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For all of you who are in bands...

given to jamgiven to jam Posts: 57
edited June 2004 in Musicians and Gearheads
What were some of the first songs you guys covered? Or did you just start out writing stuff? I'm trying to start a band with some friends. We're not that great or anything, me (lead guitar) and our drummer are the only ones with any experience at all. so simple songs would be great. and they don't have to be pearl jam songs.
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Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • FlizankFlizank Posts: 59
    Rockin' in the Freeworld is a good song to start out playing just because its so simple, and because its fun screaming it at the top of your lungs with a band behind you.
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  • goto_lgoto_l Posts: 1,189
    Born to be Wild & War Pigs are the easiest songs to cover ever.
    You men eat your dinner
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  • dan_alivedan_alive Posts: 123
    i agree about RITFW, really easy and a great song to solo and just rock out too.. the audience love it too!
    *recalls playing it at PJ tribute night i melbourne some months ago* aaah
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  • House53House53 Posts: 1,276
    Every cover band in the history of the world... okay maybe not... but most cover bands play RITFW... we do... it is great.

    Wild Thing is very easy too... it is a good song because while simple it allows you to work on your timing and interplay as a band.
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  • nocode198nocode198 Posts: 125
    My old band just started out playing nirvana covers, simple but good to play. We were young, so Nirvana were 'the' band to cover. I wouldn't cover them now mind you. Just start simple and build, and when you get used to playing with each other. then try to write some stuff.
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  • pariahpariah Posts: 596
    Originally posted by nocode198
    My old band just started out playing nirvana covers, simple but good to play. We were young, so Nirvana were 'the' band to cover. I wouldn't cover them now mind you. Just start simple and build, and when you get used to playing with each other. then try to write some stuff.

    Exact same story here. But the first two covers we seriously worked on were Rancid's "I Wanna Riot" (PunkOrama 1) and Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant". We were very punk-oriënted back then, mainly because we seriously sucked at playing our instuments. Later, two members of the band got over-artistic (writing anything less experimental than a 11/8 Time Signature was strictly forbidden) and the bass player and I left. We're still working on a new band now.
    "Until you realize the importance of the banana king, you will know absolutely nothing about the human-interest things of the world."
  • parchyparchy Posts: 205
    My band isn't rock, but very jam band-ish, reggae-ish, folk-ish (tough to describe our music) and some of the first stuff we tagged (and still do) onto our songs are Marley covers... Stir it Up, No Woman no Cry... talk about a crowd pleaser...
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  • mulacmulac Posts: 97
    cover bands *shivers*

    but yeah do ritfw, but do your own stuff, in the short term you might get a lot of people just watching and not giving a shit about you but in the long term it works out.
    the passenger is life
  • low_lightlow_light Posts: 251
    we were anti cover songs until we had enough songs of our own to just want to throw a few in... so far we have covered

    "the drugs dont work" - verve
    "heaven on earth" more of a TAG not the whole song - u2
    "wishlist" pj
    "the scientist" and "green eyes" - coldplay

    thats about it... cover songs are truthfully for us and not really the audience... we have 17 original songs and so when we throw one in as a cover its pretty much what we wanna hear more than the audience.. hehe.. kinda odd but maybe some other people in bands know what i mean.

    -d
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  • MirrorballerMirrorballer Posts: 4
    Covering is always an ambivalent thing. some accuse you of not
    being able to write you're own stuff. otherwise it is always a great feeling to play a song you really like and it works out.

    easy tunes are: lenny kravitz "fly away", sex pistols "anarchy in
    the uk" and "all the small things" from blink 182 (and of course every nirvana piece)

    we used to do a cool version of "ring of fire" and "don't drag me
    down" from social distortion".

    does anyone know a pj song that easy to do with a band in terms
    of sound and playing together?

    i am thinking of "blood" at the moment.
  • corduroy_veddercorduroy_vedder Posts: 66
    20th century boy by Marc Bolan and T.Rex
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  • pariahpariah Posts: 596
    that's what i call revitalizing a thread :)
    "Until you realize the importance of the banana king, you will know absolutely nothing about the human-interest things of the world."
  • given to jamgiven to jam Posts: 57
    Originally posted by pariah
    that's what i call revitalizing a thread :)

    haha, yeah. it was over 5 months ago when i first posted this thread!! actually the band i was forming kind of dissolved, although we're good friends. i'm actually doing an acoustic performance in a couple days w/ 2 of the guys though.
    knowledge is a tree
    it's growing up just like me.
  • pariahpariah Posts: 596
    Originally posted by given to jam
    haha, yeah. it was over 5 months ago when i first posted this thread!! actually the band i was forming kind of dissolved, although we're good friends. i'm actually doing an acoustic performance in a couple days w/ 2 of the guys though.

