"I don't do covers"

[Robin, Wales]

I like the creative part of re-interpreting songs. Its fun to take a power ballad or the like and move it to something that will work for my voice and my early country guitar style. For example: I sing Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” but with a Woody Guthrie style of guitar backing. I like writing song arrangements to “fit” my abilities (both vocal and technical on guitar) – I can’t think of any song that I play or sing note for note the way the original record sounded – and it will almost certainly be in a different key! I’m not a tribute act – I’m me!!!

The only songs I have self-penned have been little comedy songs for my granddaughters - and that audience of two is very appreciative. But I doubt that anyone else would be! However, I have translated and re-written and re-arranged a couple of old Welsh folk songs, and they have gone down well at concerts.

They say that you should write songs about what you know. Well, there's not much call for songs about telemark skiing or paddleboarding, or making a new nut for your guitar.

[schmalex]

Originally Posted by wood&wire

And one major issue I have with this thread is that the OP laid it out as only having two choices: Those who only do covers and those who only do originals. Like many others have stated, it's good to play both and a lot of people fall somewhere in the middle ground, including myself. Why wasn't "both" an option in the OP? IMHO it was not hard for the conversation to take on an us vs them theme. Not everyone but a few made it known that they are an "us" and people like me are a "them".

I'm sorry if you didn't see that but I'm not surprised. I tried to make my original statement to be inclusive of both cover and original artists while also offering an alternative and valid perspective from the most outspoken voices in the thread that I multi-quoted above. I dunno, maybe some people don't read everything before replying. My apologies for not spelling things out in a manner for all to comprehend. Being misunderstood is great songwriting fodder BTW.

I debated whether to respond to this, but as I saw that my own words were being taken completely out of context of their intended meaning, I feel a need to respond. I'm sorry if my words seemed like they were targeting people who want to write original music. I absolutely did not mean to infer that. In fact, I believe it is the immense respect that everybody in this thread has for those who do write original music that is the very reason that cover bands exist in the first place.

Please re-read the thread carefully, because I do believe that you are taking most peoples comments out of context. For example in your comments above you call out the OP for suggesting that there is only the choice between playing original songs or playing covers, no room for both, but what the OP actually said mostly seems to be in agreement with your own words above as they said that they play both original songs and covers, for both fun and education.

Here is their first post agfain for reference: "I don’t do covers”, is a phrase I have heard from time to time when talking to other guitar players, sometimes with a certain amount of pride, or even disdain. I myself play mostly covers, but I do some personal song writing, too. I find learning and playing songs of my favorite artists is a lot of fun, and it helps immensely with technique. It’s also useful for singing and timing practice, not to mention composition and just music in general. So, my question to the forum is (and maybe this should be a poll): if you play covers, why, and if you don’t, why not?"

I believe that people want to hear and play great music, and I believe that great musicians love performing great music whether it is written by themselves or by other artists. I believe it is a sign of respect to a songwriter that other musicians might want to perform their songs.

I personally am not a great musician or songwriter yet, but I hope to be possibly be both one day.

[Ar Jan]

From my point of view some people who say "I don't do covers" are too lazy to learn and practise them. I say this because I am one of them.

I am also a perfectionist (not proud of it), so I want it to sound like the original and that's impossible, because then you also have to learn the mistakes, which makes me think of a quote by Jimi Hendrix - "I've been imitated so well I've heard people copy my mistakes"

I also really started playing and practising the guitar when I started to create my own songs and that's what made me continuing playing the guitar and finally climbing the stages.

I think I would have been a much better player if I did covers, but everytime I start to learn one, I stop because it doesn't give me the satisfaction I want from playing music and because I am lazy and simple minded.

I can honestly say that I am a little jealous of people who can play a nice cover.

[1000mile]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

They say that you should write songs about what you know. Well, there's not much call for songs about telemark skiing or paddleboarding, or making a new nut for your guitar.

Oh gosh…now that you’ve said the words, I would LOVE to hear a song about making a new nut for your guitar. Who’s with me??

[Ar Jan]

G Bmin
With precision I measure and sand
A D
My new nut with just one hand
G Bmin
A dusty job that has to be done
A D
To have some more lyrical fun

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by 1000mile

Oh gosh…now that you’ve said the words, I would LOVE to hear a song about making a new nut for your guitar. Who’s with me??

LOL!!!!

How about this:

Was on a Monday morning an audience to enthral.
I picked up my old guitar and there was no sound at all.
On closer inspection, my strings had not been cut,
But just below the peghead I saw I’d lost the bloody nut.

On Tuesday I called the butcher, to get a piece of bone
He said he didn’t have any so give Farmer Giles a phone

So Wednesday I called the farmer to get myself a cow
He said he had one for me but couldn’t shift it now

Those cows they can be buggers and quite a how do you do
If we want to move one now, he said, it’ll take 3 of us not two

On Thursday Farmer Giles said let’s call the milking maid
As the cattle could not be shifted without the young girls aid

She couldn’t come till Monday but there would be price
She said me singing for her friends would really be quite nice.

