When you do a cover . . .

[62burst]

Covers of standards are at the same time the bane, and the bread and butter of bands just starting out. But when it's just you and those you get together with to do whatever you want, how often do you try to do it just like the original? It would seem that traditional bluegrass has little room for variation from the original. Not creativity as much as technical accuracy? Songs done differently seem to admit to the listener that you're not "them", and can sometimes engage an audience better. Some overdone standards have been killed, d.o.a.; Stairway' being the #1 offender.

 

I'd mentioned to Sal in a thread a week or so back how doing Gregg Allman's "Melissa" is personally impossible in it's ponderously slow tempo, and in order to fight off song a.d.d. (sadd), the tempo has to wake up considerably for me. The cover of The Stones song "Wild Horses" by Old and In the Way is a great newgrass example of how to approach a much-done, and much loved classic:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA35Oozc8NM

 

When you cover: how/when do you decide to do your music: by-the-numbers, or go your own way?

 

[BluesKing777]

Horses for courses!

 

 

Being a child of the times, my first band when a teen was expected to do exact copies of Status Quo, Free, Deep Purple, Led Zep but with your own free thinking era slant. But what a mess!

 

Then there were rock bands so loud that that was the thing if you know what I mean - heavy riffs on guitar and bass and drummer whacking it like no tomorrow and singer screaming till blue in the face! And a request for Quando, Quando from grannie at the 21st birthday gig could result in a general strike and bad feelings followed by a note from the father waving his arms to turn it all down, etc.

 

Then there were the blues rock bands and idealism, which funnily enough are covers, but no Blues Brothers type Rawhide tunes for requests.

 

Then there were the solo Dobro, slide and country blues idealism and no room for any request unless it was Lightnin. A club I played at had a rule of blues ONLY, no pop covers.

 

But in the long run, I just like playing and singing all kinds of things acoustically but is is usually 'me' in some way. And keep in the back of the mind that grannie request for Ain't Misbehavin' or...........fill in blanks......bearing in mind that I am way older than that Grannie was...... [smile]

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[EuroAussie]

It really varies. Some songs I keep largely to original like for example below in the dock of the bay, there is just a bit of a difference to how i end it. But many songs i or we try to put our personality in it and get a bit creative.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtWHsucJd4A

 

 

Good example here is our cover of Sweet Dreams. We combine the Marilyn Manson intro as i love that bass line but then get into a rhythm closer to the original Eurythmics version. I also added my own solo ideas that is loosely based on the Marilyn Manson version but i extended it to make it twice as long.

 

So it really depends, a lot of the times when you do covers they seem to grow and mutate over time as you get to know them better.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0H334vDm5M

[EuroAussie]

double post

[QuestionMark]

Always tried and still try to do covers so they become my arrangement. But, I've heard many do covers exactly like the original, which in a way, is simply their way of doing covers. So whatever works for each individual is fine by me.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

[kidblast]

I go my own way unless it's something that requires a truer rendition of the original song, then I just try and get as close as I can. but it's still got my grubby finger prints all over it

[62burst]

Funny, Ray. ; ).

 

 

EA- your Sweet Dreams was a great example; a good choice for the room/crowd, unmistakable lyrics got the audience on board, and then their brains could stop processing what song they were listening to, and then they and y'all could just kick back and go with it.

 

 

There's a certain floating ratio of covers; either done by-the-book, or "I must do this another way, or play with the ToneRite buzzing under my hat. Other songs must get there due when it's the right time to do it as it was meant to be done.

[merciful-evans]

A copy can only ever be 2nd best. Take it somewhere else. Use your imagination and creativity and give your audience something different.

[tpbiii]

It would seem that traditional bluegrass has little room for variation from the original

 

Huh? What planet do you live on? Bluegrass bands are not really bands at all in the sense you are taking about, and the concept of "original" -- which comes from the idea of a music industry -- is pretty foreign to whole bluegrass genre. Bluegrass bands never do it like any other bluegrass band -- and they generally don't copy anyone.

