Note for Note.... or not???

[jgcable]

Hey cover band soloist's!!!!
How important is it to you to nail guitar solos note for note?
How important is it to you to even play the originally recorded guitar solo?
If you don't play the solos note for note... why??
If you do.... why??
Never mind what the crowd thinks... I am asking YOU the questions.

For the record.. I am one of the note for note guys and I do it because I find personal pride and satisfaction in nailing famous guitar players tones and styles. I only embellish and change stuff around on our original songs.

[jjw]

you know what mate most people who hear us realy couldnt give a flying toss if we dont play it note for noteUs the guitarists are small in numbers and are vastly outnumbered by the public who dont listen to the solos but sing all the words!lol
I can see you point in doing it note for note-i do that when the band covers some tunes but on others i keep the guidelines there and the framework to the solos similar but i play what i want to play that night-its a feeling thing,and i have noticed lot of other guitarists do the same.Its close but not in the same ball park,and i like that as a guitarist to hear someone make a track there own track.as long as its not a million miles off target and it harmoicly and timing wise fits then its fair tradeNow i saw Pete play this and i dont know the rush track in the slightest,i never got into rush so i cant tell you if it was close enough,but i can tell you it sounded fine.So if i use my lack of Rush knowing as a reflection of the general publics lack of caring for solos note for note then Pete did well..lol.
I dont drink and play or do drugs and play,i am with your there.afterwards its a diferent matter..lol.
but yeahh you can do it note for note or you can keep it close and add your own colour-i have had the drummer tell me about changing my tones for some tunes we do(Evenesence)and i tell him NO!lol-i am not in that band and my tone is my tone-i think you have to draw a line sometimes and just have fun playing rather than being analy retentive on tones and notes
BTW like your band Aftermath,great playing there(and tone)well done

copied and fucking pasted from Petes tune thread

[MikeStrat]

I personally try to keep the solos as close to original as possible. But that's only because I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I know most people don't listen that closely to even care but that's just me. They especially don't notice when they are half lit which is most of the cases when you play live. On the other hand, I don't kill myself to learn difficult solos note for note because I just don't have the time. Excellent question!!

[jgcable]

I pretty much agree with everything said so far.

[charvelguy]

Well, it really depends on the song/material and the type of band and the bandleader as well as you and your ear and taste. Playing cover tunes can be an art form or a form of prosititution.

Some solos are 'sacred' to some notes and to change it would really change the feel of the song 'to me' or to the guy hiring me that it would sound and feel out of place.

Initially..I'll decide if I want to learn it note for note as close as I can and then embellish if it fits and adds to bands version of the song if that is the direction it wants to go or if it has to be done spot on.

A solo like Jessie's Girl as an example is a notable solo to be done pretty much note for note IMO. Its structured to be a part of the song.. you shouldn't go out of form in that type of context where the song's solo is very identifiable and structured.. I don't mess with it. Same with stuff by Elliot Easton.. very identifiable to the sound of the Cars and a song like "I Know Tonight" is recognizable. To not do it note for note can be the difference of the song being well done and polished and 'this band sucks' type of deal.

Barracuda is also another example.. but here, there's overdubs happening on the harmonics in two parts... so you have to get creative and discern which part is more dominant and splice it to make it 'sound alike' or be creative using well executed/placed tape effect to take up the slack.. there, you use your ears. On the other hand,..its also a progression where it is open for extension and playing around with harmonic melodies. If I am able to go out on a limb.. I don't supress self artistic expression where I have a vibe and ideas flowin..why? 'Cause I'm not a friggen sampler. Unless.. there's plenty of space and format for improv in the bands originals.

I also argue instances where the solo is likely played slightly different by the original artist every night anyways.. or they have different versions. So, there's room for your own thing as long as it stays in context and it's ok with the band/bandleader. Some guys want the stuff note for note but also will bend a little if you show them you're capable. They hired you, they typically leave it up to your discression. They'll likely let you know if you stepped out in the wrong place in the wrong direction but they also pay you to know the line as well as to be capable of crossing it.