So was on a Monday morning with an audience to enthral.
I picked up my old guitar and there was no sound at all.
On closer inspection, my strings had not been cut,
But just below the peghead I saw I’d lost the bloody nut.

[1000mile]

When this goes platinum, I hope in the liner notes you’ll credit your anonymous AGF friends for inspiring you to greatness.
And we’ll all cover it.

[Ar Jan]

Originally Posted by 1000mile

And we’ll all cover it.

I don't do covers.

[Mr. Jelly]

Then there's those that do covers, and the trick is to figure out what the song is before they finish.

[SGFletch]

I like to play live as much as possible. Being in a cover band and playing covers as a solo act allows me to play more music than playing original music ever did.

There is also an entire spectrum between covers and originals. It doesn't have to be an either/or thing.

Lots of great/famous artists did both. The Dead come to mind as having a huge original catalog and a huge catalog of covers. It was all just music.

[EZYPIKINS]

Have been to a few open mic's that don't allow covers.

One thing I learned long long ago. If it doesn't sound good, don't do it in front of an audience.

Just because someone writes a song, doesn't mean it's pleasing to the ear.

I play covers so that people can hear something they are familiar with. Even though I may do it in my own style.

I will play an original now and then. But it's not my format.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by wood&wire

Maybe that's a problem in Nashville but where I live, for every cover band out there you will find 20 original artists. Sure, not every original writer is honed at playing their instrument like Jimmy Page

Well, at least for me, this is a discussion regarding originals as opposed to covers. Debating whether or not Jimmy Page was a great player is a different topic, again, at least for me. A Jimmy Page comparative to say, Kelley Lovelace is a non sequitur.

Originally Posted by wood&wire

but do you actually believe sub-par cover bands don't exist?

I'm acutely aware that sub-par and sub, sub-par cover bands exist. The same observation, however, can be said for world-class cover bands.

Originally Posted by wood&wire

It's almost like you hold singer/songwriters to this lofty high standard but cover artists get a pass to be hacks.

Yes, and without a doubt, I hold the songwriters I encountered while living in Nashville to the absolute highest standard possible. Simply put, they've earned their place in an enormously competitive world. That said, I certainly don't consider cover artists or songwriters to be hacks unless, of course, they've proven to be hacks, and my point earlier was simply that I have, in the past, encountered players who boast, "I don't do covers" that were indeed hacks. Not all of them, and this is not an end-all broad brush stroke, nor directed towards you, but I'd be comfortable saying it's relatively common.


Distilled. I don't have a strong opinion on the covers-vs-originals discussion. Singularly, talent is my barometer. I would add, however I do have a strong opinion that some originals should never be covered. Where I get a tad sideways is when an original artist braggadociously states, "I don't do covers," but is not yet able to pull that off.

[Glennwillow]

I have written a ton of songs but I have done a ton of covers, too.

I think of it this way: if I could use my own imagination and 6 decades of developed skill to make music, and I could also combine all this with the lessons I have learned from other players -- many who are better than I am -- wouldn't I be a better player?

Learning to play another person's music in their style is hard work. It's uncomfortable. But every time I do it, I learn something that I can make my own and add it to my box of tricks. And that makes me a better, all around player. It also makes making music more fun when I have more to draw on.

I'm retired now, but when I was working as chief engineer for a small-to-medium sized manufacturing company not all that long ago, I would take drawings of my latest improvement or invention out to the plant and talk to the guys out there who actually made this stuff from cold metal. I would always get useful feedback from these guys about how to make my idea simpler, stronger and better for less cost. Really, they helped me achieve the essence of engineering -- how to make something better for less.

I think people are always smarter when we combine the power of more than one person's brain and experience.

- Glenn

[wood&wire]

Sorry I got a little defensive. I spent 15 years as an original-only player. Of course I started with a few covers like everyone does. It's only been within the past couple of years that I've taken more time to interpret other people's work.

Anyway, my entire point that I so non-eloquently stated was that NEITHER original only OR cover only players should be labeled as arrogant or insane or whatever. IMHO the only rule about music and art in general is that we should do what we want and if it sounds good, play it. And if it doesn't sound good, keep playing until it does.

[Driftless]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

the grand, grand majority of folks I've run into who proffer a disinterest in covers in favor of their originals often (but not always), unfortunately, sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. Primarily unaware of how bad they are.

I feel this way about a lot of music. Some is popular and commercially successful. And certainly many cover performers are terrible.

A lot of posters on this thread have expressed opinions that make it clear they know very little about the world of music and musicians out there, and this post is certainly one. There are many really great performing songwriters out there in a large variety of styles, so I can only think you don't really seek out music.

There are musicians who are primarily players, and the song is just a vehicle. Their selection and interpretation make them unique, and I value them as much as writers. And some people write songs so good they barely have to sing them.

This is a strange thread for a forum where I expect to find people who are into music.