Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 12:15 AM CDT

Let me rephrase...

A while ago a friend of mine said that my band did not "work out" because we were - and I quote him directly here - "taking the easy way out by doing original music". He said the real test of musicianship is doing covers. Essentially, he said that any old band can throw a tune together and nobody wants to hear songs they don't know.

I don't deny that people love to hear songs they're familiar with. We played "Where Is My Mind" and a really slow and dark version of Tears for Fears "Shout" and they were always greated warmly.

I guess what I have trouble with is the assertion that anybody can throw a song together. Me and this guy have two totally different approaches to music, so that's where the problem comes in. However, I'd like to pose the question here. Now, I'm aware I'm asking this question in a forum of songwriters, but we've all played for an audience on more than one instance, I'm sure.

Songwriting vs. Covers... which do you find to be the challenge. Obviously, if you're going to be playing Journey's "Any Way You Want It" you're going to have to pay close attention to the details and nuances or you're going to look like a fool. But do you spend more time on your covers than your original tunes.

What do you think is "easier" - songwriting or perfecting a cover?

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 12:31 AM CDT

I would suggest that song writing and perfecting covers are 2 completely different things.

Song writing comes from a combination of ideas, inspiration, et al, all somehow being 'pieced together' onto a 'creative blank canvas' whereas perfecting covers, (I'm assuming you're meaning either 'mirror-imaging' or rearranging an existing song or piece of music), the various aspects of the musical foundation are already in place...(I hope that makes sense!)

In any case- I cannot 'write' songs, so I'm probably the wrong person to comment!


Cheers!
Alf

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 01:54 AM CDT

I suppose if you're Mozart or similarly gifted, original composition and lyric writing would seem like an "easy out." Cover songs have the advantage of already existing in a listenable format that can be modified but still recognizable. Original pieces, however, must catch the listener in a relatively short amount of time or they get bored.

In my experience, doing covers is easy. The idea is already there, simply learn the notes and timing, transpose if necessary, add a dash of stage performance and you're good to go working a casino gig. And yes.. i live in a casino town, with cover bands rockin' the tourist gamblers and their cheap drinks.

Original songwriting... can... take... weeks... if not months to finally nail down the idea behind the song in the first place, unless you get lucky enough to hammer one out in 10 minutes.

Honestly, it depends on what you want out of being a musician. Some find their nirvana in just playing covers and giving the audience a good time. Others find it in the creative process of original work. Ultimately, it's your heart you should listen to... with conviction. Otherwise, it's a cheap parlor trick void of any real substance in either endeavor.

-DM

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 04:20 AM CDT

Very tempting to question your friend's intelligence here, however I will give a straight answer. As a person who doesn't do (or even know) any covers, I may not be the person to ask either, but it's taken me a very long time to be able to write songs. As a bass player everything I did when I was younger was a cover in one way or another, even if it was a song by someone else in the band.

Taking a song from an idea to a full peformance work takes a lot more skill (and time) than doing a passable cover of someone else's song. If your friend thinks creating a song is so easy, get him to post something here

Bottom line is that all the songs that people cover were once original songs, written by someone - often a member of the band that your friend would like you/us to copy. Doing covers takes out 90% of the creative side of music imho.

OK, go back about your business.



Neil

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 04:23 AM CDT

I'd totally agree these are two different disciplines. I always enjoyed taking covers and doing something new/different with them - never keen on slavish reproductions of original work.

As for 'writing original songs is easy'... well yes, a fair proportion of the population could throw some chords and words together and write a 'song', just look at the amount of music available. But of the 60 or so albums I bought last year, so lets say 600 - 700 songs I actually purchased, very few of them really stand out... not just 'good' songs, but songs that give you that rush of excitement and emotion (probably 'Intervention' by Arcade Fire really stands out for me last year, or 'Reckoner' by Radiohead).

So the thing for me about writing songs is trying to write something... well, great, not just good. I wouldn't get the same feeling from doing a cover version.

steve

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 05:13 AM CDT

Can I just add my pennyworth here and say that 'though it's quite some years now since I played live, either solo as a duo or a trio/group, we always found that audiences prefer songs they are familiar with. Maybe it's because mentally they added the parts we couldn't i.e. backing singers/violins etc. that they'd heard on the radio/discs and they couldn't subconsciously apply these to songs they hadn't heard before.
I suppose writing songs is relatively easy for musicians and people into performing (though we all get blank spots), but for the layman or non-performers it's not easy, probably because they don't have the know-how. It's like all other jobs..... horses for courses.
Most of the songs today even by Paul McCartney (who I'm not a fan of) would be booed off stage or at least ignored, if they were performed first in a pub/club and sung/performed by an unknown. The public like familiarity with their music, that's why the radio/TV stations keep pumping out new songs ad finitum ad nauseum, by well known Artistes,..... so they will 'feel' familiar, M

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 05:18 AM CDT

It's one thing to write a song (which is easy to near impossible and lots in between, depending on everything)...but then to "nail it" and make it performance/recording ready is a completely different ballgame.

Then there are the arguments about what should or shouldn't be in the song (if it's a band collaboration)...

Nothing is easy. To make any tune tight and worth listening to takes time, patience, energy, and a lot of love and commitment.

I, personally,think it's harder to write a tune because you have no blueprint, you're taking chances, and you're trying to engage the audience with something they're not used to. It's a big challenge. Add to that the fact that you've got to get it tight (which is the main challenge you have with a cover)...

I've played in a lot of bands and duet/trio situations. It's all very rewarding work...but, in my experience, you're adding a lot more to the plate when you do originals.

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 05:35 AM CDT

I think that both disciplines have their own difficulties and solutions,f'rinstance a good covers artist/band have to approach an approximation to the song that they are playing and that means that they must stick to preset riffs,tones etc.Tribute Bands have to be virtually spot on,exactamundo,or they have failed.This means slavish hours of practice playing in different styles and learning by rote.And no ,absolutely no improvisation.....

Whereas the "originals" cohort have a little...or a lot more leeway because they are creating from scratch...so nobody listening can say "that's not how it goes" cos you dear listener don't know how it's supposed to go.Of course the problem with creating from scratch is just that......how many creations have you scratched because they just don't work...or persevered with something that personally you thought was great but everyone else seems to have had a sense of taste bypass before hearing , or simply walked into your little( or large if you're lucky) studio ,just in time to see the muse walking out ?

Perhaps the real answer is that end of the day why make it a peeing contest between origs and covers....I mean the basic structure is difficult enough to grasp..that squiggly little set of tadpoles going up and down a bunch of lines are a mystery to the vast majority of people on this planet......(.and even if you play music they are sometimes still a mystery if you don't read it...) Both groups have something to offer to the music community, and I think that when I have had a few days fruitlessly attempting originality I go bonkers trying to do a Stevie Ray song,or The Who or whatever....puts a bit of structure back into the playing...

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 06:06 AM CDT

True...

Have to also consider the difficulty of the tune(s).

It's a lot different getting "Should I Stay or Should I Go" down than it is the 3rd movement of Brahm's Clarinet Quintet.

Similarly: I used to play with this guy who'd write in 5 a lot. Going in and out of different time signatures. It was a lot more difficult than playing a standard, original blues.

Re:Songwriting Is Easy?
Monday, May 19 2008 @ 06:56 AM CDT

Your friend may have a point. The only reason I started writing songs, was the fact I couldn't really do any covers.

But, on the other hand, when you get good enough to do covers, you able to put your own spin on them. Give them their own character.

So, at the end of the day, it's always better to be able to write. I think no one could argue against that. Plus, you get the royalties if you hit it big. Then your friend can cover those tunes.

Dave