Depends on the song, the arrangement, what other instruments are in band, etc. Things I have done:
- Find a sound that blends well (piano, pad, maybe a crunchy hammond for a more hard rocking song) and play along comp chords or even just double the bass line
- Find a good guitar patch and play a second guitar part
- Our bassist switches over to guitar and I play the bass part
- Aux percussion (tambourine, cowbell, rhythm sticks, etc)
- Bathroom and beer break. Just don't forget to bring back beer for the rest of the band too!
It was the bassist's idea originally since he wanted to play guitar on a few songs 🤷♂️ We have subs on the PA so it still sounds full and has good low-end even coming out of a keyboard
Tangential anecdote incoming: I'm a guitar player that ended up playing bass in a country band for years. I was good enough for that but I didn't exactly develop a ton of bass-centric skills. So I hear "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa and I'm like that sounds fun asf to play... Went to look for some help. Turns out it's her producer on synth with a bass guitar plugin! Sounds pretty convincing to me, and I still can't play it but I'm working on it lmao
FTFY: Please leave the music to the musicians.
I played in a group that would do gigs with 3, 4 or 5 players, depending on the situation/schedules, etc.
In a 3 piece, I would cover keys, bass and guitar, and the other guy would do guitar and bass. If it wasn't a challenging part, I generally covered bass lines on keys along with my normal synth/piano parts. The other guy would play bass for the songs I played guitar.
Admittedly, they were all a very talented bunch, and that it wouldn't work in all situations, but while I generally agree that baselines should indeed be left to the bassist, not everyone has a talented, dedicated, responsible bassist.
AND THAT IS WHY THEY CALLED US THE BASS-WHORES, SON
Two things:
1. as others have said, I'll cop a rhythm guitar part on a wurly or hammond, with distortion to taste
2. if a band plays a whole lot of cover tunes that don't have any keys on the original tune, that's really not my band
Meanwhile, there are 10,000 '80s cover bands out there with a vocals-guitar-bass-drums lineup playing tunes with heavy synth parts...that are all on backing tracks. Like WTF.
Yeah, I don't mind sitting out on a tune or two if that's what the song needs. But I play because it's fun, I'm not going to take a whole lot of gigs where everyone else gets more fun that I do. :)
I was invited to join a punk power trio as an additional guitarist, to cover the rhythm and free up the main guitarist to do fills. After the first gig they said, “Maybe we don’t need another guitar; can you play keyboard?”
So, I borrowed my friend’s Farfisa organ (!) and learned all my parts on that. It was not that hard because my guitar parts were so simple; basically just major triads, no fancy inversions or anything.
After the second gig they said, “Maybe we don’t need a fourth member after all.” LOL! I finally realized that what they needed was my van to get to the last two gigs they had booked before they left for Los Angeles!
Listen to a lot of music. REALLY listen. You’ll hear later upon layer of stuff happening. Some of it is sound floor. Some of it is pad. Some is just little audio sprinkles (chimes, sweeps, glitches, etc)
Learn how producers “fill up” songs.
Then … be a producer. Subtle string pads, piano stabs, organ lines, percussion tracks, choirs singing backgrounds…
You’re an artist with a relatively unlimited palette of sonic colors.
And don’t forget that rests are notes, too. They don’t play themselves. You have to play them.
Sometimes, dropping out after you’ve just done something that takes up a lot of sonic space is more dramatic than anything you could play.
That's true for all players. Rests...space between notes are not blank canvases begging to be completed. The notes you don't play are just as important as the notes you do play.
Sorry to disappoint you. It was just a joke. I actually don't have a single dance move. In fact my wife tells me I can't dance and I think she's right.
Now if I did have dance moves, Id probably start behind the keyboard and work my way out in front of the keyboard as the song reached his peak, use my best move then, and slowly work my way back behind the keyboards.
This right here. I think people take 'covers' to literally sometimes and expect everyone to play exact parts from the recording. None of the bands I'm in treat covers that way at all, we each play appropriate parts and come together as band to make the songs happen.
I am *much more involved* with listening to the other players live to find the right part, than I am about listening to the recording to learn the exact part\*.
\*critical melodies and licks obviously want to be learned and included
No one actually wants those covers lol. 99 times out of 100, a band mimicking every little thing on the record is just a worse version of listening to the record. Almost all good covers are new takes on the original.
