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#46
08-23-2022, 09:03 AM
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Covers…
I, like many here, try to get the spirit of the “original” but then it quickly morphs to my own spin on the tune.
Why be a second rate anyone else, when you can be the best YOU ever? Haha Coincidentally, I am currently on a kick to remember and resurrect a bunch of my own compositions. Good luck to me….. Cheers Paul
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#47
08-23-2022, 09:03 AM
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I don't try for exact, I just get the chord structure down and make sure to include any key riffs/hooks to make it recognizable. Since I'm not usually playing with a group anymore I have to make arrangements where a single acoustic guitar can adequately carry the song along with me singing.
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#48
08-23-2022, 09:46 AM
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I guess I'm just weird about this, because I don't even like for the original artist to change up a song when playing them live! I like to hear songs(either original artist or cover band) played exactly like they sound on an album or the radio. One exception to that is Streetlights by Jason Isbell. The album version is "too much" when you compare it to his live versions of it. All that being said, I cover them as close as I can get to the radio version!
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Education is important! Guitar is importanter!! 2019 Bourgeois “Banjo Killer” Aged Tone Vintage Deluxe D 2018 Martin D41 Ambertone (2018 Reimagined) 2016 Taylor GS Mini Koa ES2
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#50
08-23-2022, 11:43 AM
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I lost my ability to read, compose, and fully comprehend music theory/structure in my youth. Stroke related. That being said, a few years ago, I was struggling to figure out the finger-picking patterns/chords in a song, and my instructor enlightened me on the following:
In the version I was listening to, there was more than one guitar in the mix, and I wasn't picking up on that. So my goal of matching the song note for note on one guitar wasn't going to happen. The artist played the song differently depending on whether he was solo, backed by a band, or backed up by an orchestra. The artist had simplified many of his chordings and finger-picking patterns on many of his songs over the years. Essentially, there was no one "right" version of the song. In any case, I was struggling with one transition/turnaround (not sure that's the correct term). Essentially this one transition/turnaround is used three times in the song. I couldn't nail it and came up with three "wrong" versions. As a side note, I have a habit of stumbling across some pretty cool (for me) transition/turnarounds when I don't need or want them and then forget how I did it if I don't somehow make use of them. My instructor was aware of this and my past. A week later, my instructor surprised me by incorporating my three "wrong" transitions/turnarounds into the song. WOW, it sounded NICE! He said, "Tom, that's your signature on this song." That one "gift" from my instructor allowed me to focus on what I can and not what I can't do. Tommy
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#51
08-23-2022, 12:06 PM
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No one has mentioned their singing voice in relationship to covers. My voice sounds just like a certain 80's British new wave guy, so I tend to think, what would he sound like doing this tune?
Beyond that, imo, if you do a Beatles song, you either have to nail it or re-arrange it. If the question is really about the guitar part, then I've learned to actually learn it as well as possible, even if you don't go forward with that arrangement. Last edited by jay42; 08-23-2022 at 02:16 PM.
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#53
08-23-2022, 12:17 PM
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I think there's a substantial portion of most audiences that would prefer that performers get as close as possible to the loved/popular version on record. My reading is that those audience members relate to the song more as an overall arrangement and are caught on the hooks and the overall sound more than some essence of the song's meaning. Those listeners will want as close as possible.
Myself as a listener are less into that, even though as a composer I admire a good musical hook or engaging groove as much as anyone. What I'm looking for in the original performance and the cover is the same but different thing: some sense of what the song means to the singer/featured instrumentalist. Sometimes that can be sincerely conveyed by a close impression of the original recording. The performer is saying: I feel right now lor which to convey the feeling ike James Taylor. Joni Mitchell, Al Green, or Robert Johnson were emoting on their recording.* If I could sing and play like one of those singers, or like GlennWillow can (I really admire his covers and he gives his aims above in the thread) I'd have that choice. I cannot. So, I take the other road and try to find something in the essence of the song that I can relate to something I want to convey. Though done by necessity, I've come to enjoy that exploration. I guess I have made my peace with what portion of some potential audience that confounds. *It occurs to me that I approach this more as an actor performing a classic dramatic role than a hired band looking to provide reliable entertainment for some function. Theater goers don't go to Hamlet to see it "just like actor X's famous filmed performance" do they? I guess some do, but most actors wouldn't take that route.
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#54
08-23-2022, 12:47 PM
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I’m in the “make it my own” camp. I think of myself as a singer who plays rhythm guitar. My vocal range lies between tenor and baritone. My old band mates got used to my need to sing in keys that rarely matched the original. They would laughingly call it playing in the key of F (the first letter of my last name, which coincidentally, I’m sure, is also the first letter of a word that was used more than once when we worked on new material and had to transpose it). I always encouraged the other band members (keyboard, lead guitar, harp) to make their solos their own within the overall structure of the songs.
I also tend to make slight changes to lyrics and phrasing at times (for instance, when a song is written for a female... or a location is mentioned that isn’t around our neck of the woods... or I just like it better). One time, we had to bring another bass player in for a gig, and at the rehearsal, he was constantly saying things like, “I’ve been playing this for 25 years and it’s always been in the key of [fill in the blank]. Why are you doing it in [fill in the key]?” I had to explain over and over that I need to match my vocal range. At the end of the rehearsal, I had a conversation with him and told him that we wouldn’t be able to work together if he couldn’t show some flexibility. We made it through the gig together and that was the last time he played with us. At open mics, someone could be counted on to tell me to "just sing it higher" (one guy actually said, "c'mon, don't be lazy"). I patiently explained that I sing in that key because it's what works for MY voice, and ask what they think would have happened if the original lead singer had had my vocal range ("oh yeah, I guess it would have been in a different key... like the one you're playing it in"... bingo). ***Puts soapbox away***
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#55
08-23-2022, 12:51 PM
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#56
08-23-2022, 12:53 PM
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#57
08-23-2022, 01:49 PM
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A classic example is Stairway to Heaven. On record, Paige plays an immaculate, beautifully constructed solo that builds up to an incredible climax. Ever heard his live versions? The ones I've heard are a loud and charmless conglomeration of huge bends and fast runs for no obvious reason except as a platform for hair shaking, pelvic thrusts and guitar face. All the precise compositional structure combined with guitar mastery that make the solo one of the best rock solos ever recorded just fliy out the window. Can you imagine a lead violinist 'getting creative' and improvising the miraculous violin break from 'Winter' in Vivaldi's 4 Seasons? For anyone who knows and loves the piece, as I do, it would be grounds for demanding their money back! I would go to see The 4 Seasons to hear the solos as they are played on record but with variations of feel, not of actual content, and so would the rest of the audience, I think.
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#58
08-23-2022, 02:14 PM
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I like to be close enough so listeners can recognize the song, but I take pretty broad liberties with my interpretation. I'm covering the song, not the artist.
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#59
08-23-2022, 02:50 PM
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Liam F. 👽🖖🏼👑 🎶
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#60
08-23-2022, 03:10 PM
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I always prefer to hear something new happening when someone covers a song. Richie Havens cover of “Here Comes The Sun” is a perfect example. Or Phoebe Snow’s cover of “Don’t Let Me Down.” When people replicate the arrangement of the original, it feels like karaoke.
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