Like the Album or Not?

  • Thread starter Thread starter tc4b
  • Start date Start date

For cover band guitar solos, what do you prefer?

  • Exactly like the album.

    Votes: 9 16.4%

  • Pretty much like the album, with a little of the player's own flavor

    Votes: 22 40.0%

  • Funk it up! Be yourself!

    Votes: 24 43.6%
  • Total voters
    55
tc4b

tc4b

Yeah I been drinkin, SO!?
Some friends and I went out to see a local band last night, and the guitar player spent the night sawing away on the same solos we've heard on the records (they were a cover band) a million times or more. I argued that this was really dull, and that I wish the guy would just be himself and be creative during solos, while a friend argued that people are there only to hear what they're used to.

This question is really asked in two ways:
1) What do you do when you play out? Duplicate the album or improvise (or compose, I guess) your own?

2) What would you rather hear when you go hear a cover band?

I have been the keyboard player in several bands, and never once played a solo like the album. Not out of pride, just to keep myself interested and having fun. I feel the same way as a listener: deviating even a little from the script makes it more interesting to hear.
 
I play whatever. I took the time to learn the main part of the song, I am not going to try to figure out every single note of the solo. Sometimes it is required like say, "Gimme Three Steps", which has some very distinctive patterns. But for the most part, the average drunk is more worried about hitting some muff before last call than whether you are playing the same notes Jimi did.
 
Most people in my experience use 'funking it up' as an excuse for 'fucking it up'. I believe strongly that while any hack can make any drunken bar slut dance The Dirty, it was always a matter of personal integrity that I played the solo the way it was on record- unless we were purposely changing it and rearranging it.

When played like the record, it tells me that someone took the time and cared enough before they ask for my money at the door.

Just my humble opinion :)
 
I didn't vote, as it's all dependant on the particular song. Some solo's have a vibe that is actually a big part of the song. If that's the case, then it should be pretty close to the original. Most stuff though, I would prefer that the person playing it just went with what they want. If the solo is just a solo, I want to hear the guitarist's style really show in that situation. If they dig the original, they will still add what is thier own signature to it.
 
Dogman said:
I didn't vote, as it's all dependant on the particular song. Some solo's have a vibe that is actually a big part of the song. If that's the case, then it should be pretty close to the original. Most stuff though, I would prefer that the person playing it just went with what they want. If the solo is just a solo, I want to hear the guitarist's style really show in that situation. If they dig the original, they will still add what is thier own signature to it.
Click to expand...


Took the words right out of my mouth! :D
 
They should replace all solos with extended interludes of bass tapping. Especially on tunes like "Changes in Latitute, Changes in Attitude" :p
 
Replace all bad solos with good solos. Play badly recorded cover tunes better. Stick it to the man.
 
I put the time in to learn the solos, then start changing them the way I like to hear it, hitting signature notes to let people know I'm on the right page.

I'm not a cover dog though and my patience is tested on lots of songs that I think, well, suck.
 
What's worse is the time I was invited to see the new incarnation of Lynyrd Skynyrd and EVERYTHING was trying to recreate the album... EVEN THE VOCAL ADLIBS... Dear God... at least try to earn that money people!

Don't get me wrong... It just got to be annoying when I realised how lazy it was....

As far as the right way to cover a song...

Well... Stevie Ray Vaugh did Jimi - covers in a high class way (but you prolly know that already)
 
I playing in a cover band call Backmask. We play all of the songs in reverse.



Some of the good metal tunes even have backwards messages just like the idiots in the 80s said they did! Weird.
 
Thunder33 said:
I playing in a cover band call Backmask. We play all of the songs in reverse.



Some of the good metal tunes even have backwards messages just like the idiots in the 80s said they did! Weird.
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:p No joke!
 
TheRockDoc said:
Most people in my experience use 'funking it up' as an excuse for 'fucking it up'. I believe strongly that while any hack can make any drunken bar slut dance The Dirty, it was always a matter of personal integrity that I played the solo the way it was on record- unless we were purposely changing it and rearranging it.

When played like the record, it tells me that someone took the time and cared enough before they ask for my money at the door.

Just my humble opinion :)
Click to expand...
Right on brother! I couldn't have said it better myself.
 
Where the solo was integral to the song, and everyone knew it and all the drunks would play air guitar, then definitely learn the solo...

Last cover band I was in played all the hoary old classics, meaning I had to learn the solos to Hairway to Steven, Sultans, Hotel C, Reelin', Another Brick etc etc etc... sort of had a sense of pride that I could play 'em all.

On the other hand, I never really worried much about more "jammy" songs like Evil Ways etc. where you could just rip away and make up your own..
 
I respect the hard work that goes into re-creating the original. Just understand, it only makes it more monotonous to me. I don't even mind if 'funked up' translates to 'f*cked up,' I just appreciate a player even TRYING to do something original. I know, that in the crowd at a cover band, I'm in the minority. And I probably shouldn't go see cover bands in the first place if this is how I feel, but there's always the case where a good friend is playing in one and I want to go support him/her.

I write a lot of music these days, and I'm much happier. Not that composing is better than covering in general, just that's my particular personality. And it's got nothing to do with hard work, as I find composing to be much harder work, personally.

Yeah I still do covers as well, because composing without also studying the work of others is like an author who doesn't read. But if I'm going to stay awake while I'm playing "ain't no sunshine" for the hundredth time, I've absolutely got to do it my way, which means the hundreth time I play it is also the hundredth different version. I figure, if I'm bored, the audience will be.

I'm definitelyl willing to admit I'm in the minority, though.
 
It is hard to separate the solo from the song - or it should be - without changing the song you're trying to cover so I think they should be played as on the album but perhaps with a little rearrangement to individualise it a bit. People who just play a totally different solo they've made up usually kill the song.

Saying that the worst cover band I saw was a G&R cover who played a live album word for word, note for note - that was not cool.
 
Kind of, going to see a band live is about hearing the music you like but it's also about hearing something slightly different than what was recorded to CD. I'd feel cheated if I went to see a band and they just played straight through their last album and went off. There needs to be some interraction with the audience, go a bit over the top on a couple of solos, play something by someone else which you think people would like etc.

Not sure who I saw, it was a few years ago now, in a small pub in High Wycombe.
 
Other than a "tribute" band, why would I spend money and leave the house to hear it just like the album?
 
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