 

The heart of the bluegrass genre is a (often simple) melody and some lyrics. A great deal of the materials are traditional, but the song pool is ever expanding, and for newer songs, often there is a "first" version and sometimes it is done by a "bluegrass band." But in all bluegrass performances, the players must be experienced enough to know how the materials can be fit together, but as to how they do that job they are on their own. The level of virtuosity across the genre is very high but it is not expressed in terms of unique chord progressions or complex song structures -- that simple basic structure is what empowers the individual on-the-fly combined performances. That is what allows strangers to gather and make great music without practice. It is great to see and hear -- if you understand the music well enough to know what is happening -- and it is even greater to actually play. In a sense, you are not only a player but also a part of the audience because you don't really know what is coming next either.

 

If you love great music, listen carefully -- you generally will only hear it once.

 

We do this all the time -- not that we are all that wonderful -- I am not saying that. Before a performance we generally try to go through the set list once if we can -- that is safest -- but the whole performance in the final analysis is basically run real-time on the stage. If you are interested on how this all works, here is an article I wrote for Bluegrass Unlimited about 20 years ago.

 

I tried to think of a good example, but are not great musicians -- so I am not trying to show off. Quite the opposite. But here is an example from a jam show where the players gathered only a few hours before the show. Five of them only knew us -- they did not know each other. The song is from Stephen Foster -- Hard Times -- hardly new. And a least one person who heard it said it was the best version he had ever heard. You never know who you will touch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1eekhERxBs&index=2&list=PLcW5cMhdfomvlRT-k1ZQPXwJcOTtfAE_c

 

To us, well rehearsed and studio music is pretty much uninteresting. To each his own I guess.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[OldCowboy]

Huh? What planet do you live on? Bluegrass bands are not really bands at all in the sense you are taking about, and the concept of "original" -- which comes from the idea of a music industry -- is pretty foreign to whole bluegrass genre. Bluegrass bands never do it like any other bluegrass band -- and they generally don't copy anyone.

 

The heart of the bluegrass genre is a (often simple) melody and some lyrics. A great deal of the materials are traditional, but the song pool is ever expanding, and for newer songs, often there is a "first" version and sometimes it is done by a "bluegrass band." But in all bluegrass performances, the players must be experienced enough to know how the materials can be fit together, but as to how they do that job they are on their own. The level of virtuosity across the genre is very high but it is not expressed in terms of unique chord progressions or complex song structures -- that simple basic structure is what empowers the individual on-the-fly combined performances. That is what allows strangers to gather and make great music without practice. It is great to see and hear -- if you understand the music well enough to know what is happening -- and it is even greater to actually play. In a sense, you are not only a player but also a part of the audience because you don't really know what is coming next either.

 

If you love great music, listen carefully -- you generally will only hear it once.

 

We do this all the time -- not that we are all that wonderful -- I am not saying that. Before a performance we generally try to go through the set list once if we can -- that is safest -- but the whole performance in the final analysis is basically run real-time on the stage. If you are interested on how this all works, here is an article I wrote for Bluegrass Unlimited about 20 years ago.

 

I tried to think of a good example, but are not great musicians -- so I am not trying to show off. Quite the opposite. But here is an example from a jam show where the players gathered only a few hours before the show. Five of them only knew us -- they did not know each other. The song is from Stephen Foster -- Hard Times -- hardly new. And a least on person who heard it said it was the best version he had ever heard. You never know who yu will touch.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1eekhERxBs&index=2&list=PLcW5cMhdfomvlRT-k1ZQPXwJcOTtfAE_c

 

To us, well rehearsed and studio music is pretty much uninteresting. To each his own I guess.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

Nice overview and perspective👍

[Dave F]

 

Huh? What planet do you live on? Bluegrass bands are not really bands at all in the sense you are taking about, and the concept of "original" -- which comes from the idea of a music industry -- is pretty foreign to whole bluegrass genre. Bluegrass bands never do it like any other bluegrass band -- and they generally don't copy anyone.

 

.

 

.

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

 

 

Totally agree. In fact, there are many songs I hear Bluegrassers do that are their versions of pop songs in the BG style that blow me away. I grew up a huge Beatle fan but when I heard Allison cover 'I Will', I was sold

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3989jHX3sMQ