Song Covers

AngelOreo

Junior Member
I am sure this is a silly question.. but..

When you play a song cover.. would you say the drums need to be spot on? Or can you play all key/notable (ex. White room intro) bars and get away with a good sounding groove?

How perfect does the drum cover have to be relative to the original to be considered a job well done vs improvising your owns grooves keeping the key notes intact?

Hmm not sure I worded that correctly.. still working on my coffee

Disclaimer: I know a cover is just that..a cover of the original..but I had to ask.


Jim.
 
I don't think it's silly at all, as people definitely have different views on it.

In the past I used to get the basic grooves of songs down perfectly while ignoring the orgininal drummer's fills and flourishes and adding my own. The fun for me was just playing along to a track and adding my own touches to it.

However, lately I've been transcribing songs note-for-note. It really helps improve many areas like writing and reading, and attention to detail while playing. I prefer doing it this way now, but once in a while I enjoy simply jamming out to a song.
 
I think this thread might help to answer your questions.
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59679
That being said, I think it's alright to have some variances when playing a cover. I personally try to nail a cover song down just like the record. Mimicking another drummer's part can be both challenging and rewarding. Being in a cover band has certainly helped me grow as a drummer because of that.
 
it kind of depends on your goals as a band. if you guys are all trying to play the songs exactly like the originals and mimic everything about the originals, then i would yes, it's a good idea to copy everything. not many bands go to that length, but there are some who do.

maybe you're not that ambitious as a band. if you guys want to just approximate the songs then it's probably ok to play the basic original grooves and add your own fills. that's definitely less work. i would say most bands take that approach and if they're good musicians, it usually works out fine for them. my band is in this category.

maybe your goal as a band is to put your own unique spin on cover songs and do them in a completely different style to make an artistic statement. in that case, anything goes!
 
Great feed back .. thanks.

I do not play in a band per say.. but I am jamming with a buddy who plays guitar in an open mic situation where we play covers. am 8 months in to this hobby and finding I have a lot of learning to do and I wonder if I am disappointing myself because I feel I should be ble to paly most of these..I always learned.. Practice right.. do right.

But if that is a lofty goal at this time. then I am OK with taking it piece at a time.
 
I'm in your position too, just starting out w/ drums (been just over month now), and playing by myself.

I lean towards the note-by-note side of it because I find it more challenging/rewarding. When I start with a new song I focus on just learning the structure of the song and the beats and try to just get through it without fills or anything fancy... Then I'll start adding the fills in, dumbing them down to my level if necessary (but still as close as possible to the original).

I don't really enjoy just making it up as I go and holding a beat because then I have no clear goals/rewards to work towards. Which is why i haven't really gotten into the Groove Essentials stuff, it feels like I'm just playing along with a slightly-more-interesting metronome.

But that's just me jamming in my basement. I couldn't imagine doing that if I was in a cover band that needed to fill 2-3 hour set...
 
I think this thread might help to answer your questions.
http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59679
That being said, I think it's alright to have some variances when playing a cover. I personally try to nail a cover song down just like the record. Mimicking another drummer's part can be both challenging and rewarding. Being in a cover band has certainly helped me grow as a drummer because of that.

Yeah, read that thread! It's quite an interesting read.

I'd say it depends a bit on what you're covering.

Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, the Who and others never played their own songs like the record, so I think a bit of improv is in the spirit of their songs.

But if you're doing more recent radio hits, spot on is probably a better approach.
 
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