playing common people in single guitar band

relic245 · January 2023

No sure if this is the correct section - apologies if not.

Does anyone do a version of Common People in a single guitar band and manage to pull it off?

I'm struggling to know what to play so it doesn't sound empty. Can't find any guitar based covers for reference either.

maharg101 · January 2023

Have you got someone playing keys ? It'll be a doddle with, more difficult without.

Bear in mind that you don't need to cover every part. Cowboy chords and a convincing singer would get you there, it's such a great track that people love.

P.s. my instinct would be to rock it up from the get-go with a dash of overdrive and some palm muting.

relic245 · January 2023

No keys unfortunately.

I agree about rocking it up from the start.

The rest of the band are reluctant at the moment. We have a few other songs that we just punk up. They want to try to keep this more to the original but they may have to rethink that.

maharg101 · January 2023

I'm pretty sure I played this in a single guitar, no keys band in the dim and distant past. I think palm muted root notes and a tasty bit of flange might have featured. To be fair, that band was totally amenable to playing everything in a rock style.

Grunfeld · January 2023

relic245 said:

Does anyone do a version of Common People in a single guitar band and manage to pull it off?
I'm struggling to know what to play so it doesn't sound empty. Can't find any guitar based covers for reference either.

We've got a good arrangement which works well. Band is guitar/bass/drums/singer.

Basically, it starts fairly quiet and sedate and by the end is pretty frantic, very high energy.

I've not got a video to share yet but I've stuck that on a list of things to do.

Sorry this is long, make sense of it on a desktop not a phone:

Guitar playing single notes, same as singer is singing. (Usually with a sub-octave (Boss PS-6) to thicken the guitar.)

She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge...
I said I'll, I'll see what I can... C Major

Next verse and chorus

Relaxed easy chords, sparse. Bass doing the work.

Energy increase: Tremolo picking the "solo" -- again, with sub-octave

Sing along with the common people...

Definite but not over-the-top rhythm playing and BVs

Like a dog lying in a corner...

No guitar as this verse drops down.

Then...

Build all the way to the end -- it definitely seems to work when I start down the low frets and by the end playing the chords higher up the neck. LOTS of energy + BVs.

EDIT: One of the things I really love about playing this song is working with the drummer. I keep the rhythm playing pushing along and little variations appear just working with the drums. One of the most enjoyable songs to play in our set as it happens.

relic245 · January 2023

Grunfeld said:

relic245 said:

Does anyone do a version of Common People in a single guitar band and manage to pull it off?
I'm struggling to know what to play so it doesn't sound empty. Can't find any guitar based covers for reference either.

We've got a good arrangement which works well. Band is guitar/bass/drums/singer.
Basically, it starts fairly quiet and sedate and by the end is pretty frantic, very high energy.
I've not got a video to share yet but I've stuck that on a list of things to do.
Sorry this is long, make sense of it on a desktop not a phone:

Guitar playing single notes, same as singer is singing. (Usually with a sub-octave (Boss PS-6) to thicken the guitar.)
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge...
I said I'll, I'll see what I can... C Major

Next verse and chorus
Relaxed easy chords, sparse. Bass doing the work.

Energy increase: Tremolo picking the "solo" -- again, with sub-octave

Sing along with the common people...
Definite but not over-the-top rhythm playing and BVs

Like a dog lying in a corner...
No guitar as this verse drops down.
Then...
Build all the way to the end -- it definitely seems to work when I start down the low frets and by the end playing the chords higher up the neck. LOTS of energy + BVs.

EDIT: One of the things I really love about playing this song is working with the drummer. I keep the rhythm playing pushing along and little variations appear just working with the drums. One of the most enjoyable songs to play in our set as it happens.

thanks for taking the time to write this out @Grunfeld ;

Your suggestion of using an octaver works well. I combined that with a bit of flange as suggested by @maharg101 and it's starting to sound better.

I need to get into the mindset of the song next. Guitar is quite a focus in a lot of our songs so I have to get into the mindset that this one really is all about the vocals and we are just adding a bit of texture that that.

I think we need to play it a lot and we will gradually find our way with it. I do think it will be a crowd pleaser when we get it right.

Modulus_Amps · January 2023

Is it a three piece band? for me it is a dance song, make the song work with just drum and bass first, they should control the dynamic. Then add guitar on top to add colour, melody or extra drive where needed. point is if you get the drum and bass parts right your job is easier.

relic245 · January 2023

Makes sense. We're a 4 piece but essentially what you are describing. Guitar, bass, drums and vocals.

roberty · January 2023

I would focus on the octave keyboard part dodoDEDEdodoDEDE in the quiet bits and then ring out some big overdriven chords in the louder bits

JMS96 · January 2023

We’ve just started rehearsing this. Guitar parts seem easy enough, but it’s all about the vocal performance, right? Not sure that we’ve quite got that down yet in my band.

Good write up @Grunfeld - what’s BVs?

CaseOfAce · January 2023

I know it's not directly answering the OP's question but if I was going to do any Pulp song with just guitar, bass and drums it would be Disco 2000. It'll go over so much more and is just as good a crowd pleaser / singalong as Common People - if not more so.
Crunch guitar sound - Verse F - > Fsus4s and Bb -> Bbsus 4s
pre chorus 2 finger octaves and power chord it in the chorus. Done.

There's a few songs my band do that are just so completely unsuited for a 3 piece (Billie Jean - the horror!) - and I've never been happy doing them no matter what arrangement and / or effects I've tried to make them come alive.

