Covers that don't work with the original drum part...

So our band wanted to add the Wilson Pickett version of Land Of 1000 Dances for function events. I'm a Stax fan but I've never liked that song. Heard it far too much. But anyway, after attempting the Roger Hawkins groove, I realised that I just couldn't physically do the original hi-hat part at that tempo without timing issues, so I have to play half-time on the hi-hat and I feel like such a fraud.
 
I realised that I just couldn't physically do the original hi-hat part at that tempo without timing issues, so I have to play half-time on the hi-hat and I feel like such a fraud.

It won't take much to change that.

Get your drum pad, and use the song like a metronome. Play 1ms of 8ths with just your right hand, then add the left for 1ms of 16ths. Alternate back and forth, 1ms just the right and 1ms both hands, for the whole song.

Relax and breathe. If you need to stop briefly, fine. Keep at it until you can get through the whole song.

Run through it a couple of times each day. You will have it in no time.
 
It won't take much to change that.

Get your drum pad, and use the song like a metronome. Play 1ms of 8ths with just your right hand, then add the left for 1ms of 16ths. Alternate back and forth, 1ms just the right and 1ms both hands, for the whole song.

Relax and breathe. If you need to stop briefly, fine. Keep at it until you can get through the whole song.

Run through it a couple of times each day. You will have it in no time.

That's just the sort of inspiring information I needed. My practice regime sorted! Thank you very much.
 
When my band is learning a new cover, I will listen to original recording, of course. But I will also go on youtube and see how the original band did it live.

Sometimes the live version of the song will have a different way to play the part that fits my style better and I don't feel like I'm cheating.
 
I heard a band playing Justin Bieber’s ‘Love Yourself’ on Friday.
Since the original song has no drums at all, the version I heard with live drums worked well. I wouldn’t say the original part doesn’t fit live, but it certainly works with a drum part added.
 
When my band is learning a new cover, I will listen to original recording, of course. But I will also go on youtube and see how the original band did it live.

Sometimes the live version of the song will have a different way to play the part that fits my style better and I don't feel like I'm cheating.

And occasionally, the live version has a different drummer than the album version, so he has done what we're talking about here - modified the part to work better for him.
 
I think I know the answer to that one. Maybe. Here goes:

It's the very first pitfall encountered, time is boring.

TIME IS NOT BORING G DAMMIT. (when played properly)

I'll go out on a limb here and say that all the drummers who "screw up" a straightforward song with too much crap...They don't how "not" to embellish, even when embellishing detracts (which they are most definitely not aware of)

Keeping just the beat is boring to most drummers. I suffered from that for way too long. It's the biggest pitfall I've seen, thinking that just keeping the time/beat...is boring. It's so not. It's completely opposite in fact. Actually it works MUCH better than impressing everyone with stupid out of place fills. These are the drummers that likely can't groove either, because time is boring and fills are everything. Not.

To simplify...they just don't get it yet. I can very much relate. I didn't get it for the entire first phase of my drumming adventure. (16 years) Not their fault. It's just where they are on the journey. They are playing for themselves, not the song. They haven't musically matured to the point where they play like a team player in the support section. Drums are not the featured instrument.

Ego ego ego....I have to be great....I have to impress everyone...I have to play a lot of notes, Keeping time is too boring...It's all abut the drums...I, I, I, Me Me Me! So backwards.

You can't hold a 6 YO kid responsible for paying the electric bill. It's the same thing. They just aren't musically mature yet. It's hard not to diss them, but they don't deserve it if they are clueless. Ignorance is definitely a valid excuse here.

Brilliant post and so apt. Im not flash simply cause I'm not good enough but it plays to my strengths...steady time keeping with very few fills etc.
 
I think I know the answer to that one. Maybe. Here goes:

It's the very first pitfall encountered, time is boring.

TIME IS NOT BORING G DAMMIT. (when played properly)

I'll go out on a limb here and say that all the drummers who "screw up" a straightforward song with too much crap...They don't how "not" to embellish, even when embellishing detracts (which they are most definitely not aware of)

Keeping just the beat is boring to most drummers. I suffered from that for way too long. It's the biggest pitfall I've seen, thinking that just keeping the time/beat...is boring. It's so not. It's completely opposite in fact. Actually it works MUCH better than impressing everyone with stupid out of place fills. These are the drummers that likely can't groove either, because time is boring and fills are everything. Not.

To simplify...they just don't get it yet. I can very much relate. I didn't get it for the entire first phase of my drumming adventure. (16 years) Not their fault. It's just where they are on the journey. They are playing for themselves, not the song. They haven't musically matured to the point where they play like a team player in the support section. Drums are not the featured instrument.
feel
Ego ego ego....I have to be great....I have to impress everyone...I have to play a lot of notes, Keeping time is too boring...It's all abut the drums...I, I, I, Me Me Me! So backwards.

