Cover Guitarists: How Important Is It To You To Replicate The Original Sound?

[Matter-Eater Lad]

I was only semi-hung up on this with my last band until I saw another cover band and the guy did not replicate the original sounds at all. Like, he had clean and distorted and that was it. I see how some people get hung up on this from reading this board. They have to have a Line6 thingy with 200 patches. I personally hate having that many choices because it distracts from playing time.

 

I forming a band now and I can see the other guitarist now expressing concerns about having a variety of sounds at his disposal, where I am strictly about distortion with maybe some edgy clean here & there.

[ZED]

When I was in cover bands the ONLY thing that mattered was getting paid. Seriously, the only thing.

[GCDEF]

Not really important for me. I wouldn't turn on the fuzz for Sultans of Swing, but if I happen to have a Gibson in my hands when we go to play it, I wouldn't stop the show to grab a Strat.

 

The overall feel of the song and continuity of the show is much more imporant. As has been said many times before, most people won't know or care how close your tone is as long as it's in the ballpark.

[Cassius]

I enjoy covers more when they are done by a band with a distinct flavour. I dont want to hear a human jukebox.

[wheresgrant3]

 

Originally posted by Matter-Eater Lad I was only semi-hung up on this with my last band until I saw another cover band and the guy did not replicate the original sounds at all. Like, he had clean and distorted and that was it. I see how some people get hung up on this from reading this board. They have to have a Line6 thingy with 200 patches. I personally hate having that many choices because it distracts from playing time. I forming a band now and I can see the other guitarist now expressing concerns about having a variety of sounds at his disposal, where I am strictly about distortion with maybe some edgy clean here & there.

 

 

I play everything from Prince to Metallica to My Chemical Romance... all using a Peavey XXX, 2x12, chorus pedal, and Digitech Whammy. Seriously... it's never been a consideration to emulate a certain tone. By contrast my other guitarist has a Pod PRo XT with a Power amp.... with all of the variations on tone he sticks with just four patches. You just need to find a few good settings or patches and use them as much as possible. Most rooms/mic'ing will respond unpredictedly when you throw a bunch of tones through an amp. Best to stick with what works than to have a patch that the audience can barely hear you... or sounds great 5 feet from the amp but breaks up 20 feet away.

[orfalot]

Several very different schools of thought on this subject. Not many people here condone entirely "replicating" a song. I'm of the opinion that you should play it as close to the original as possible. Even though that is not usually possible and not at all probable our band still sets that as its goal. I wish I had a dollar for every time somebody said we did a song just like the record. First of all I know its not true but I take it as a compliment that we were able to really capture the spirit of the song.

 

I mostly use just three or four combinations but I have a versatile 3 pup Tele copy with 11 switching options and a foot pedal I use 4 settings and the wah. If you are going to try to play them like the originals you might as well try to get the tone too.

[one4rich]

Mostly, I'm just clean/dirty, but I use a lot of different guitars to get different tones.

 

If there is a particular sound on the song, I may try and catch the flavor of it. For instance, my band plays What It Takes by Aerosmith, and I use clean/chorus for most of it. There's an instrument in the chorus that sounds like an accordian, but I stay on clean/chorus.

 

I don't know exactly what effects Perry's using in the solo, but I use a fast flange/delay and sounds pretty good. I don't play it exactly, but as I do with tones, I get the flavor of it.

 

We recently had a clubowner tell us we did Aerosmith better than any of his other bands, so take that for what it's worth.

[rim]

For a few years, I was a clean/dirty guy. Since I've bought a Boss GT-8, I'm now a clean/classic rock dirty/metal dirty guy. Who knows, I may be one of those who obsess about the sound by the next millenia, but I think I'm all set for now.

[Shellpink]

Original sounds are not important, as long you are not in a Queen or U2 Tribute Band. Play the stuff right and with the right feel. If the audience sees, that you are into it, they'll join you.

[JBJ]

i have 3 drive pedals...

 

a keeley bd2

 

sansamp gt2

 

and a catalin bread spp

 

all of them are always on and i use the volume to clean things up when needed.

 

we cover everything from elvis to the libertines with that.

[charlie13033]

I am 53 and I have been playing guitar and bass since 1964. I have played a hell of a lot of songs in a hell of a lot of bands -- all of them being cover bands. I am currently playing in a Beatles --British Invasion tribute band. We do not dress up or play 40 year old 60's vintage instruments, although our drummer has replicated Ringo's Ludwig drum set exactly and our bass player has an original 1965 Hofner Beatle Bass. The rest of us use traditional looking guitars, with traditional sounding pickups, and amps.

 

More importantly, we do not improvise with the music or the vocals. We try to be as faithful as we possibly can to what the original songwriters wrote and recorded. That means I play the George Harrison solo on Roll Over Beethoven the way he played it, replicating his sound, the best I can. I do not improvise and add my own solo, regardless if I think I could put a much more "killer" solo to it than he did (I probably couldn't anyway!). I do the same with the Kinks or the Stones or any other band we cover from that era. Our bass player and drummer NEVER deviate from the bass lines and drum parts of the original recordings.