    That's cool... which songs are you guys gonna play?
    "Until you realize the importance of the banana king, you will know absolutely nothing about the human-interest things of the world."
  • 3manstack3manstack Posts: 205
    I just convinced our band to cover Last Kiss, and it turned out really well, crowds seem to like it

    G Em C D

    Easy!
  • nailz100nailz100 Posts: 1,176
    I play that too....its a good tune.
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  • BrotherBrother Posts: 63
    Enter Sandman by Metallica
    Cemetary Gates by Pantera
    Aneurysm by Nirvana and Teen Spirit by Nirvana
  • gotz idgotz id Posts: 125
    Blood

    Misfits, assorted songs

    Glory and Consequence, Ben Harper (its tricky at first, but its good to get your band used to slighty more techincal stuff after months of playing 'Bullet' and "138"! lol )


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  • gotz idgotz id Posts: 125
    Oh yeah! Spin the Black Circle!

    Alive, its suprisingly easy.
    I wish I was the 10Club holiday single, the one that never showed up...

  • Dirty Lost DogDirty Lost Dog Posts: 47
    we played a lot of pj like alive and corduroy. RITFW , Sweet Emotion, The Ocean, and so on
  • Heatherj43Heatherj43 Posts: 1,254
    My bf is in a very seasoned band, but they are now adding Born To Lose ~ Social Distortion to their song list. My bf is a drummer and its an easy song for drummers (my bf is great at drums, so that's not why they are doing it). It's just a great song for public playing.
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  • PJamGrunge10PJamGrunge10 Posts: 596
    there was a band that played at my school today (it was just kids from the school who were in a band together)....and they sucked:p

    actually the drummer wasnt bad, not the greatest vocals though...
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  • solsurfrsolsurfr Posts: 207
    I was in a PJ tribute band a couple of years ago and we did pretty well until we imploded. We did most of the popular PJ with some obscure stuff. I have some demos and can send some links if you guys are interested in checkin' it out. My current band did "Down" on May 5 which was okay but our singer doesn't have Eddie in his range but we also do RITFW for encore sometimes.
  • thewaxtadpolethewaxtadpole Posts: 50
    Well, we made a really weird, messed-up recording of Meat Loaf's "All Revved Up and No Place to Go" which features background noise of me and the drummer playing pinball. Great song, very energectic, and surprisingly easy.

    We've been compiling lists of other songs we'd like to do, which range from Simon & Garfunkel's "A Simple Desultory Phillipic" to the theme song of one of those shitty Nickolodeon anime series (no, we aren't actually going to do that one.)

    Other than that, it's been all us.
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  • AngusAngus Posts: 376
    we started out as a coverband years ago. The first songs we did were Paranoid (Black Sabbath) and Whole lotta love (Led Zeppelin). Since then, we've been adding and dropping lots of songs and also writing our own songs. We now play about 3/4 of the show own songs and the rest covers. We just choose from:

    covers:

    - You could be mine (Guns 'n Roses)
    - Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden)
    - N.I.B (Black Sabbath)
    - Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
    - Rock 'n Roll (Led Zeppelin)
    - Whole lotta love (Led Zeppelin)
    - Medley Whole lotta rosie - Dirty Deeds - Girls Got Rhythm - Highway to hell (AC/DC)
    - Thunderstruck (AC/DC)
    - Enter Sandman (Metallica)

    Songs we have played in the past:

    Son of a gun (Nirvana)
    Molly's Lips (Nirvana) (hehe, this was fun)
    Living Loving Maid (Led Zeppelin)
    Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin)
    Sabbath Bloody Sabbath (Black Sabbath)
    You shook me all night long (AC/DC)
    Knocking on heaven's door (Guns 'n Roses)
    Welcome to the jungle (Guns 'n Roses)
    Am I evil - Metallica
    Seek & Destroy (Metallica)
    Master of Puppets (Metallica) (that was a hard one :))
    Breaking the law - Judas Priest

    There must be more I can't remember now. Not the kind of 'grunge' band, I know...
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  • 2italy2italy Posts: 39
    maybe you could try:
    smoke on the water
    ironman
    hey man nice shot - filter
    smells like teen spirit - nirvana
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  • Survo-Survo- Posts: 72
    to be honest, we have never covered a song seriously.

    we have only played seek n destroy by metallica and back in black by ac dc each song once, and that was just for fun, we never practiced it, just randomly started rockin the song. quite intersting. major fun tho, its always good to get away from the strain of writing music and just have a free for all jam. do some crazy shit.
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