Covers - make them yours or copy?

Kerry Brown

Kerry Brown

Ambassador of the Great Northern Bar Jams
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When I do covers I try to make them mine. I try to keep them recognizable but with my own interpretation. I listen to as many different versions as I can find then come up with my own version. This may be because I'm not a good enough player to copy exactly but for the most part I find it boring to play someone else's version. I like to find what the song means to me and try and get that across. What do you do?
 
DonP said:
100% with you there. There is no point to a cover that is just a watered-down version of the original. Think of Joe Cocker's amazing "With a Little Help From My Friends" compared to Ringo's limp-wristed original.
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Coincidentally I have been listening to a lot of Beatles lately looking for a song to cover. This one was on my short list.
 
I guess it depends on what kind of band you're in and what kind of audience you are playing to. If the situation calls for it (tribute bands etc.) I guess copying is the way to go, but the most memorable covers are always the ones where the band has made the song their own. DonP's example is great; Joe Cocker owns that song.
 
What Gahr said.

Best advice I’ve been given was a few years back. I was trying to learn The Who’s “Blue Eyes.” Just wasn’t getting it. Getting more than a little frustrated. Was either something I read or a tutorial on You Tube. Guy said.... “Stop trying to sound like [fill in name here] and sound like you. You won’t ever sound like....” Well. Sat down with my guitar and played Blue Eyes bumper to bumper. Mistakes and all. But I did it. Boy did that feel good. Gotten better at it since then. Still can’t seem to play it without making at least one mistake. Don’t sound like Pete but y’all would know what I was playing.

And that’s my story.
 
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Gahr said:
I guess it depends on what kind of band you're in and what kind of audience you are playing to. If the situation calls for it (tribute bands etc.) I guess copying is the way to go, but the most memorable covers are always the ones where the band has made the song their own. DonP's example is great; Joe Cocker owns that song.
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Right! In a tribute band, you gotta nail it 100%. On covers, i put it my own ingredients.
 
Man I will not play covers any more. I hate playing them and I really hate when I see a band and all they do is covers - I will leave the place, just can't stand it.
I know there's a market for it (and I've been in covers-only bands myself) but life is too damn short to play other people's music at this point. Maybe nobody wants to hear my music but me and the band (though it goes over fine), but that's enough for me at this point.
 
Robert Herndon said:
Revolution
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A friend of mine tries to cover this one at our jweekly ams. That is not an easy song to cover. He tires to do it like the original. I was thinking an acoustic version might sound good. Don't even try to be close to the original except for the melody. It such an iconic song.
 
gball said:
Man I will not play covers any more. I hate playing them and I really hate when I see a band and all they do is covers - I will leave the place, just can't stand it.
I know there's a market for it (and I've been in covers-only bands myself) but life is too damn short to play other people's music at this point. Maybe nobody wants to hear my music but me and the band (though it goes over fine), but that's enough for me at this point.
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I hear you but I get a lot of enjoyment from the energy of a live audience. Even playing something I'v played a million times the energy from a full dance floor does something for me. When I play my own songs I get some applause but not much energy because no one knows the songs. My original stuff tends to be brooding and introspective, not really danceable.
 
gball said:
Man I will not play covers any more. I hate playing them and I really hate when I see a band and all they do is covers - I will leave the place, just can't stand it.
I know there's a market for it (and I've been in covers-only bands myself) but life is too damn short to play other people's music at this point. Maybe nobody wants to hear my music but me and the band (though it goes over fine), but that's enough for me at this point.
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I shared that sentiment for most of my life...we only did covers in our own style, if we did them at all...one cover per 45 minutes of set time max.
That was back when there was a healthy, local, original scene around here.

Now it’s not the same locally. The usual dives fire us for playing too much original material. It doesn’t matter how well it goes over...usually...there have been a few exceptions over the last few years where we get away with requests if the dance floor keeps moving, and the booze keeps selling.
That said, we play most of our covers in our own style. Usually really heavy, and energetic.
Some covers though...they come out fairly accurately, for me. For example; I recently re-learned Pink Floyd’s “Mother” for an internet collaboration. I feel like I did it fairly faithfully, and that seemed the right course of action for me.
Meanwhile, my band does Pink Floyd’s “The Machine”...you’d hardly recognize some of it. It usually works well for us live too.
(Come to find out our version is probably closer to the version by Shadowsfall, than to Floyd. I don’t think the Shadowsfall version was released until after we did our version, as a request by a rehearsal guest...on a whim...none of us had actually played it before, except me...for an old girlfriend...acoustically. So I knew the basic chord structure, and lyrics.)

So, in the original spirit of this thread...make them mine...if I feel it’s a tasteful thing to do.
 
The songs I choose are all cover. I play with no band, I use my guitar and amp and P.A system I play to many age groups. I do a few gigs that are volunteer , and I play for friends. I play music that is from my era Classic Rock 60s,70s,80s. I think I kind of make them my own my voice is different , and my style of playing is probably different than what I would play with a Band. I find in most cases people like cover songs over guys that perform their own music. They have memories of growing up and they like to hear those songs that bring back those moments whether good or bad. Biggest part of covers is trying to get the emotion of the song the Artist is portraying.
 