It really depends on the crowd and the event. People go to see scary pockets because they want to hear new interpretations but your average bar/club often wants familiar tunes. We spice it up on certain songs, do mashups etc... but there is definitely a market for covering songs close to the original. I'm not saying we do it better than the original but sometimes seeing a good cover band is as close as your gonna get because artists don't tour or bands break up. And then there's the fun of seeing songs from 50 different artists in one night. This is specifically about live performances though, on an album I totally agree with you. I would never listen to a cover album that just follows the original.
when I used to play out with my old band, traditionally if we did any covers we'd do out best to make them our own as we weren't a cover band. That being said, if it was minimum keys then maybe just low string pads in the back, The occasional single low bass piano note also makes an excellent impact sound.
Also adding addl. percussion crashes in synch with the drummer works along with triggering audio samples.
We had one song that had a metal guitar crunch Eb -D at the intro that also was in the verses. To make it bigger I sampled my guitarist so I would just double the sound when he hit it.
Go onto Spotify (or whatever, even YouTube should be enough) and search for three songs: Bette Davis Eyes, Tainted Love, and Don’t Dream It’s Over. Those are great examples of how artists made a song work with keyboards.
Oh, and Blinded By The Light as well.
If you have guitar lead sheets, you can essentially pad chords in those same keys, something like beats 2 and 4 if it's 4/4. But you can also noodle around like you're playing lead guitar in that key, but with synth. Varies per song/genre, YMMV.
If you're low on ideas and looking for something specific to emulate, consider digging through other covers of the song that may be translated to keys/synth by another artist. Even if you don't use their arrangement 1:1, it may give you a jumping off point for your own arrangement that's not too distracting but does add value to the mix.
Lead sheets are even easier than tabs, listing the chord above the stanzas where it applies: [https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/the-girl-from-ipanema-feat-astrud-gilberto-19426249.html](https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/the-girl-from-ipanema-feat-astrud-gilberto-19426249.html)
Because we have only one guitarist in the band, I often provide the missing rhythm guitar part using either a gritty Wurly patch or a distorted organ, a la Jon Lord.
I have this issue quite a bit. I play a lot of open mics. Peeps always want me on a Nirvana song or an AcDc song...and I'm like, "no!"
I say, "Thank you VERY much for the invitation, but I prefer to hear those tunes without a keyboard fucking it up. Call me up when you want to do Tom Petty, Pink Floyd or The Cure." One thing I can't stand is a musician that just HAS to play on everything. I'll never be that guy.
Don't have advice for you but I wanted to thank all these wonderful keyboardists in the comments for killing it! Played with a few keyboard players and all this stuff was stuff I wanted them to do, would've LOVED them to do but they always just kinda wanted to bang away chords on a basic piano sound. Thank you for doing what you do! Those that know ball will love you and appreciate you the way you deserve!
Find a cool pad or sound that can elevate the song and put our own twist on it that makes it unique from the 1000s of others doing the same song cover exactly to the T
Depends on the style.
If the band only has one guitar and it’s a two guitar song I’ll play power chords on an organ with a little distortion.
Generally I’ll just play piano, electric piano, organ or a pad. Whichever feels right.
A lot of experimenting. Trying to think through our set list.
•Cumbersome - organ holding out chords.
•Comedown (Bush)- dark synth bass accenting beat 1 and then piano to help the chorus contrast with verses
•Buried a Lie- play an acoustic guitar in choruses/intro, lead electric guitar patch on verses
•The Middle - piano, block chords on chord changes higher focus on vocal harmony
•Sara Yellin’ - honestly don’t remember 🤣
•Beggin- wrote a trumpet line
•All the small things- Piano rhythm
•The Red- don’t play focus on vocal harmonies
•Smells like Teen Spirit- leave stage and video
I’ve experimented with 7 Nation Army to route a channel of the lead vocals into a vocoder/synth patch.
For me the majority of those are double guitar songs. For a few of them I'm using acoustic guitar samples or physically modelled acoustic guitar with some virtual amp. But it's rare that it falls into place and generally I'll substitute with either strings, pads or a more aggressive saw sound with some effect modulation to make it unique. Really depends on the song and how the band plays it.
