I've just joined a new covers band. They've been gigging their set for a few years. I come on board and sort out my own transcriptions of the set only to discover during rehearsals that the keyboard player is playing the wrong chord now and again. He's 99% spot on, but is clearly (to my ears) playing the wrong chords in certain parts of certain songs. They're not mistakes - it's how he's transcribed them himself and the way he's been gigging them for years.
Now, they're not hideously out, like a semitone or anything, and I'm not sure many in the audience would even notice, but I noticed during rehearsals. I sent him my transcriptions and asked him to note any differences down in the way they've always played them (mainly for format differences etc) and he's "corrected" a few by changing what I know are the correct chords (from the notation / audio analysis etc) into his incorrect versions.
Now - I don't want to piss him off - I'm the new boy, but it does grate my ears when hits the wrong chord.
I've tried to be as diplomatic as possible in my exchanges with him, pointing out that, for example, "Sorry mate, but the second chord in verse 3 is definitely a Bb major" and included a short clip of the original, slowed down, with the vocals stripped out, so he can hear for himself that what I'm saying is correct. The response I've had is basically along the lines of 'you play what you want mate, I'm going to carry on the way we've always done it'. I'll be surprised if he's even listened to the clips I sent.
Yes, I'm a bit anal about these things, but I'm surprised his musical ear can't hear the error - or - more importantly, that the original chords sound better than what he's playing.
So.... what would you do; play the correct chords loudly so it drowns out his wrong ones or just kiss ass and play the wrong chords along with him ? :-)
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Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
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If everyone else in the band is playing their version I'd personally go with that. Is changing that chord doing to get you any more gigs or get anyone else up and dancing, I doubt it.
Also when discussing it use "different" not "wrong", might be a bit more diplomatic being the new boy and all.
I also wondered what the bassist was doing.
If his chords are musically wrong and don't go with whatever the rest of the band is doing, I'd try and have a chat about it with the whole band. I'd be prepared to walk away or that they might fire me for making waves, too.
If it sounds OK, just not what the original recording was, and the rest of the band plays in tune with it, I'd accept it as the band arrangement.
I wonder what the previous guitarist did?
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I'm playing all the right notes, not necessarily in the right order........
Make a feature of it. "I really like that thing you do, show me what you are doing so I can make sure I'm being sympathetic to it". Then either match it (i.e bring out how bad it sounds, make it obvious so he can see it's not right) or make it sound deliberate and good, like you know what you are doing as a group. Nothing worse than one right / one wrong situation. There's nothing to say you can't add some artistic interpretation to covers. So long as you are all playing to the same score.
Assuming he is out and out wrong and not just playing a different inversion .... a keys player will often play an F major over a D bass to imply Dm7 for instance or Bm over G bass to imply Gmaj7 etc
The key to being a good earning covers band is to play it a bit half right so I wouldn't let things like this go
@Roland ..... I don't think anyone plays Superstition correctly, least of all me but generally the arrangement guitar bands do is in E rather than Eb and simplified for the chorus as we don't have all the brass. Out of interest what chords would you use for the
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Then you suffer
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bit, thats generally where I see people differ
Remember it's a covers band and you're playing the band's *interpretation* of the songs, which includes his. And he was in the band first . You don't have to play covers note-for-note. In fact in my opinion you shouldn't… that's what the jukebox is for. You're a band, you play the songs in your own way.
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B7 C7b5 B7 Bb7b5 A7 followed by a B7#5
To be honest, I really doubt he will even spot that I'm doing it. I raised the issue when I could hear we were doing slightly different things. Like I said, it's pretty trivial and I am definitely a stickler for detail. e.g. in one song one of the passing chords (i.e. it's two words of the chorus lasting perhaps 1 second), it should be a C major and he's playing G, and a bit after that he's still on G and it should be G7.
So, truth be told, nobody in the audience will tell, unless they're musos, but I think overall it will sound better if one of us is playing it right and the other slightly less so, than both of us playing it wrong.
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
His refusal to accept you have noticed and have suggested him play correctly would irritate me as well. Maybe isolate both your parts together and let him listen how it sounds.