NAME THAT TUNE
A while ago you were kind enough to print my letter about the difficulties of finding other people to play with when you are older and have never been in a band. Well, that was more than a year ago and after a failed attempt at advertising I placed an ad (at the suggestion of the manager of my local music shop, the North London Music Centre) on a well-known website and eventually I made contact with a drummer and bass player. We picked a few classic rock songs to learn and have a rehearsal studio booked for a couple of weeks’ time.
After looking at a few tutorials on YouTube, it’s easy to feel fairly confident, but when you listen to the tracks in question you soon realise the rhythm guitar is double-tracked, playing different parts or the guitar is in dropped D or just tuned down a whole step.
Some artists never seem to play the same song with the same chords from studio to live version (yes, I’m looking at you Neil Young!), so working out what and how to play a song you thought you knew is a lot more challenging than expected, especially when you are playing with others. Maybe you could do an article with hints and tips for those of us just starting out on this road? Chris Avery, via email Hi Chris, this is an issue that editor Jamie and Neville Marten of Guitar Techniques encountered when they took on the challenge of replicating Jimi Hendix’s debut album, Are You Experienced, at the Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival for its 50th anniversary. The answer is that when an original album track has loads of overdubs or differs from well-known live renditions of the same song, you have to pick a course of compromise through the contradictions. We found it useful to ask what licks or lines we couldn’t do without: what would decisively change the song for the worse if we took it out? And what parts are okay to fudge a bit? This can vary a bit from song to song – you have to play Wind Cries Mary pretty much as it is on the record if you want to get a good result – but with wig-out tracks, such as
Third Stone From The Sun, you can take a few more liberties once you’ve signposted the main motifs. Oh, and don’t forget to add a slice of yourself to the mix even while you try to nail the perfect cover. No piece of music survives being covered without some subtle shift in character – and, unless you are in a big-time tribute band, that’s probably for the best.