Personally I've started to enjoy these occasions more and more because of the absolute freedom to work with. On songs with keys parts there's usually something iconic that's got to be in there allowing less room for creativity.
I rarely go for piano/organ in this case. In fact while I don't have anything against the Hammond sound per se I get very little satisfaction from actually playing it. I've got one drawbar preset which I never change and I haven't even bothered to assign a proper button to the lesley speed switch.
Horns are even worse as I find them even harder to deliver them even somewhat convincingly. Virtually always substitute or layer them with something else so it doesn't sound like fake horns so much.
Every band I've been in required all members to "double". In other words you play a main instrument, but also must be able to sing, or play percussion, or switch to a sometime-used instrument for solos (harmonica, bouzouki, concertina, theremin, ocarina etc.) One of the time-tested hooks for playing live is to do a song or two where every member of the band visibly switches instruments with another onstage. Audiences love it.
Say what you will about Kid Rock, I went to a show on a whim after his first wave of popularity had kinda waned and not only did he and his giant band and backup singers put on a killer show, that mfer played every instrument on stage competently. I was shook!
Mostly it ends up being piano or organ. If you're talking classic rock, stuff that was written for guitar, then a lot of that is blues-rock based so you're gonna use blues/southern-rock voicings and riffs. If you don't know what that is, start listening to stuff like Leonard Skynrd and the Allman Brothers and the Black Crowes. Anything you learn there will translate over into hard rock genres. You can also listen to Jon Lord (Deep Purple).
Additionally to that, you put on your arranger hat and choose which would be good songs to add strings, horn stabs, pads. For example on Brass in Pocket I'll add simple strings on the chorus. For What's Up, I'll play basic piano chords on the verses, and add simple strings on the chorus. Doing this enhances the song for the listener while staying off the toes of the guitarist.
For rock-based songs, I'll add a piano or organ part that compliments the guitar(s).
If there's an acoustic rhythm guitar part on the original that's not being covered by the band, I'll do a similar rhythmic part using an acoustic piano sound to fill that in.
Otherwise I'll add strings/pads during choruses/bridges to add atmosphere, depending on the song.
If there's absolutely no keys/synths, I'll sing background vocals or play percussion.
I never duplicate the guitarists' part. I think that's stupid unless it's really intentional. I once subbed in this cover band that played Madonna's "Dress You Up" and he didn't know clean funky muted rhythm guitar worth shit so he just played power chords that was the same as the synth part. Drove me crazy.
Good question. I sing with a houseband sometimes. The keyboardist is so talented it's insane. When I sang purple haze by Jimi Hendrix, he took a backseat and just played two chord for the song with the organ. It fit the song well. He just held onto the notes. So my advice is to just look for ways to add music, but give the song a backseat feel. OR have the mindset of "remixing" the song.
I usually play piano or whirly with an Organ back. I usually bring the organ in and out with a foot pedal and if you have a good crunchy hammond sound use that and work the leslie. But this is very important:
NO THIRDS!! Just octaves and fifths. Stay away from the third unless you’re soloing. It helps you blend in with the guitars better. And don’t take your hands off the keyboards too much, try to be a bed that the guitars can sit on.
Watch YouTube videos and learn how to palm the organ with your left hand. If I’m playing a big synth pad Bon Jovi style I usually roll some of the mids out to leave room for the guitar frequencies. High frequencies are your friend. In short, fill in the holes and make the band sound bigger. They will love you for it.
If I’m playing a punk song with no keys ( like ramones) then I go to Farfisa/Vox. That’s what would have been there if the ramones had a key player. It’s what I did when playing with rat scabies
I have a guitar set up with my keys and play rhythm guitar on the ones that keys don’t fit. It’s not as much fun as keys, but I still get to play the song with the band.
Depends on the tune. If it's like "more than words" or something iconically sparse then you don't add keys at all. If it's some shit like "what's going on" I invent a key part with a timbre and approach suitable to the tune that adds something with like a nice fender Rhodes sound. Different keyboard types are better than each other depending on the genre and era.
I find an instrument set that works, like an acid organ or phat synth, something that can be rhythmic or melodic depending on what the song wants. And I leave space when necessary.
I do not try to copy what the other instruments are doing or use their air space. I’ll usually go two-hands high, mixing the colors, back off one or the other.
