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But I also firmly believe that a lot of people use "doing it our way" as an excuse to not put effort in to make something sound good
It’s also necessary to let your personal style show occasionally, because this adds energy and personality to the performance. Ultimately it’s a balancing act.
If it's because the original has a tendency to empty dance floors for some reason then absolutely tweak it into a floor filler, also sometimes studio versions just aren't possible to reproduce live and in that case an interpretation is the only way.
However....
If it's because somebody can't or won't put the effort in to learn something new or difficult, then they need to stop making excuses and take more pride in their playing. The truth is there are plenty of great songs out there which are very easy to play "note for note", if something is genuinely beyond capabilities then choose an easier song instead!
If you want to play a difficult song, then respect it and put the work in.
Best advice I was ever given when I started professional playing was "Don't take yourself too seriously, but DO take the music too seriously", and that's always made sense to me. There's always wiggle room for interpretation, but the key for me is to always make sure it's never to the detriment of the song.
I'm a big fan of the Jerry Garcia Band and how they tackled covers - it's an approximation not a facsimile.
To me seeing a band (cover or famous original) sounding exactly what's on the record isn't my preference.
I actively dislike hearing a band try to play a cover exactly like the original - unless they're so accurate it gets into the spooky zone, but it normally never does since the singer is rarely that close - full-on tribute bands excepted, but that's a special case.
Nothing puts me off faster than a band that sounds like one of those Top Of The Pops albums from the 70s - note-for-note accurate, but completely lacking any musical interest. I'd actually rather hear a band be not that good, as long as they're doing something creative and different with the song. I don't care at all about supposedly signature riffs and solos either - the bare bones of the song is all that counts.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Then there's the gigs where there's a kind of pride in being able to reproduce classic stuff quite accurately. Especially classic rock stuff where a lot of the audience are muso's and even those who aren't know how all the big solo's go and expect the big bits to be there. I enjoy these gigs and try to reproduce the big solo's and parts as close as poss.
The corporate party / awards stuff kind of expects a band that can play the big hits close enough that they are recognisable within a few seconds .. this is important as the band plays stingers when the person walks up to get the award. Then for the after show party the big hits of the last 20 years or so are expected and they need to be very close to the record. There's a depressingly small pool of songs being played at these as they hasn't been anything much new come through so bands are STILL playing Brightside, Sex, Dekota, UpTown etc with a few newer ones like Watermelon and Blinding lights.
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TBH that's only thing which keeps me interested in playing in a covers band, and the idea of merely learning another guitarist's part for a song fills me with equal parts boredom and dread.
But yes, I agree that most of the people I know who say "well this is our version" are usually lazy or just shite.
once they get it they are playing the original recording in their head anyway so as long as you don’t deviate from those hooks and melodies, you’re golden. In many projects the line up doesn’t allow for that synth part or the second guitar or pedal steel or cello etc. it gets harder when you are just bass drums guitar but those key bits need to be there. Try doing hotel California or this thing called love without substantially butchering the well known lead break and looking cool to the vast majority of your audience.
‘As played on the record’ is my starting point, but there are good reasons why the live performance may end up different, including arranging the song to suit the band lineup, and a conscious decision to simplify. On the one hand I enjoy the challenge of learning something note-for-note for a tribute band; on the other I will happily take a solo down an octave to retain a full sound when playing in a trio.
A great example is Comfy.
If you cover it as per PF, then you must play the first 12 bars of the outro solo correctly- but it's a tradition that you can freestyle thereafter.
Or, you totally rip the song up and do something original like the Scissor Sisters did.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.