When you do cover songs ...

axisus

Do you learn the whole thing pretty much exactly as played, or do you 'wing it' with the chords and just get the solos and fills sorted properly?

ICBM

I tend to learn the chords properly and then wing it with the solos and fills.

I never learn anything exactly as played. I approach a cover as an original song that happens to have been written by someone else...

Roland

First off our singer names the key he wants. I work out, and if necessary transpose, the whole song: chords, words, solos, riffs and fills, and sometimes the bass line. When we play it through we take the song back to its basics, and then reconstruct it. Sometimes it comes out like the original. Sometimes we end up with what we think is a better arrangement.

As an example take Tainted Love. It's been released as a single at least four times, each one different but clearly recognisable. Our version is different again.

It's always interesting to see how the original artist has changed a song, first in taking it from recording to live performance, and then developed it over the years.

axisus said:

... do you 'wing it' with the chords and just get the solos and fills sorted properly?

I always find out how the original was played. Whether to reproduce that is then a conscious decision rather than laziness.

StageStruck

Try to learn the main riffs and the chord structure as much as possible. Learn any major hooks in the solo then improvise the rest. If the originals have fade-outs, come up with an ending or listen to a live version for ideas

rico

StageStruck said:

Try to learn the main riffs and the chord structure as much as possible. Learn any major hooks in the solo then improvise the rest. If the originals have fade-outs, come up with an ending or listen to a live version for ideas

Pretty much this. With the addition of tasteful harmonies if the original song is just one guitar. 

octatonic

Depends on the song.

In the past I have been the guy that chucks out a modal shredfest over Smells Like Teen Spirit, but in truth it is better if you just learn the written solo.
My approach is to do as little work as necessary in order to make it convincing.

Lestratcaster

Exactly like the recording if I can, esp if its in a different tuning. I know its a pain in the arse to keep retuning from standard but I like to get it as close as I can. Riffs have to be played rhythmically the same and before I would be really inaccurate with the timing. So aiming for the same as the recording gives me something to strive for.

DesVegas

I get the tabs off the web and play along with the tune until I got it down. And perform it that way too. Unless it was love is noise by the verve where I used to put on as much delay as possible and soar around for 5 minutes. My favourite part of the set.

ESBlonde

We try and do decent replication but will take liberties with the sequence like adding double chorus to end and putting proper finishes or seque into the next song

Danny1969

I learn mainstream songs by mentally charting the intervals, ignoring any key at this point .... so something like Get Lucky is remembered as 1-3-5-4  ...... I then just transpose the song depending on who I'm working with and their vocal range. 

For guitar driven rock it's more a case of learning it vertibin and your kind of forced into the original key if you want the same voicing due to open strings etc .... Back in Black won't sound the same if you transpose it into any other key

I like to copy solo's note for note if it's in my capability, some aren't ... I remember trying to vain to do the Get The Funk out solo, just sounded a mess so I had to simplify it in the end. Luckily in the type of music I'm generally being paid to play there's not much in the way of difficult solos

Maynehead

I will play rhythm parts mostly the same, as for the solo I would say about half the songs I will try to play note for note and the other half I will make up something that's inspired by the original.

Note that I wouldn't use the term "improvise" as it implies that I make up something on the spot and play it differently each time, but that's not the case. I tend to spend some time to create my own solo, then stick to it every time.

midlifecrisis

i try and get as close as i can, quite often nowhere near but certain riffs/solos are more important to get right than others

slacker

Last band I played bass in the lead singer was quite particular re song choice and as he had to sing them it was reasonable to let him pick them. So to relieve boredom and playing an electric double bass I would swing the songs as much as possible. We didnt do many gigs anway so it wasnt sabotage. 

Last start up I picked the songs and would purposely pick ones with simple parts and solos as I was the sole guitarist and vocalist. I would do my best to sound like the original but simplify things where needed. 

I do some casual dep/random stuff at parties and Christmas and it's just acoustics mainly. I like stripped down versions of well known songs. 

koneguitarist

Some of the songs I learned in the band without ever hearing original or any version. 
Singer may come up with the song and play it through to us on acoustic and then we will jam it. 
Some songs are so recognisable that you have to do a bit of homework as even non musicians know when it's wrong.
i don't think we play any song in the band just like the original, some are close though, but solos certainly ain't! 

Emp_Fab

I tend to be a bit OCD with being spot-on and would spend a lot of time correcting the band member's parts if they weren't right.  This made us super-tight and we sounded really good.  Trouble is, all we ever did was practice and practice and never gigged and I pissed everyone off with my perfectionism.  That band eventually folded, sadly.  The one I've just joined is much more relaxed about accuracy and I've learned to keep my gob shut when they do something that doesn't match the original exactly!