In another band with one guitarist I just grab the rhythm guitar.
I do a lot of other things. I’ll add claps, rim shots, any sound effects that are in the songs, do whatever harmonies are needed. I also play guitar too so I’ll do that when needed.
I just fill in what’s missing, if the bass player sucks I’ll take his part but usually I’m covering rhythm or vocal harmonies on keys.
If every part is good and it sounds too full I just add texture, usually with pads
For what it's worth, I've been playing keyboard for about 18 years and when I joined my current band, I decided instead of adding typical keyboard instruments, I loaded up a nice bass patch and used my wireless keytar to walk around aimlessly.
Since I've been playing so long, playing bass lines on keyboard is incredibly easy and really opened me up for more performance, movement and creating cool little bass licks.
I've performed in technical prog Rock bands and honestly, playing bass keytar in a rock band is the most fun I've had as a keyboardist, ever!
Learn the song, jam along just like if you were playing it on a piano using the Nashville number and see if you can find something in there that reflects the original song that may not be expressed by the limitations of the live setup. Maybe there is a little melodic part here and there that isn't well represented in a 3 piece band.
I used to get stuck on playing something through an entire song, but it's also fun to do the sparse parts that pop up here and there that create "moments" for the listener.
At one point, I had stacked keys with each one zoned out for multiple sounds - 80's tracks - and didn't have to switch sounds much. Basically, a spread of DX sounds and one with Juno/Jupiter with some knobs assigned to adjust on the fly. I also had organ/piano, rhodes/synthpad, EPiano/strings, etc. Generic setups designed with the sounds I could get a wide range of expression.
I'd use these generic templates for songs of the time period that didn't have any standout parts for me, but could find a way to support the song live without taking away from the vibe the audience is looking for.
For instance, if a song had a Billy Idol vibe, I would pull up the square wave, balance it with a saw, and make sure I can twiddle the vibrato and filter settings. Add something rhythmic to support guitars.
However, if what you are adding doesn't vibe or it takes away from the central theme, just sit it out and enjoy someone else playing a song for you.
Find the pocket.
But seriously: If the song does not have a piano, I learn the guitar and bass parts, and then learn how to emulate or accompany them.
It also depends on who else is in the band. If you don’t have a bass player, keys need to cover bass, if you don’t have a rhythm player, key’s need to cover rhythm, if you don’t have a lead instrumentalist (e.g. lead guitar), keys need to cover that.
Find the hole, and fill it. If there is no hole, you are like the fiddle player in a country band, you are just there to sprinkle on some color from time to time
I was once invited to join a Cream tribute band - on keys. My reaction was wtf? Cream was a power trio, what would you have me do?
Then I listened to the entire Cream catalog and to my surprise there are keyboards on nearly every single track! Mostly played by Jack Bruce, I am told. All these years, I'd never noticed.
Nobody.....and I mean NOBODY expects a cover band to sound exactly like the original. You're not supposed to. For some reason, musicians get caught up with that notion. It just puts a lot of extra pressure on yourself for no good reason. Just play the chords. Throw in some little fills here and there if you think it needs it. Or come up with a simple riff to play over the verses or the chorus. That's the most fun thing about doing covers! You can make little arrangement changes as long as you keep the original spirit of the song intact.
keys aren't my strongest instrument yet, so i just try to play something that doesn't suck :D as long as some chord tones and the tonic are in there, it usually doesn't go too far of the rails... until I start circling fifths while taking a solo, then we goin' outside
Depends on the song, the arrangement, what other instruments are in band, etc. Things I have done: - Find a sound that blends well (piano, pad, maybe a crunchy hammond for a more hard rocking song) and play along comp chords or even just double the bass line - Find a good guitar patch and play a second guitar part - Our bassist switches over to guitar and I play the bass part - Aux percussion (tambourine, cowbell, rhythm sticks, etc) - Bathroom and beer break. Just don't forget to bring back beer for the rest of the band too!
this and other comments are such great advice! thank you!!
