Why Learn Other People's Songs, Part 2
Friday, August 29, 2008 at 11:35AM The other night, John Batdorf (www.johnbatdorfmusic.com) and I were playing Bob Stane’s Coffee Gallery (www.coffeegallery.com) in Alta Dena. We were doing both All Wood and Stones (www.allwoodandstones.com) songs and our solo stuff and the wonderful Bill Batstone was sitting in on bass and high harmonies. We had rehearsed all the Stones songs but none of our solo stuff and in the middle of the set, John asked if I wanted to do an old Batdorf & Rodney song. John is pretty ridgid about the B&R songs and wants them to be exactly as they were on the original recordings, so I learned Mark’s guitar part by rote. That is to say, I didn’t learn the chords to the song and understand where he was placing his solo. I just figured out by ear the notes he played and then expected to remember them. With repetition that can happen. But… 
I hadn’t played it in at least six months, but I said sure. The worst that can happen is I’ll blow the licks, so we jumped into it and it went really well except for one part of my solo, which I messed up every time it came around. We still pulled the song off, but I was chagrined to say the least and John was very gracious about me messing up one of his songs, if only marginally. Thinking about the episode, here’s what I came away with and what I want to pass on to you today.
When you are learning something that someone else played, you can, if you want to, learn it by rote, by ear…whatever…but if you actually take the time to learn the chords to the song, learn the whole song in fact, then when a solo pops up that needs to be exactly that and not a jam off the top of your head, you can deliver the goods.
I realized that I play a lot of guitar by rote. I don’t really acknowledge in my head what the chords are, I just remember where my fingers were for that particular song. When you know several thousand songs, that is a prodigious demonstration of memory. If you put on top of that, remembering by rote, all the solos that other people wrote off the top of their heads, you are truly challenging yourself needlessly.
In order to jam with someone, you attempt to discern the chord pattern and you let yourself go and the notes just come out. No thinking, no remembering, just response to what you are hearing. It’s just like a conversation between you and the chord progression and the other musicians. You don’t try to talk over what someone else is saying. You listen and you contribute when you have something to contribute.
Playing a specific part that someone else wrote requires completely different muscles. Mainly because instead of going where you would go naturally, you have to discipline yourself to go where someone else went naturally. And when you learn what they did, you increase your own musical vocabulary.
We all fall into ruts, which are for each of us, the paths of least resistance. I was talking about this the other day in the piece I wrote on why you should learn other people’s songs. It’s the same thing for their solos. When ever you learn something that didn’t come from your creative place, you are expanding your own musical vocabulary; your own musical options for the next time that you are creating something yourself.
It is definitely fun to just wing it and try to make something up each time you are called upon to do so, but the muses are not as reliable as you would want them to be. By learning other people’s stuff, you increase the size of the well you are drawing from and the deeper the well, the longer you can draw from it.
Last night, John and I played in Culver City and after sound check I brought up the snafu from Sunday night. I told him that I needed to know the chords to the song and I needed to know the notes that were played in order to not make a mistake playing Mark’s part on a song again. John cheerfully gave me the chords to the song.
Reader Comments (4)
I have this funny thing about performing other peoples material...If I'm on guitar accompanying myself I feel very illegitate...becos REAL musicians and writers perform their OWN music...but since the stuff I'm attracted to is different from the general maelstrom it evens things out...
But if someone else is playing and I'm just singing I dont feel illegit...in fact I feel just the opposite...I can just perform...maybe its cos I'm not that great of a guitarist or that I feel abit confined and my attention split playing and singing...whatever but thats what I have to contend with...
Also if I have to improvise on guitar I'm a well cooked rack of lamb...if i am lucky I can go in the general direction...to sing I can improvise all over the place something I love about folk/blues/jazz...but it is tough to do while I am playing it throws me off...and I make mistakes playing ALL OVER THE PLACE
little by little I am improving as a guitarist but I first have to know exactly where I am going and then when I know that I change the things I dont like...the chords that sound wrong...the notes that seem discordant not Atonal...but just dont fit in with the path as a whole as opposed to ornamentation...which may veer this way or that but is a part of the whole...
Singing I have become pretty good over time at consistently going improvising with little thought...tho it took a long time to have this as something I could draw on at will...I used to make a ton of mistakes...I think this can be more forgivable on an instrument but singing at least for me...I am so strict about not screwing up ad libs...sometimes I have to stay a millisecond behind or crescendo into it...but if I land where i want it makes no difference how I got there...there is a song called Maybe that was first done by a girl group in the late 50's later janis joplin made it a live staple and recorded the song on her "I Got Dem Ol Kozmic Blues Agan Mama"...anyway there is a moan in there that janis does right after a guitar solo and its this long moan while singing the word Maybe...between "May" and "Be"...i've been trying to learn it for about 9 years and I am at a place where I can pull it off if just by the seat of my pants...point is Janis did alot of moans and adlibs that went all over the place but would end up going where they should...with or without staying in the confines of the song...Doing this myself Vocally makes it easier to write...sort of going for a drive or a walk you go where you want to or just coast and then when you get home for the freedom you have allowed yourself structure is more easy to set and becos of this so is leaving the structure and going off where ever you wish and then finding your way back...learning a method in order to forget it as you use it to create expressive singing/playing
James…just a guess, might the song have been “Me and My Guitar?” That’s certainly one you can’t just jam on, or improvise every time you do it. It has acute signature licks that make the song distinctive. You are very correct that playing other people’s tunes enlarges the well you draw from. I think the optimal benefit is to incorporate what you draw from into your own music and songs, and most importantly, to maintain your identity. I think the “curse” for songwriters is to hear that you sound just like someone else. There’s nothing wrong having influences—and that can be very beneficial, but one should maintain their own identity and musical integrity. And, I believe this comes from the heart and being cognizant of exactly what you want to happen.
Max
max and bobby, dali said if you want to be great, copy the greats. i remember the first time i heard shawn colvin, i was thorougly unimpressed. i thought she was just doing early joni mitchell. but as i listened, i heard her unique artistry in there and in no time at all she had evolved into her own unique artist. i suspect that one of the original reasons she got signed was that someone at the label heard a sound that was already a hit and with the insight of a suit, recognized that as a possiblity. if she had started out totally unique they would probably have run from her.
you were right about the song. i tend to believe that on stage you can stray from the recordings and see what happens, after you have delivered the goods that is; what the audience has come for. when i play with other people, i invite them to contribute. even when i am producing, i first want to hear what the other guys are bringing to the party. i can always play what i want to hear after they're gone if they don't get what i want in terms of feel, ambiance or hook. my friend likes utterly no surprizes. he wants the recordings and the live show to be exactly the same. works for the eagles, so i don't mind, but on my own, i tend to go for the fun and the spontanaety.
james
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