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Deep qualms


Delmont

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I'd love some advice on how to pay dues without selling out.

 

Do you mean pay dues or get paid? I've read your post 3x and am not clear. It's simple to play your own originals to people and 'pay your dues' without actually getting paid very much, or at all.

 

How is playing covers selling out? Not sure the Woodie Guthrie quote is useful - you're not Woodie Guthrie, already established and speaking truth to power in a reactionary time. Different context. Maybe be grateful for the income that comes from playing covers (if you're not getting paid why are you doing it?), and learn what you can from the songs, like the Beatles did in Hamburg: covers are songs that real people actually like and pay money to hear, vs. your songs, which currently no one knows and no one is paying for. Leverage the connections you make playing and start promoting your own music, playing shows of all originals in clubs with other original acts, not slipping in an original while playing to drunk bargoers who really want to hear Tik Tok or whatever.

 

Hope this helps.

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I'm glad you brought up The Beatles in Hamburg. They weren't an original band. They weren't a cover band. They were a band. They did a bad job of trying to sound like American R&B but discovered their own very cool voice in the process. Cover vs original is a marketing construct that has done more harm than good for most music scenes I've seen.

 

Woodie Guthrie wrote alot of great songs, but he also did alot of songs that were written by other people. If you want your band to do some of your tunes, write some that get a good response from your crowd, and I'm sure they'll be happy to do it.

 

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I'm glad you brought up The Beatles in Hamburg. They weren't an original band. They weren't a cover band. They were a band. They did a bad job of trying to sound like American R&B but discovered their own very cool voice in the process. Cover vs original is a marketing construct that has done more harm than good for most music scenes I've seen.

 

Right, except if the Beatles had shown up in Hamburg and only played originals they would have been fired. They were hired to play covers, and slipped in originals only when they could.

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Greatness. Woody was GREAT. the Beatles were GREAT! I'm not great. Woody was right, on not playing those songs he talks about. He had GREAT songs to share with the world or a street corner. I think it's important to find opportunities to play in front of people and to be expected to deliver. THAT is a learning experience that I guarantee Woody had. We know the Beatles had it.

 

 

If you can get in front of people playing your own tunes go for it. Otherwise, whoring out a bit can serve a great purpose. To become GREAT. Or a little closer to it. Just don't get sucked it. Use it and make sure it never is the other way around. Getting just a little closer to great everyday.

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What a cool story. ^^^ great stuff.

 

Here's a cool trick to get your cover band sounding good. Have each player play their part alone with the drummer. No excuses. If it's fills, have them play some sample fills even. Everyone should be able to make what they play stand on it's own with only the drummer.

 

The advanced version is to make people dance with just your part and no drummer. But you get the idea. There is WEAKNESS in numbers. If we all play together and aren't really playing appropriately, no one will know who's responsible for the suck. So we'll suck together!

 

And when you find someone completely blagging their way through, create a part or listen to the recording or whatever to get an appropriate part for them. So much fakery goes along with cover bands. End it now and you'll start sounding great.

 

The other weak link is time. The easy fix is to do what nobody seems to want to do anymore. Practice with a metronome. But if each player agreed to go home and practice their parts to a metronome, alone. You would hear a HUGE difference the next rehearsal.

 

This isn't speculation. If you do it, if they do it, it WILL work.

 

But nobody wants to.

 

 

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Glad to hear you're getting connected with some like minded players!

 

Having everybody play with just the drummer is a great idea. Practicing with a metronome is another great one.

 

There are two types of cover bands. There are full time pros playing 4 and 5 times a week doing corporate parties, weddings, hitting up casinos, doing some traveling and generally making pretty good money. They are willing to put in the time to get tight because they are competing in a very competitive market. Then there are weekend warriors who might play once every few months or so. They're bar bands that are gigging for different reasons. In my experience dealing with the ladder can be very frustrating. Folks will show up because of their set list and probably won't notice if the band isn't really tight so alot of the players in this type of gig don't really care. They might, but they usually don't care enough to do the work necessary to get tight. They regurgitate their individual parts because that's all they need to do.

 

The secret to being tight is listening. When players are coming up with their own parts or have a vested interest in the creative aspect of whats going on, they tend to listen more closely to what's going on around them. Chances are they aren't any better at their instruments, they just listen more and that'll make for a much tighter group.

 

I think having everybody play with just the drummer will work because it will make everybody listen more.

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