnia over the idea that my melodies and chord structures could impinge upon copyrighted materials.

[Racerbob]

never had any interest in becoming a human juke box, what is the point. I make them my own, some very different from the original.

[justonwo]

In some cases where I find the original recording particularly compelling, I’ll try to learn note-for-note. Sometimes, it’s the very subtle additions, subtractions,
or changes in rhythm that make a good song great. I’m cases where I just want to get the gist, or where I get too frustrated trying to learn the original, I’ll just simplify or adapt it.

[jpfeiff]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

I go for the overall feel of the original but I've always put my own spin on things, especially in a solo guitar/vocal setting where I might have to cover two or three parts...

This for me (see above!)

[Robin, Wales]

I never sing or play a song the same way twice, and I am never going to sound like the original recording - I'm not a tribute act!

When I learn a new song I'll listen to multiple versions and steal bits from them all. I do go back and listen to various versions even once I have a song "down" and may continue to change my version.

I do listen for the hooks. Like why does the Carter Family's early recording of "Will the Circle" sound so fresh yet many more recent versions sound like a clichéd dirge? (the Carter's dropped beats to chase the story along - modern version "steralise" the rhythm). And those little twists l hear in songs are the sauce that I will drop into my arrangement.

Also, I have very limited playing abilities. I can't get my hands around much. So I have a style of guitar playing that I have to work with no matter what the song.

Once again, I wonder if there if a difference in approach to this question between those of us here on AGF who are primarily instrumentalists (and perhaps are also TAB readers) and those of us who primarily sing songs using the guitar as a means of accompaniment (and perhaps learn from aural sources).

[Honkycat]

I usually play songs in my own style, except for James Taylor songs, I have to get those right because I like them so much.

[Silurian]

I mostly play old blues songs and do my own take on them.

The vast majority have been recorded by countless players doing countless interpretations. The whole idea of an "original" version is a bit meaningless.