As a guy who's been playing for a few years I'm always observing how people learn and play their favorite songs. I see people live and online who play some beautiful covers of famous artists and it's interesting to see the reactions. Some people get annoyed because some guy left out a half step bend in a blazing solo and others go off the board and make it their own. What's your style and how do you approach this? The one thing that's always come to mind is that when you see your favorite band live very rarely do they play an exact album cover of their song. The embellishments they throw in are great.

i try to keep the vibe of the original song, but add a few different twists to make it my own. i have seen very few bands who try to play a song note-for-note. most look like they are trying too hard, and not having fun.

i also try to play a song a little different from time to time. keeps it fresh. i'm sure we have heard a song we like played a different way. sometimes it works, and other times you go "omg-what were they thinking"

Hi Hoeycow: I think it's a very good question, and I think there doesn't have to be just one answer.

Replicating note for note is an excellent discipline when we are learning. It means you can't avoid bits you find difficult so you have to master passagework you might otherwise skip past. And it is good training for the ears too: sometimes it is hard to pick out what someone is doing, and listening again and again teaches you to pay close attention to sounds you otherwise sometimes only hear as a blur of notes.

On the other hand, if we are going to perform music to others then it seems nice to bring something of ourselves to it, rather than just deliver a facsimile of someone else's playing. In that case there are no rules: we can just alter a bit of phrasing or we can change the whole feel of a number. Some of my favorite tracks are where someone has taken a slow song and done it fast (or vice versa), or a highly orchestrated number and pared it down to the bare bones (or vice versa), or a happy song and made it sad (or...).

Still. If we're going to add our own ideas to a number - we'd better have some good ideas. That's the tricky bit.

Cheers - C

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The band I play with is a jam band in the tradition of the Allman Brothers,we never play the same solo twice...ever.....and we don't play songs that the audience will know the solo or lead break from memory,the biggest one would be Freebird....everyone has memorized Allen Collin's licks.

I rarely play the same song the same way twice. If I do its a miracle or an accident.

That being said I appreciate bands that play covers you recognize but don't necessarily stick to the script. Its more fun that way.

When I was playing in cover bands I'd try to do the lead break as close to the original as possible with the exception of songs like Johnny B. Goode where I'd usually go off on a longer and more improvised lead break like on Hendrix in the West or Jimi plays Berkley.

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i add some originality into it, some cover songs i even change the whole structure.when it comes to lead parts, i try to keep the guitarist's style, but i do add a bit of a twist.

theres a cover band at school, and yeah they're bloody awesome cause they cover really awesome songs, but theres not one spark of originality in there. when the lead guitarist is doing the solo's, he covers them EXCATLY how they're played on the record.
talented, but no sense of creativity.

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former user radio_friendly_unit_shifter

It's almost always impossible to perfectly replicate a song from a recording. With all the overdubs with additional parts and the addition of chorussing and other effects after the fact during mastering there's just no way to duplicate it in a live setting. You do your best to follow the basic melody of the part and try to hit all the highlights and call it good. We tried to do a note for note version of One Of These Nights - Eagles one time several years back and gave up after closely scrutinizing and identifying at least 7 guitar parts.

Rush fans of course are a different animal. Die hard Rush fans will go to a Rush concert and pick apart every note that was dropped or any new phrases that might be added and then they'll agonize over the whole show for hours or even days discussing every nuance of expression. It's quite funny actually.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

Well, as a total narcissist, I always try to improve upon the original version.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

I like that.

Actually I find it annoying when an artist records a remake and doesn't improve on it. Metallica's version of Turn The Page leaps instantly to mind...

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I try to stay true to the vibe of the original, but I never worry about playing it note for note. The the signature phrases really close, but then go crazy wid yer bad self...

If everyone was worried about copying the original song note-for-note, we wouldn't have had awesome remakes like:

Joan Jett's "I Love Rock & Roll"...
Nazareth's "Love Hurts"...
The Stones' "Love In Vain" or "Stop Breakin' Down" or even covering themselves--the live version of "Midnight Rambler" from Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out is much better than the studio version from Let It Bleed (IMHO)...
The Faces covering "I'm Losing You"...
Albert Collins' "Blackjack" (cover of Ray Charles song)...
Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart covering "People Get Ready"...
SRV's "Tin Pan Alley" and "Texas Flood" and "Life By The Drop"...

...and the list goes on.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

I used a blend of both what is on the original audio and my improvs for bass.

I use alot of my own fills. I stick to the prescribed groove if it is a definite groove line.
I would not change the way the song is played. I keep the original song going as it is supposed to go.

I only totally make up my own lines in dead parts of songs where the band isn't doing much during a break, or a build in section. I usually do rhythmic stuff that goes along in synch with the drummer. Some songs have no real defined groove in these areas, and I indulge, as long as the band is cool with my own lines.

I also like to walk around alot and do melodic lines.

One of my grade 8 bass pieces is 3 pages long, but has only about 3 bars of written music, the rest is just improv. I prefer that to having a piece put in-front of me and just learning it off.

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Rated "M" for meaty.

My sentiments exactly. I like for the version I play to be recognizable, but I prefer playing things with my own style.

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It really depends on the part - there are some you really can't change without disappointing people and there are others with way more room for manoeuvre.
For example, imagine playing anything other than what Slash played for Sweet Child 'O Mine -
you'd get some looks!!

I don't like playing covers too much but when I do I pretty much change anything I can get away with. I'm a lousy copyist and making parts my own really helps me feel what I'm playing....and I think that comes across in the performance more than a verbatim approach... but, like I said, some stuff you just can't go changing.

Great thread, by the way; it's very interesting to read different perspectives on this.