When the Cover Band “River” played tunes, many didn’t realize how to figure out songs we would play in one of our four 45-minute sets. The internet wasn’t available in 1980, so there was no YouTube channel where people could watch the bands. We had to listen to the records and take notes on how the original artist should play the song. In that era, we didn’t copy note for note.
Still, we tried to copy unique riffs that the guitarist or bassist might have played, listening repeatedly to each song until we had it “presentable.” By ‘presentable,’ we mean we could perform the music recognizably and enjoyably, even if it wasn’t a replica of the original.
Deciphering “Carry On Wayward Son” By Kansas
Page 1 of 2 of Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas. Since I also functioned as the Keyboard player, I was tasked with figuring out the music for specific riffs we would play during a set. The “A” portion likely took me several hours to figure out.
This is page 2 of 2 of Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas. Right below “Chorus,” the original transcription had the word “Go!” followed by the lead guitar solo. After watching videos of cover bands playing this song, I believe the word “Go!” should be “No!”
When River was formed, we had already booked our first gig at Mankato State University, so we had about two months to prepare about 40 songs (four sets of 45 minutes each, with about ten songs on average for each set). With all the band members also being full-time students at the university, we didn’t have much time to spend on each song.
Practice sessions lasted between 2 and 3 hours, usually four times weekly. On weekends, we would go for as much as five hours. So we maxed out at about 25 hours per week for about eight weeks to learn 40 songs. That works out to about five hours per song to get it good enough that our audience wouldn’t start throwing fruit or other items at us.
The YouTube Revolution for Cover Bands
Many classic rock songs on YouTube have been transcribed into guitar tabs, which show how to play each tune. A six-string guitar tab consists of six lines, each representing one of the guitar strings. The numbers on these lines indicate which fret the guitarist should play on that string.
Once you get used to the tab system, cover bands can learn a part (such as lead, rhythm, or bass guitar).