PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic A note to Eddie about cover songs.

Back before discos and DJs it was important for a cover band to at least play a similar arrangement to the hit recorded version. That's what people wanted to hear, and that's what I consider a cover band.

Now that DJs have that taken care of, we can cover or we can rearrange songs, do them a little different, do them very different, and even to the point where they are hardly recognizable.

Of course, how far you stray from the hit version depends on who you are playing for and what their tastes are.

Without an audience, without ears to appreciate it, music is just masturbation for your own personal "eargazm". There is certainly nothing wrong with that it works for a lot of people.

But for me, music is a dialog between the musicians and the audience. I feed off the energy of the audience, and it's similar to making love (second best thing anyway).

We're playing at a pool party today, and we've done this gig for quite a few years now. There will be over 100 people there. I know the audience, they are going to want dance numbers. They will definitely need "Old Time Rock And Roll", "YMCA", "Electric Slide", "Taking Care Of Business", "Mustang Sally", "Blurred Lines", "Cupid Shuffle", "Sweet Home Alabama", "All That Jazz", plus they will enjoy songs from Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley, Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, Beatles, Motown artists, and some Latin American Salsa, Soca, and Merengue thrown in. It's always a lot of fun.

It's a party, and we are the life of the party. Leilani and I will have a great time interacting with each other and the crowd, and at the end of the afternoon, they will even pay us money! What's not to love about that??? It sure beats a regular job. (I know, I've had two of them in my life - they didn't last very long - how can the real world compete with playing music?)

Life is good when a musician is gigging.

Insights and incites by Notes

OK, now that just sounds creepy.

If my wife is in the next room and can hear me "playing", does that make it less creepy. Yiieps, that sounds even worse.

Would you still do it though if you didn't get paid for it, (other than the odd charity night) since you get such a great buzz out of it?

musiclover

Music IS your regular job. Music as a career is a job. You buy tools, you use those tools, you practice every day to refine your skills.

While the performance is fun, the overall sense of it being a job isn't always. The bands I played in had HUGE PA systems, unlike the smaller systems of today with 2 powered speakers on a pole and a small mixer.

24 channel board, 18" subs, 15 inch low mids, 10 inch high mids, tweeter horns, 100 ft snake, huge power amp rack.... It was a 2 hour setup by the time it was all wired. And then a minimum of a 6 song sound check (so everybody could do one song they sang front on).... Now with everything prerecorded, small PA systems.... setup takes 10 minutes. Unload takes longer than setup.

Yes, as long as it isn't in a commercial establishment. I won't do open mic nights because I firmly believe (1) it is exploitation and (2) it potentially puts paying acts out of work.

I do jam sessions when I know the house band is getting paid a fair price, and especially if I know I'm supporting a musician friend of mine.

I've brought my flute or sax to friends parties. My neighbor had a party a few weeks ago and hired a punk band. I sat in with them for a while, and it was a lot of fun. I told them just to play their gig and I'll follow along. I have a good ear, and did just fine, they gave me solos, I played the backing riffs with them, and did call & response licks with the singer. Now I can say I played in a punk band

And yes, I do charity gigs if I believe in the charity and if I don't feel the charity is just a cover for private profits. Our most regular freebie is at the nursing home at the VA hospital about an hours drive away. We play for the wheelchair bound vets, and it gives a a good feeling knowing we are giving a little something back to those who gave a lot for us.

But because I also do it as a profession, and know my peers are doing it for a profession, when it comes time to play in any place that is making a profit, I expect to be paid a fair price for my services.



It is most definitely a job, but it isn't a 'regular job' in the sense that I punch a time clock, follow orders from 'the man' and leave the job at the office at 5 o'clock.

I have more than the touted 10,000 required hours of practice stored in this brain and fingers. I also play 7 different instruments (all saxes, flute, wind synthesizer, guitar, bass, keyboard synth and drums) plus voice (which was the hardest to learn).