Thatbastarddon said:
I shared that sentiment for most of my life...we only did covers in our own style, if we did them at all...one cover per 45 minutes of set time max.
That was back when there was a healthy, local, original scene around here.

Now it’s not the same locally. The usual dives fire us for playing too much original material. It doesn’t matter how well it goes over...usually...there have been a few exceptions over the last few years where we get away with requests if the dance floor keeps moving, and the booze keeps selling.
That said, we play most of our covers in our own style. Usually really heavy, and energetic.
Some covers though...they come out fairly accurately, for me. For example; I recently re-learned Pink Floyd’s “Mother” for an internet collaboration. I feel like I did it fairly faithfully, and that seemed the right course of action for me.
Meanwhile, my band does Pink Floyd’s “The Machine”...you’d hardly recognize some of it. It usually works well for us live too.
(Come to find out our version is probably closer to the version by Shadowsfall, than to Floyd. I don’t think the Shadowsfall version was released until after we did our version, as a request by a rehearsal guest...on a whim...none of us had actually played it before, except me...for an old girlfriend...acoustically. So I knew the basic chord structure, and lyrics.)

So, I’m the original spirit of this thread...make them mine...if I feel it’s a tasteful thing to do.
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Admittedly it severely limits the outlets available to us to play, but honestly, this is a hobby for me at this stage, nothing more. And I would rather play my own music solely for the enjoyment of me, the band, and our friends and family than go out on stage in a bar and play the same tired old songs over and over. I get zero pleasure from playing through the normal bar/cover band set list these days. It feels burdensome and boring to me personally, so I just won't do it any more. When the right occasions come along and we can play our music I am all about for the rush of playing in front of an audience but otherwise I've no interest, and like I said, if I am out and I hear the bar band break into 'Roadhouse Blues" or "Sweet Home Alabama" for the 10,000th time I am heading for the door.
 
I'm either or on the subject. Me personally I just assume do them my way, but doing songs note for note is pretty cool too if you can pull it off good.
 
Kerry Brown said:
When I do covers I try to make them mine. I try to keep them recognizable but with my own interpretation. I listen to as many different versions as I can find then come up with my own version. This may be because I'm not a good enough player to copy exactly but for the most part I find it boring to play someone else's version. I like to find what the song means to me and try and get that across. What do you do?
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It depends. With some covers I try to stay really close to the original. On others, I use them more for inspiration to do my own thing.

One thing I do try to do when I make a departure from the original is to make it clear that I’m departing on purpose. I want the departure to be unique enough that it doesn’t come off like I just missed some notes or couldn’t figure out the original part.
 
gball said:
Admittedly it severely limits the outlets available to us to play, but honestly, this is a hobby for me at this stage, nothing more. And I would rather play my own music solely for the enjoyment of me, the band, and our friends and family than go out on stage in a bar and play the same tired old songs over and over. I get zero pleasure from playing through the normal bar/cover band set list these days. It feels burdensome and boring to me personally, so I just won't do it any more. When the right occasions come along and we can play our music I am all about for the rush of playing in front of an audience but otherwise I've no interest, and like I said, if I am out and I hear the bar band break into 'Roadhouse Blues" or "Sweet Home Alabama" for the 10,000th time I am heading for the door.
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I’m with you on the normal bar band cover list. We, at least, do not do too many of those songs. We play what we want, the way we want, and the local establishments know that when they hire us. They usually fire us eventually(after 7-10 shows)for being “too loud”. Our drummer is heavy handed, and never mic’d. He determines the volume level. The dance floors stay filled, and the booze sells though.
I do get a laugh from seeing people dancing to random Metallica, Tool, Zeppelin, Maiden, and Blue Oyster Cult tunes.(and occasionally one of our originals)
We’ve cut way back on booking out nowadays though(due to band members spousal health issues). So now we mostly play for fun when we can get together...but overall, this past year has sucked for us.
 
gball said:
Admittedly it severely limits the outlets available to us to play, but honestly, this is a hobby for me at this stage, nothing more. And I would rather play my own music solely for the enjoyment of me, the band, and our friends and family than go out on stage in a bar and play the same tired old songs over and over. I get zero pleasure from playing through the normal bar/cover band set list these days. It feels burdensome and boring to me personally, so I just won't do it any more. When the right occasions come along and we can play our music I am all about for the rush of playing in front of an audience but otherwise I've no interest, and like I said, if I am out and I hear the bar band break into 'Roadhouse Blues" or "Sweet Home Alabama" for the 10,000th time I am heading for the door.
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I dig playing covers. We are currently doing the following:

Zeppelin's Ocean
Green Manalishi Priest
Back in the Game Airborne
Stone Cold Rainbow
Immigrant Song Zeppelin
Hard As A Rock AC/DC
Burning for you BOC

I can also dig original music too, but I love doing covers and the money is good too.
 
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