 

That being said, we also do a number of "rockers", and the guitarists can embelish a bit as far as the solo's go. But even then we NEVER use modern day effects at all. All I use is tremelo, some distortion, reverb, and a rotary speaker setting, and only when a particular song calls for it.

 

I am not saying our way is the only way to do it right. But we get a hell of a lot more high paying gigs than the other "cover bands" in our area, including playing the Cavern Club in Liverpool, England! And, when an old member of the original Hollies or Badfinger comes to town we are the back up band.

[digwhisper]

Wow, I guess I'm the odd man out here. I play in cover bands that you guys probably wouldn't like.

 

I never try to get even close to the originals. In fact, I try to put as much of my own flavor into the songs as possible. I don't play the solos note for note, I don't try to capture the tones, or anything else.

 

The cover band I play in takes a song we all want to do and we approach it like an original band would. In fact we usually treat like one of our members wrote the song and we all kind of write our own parts.

 

When the song is learned, rehearsed, and ready to play live it's always recognizable as the original but with our very own flare.

 

We get some pretty interesting and cool musical moments happening that way. We don't force ourselves to use the same instrumentation as the originals either. For example, we're always getting complimented for our version of Hotel California. Our lead vocalist / keyboard player (who's a female with modern country influences) plays much of the acoustic guitar parts with a piano tone and she sings the whole vocal line with a country touch.

 

For tones, I use an Ernie Ball Musicman John Petrucci signature seven string guitar with piezo into a Mesa Triaxis / 2:90 rack rig. I use a ton of tones different tone and effects combinations but they're all me. I just approach my tones and solos like one of the other band members had wrote it and I try to imagine what I'd have put down on the track. I'm much happier that way.

 

Once in a while we get some hard core fan of the song that let's us know that we "didn't play it right" but most of the reviews and feedback we get is very positive.

[LPCustomLive]

Me and two guitars: an Les Paul Custom and an American Strat.

 

Tones: Traynor YVC80 lead, and clean, Boss SD-1.

 

I don't imitate solos, I improvise.

 

It's more fun and you still get paid.

[crisis]

I used to be so paranoid about covers I didnt even want to do it. The band I play in now have our "own " version of the songs we cover. Basically non of the songs are 100% faithful to the originals and almost none of the solos are either. I change from my A20 to a Strat for clean sounds or older r&r style songs but I beef up most of the newer covers with a good ol helping of Marhall/humbucker overdrive. The bands that seem to be closest to the originals that I have seen tend to do nearly everything with a sequencer.

[RupertB]

I try to get "in the ballpark" tone-wise but its not something I spend a lot of time on. As long as its good tone, I don't worry that its not exactly "that tone." With a good one-channel amp, OD, delay, reverb, & a s/s/h guitar I get plenty of good choices.

 

Performance-wise we try to play most tunes the way they were originally done (with a few exceptions) but again, its not something we wring our hands over too much. I used to think that that we hacked some songs pretty bad but having seen a few more live shows in recent months.... Lets just say we're not quite as bad as I thought.

[spdolan]

 

Originally posted by BechtelChris Wow, I guess I'm the odd man out here. I play in cover bands that you guys probably wouldn't like. I never try to get even close to the originals. In fact, I try to put as much of my own flavor into the songs as possible. I don't play the solos note for note, I don't try to capture the tones, or anything else. B]

 

 

I'm with you, Chris. My cover band, Off the Wagon, does the same thing with Dead and Neil tunes. We play the chord changes, and mostly the melody, but have to add our own flavor to the tune. Change the harmonies, and just play and sing it the way we want to.

 

Its the only way, in my opinion, to enjoy performing other people's music - you gotta inject a little of your own flavor into the sound, or it goes to hell.

 

my 2 cents

 

Dolan

[GCDEF]

 

Originally posted by BechtelChris Wow, I guess I'm the odd man out here. I play in cover bands that you guys probably wouldn't like. I never try to get even close to the originals. In fact, I try to put as much of my own flavor into the songs as possible. I don't play the solos note for note, I don't try to capture the tones, or anything else.

 

 

I would think that audiences may not respond favorably if you go too far from the original. People that come to hear cover bands play cover tunes have certain expectations as to how a song should sound. Unless it's a really critical part of the song I don't try to note-for-note solos, but certain hooks and rhythms need to be there or the audience will turn on you.

[spdolan]

GCDEF -

 

Granted, you have to play the song in its original form, but its the coloring that is up to the cover band. In my experience, as long as they recognize the song, and hear the hook, they'll sing and dance right along with ya.

 

Gotta groove on stage - If it looks like work, it feels like work to the audience - ave some fun, and dont be afraid to drop lyrics. Push the envelope, even on other peoples tunes.

 

at least thats my approach

 

Dolan

[Jimi Ray Halen]

I am of the school of thought that there are certain songs (most, in fact) that should be faithful to the original in both tone, tuning and arrangement. I take pride in getting it damn close to the record. It takes a little more effort but some songs just aren't the same without signature licks and tone. So I use a Flextone III w/36 channels of tone magic, a Strat, an LP, and a downtuned Schecter C1+.