You can't hold a 6 YO kid responsible for paying the electric bill. It's the same thing. They just aren't musically mature yet. It's hard not to diss them, but they don't deserve it if they are clueless. Ignorance is definitely a valid excuse here.

I came from a metal background (I mostly play radio rock and pop now), and it took me quite a while to feel really good about just keeping time, without the need to show off. These days, I actually have a lot of fun just laying down a groove. Because of that, I can now concentrate on the feel of the groove of each song, instead of just waiting for my next tom run, or double bass flurry. There are so many different feels you can get out of the same basic groove, just depending on the attitude you put behind it. Realizing that "just playing time" can be really fun is a serious vgame changer.
 
Johnny B Goode is another one that's always played too straight instead of a swingy shuffle.

Possibly "Sunshine of your love", often people don't play the original 1 & 3 pulse.

I can't play JBG with a shuffle. Yes, I know the band shuffled and Berry played straight. But, to my ears, the guitar dominates the song on the original recording, and when my band plays it, the rest of us are not dramatically lower in the mix, so if we swung, it would stand out a lot more against the guitar.

My friend's cover band plays Sunshine with the backbeat on 2 & 4. I couldn't stand it. I'm also not a big fan of the original's 1 & 3 beat. So, my band doesn't play it. :)
 
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My friend's cover band plays Sunshine with the backbeat on 2 & 4. I couldn't stand it. I'm also not a big fan of the original's 1 & 3 beat. So, my band doesn't play it. :)

Split the difference and play on the + of 1 and 3? ;)
 
I can't play JBG with a shuffle. Yes, I know the band shuffled and Berry played straight. But, to my ears, the guitar dominates the song, and when my band plays it, the rest of us are not dramatically lower in the mix, so if we swung, it would stand out a lot more against the guitar.

Bass guitar holds it all together because it walks so you can swing the drums and play the guitar straight. That's where the shuffle feel comes from.

Backbeat also falls on 2 and 4 so you kind of have to swing it.
 
I think my perspectove s that the original drum part always works, but it might be dependent on:

1) a certain tempo.

2) a percussion part, other rhythmic part or type of sound to work that's not there.

3) an understading of feel or subdivision either on the drummer's or the other musician's parts that's lacking.

4) the fact that it's too subtle for that type of live environment or the available instrumentation.

I understand that many cover bands try to completely imitate something, that wasn't always something cool though, having your own style and sound used to be the most important. In my case, often when I do a cover we start from scratch. Lyrics and basic melody. Even the chord progression is usually up for discussion pretty quickly.
 
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I often find with an original part the hats are mixed down...you get to rehearsal playing the hats full on and it just doesn't sound right...UMMV.
 
The main groove, whilst not hard, doesn't really groove. Somehow it works on the original, but we certainly don't play it like that, and I've seen other bands cover it and likewise not do the original drum part.

I think that "main groove" is 30% of the song. Of course you can rewrite any song in any fashion but I would use the essence of the original if I were to do that.
 
Johnny B Goode is another one that's always played too straight instead of a swingy shuffle

True, but it's been done that way for so long, it now sounds incorrect to do the original part!

I'm guilty of that, too!
 
Very rare - but in a few cases I've evolved a drum part into something more danceable than on the original recording. For example, The Jackson Five's original "I want you back'.. the intro is a very awkward syncopated line and the drum part just doesn't groove for me. The verse and chorus rocks but I 'evolved' that intro section a bit to make it more accessable to the dance floor - while still capturing the original intent of the groove - and I have to say I found a way of playing it that grooves from start to finish. I looked at various covers of it and found many different takes on that part - so it's not just me.

Another case I ran into was Hollywood Nights by Bob Seeger - okay to listen to on the radio but - the drum part is just deadly boring repetitive and really annoying to listen to live. I tried various things but you just can't change the basic song - so the solution was - we dropped it!

In all other cases, my motto is 'you can't mess with success'. If a band had a hit with a song - they obviously were doing something right, and people expect to hear that same vibe.
 
BTW - my favorite version of Johny B Good is the Elvis version from the 70s with Ronnie Tutt.. great rockin groove; kind of a hybrid in between straight and swung.. and that awesome guitar player James Burton!
 
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Another case I ran into was Hollywood Nights by Bob Seeger - okay to listen to on the radio but - the drum part is just deadly boring repetitive and really annoying to listen to live. I tried various things but you just can't change the basic song - so the solution was - we dropped it!

Spooky - we just had this exact discussion after our last gig. The song just goes nowhere... it's really flat, not a dance tune, not a singalong - so we've dropped it.
 
Spooky - we just had this exact discussion after our last gig. The song just goes nowhere... it's really flat, not a dance tune, not a singalong - so we've dropped it.

Never liked being beaten by a groove but I've just had a go at this one and ur right it doesnt work ...its weird for sure.
 
3x 16ths, rather than 4 on the hat, no real dynamics... unless your vocalist can nail it, meh - skip it.
 
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