After a long lay off from gigging I've been speaking to some people about putting a cover band together. The main focus of the material is going to be on the soul/r'n'b side of things with maybe a nod to jazz and blues. Artists who've come up in discussion include Hall & Oates, Bobby Womack, Van Morrison, Amy Winehouse, Steely Dan, etc. We don't want to do the obvious Blues Brothers/Commitments thing and would have a preference for stuff with nice chords and funky rhythms but at the same time we need enough obvious audience pleasers to pull a crowd in a smallish city. I have a good line up of interested people, bass, drums, vox (and possibly horns if we want to go down that route).
Here's our problem: we want a fairly polished, "finished" sound and in this genre that's very difficult without keys. And in our part of the world keys players are like hens' teeth. Up to now our approach has been to scour around desperately looking for one, but so far no luck.
I'm now turning to plan B, which is trying to put together a potential set list of tunes that will work without keys. I don't mean tunes that can be completely re-arranged to work without keys (that'd be far too much work). And I know there's a long, respectable tradition from early Beatles through the Clash and beyond of guitar bands just charging through rough arrangements of big production material with the instruments they've got, but that's not what we're about either. We need tunes where the record doesn't have keys or the keys can be left out and not be badly missed.
I'm not sure this is even viable, but I'm hoping it can be done. I'd be very grateful for suggestions for tunes.
“To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
Comments
Will have a think and see if I can suggest something more suitable.
People want tunes they know, played well enough that they can sing along - worrying too much about how close to the record you sound is a trap I have fallen into myself, I have to admit.
I'm not saying complete reworkings of songs, just that, for example, something like Moondance can be played on guitar and no-one's going to miss the piano. (Have I Told You Lately is another one, coincidentally) Still the same song structure, same chords, just needs a guitar break in the middle instead of the piano solo-y bit.
Anyhoo, you have to learn:
- Mustang Sally
- Sex On Fire
- Chelsea Dagger
Feedback
Much of the time bass and drums can stay as the recorded version as can lead vox and you have to mooch around with the guitar, unless you are doing a tribute and have the exact line up.
It can also be worth YouTube/ spotifying a song you like and see if someone else has already done an arrangement that suits you better. Then send the link and say ' learn this.' Like the Dingle sessions (just add a drum part), which is where I came in...
Having brass is a real blessing. How about:
Superstition - more Jeff than Stevie
Smooth
Feeling Good - somewhere between Muse and the original Nina Simone version
Let's Stick Together - Roxy Music
Valerie - somewhere between Mick Ronson and the Zutons
L-)
These may be in or cross over into the genre your looking for.
Don't forget that working around parts where you don't have brass or keys can produce some great results. If some of you are vocally versatile you can vocalise some of the Horn Parts eg: Bah Bad Ah Baaa! etc, lol.
Bozz Scaggs
Gerry Rafferty
Climax Blues Band - Couldn't Get It Right
Pasadenas - Tribute (Right On)
Robert Palmer - Best of Both Worlds or others!
Jackson Browne
Rod Stewart
Del Amitri - See Change Everything or Twisted Albums
Journey - Lights, maybe some more smooth Journey tracks without much keys.
Early 10cc - Good Morning Judge
Tom Petty - Mary Jane's Last Dance
Might be something to take your fancy here, a bit of research required on the ones with no song suggestion but I'm sure some of their tracks fit if anyone has their memory jogged by them.