A song like Honkey Tonk Woman is a blues based RnR rift.. unless its your intent to 'do your own thing' to the entire song... as long as the original vibe is kept.. it's a loose format and the solo and fills can be embellished IMO.

Also..most songs there's the main solo and the outakes where one can embellish as the outtake was obviously done with less structure and probably improvised in the studio.

Take Round and Round by Ratt.. here's a decent example.. the main solo I would do pretty much what I thought was spot close and the harmonies the same.. but the outtake..which faded out anyways...I would take in my own slant or improvise within a vein of a 'kind of' Warren style blended with my own.

ACDC.. there's some solos where you'd want to play the note for note and some where Angus is just riff'n mixin up bends and box patterns.. as long as you know his style you can mix it up a little. I've seen guys do sweeps and pedaltones in the outro of Back in Black..yeeah.. thats cool and high energy if you are doing it on a whim and executing a nice solo..it showcases your chops and the bands ability.
I have no problems hearing it as long as it fits. It spices up the set and shows the band on its own level of musicianship.

Same with ZZ ... to outright change a Billy Gibbons solo on something like Legs or Cheap Sunglasses would sound out of place, I would respect what was played. However if you choose to embellish in his vein.. tweak a note here or there.. I wouldn't sweat that either as it has loose feel to some parts. There I would cop the vibe/feel and the tone as best able.

I somtimes look at the style of the player and his approach, his sound and decide on how loose I can interpet or close I will try to nail it. There..(as in the above ZZ's) a player usually has dominant parts of intro and outro to his solos where you could do the beginning and the end of the solo note for note and the body would be extendable or embellishable..but again its a matter of taste how you stay within context.

ya. ..blah blah blah.. I too have gone through my phases where I tend to be a perfectionist. Some I execute the same solo night after night..others I don't.

[metalhead28]

I think it's simple. Some solos you just can't change at all or everybody's gonna go "what was that"....even the non-guitar players.
You can't change the solo in "Wait" or "Crazy Train".....but take a song like Paranoid. I used to go off in that song and I think it sounded fine. It also gave people something interesting that they normally wouldn't expect. That can be good too.
I just use my personal judgement. Maybe everybody wouldn't agree, but most people seemed to like it.
Also, I think you can change the fast parts to alot of solos without people noticing, I think you can add lots of embellishments too as long as you keep the meat and potatoes of the melody. If there's no real melody to the solo, like a shredfest, who cares, just go off!

Oh well, I don't do the cover band thing anymore, even though I would like to sometimes. But that's how I approached it when I was doing it.

[charvelguy]

I think some of it is pretty common sense.. if you are true to the norm of being a good cover band and want to represent the artist to sound listenable without people cringing and walking out or having ice and veggies/condiments tossed at ya... you don't want to play SRV's "Pride and Joy" with a high gain recto sound ala Metallica anymore than you would use a slightly pushed Fender clean tone for VH's Ain't talkin. That just covers the tone aspect of it.. then you have the note and style aspect of it... same applies.

However, there also is a 'passable' factor to doing covers which offshoots into its own genre and catagorizes into a 'cool' factor to doing covers your own way.

Hendrix used to do covers of Dylan or the Beatles and he did them in his own way in his style. All Along The Watchtower is a perfect example of a improved interpetation IMO. The Beatles & Who did covers of other bands/blues standards but they would rock them up...and they did that before they made a name for themselves as 'original' artists.. same with VH, QR & Kiss.. countless others,.. Skid Row, Metallica, Rush etc. Difference between VH and some of those other bands is they pushed it out front right away instead of a retroactive type of career deal. By going out on a limb and doing their own version, it worked and that became the next std of the old as well as quite marketable because of the 'new sound'. An old song doing new tricks.

[jcm800x]

Depends on the song, I usually play from %100-%60 of the solos I cover.

