Covers

[mathman]

Thanks, I still hear some parts I want to fix but I could spend forever on it if I would let myself. Just what I needed is next and I am learning the solo now. This was a solo I never thought I could play but I am picking it up pretty quick. I wish I would have starting trying to learn these songs earlier in my life. I put myself down too quickly at times.

 

[cmatthes]

I LOVE playing those EE solos!

 

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

As for the Radar Love question, you can either play everything straight with just singing an octave lower OR would it work better to drop it a 4th or 5th? Trust me, almost no-one will notice the shift. A lot of touring acts will play a cover they throw into their set in a different key, especially if they segue in from one of their own songs.

I want to be really careful with key shifts, because I want to preserve the open strings in runs and timbre of the cowboy chords. Changing an open chord into a barre chord really changes the sound in a way I don't really like.

Now what I may do is use a baritone guitar tuned down. That preserves all the open strings.

 

[Tres Aardvarks]

I was working up some songs as a solo singer playing a 12 string bass. You know anything I played was going to be modified /emoticons/default_tongue.png

I'd like to hear some of those!

A buddy of mine does this. VERY cool stuff for the most part-sometimes he gigs with just himself and a drummer. He sings the lyrics for the stuff he's playing-both originals and covers.

Well, tell him to stay out of Central Virginia! These woods are two small for two crazy ass bastages!!! /emoticons/default_wink.png (truthfully, I'd love to see him do it...I was working on it to invade the local open mic night)

And Nathan, as for which way to go with a cover, I give you this...since it came on this morning. They took it and made it their own, while still keeping it instantly recognizable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSjEmlo8B0

 

[dragan]

since you said this was for recording and not playing live , I still say make it your own ,recreating someone's studio work is very difficult. playing live copying is both more necessary and the environment is more forgiving in that often the live energy and crowd support carries the day IMHO(record your live gigs and listen back to a good night sometime ) /emoticons/default_cool.png

 

[Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame]

since you said this was for recording and not playing live , I still say make it your own ,recreating someone's studio work is very difficult. playing live copying is both more necessary and the environment is more forgiving in that often the live energy and crowd support carries the day IMHO(record your live gigs and listen back to a good night sometime ) /emoticons/default_cool.png

I do agree that no matter what I do, it won't sound like the studio work.

I guess my original question was: should still try to get as close as I can, or should I embrace the inability to replicate and go all in on changing anything I can while still retaining some modicum of recognizability?

And the answer, I think is: it depends. It depends on the song, and it depends on what I can do. Some songs I'm going to change up a lot...some songs I'm going to try to copy all the way down to trying to get all the licks/feels exactly right, depending on my different voice and guitar tones to make it worth doing.

 

[dragan]

yeah probably right it depends a lot on the song, since you recording experiment !

 

[Michael_B]

I generally prefer when the artist modifies the styling. At the least, it's always interesting to hear a new take.