For me it is what makes me happy and that is doing sponotbeat. If you concern yourself with what the public thinks, you will never find out who you are and the unique sound that is in you will never come out. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year.
I totally get what Buddha is saying in terms of connecting with an audience, something familiar can definitely help bring people in.
I'm motivated toward original material although I love taking on covers.
I come to music to express something inside, my experience of life I suppose. As I say this I get that that can be done with covers and original material.
I strive to write songs that occur as familiar and convey some experience that people can relate to. ---------- http://www.youtube.com/1shanester
Write your own stuff, but unless you've established as a S/S..when you're gigging, do mostly covers. About 8 to 1 is good. Once you get known, that can be reversed.
Now, you can do your interpretation of a standard and make it your own.
I like something in between! I love writing my own stuff, but I also love playing other people's stuff that I like. Mix the two, make the songs your own.
It can also be fun to rewrite something of someone else's. My band does a cover of Amazing Grace to an entirely different melody. I've got a variation of Erie Canal that I play to a combination of 'Oh Suzanna' and CCR's 'Down on the Corner' and a partial alternate set of lyrics to Nirvana's 'Something in the Way' (I never finished that one.) There are several reasons to play covers- Sometimes it's just easier, sometimes it's a good way to play a song the crowd will like, sometimes it's a way to play a song you really like, and sometimes it's a way to expose a great B track or alternate genre to the crowd. I love Johnny Cash's cover of NiN's 'Hurt'. He took the song to a whole audience that would have never heard it if he hadn't performed it. Joe Cocker's version of 'With a Little Help from my Friends' is probably better known than the Beatles version and I like every Bob Dylan cover I've ever heard better than the original.
Mix up the instrumentation. In can be fun to play the melody and skip vocals for a song, or to switch instrument parts from one instrument to another.
I used to attend an open mic regularly (mostly just to watch) and some performers tried to have all new songs each week. Usually you got to play two songs. The ones I remember most were the ones who picked a few of their songs and rotated them so you didn't get bored but you also got a chance to get to know the songs.
By the way, these are my favorite cover of all time:
There is room for both. A lot of "original" bands end up being unoriginal in a lot of other ways...whether it be creating a gimmick or writing original material that is very much based stylistically on something already played, or the leads are based on traditional playing, etc. Can you even play an original sounding blues song and have it still be called blues?
You can play covers that are very original too. I think if you are preforming to the public and expecting to get paid or gain a following, there has to be something about your act that reaches out towards the audience. That is a very complicated thing to do, but playing covers can help with that. Familiarity is often a crucial part about making a connection.
My band does about half and half. Our covers include a wide range of material (we know about 100). The songs we cover at any one gig are picked based on what the audience would probably want to hear or request throughout the night. For example, we play less blues when the crowd wants rock, etc. A good musician will find a way to reach a high level of playing and connect with the audience regardless of the song.
The only time I lose respect for a band doing covers is when they are played note for note. ---------- Mike Fugazzi http://www.myspace.com/niterailband http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail http://www.twitter.com/NiteRail http://www.facebook.com/mike.fugazzi
There is room for both. A lot of "original" bands end up being unoriginal in a lot of other ways...whether it be creating a gimmick or writing original material that is very much based stylistically on something already played, or the leads are based on traditional playing, etc. Can you even play an original sounding blues song and have it still be called blues?
You can play covers that are very original too. I think if you are preforming to the public and expecting to get paid or gain a following, there has to be something about your act that reaches out towards the audience. That is a very complicated thing to do, but playing covers can help with that. Familiarity is often a crucial part about making a connection.
My band does about half and half. Our covers include a wide range of material (we know about 100). The songs we cover at any one gig are picked based on what the audience would probably want to hear or request throughout the night. For example, we play less blues when the crowd wants rock, etc. A good musician will find a way to reach a high level of playing and connect with the audience regardless of the song.
The only time I lose respect for a band doing covers is when they are played note for note. ---------- Mike Fugazzi http://www.myspace.com/niterailband http://www.youtube.com/user/NiteRail http://www.twitter.com/NiteRail http://www.facebook.com/mike.fugazzi