 

The Flextone allows me to go from clean or clean/chorus to heavy distortion instantly, for instance, without any volume drop. When you are the lone guitarist in a cover band you have a lot of territory to cover.

Some of the 9 - 4 channel banks are even set up for one song like Control by PoM where I need heavy distortion/delay - clean/flanger - clean/reverb & crunch. I have them set up in order that they come up in the song and you know what? It sounds better that way.

I am not real impressed with a cover guitarist who uses just one tone. I used to be that. Roll off the volume to clean it up. All the songs sound the same when you use the same tone all night. It's like a painter only using one color all the time.

I'm also not real impressed with cover guitarists who don't at least put some of the signature licks from a lead in a song. Unless they can make up something better than Jimi then do the f'ing solo (at least some of it) - people have heard the song a million times and know what goes there.

But this is just how I approach doing covers. Just my opinions.

I find that now that I am actually doing the note-for-note thing I am improving as a guitarist because it puts the theory in perspective and practice instead of just being scales on a piece of paper.

[GCDEF]

 

Originally posted by spdolan GCDEF - Granted, you have to play the song in its original form, but its the coloring that is up to the cover band. In my experience, as long as they recognize the song, and hear the hook, they'll sing and dance right along with ya. Gotta groove on stage - If it looks like work, it feels like work to the audience - ave some fun, and dont be afraid to drop lyrics. Push the envelope, even on other peoples tunes. at least thats my approach Dolan

 

 

I agree. We certainly take liberties with songs. I just meant you don't want to take it too far into left field cause the audience may not go with you.

[unichord]

I enjoy the challange of nailing the original tones dead-nuts-on.

 

Keeps things interesting for me.

 

Somewhere in every audience there is the one guitarist thinking "damn - he NAILED it"

 

And 20 others thinking "I'm better than that":D

[charlie13033]

Like I said in my previous post, I am not saying our way is the correct way.

 

I think my situation is a bit different. We are a tribute band. People expect us to replicate the original artisits exactly -- or as close to exactly as we can. That is why we are so anal about it. Some of the people that come to see us are fanatic Beatles fans and they can point out a missing note or added harmony -- and they do. I find that doing the songs the way we do is a lot harder to do than when I was in bands that took a lot more liberties with the songs.

 

That being said, I love to improvise. I would love to be in a blues band or a good old bar band that rocks the hell out of the joint. But we are doing something very specific for very specific venues. And, it is a hell of a lot of fun! Hell, if it ain't fun, why do it?

[digwhisper]

Yeah, a tribute band changes everything. Then it's all about accuracy. I don't think a tribute band would last very long taking liberties.

 

We do add a lot of flavor but in the end the songs still come across with the same melody lines, lyrics, and most of the basic song structure in tact. Basically we approach doing covers like an original would. Think about how bands like Van Halen have done covers over their career and how the songs are still intact but done in a very Van Halen way.

[anonpostguy]

we try and a have a huge repertoire. It would be impossible to "recreate" what the original artist put down, we'd never get out of rehearsal. There have been times when I've been on the way to a gig, heard a great song on the radio, figured out the basic progression in my head, learned the chorus and a verse and went with it that night. I've made up verses, juxtaposed verses, outright repeated verses, completely changed arrangements, and only rarely have I ever had someone mention it (and only after a tune that we really stretched). The audience just wants to hear the hook, sing along to the chorus, drink beer, look for another weekend sexual conquest. It works much better for us to add more "loose" representations to the reportoire than nail the tune. As for guitar sounds, you can get a decent range b/w clean, dirty settings on the amp and pup selection. People have a natural tendency to fill in what they don't hear with what they want to hear.

[Jimi Ray Halen]

 

Originally posted by anonpostguy we try and a have a huge repertoire. It would be impossible to "recreate" what the original artist put down, we'd never get out of rehearsal. There have been times when I've been on the way to a gig, heard a great song on the radio, figured out the basic progression in my head, learned the chorus and a verse and went with it that night. I've made up verses, juxtaposed verses, outright repeated verses, completely changed arrangements, and only rarely have I ever had someone mention it (and only after a tune that we really stretched). The audience just wants to hear the hook, sing along to the chorus, drink beer, look for another weekend sexual conquest. It works much better for us to add more "loose" representations to the reportoire than nail the tune. As for guitar sounds, you can get a decent range b/w clean, dirty settings on the amp and pup selection. People have a natural tendency to fill in what they don't hear with what they want to hear.

 

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that the other night. I sat in with a friend's band and their guitarist didn't play anything off the record. And he didn't have but two tones. I don't think anybody noticed. Well, maybe some folks did but they didn't seem to care.

 

So I thought - why am I going through the trouble of learning stuff close to note for note (not even the original artist does n-f-n) and getting matching tones for a bunch of drunks?

 

But I decided that it's just a personal thing. I am a guitar geek. I enjoy the challenge of learning what the guy did on the record. Once I learn it I may not play it exactly that way each time. But I'll throw some of the signature licks in. It depends on the song.