[kmanick]

I agree with these guys on this. If the solo is a melodic solo that you can hum back then I wouldn't change it and play it note for note. Jesses Girl, Ain't talking bout Love, are good examples, something like the Cars 'I guess you're just what I needed " would be another I'd play straight.
but something like "Red House" or "Since I've been loving you", I would play the recognizable licks and then go to town and do my own thing.
Most of the time other guitar players are the only ones who really give a shit anyway

[Newc]

Since I spent so many years slaving over my Sabbath albums learning to play, I try to do them note for note. As was said before, there are some songs that the solo is as much an identifiable part of the song for everyone (non-players too) as the title, chorus, or anything. Freebird is one example.
Stairway is another.

And, as before, there are solos that I've learned where I like to show off the fact that I've learned it, which to me in some ways is more impressive than "doing your own thing". You'd be surprised how many people do their own thing because they CAN'T play the original.

For other songs, like Cat Scratch Fever, I didn't spend as much time on the solo as I should have, so I missed a few things in it, so of course it always came out as my version but still had enough of the original's lines to fit in and work well. Not to mention we (or rather the singer) changed a little bit of the base structure (nothing major) and we had a slightly more crushing sound to it than the one we always heard on the radio

However, if anyone wants to tab out the solo to Black Hole Sun, be my guest :ROTF:

[Shawn Lutz]

I haven't been a cover band in a long time but usually it was note for note or pretty damn close....I don't care if I miss a 64th note here or there in an Yngwie solo

If we added a song that to the set that I didnt have time to work out the solo to my comfort level I'd just improvise one...I enjoy that and that is what started me on originals

Certain songs from certain artists the solo should remain as close as possible to the original recording...I do that for my own sake...if I'm happy then generally the people in the audience were.

[FSU_Seminoles]

for me it depends on the song. If I play a Slayer song then I won't mind playing it pretty much as I feel but if I was to play a Randy Rhoads song then I'd play it note for note.

[skorb]

I recently joined a cover band (my first band experience at 41, LOL) and I try to play everything note for note. that's just the way I learned and I always work to do things right. now if we have a longer section in some song where we stretch out, then I'll play around, but 98% of the time it's play it like it sounds on the record.

I take pride in nailing solos and tones. some tones I jack up a bit to have them cut through more live, but generally it's very close.

I learned by playing along to UFO records (Michael Schenker) and Rush records, and more recently Marty Friedman songs, and Joe Satriani stuff, so I learned to play precisely and I have the ear for it. so why not do it perfect?

there are some I just can't get my fingers around, and in those cases I can fake it quite sincerely.

[jjw]

the original artists dont play it the same wise mate live,thats why you have dont do it perfect!lol sure enought VH/whitelion/extreme have got solos that you realy have to play note for note as their a BIG part of the tune.Play with me i do note perfect apart from some of the fills where i go off-same with mr scary where i add my own style to some licks>its not about cheating as you cant play the licks-some times it cool as a guitarist to outplay the orignal guitarist your covering.I like to see a band play and when the soloist plays the solo to surprise me with some amazing twist to the solo that works well.Jeez on some tunes i do there are NO solo's and even i dont feel the need to play a solo but on most solos i am in the same ball park but i my add my own colour with a few licks and vibrato

[charvelguy]

I agree ..even if I play it note for note with attention to inflection, execution.. it's going to still sound like me playing someone elses solo... so somewhere along the line..I might as well. I really think it should be an intutive thing and try not to overanalyze it...otherwise you may end up like Peter Green. (bad joke.. but an example..I believe I recall reading even Peter said be wary of searching for the perfect note selection/solo)

Covers can be a vehicle for promoting your own style in a recognizable format..
Gary Moore doing YB/Becks "Shapes" .. he doesn't do the Yardbirds version note for note,..he lights it up and puts his own stamp on it.

This can easily go outside of the discussion of just solos tho.. it also can get very involved in the discussion of various types of cover bands and the type of gig/market you are looking at.. that also determines how you approach doing a cover song, approach a solo etc.

If you play for the DLR band.. DLR is likely going to want you play like, look like, sound like Ed used to in various stages of Ed. But he may also require you to do Vai. Look at a talent like Becker and anyone else he hired along the lines. There's a guy like Russ Parrish who has to determine these same things.
Or Brad Gillis doing the Ozzy gig after RR.
Or Joe Satriani after Blackmore got fired.