I learned to sequence my own backing tracks, because the ones I bought back in the 1980s were so bad they were laughable. Fortunately I had formal music education and arranging was part of that. I still sequence my own backing tracks and sometimes add a little real audio to the MIDI sounds. Why? Good karaoke tracks are available - but - (a) there is a difference in performing for a recording and live - my tracks are optimized for live performance (b) I can put them in the best key for us without artifacts (c) I can extend the arrangement (d) I can leave room for my own improvised solos instead of letting someone else on the track have all the fun.

I have a big investment in music gear. I play in a duo with my wife (when I met her she was in a different band, and when both our bands broke up we happened to get in the same 5 piece band that was forming, and when that tanked we started our duo). So we own the PA (Speakers, amps, FX, mixer, monitors, mics. etc.) and being a multi-instrumentalist I have to have two saxes, two wind synths, two guitars, etc., because if one breaks, the show must go on.

I definitely put in more than 40 hours per week, and never leave the gig at the office. I learn new songs, practice, take care of the bookkeeping, communicate with the clients, keep an eye on the competition, and so on. Even when listening to the radio I'm analyzing the songs, should we learn it, can we learn it, how is it structured, how are others reacting to it, and so on.

The last football game I watched was in the 1970s, and since the mid 1980s I tuned into Johnny Carson's last Tonight show and a couple of Jay Leno follow ups. I disconnected the cable, never put up an antenna, and never got a digital converter. I don't watch commercial TV - zero, nada, zilch. I've never seen MASH, Cheers, Simpsons, Seinfeld, Sopranos, Taxi, Desperate Housewives, and so on. Instead I learned lead guitar and wind synth, how to write style and fake disks for BiaB using my music arranging education, how to write web sites for my BiaB business and my Duo, and so many other things.

I live my life by doing things instead of living my life vicariously by watching actors pretend to do things.

No, it's anything but a 'regular' job. But even though I put in more than 40 hours, it doesn't seem like a job. It's just what I do.

I'm living life on my own terms, not answering to anyone, making the decisions myself, and either profiting by the good ones or learning from the bad ones.

I make a living doing music and nothing but music. I really enjoy gigging, it's the most fun I can have with my clothes on. My head gets into that place where there is no space or time, no "Notes Norton", just the music, which seems more like it is flowing through me instead of from me. It's pure bliss and my career is a way to follow my bliss. Everyone should be so lucky.

I don't usually mind schlepping the gear - I just think of it as weight bearing exercise - the kind people pay hundreds of dollars for in the local gym. OK after a gig sometimes I wish I had a roadie, but I put that thought out of my head and just pack the gear. When I get home I'm tired, but it's a good kind of tired.

I've had two regular jobs in my life. I guess I was testing what it was to be a 'regular person'. Even though one of them was a Cable TV Field Engineer (I also took electronics in college), I feel better calling myself a musician. I got along with the work on the day jobs just fine, and I still played on the weekends, but life itself wasn't as satisfying.

Being a musician is not what I do, it's what I am.

I've been gigging since I was in junior high school, I'm at the age where I could retire, but I have no plans on doing so. What would I do? Fish? Play golf? I'd rather play music. It's my bliss. So for as long as I can fog a mirror, I'll play music, and as long as someone will hire me, I'll do it for a gig.

I'm having a happy life. What more could anyone ask for?

Insights and incites by Notes

nothing that would matter or make a difference

edited:
maybe a new ball cap

He's gettin' all the SAX a fella could ask for!!! ;-O

No matter how much Sax a fella can get, he can never get too much

Or until such times as the old Sax appeal begins to wear off or the ole Sax starts to break down,

Then its time to call in the experts.



Musiclover

Just takes a little bit longer to soak the reed these days...

And if even that fails time to call in the,

Boys in Blue Brigade



Musiclover

I don't really care, and am just wondering, but is the plan to grow this thread to the level of the "SANITY TEST - FUNNY" thread?

(hide)

Larry

Larry,

If you'll notice, I haven't posted on it in 3 days, and the thread has only been going for 6 days, but I have enjoyed reading other peoples posts.

I think it's been an interesting discussion overall.

And a little more time between songs

Actually I can only gig about once a week anymore....