Poll: Note-for-note vs. Your interpretation

[DJ RAZZ]

Both yellow and purple.

[ShaneV2]

Those are often times my favorite kinds of covers. If I wanted to hear an exact replica, I'd listen to the original. If I'm playing classical, I try to keep it note-for-note, obviously. For ragtime, I sometimes veer slightly off-course, but I still keep it largely the same. I don't play the latest pop tunes, just a few old ones, and none of those are solo piano anyway, so I kinda go all over with them. Everything else I play is improvisation. Does that make it one-time note-for-note?

 

I've been on a major Hammond kick lately and I stumbled onto this medley, it's just as amazing as you'd expect and your post reminded me of it.

 

[video=youtube;OKF2i-2MY2k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKF2i-2MY2k

[droolmaster0]

This sounds like one of those nightmares where, despite having been done with school for many years, I'm back there and I haven't done my homework.

[Crazyfoo]

I am disappointed that you failed to hit the clam about 2/3 of the way thru that solo... I always made a point of screwing it up EXACTLY like the original.

 

You're talking about the part where he plays the 2 notes at once by accident? I do that too, this video isnt me, I just pasted it in for example purposes. My fingers are much fatter than the kid in this video

[soundwave106]

 

When playing cover songs, what is your approach: just like the original or your own rendition?

 

 

In original band: We play the cover in the style of the original band. QED.

 

Typically, in cover bands I've been in, we've try and play as close as possible. However, it's impossible to do note for note for many songs. Usually you run into limitations, either playing ability, or vocal range, or having dense layers of strings and production and overdubs that just cannot be done 100% live. You do want to get the "signatures" as close as possible.

[Randyman]

Note for note or interpretive- I suppose it depends on what you're up to.

 

Being a piano and flute player, I dropped out of the music scene in my early 40's for 7 years and was dancing 3-4 nights a week- from roller rinks to local clubs to contact improv.

 

It was a fabulous education- it made it apparent how much musicians tend to play for each other, instead of specifically for the dancers.

 

So when I'm considering cover material to play live today, I stay away from mushy songs that don't have a good beat to dance/move to, and overall, I wanna get everyone in the audience dancing/singing along.

 

It's an education to listen to and take the best from a given song- a lot of hit songs have fantastic leads and grooves going on, lots to learn, and if the groove is already there to begin with, I only add a bit of spice.

 

But I see it as my job to jam out to a piece during my private practice sessions to the point that it becomes "groove-elastic". I've ALWAYS been in reaction to the squareness of rock drums, often too much bass drum and 4/4 going on, like they're trying to nail the beat to the ground.

 

Which is why I still go all the time to drum circles with lots of congas and djembes- for me the essence of the music I like to listen to and move to is funky and spicy, think dancing feet, and if I can use the raw material of a well-written song and successfully apply some of that mojo to it, and see the response from the people dancing to it, I have some confirmation I'm doing something worthwhile.

 

However- as much as I naturally fall into the category of jam band kind of guy, I'm also working on the note for note side of things. I know some guys who can sing accapella the bass line, the melody line, the drum part, etc. of almost any song they know- {censored}ing impressive!

 

I know that's a talent that can be cultivated with good ol' fashioned hard work, and I see that as the necessary counter point to my jam band natural talents.

 

Randy

[theGman]

When one of the guys in the band gets too anal about being note-for-note on a cover, I get him on You Tube to hear the original band playing the songs live, and I ask which one he wants to copy. Point being, since the original groups often can't or won't play their own cover song the same, why should I?

 

Not that I am trying to not come close, but what's the point in duplicating the exact notes on the CD when they don't either?

[SeniorBlues]

 

When one of the guys in the band gets too anal about being note-for-note on a cover, I get him on You Tube to hear the original band playing the songs live, and I ask which one he wants to copy. Point being, since the original groups often can't or won't play their own cover song the same, why should I? Not that I am trying to not come close, but what's the point in duplicating the exact notes on the CD when they don't either?

 

 

The argument my guitar player gives is that the studio version (in most cases) is the one people are familiar with.

 

I want to be informed by as many different versions as I can find. I was just listening to "Time After Time" which I discovered has been covered by 120 artists.

 

Unless you're a tribute band with the same instrumentation, rote memorization is silly . . . and usually futile.

 

The equally interesting question is, do you try to get the SOUNDS "right". Keyboard players come in all kinds of flavors, including those that spend more time programming than playing. The excuse I use for using patches I like (regardless of what was used on the original) is that often as not I'm looking at covering two or three parts simultaneously, so it becomes an interpretation by necessity.

[soundwave106]

The equally interesting question is, do you try to get the SOUNDS "right".

 

Sometimes. It's a balancing of effort to program vs. ability of keyboard to reproduce sound vs. how much of a {censored} the audience will give, I guess.

[honeyiscool]

I don't play most things note for note but I think signature parts need to be note for note.

 

You can't just fudge the intro to "Your Song" by Elton John. It needs to be those notes.

[SeniorBlues]

 

I don't play most things note for note but I think signature parts need to be note for note. You can't just fudge the intro to "Your Song" by Elton John. It needs to be those notes.

 

 

Good point on intros . . . . . I spent a lot of time on the intro to "That's the Way It Is. If you all have the chops and time to do the solo . . . good on you.