Roland · January 2023

The role of a covers band is to produce versions of famous songs. It’s not to duplicate the original recording. That’s what tribute bands do. Artists often do acoustic covers of their own songs. Even ukulele bands do covers. I’ve always thought that the trick with a cover is to identify the key aspects of the song, and build a new version around that. So as Michael said:

Modulus_Amps said: It’s a dance song, make the song work with just drum and bass first,.

RocknRollDave · January 2023

Nobody in the audience will care about the lack of keys, they’ll just recognise the song and enjoy it.
Come up with an arrangement you feel comfortable playing. If you aren’t sold on the arrangement, you won’t play it with conviction.

Grunfeld · January 2023

JMS96 said:

Good write up @Grunfeld - what’s BVs?

@JMS96 -- Thank you, BVs = backing vocals.

Also, I mentioned about enjoying what our drummer does but hadn't realised till this thread that he uses ideas from Shatner's version. The things you learn, eh?

William Shatner, Common People

Blueingreen · January 2023

Roland said:

The role of a covers band is to produce versions of famous songs. It’s not to duplicate the original recording. That’s what tribute bands do.

That doesn't reflect my experience.

I've only played in one band that might be described as a tribute band (debatable as we had a slightly different lineup from the original band and made no attempt to look like them). The only difference between the tribute band and the last half dozen or so cover bands I've been in was that we only played songs by one artist. Other than that the approach to replicating original recordings was identical.

CaseOfAce · January 2023

Blueingreen said:

Roland said:

The role of a covers band is to produce versions of famous songs. It’s not to duplicate the original recording. That’s what tribute bands do.

That doesn't reflect my experience.

I've only played in one band that might be described as a tribute band (debatable as we had a slightly different lineup from the original band and made no attempt to look like them). The only difference between the tribute band and the last half dozen or so cover bands I've been in was that we only played songs by one artist. Other than that the approach to replicating original recordings was identical.

That's very much the exception rather than the rule Blueingreen.
I'm not doubting your experience, but practically every cover band I've been in and seen hasn't been remotely close to the original recordings.
Most of the time the original artists don't even come close to replicating their recordings live - unless they're Def Leppard or The Eagles.

Blueingreen · January 2023

CaseOfAce said:

Blueingreen said:

Roland said:

The role of a covers band is to produce versions of famous songs. It’s not to duplicate the original recording. That’s what tribute bands do.

That doesn't reflect my experience.

I've only played in one band that might be described as a tribute band (debatable as we had a slightly different lineup from the original band and made no attempt to look like them). The only difference between the tribute band and the last half dozen or so cover bands I've been in was that we only played songs by one artist. Other than that the approach to replicating original recordings was identical.

That's very much the exception rather than the rule Blueingreen.
I'm not doubting your experience, but practically every cover band I've been in and seen hasn't been remotely close to the original recordings.
Most of the time the original artists don't even come close to replicating their recordings live - unless they're Def Leppard or The Eagles.

My apologies, the phrase "approach to replicating" seems to be causing unintended confusion - all I mean is that our decisions about how close we want to get to the original wouldn't be any different between the tribute band and cover band. I'm not implying we'd be going for an actual replica.

It's a question of degree. You get the likes of the Analogues (Beatles tribute band) who really go all out to replicate the original sounds with the original gear etc. Floyd cover bands where the guitar player needs to be using the period correct echo unit on a particular track. And you get bands who learn the chords, the words, the melody and any very conspicuous riffs and go and jam.

Most bands I've been in would try stay close to the arrangement on the record, but we'd stray in all sorts of ways eg:

- compromises where line-up differences or studio trickery make the original impossible to copy

- not bothering to nail parts, or bits of parts, we think are too generic to need to be exact

- not trying to reproduce sounds exactly using the same gear - just get in the ball park and play the right notes

- where the ending on the record fades you need to come up with an ending

And so on.

But all that would be equally true for the majority of tribute bands, as well cover bands.

relic245 · January 2023

CaseOfAce said:

I know it's not directly answering the OP's question but if I was going to do any Pulp song with just guitar, bass and drums it would be Disco 2000.

It was discussed. We have a female singer and despite being a huge pulp fan finds the line "You were the first girl at school to get breasts" a bit unsavory.

smigeon · January 2023

Just change it to "You were the first girl at school to get vests".

DrCornelius · January 2023

Or 'You were the first girl with pubic lice, but Martin said you were still nice'.. that should avoid any embarrassment

guitarjack66 · January 2023

relic245 said:

CaseOfAce said:

I know it's not directly answering the OP's question but if I was going to do any Pulp song with just guitar, bass and drums it would be Disco 2000.

It was discussed. We have a female singer and despite being a huge pulp fan finds the line "You were the first girl at school to get breasts" a bit unsavory.

Maybe its not the song for her then? Will Disco 2000 work?

CaseOfAce · January 2023

relic245 said:

CaseOfAce said:

I know it's not directly answering the OP's question but if I was going to do any Pulp song with just guitar, bass and drums it would be Disco 2000.

It was discussed. We have a female singer and despite being a huge pulp fan finds the line "You were the first girl at school to get breasts" a bit unsavory.

Just sing "you were the first girl at school to pass tests..." or something... ?

roberty · January 2023

CaseOfAce said:

relic245 said:

CaseOfAce said:

I know it's not directly answering the OP's question but if I was going to do any Pulp song with just guitar, bass and drums it would be Disco 2000.

It was discussed. We have a female singer and despite being a huge pulp fan finds the line "You were the first girl at school to get breasts" a bit unsavory.

Just sing "you were the first girl at school to pass tests..." or something... ?

Change it to 'jugs'

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