I've played in cover bands since I was a child, and I'm proud of that. It's served me well.

First, in school, we covered Beethoven, Dvorak, Mozart, and a host of others. The music was in front of us, we read the dots on the page, and followed the conductor.

Got into a rock band in school, covering the hits of the day. With that I eventually toured the country, met a lot of pretty girls, and eventually became the opening act for major stars, while their records were in the top 10 on Billboard. Almost had a record deal ourselves, but that's another story.

Many years later, I took a day-job, to investigate what being normal was all about. To me, being normal is very overrated. It paid well, and I gigged on the weekends, but was a proletarian wage-slave during the week. That might be OK for others, but it wasn't for me.

One of those weekend gigs was in a jazz band. The leader taught jazz theory and guitar at the University of Miami, and played with Ira Sullivan at one time. Big heavyweight jazz players came to sit in every once in a great while, players that made me feel like I was faking it.

The problem was it was one day per week, Sunday afternoon. Nobody around here makes a living playing jazz. Perhaps if I lived in New York, Chicago, or some other big market.

Well, the day-job ended, and I realized, I don't want to do that anymore.

Here is the point of this thread.

If you want to play music and gig, you will have to make compromises. The compromises depend on where you live and what the music scene is there.

  • Compromise #1: play cover songs that are popular in your area. It could be pop, country, classic rock, folk or whatever. If a lot of people are doing it there, you can probably make a living playing covers. I know, those who want to play “art music” consider this option a sell-out.
  • Compromise #2: play the “art music” of your choice, but in order to make a living, get a 40-hour, 5-days per week day-job. The art music could be jazz, originals, experimental, or whatever your heart is into.


Which is the right answer? It depends on you. Which is a bigger sell out? Cover songs or being a wage-slave? To me, working 40 hours per week not doing music is the bigger sell-out. YMMV

I've done cover songs all my life. The mortgage is paid off, and I have zero debt. I don't have a lot of luxury items, and I would have made a lot more money if I stayed in electronics engineering. But I'm happy doing what I'm doing.

When I was a Cable TV engineer, I was asked to do many things I liked, and many things that I did not. Most of all, I disliked being awakened by an alarm clock, putting on the metaphoric collar and leash, and reporting to the boss. But that's just me.

Right now, I'm in about an 80% cover duo with my wife. I make my own backing tracks, and most of them are close to a famous recording. But we stylize the vocals, and leave room so we can improvise a solo in the song. Others are reimaginings of popular songs. Perhaps turn one into a Reggae beat, another Latin or funky/jazzy. These don't always work, but with experience, we've learned how to pick them better. A few other songs are ones we learned just for us. Once the audience is on your side, if you pick the right time, you can play music for yourself and they will actually like it.

Our market won't support us if we wanted to do nothing but “art music”, so our Compromise #3 is to play what I guess you could call a semi-cover act. We are not as much of a cover band as a symphony orchestra, tribute band, or all-cover band, but I don't have to take a day job to pay the bills.

Whatever your choice is, remember, there is no one right way for all of us. Whatever you choose, put your heart into it, and if you are enjoying it, don't let anyone tell you it's the wrong way to do it.


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Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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