Bass player here… please leave the basslines to the bassist. :)
It was the bassist's idea originally since he wanted to play guitar on a few songs 🤷♂️ We have subs on the PA so it still sounds full and has good low-end even coming out of a keyboard
Tangential anecdote incoming: I'm a guitar player that ended up playing bass in a country band for years. I was good enough for that but I didn't exactly develop a ton of bass-centric skills. So I hear "Don't Start Now" by Dua Lipa and I'm like that sounds fun asf to play... Went to look for some help. Turns out it's her producer on synth with a bass guitar plugin! Sounds pretty convincing to me, and I still can't play it but I'm working on it lmao
FTFY: Please leave the music to the musicians. I played in a group that would do gigs with 3, 4 or 5 players, depending on the situation/schedules, etc. In a 3 piece, I would cover keys, bass and guitar, and the other guy would do guitar and bass. If it wasn't a challenging part, I generally covered bass lines on keys along with my normal synth/piano parts. The other guy would play bass for the songs I played guitar. Admittedly, they were all a very talented bunch, and that it wouldn't work in all situations, but while I generally agree that baselines should indeed be left to the bassist, not everyone has a talented, dedicated, responsible bassist. AND THAT IS WHY THEY CALLED US THE BASS-WHORES, SON
A group of guys walks up to you in a shaded alley and ask you in a threatening tone, “Do you BASS, son?”
Synths are perfectly good at bass. Often better depending on the music style.
Dua Lipa's producer does the basslines on a syth with a bass guitar plugin, for example.
Two things: 1. as others have said, I'll cop a rhythm guitar part on a wurly or hammond, with distortion to taste 2. if a band plays a whole lot of cover tunes that don't have any keys on the original tune, that's really not my band
Same!
We supported an instrumental band last year who had a keys player, I swear he spent half the set doing nothing. A real shame!
Meanwhile, there are 10,000 '80s cover bands out there with a vocals-guitar-bass-drums lineup playing tunes with heavy synth parts...that are all on backing tracks. Like WTF.
Yeah, I don't mind sitting out on a tune or two if that's what the song needs. But I play because it's fun, I'm not going to take a whole lot of gigs where everyone else gets more fun that I do. :)
If he wasn’t based miles away and we weren’t dead set on being a trio, we probably would’ve snapped him up! Keys are a game changer in most bands imo.
Wurly ftw. It adds a lot of midrange texture without taking up much musical space.
Number 2, times 1,000!!
i usually do voicing or play the chords, but i'll start to use other sounds that will go well with the songs
I was invited to join a punk power trio as an additional guitarist, to cover the rhythm and free up the main guitarist to do fills. After the first gig they said, “Maybe we don’t need another guitar; can you play keyboard?” So, I borrowed my friend’s Farfisa organ (!) and learned all my parts on that. It was not that hard because my guitar parts were so simple; basically just major triads, no fancy inversions or anything. After the second gig they said, “Maybe we don’t need a fourth member after all.” LOL! I finally realized that what they needed was my van to get to the last two gigs they had booked before they left for Los Angeles!
Punk with keys? I like it. Glenn Danzig originally wrote Misfits- "She" on piano.
When punk was new it was a lot more diverse than what it turned into.
Listen to a lot of music. REALLY listen. You’ll hear later upon layer of stuff happening. Some of it is sound floor. Some of it is pad. Some is just little audio sprinkles (chimes, sweeps, glitches, etc) Learn how producers “fill up” songs. Then … be a producer. Subtle string pads, piano stabs, organ lines, percussion tracks, choirs singing backgrounds… You’re an artist with a relatively unlimited palette of sonic colors. And don’t forget that rests are notes, too. They don’t play themselves. You have to play them. Sometimes, dropping out after you’ve just done something that takes up a lot of sonic space is more dramatic than anything you could play.
That's true for all players. Rests...space between notes are not blank canvases begging to be completed. The notes you don't play are just as important as the notes you do play.
Underrated comment right here! I’m always telling people that space is a good thing and playing silence is a learned skill.
Show off all my best dance moves.
The Cabbage Patch, the Running Man, the Robot — I got ‘em all, man.
almost spit out my water at work. on a serious note, where on the stage would you migrate to dance, or do you dance behind your keyboard?
Sorry to disappoint you. It was just a joke. I actually don't have a single dance move. In fact my wife tells me I can't dance and I think she's right. Now if I did have dance moves, Id probably start behind the keyboard and work my way out in front of the keyboard as the song reached his peak, use my best move then, and slowly work my way back behind the keyboards.
All of the above: that's what keytars are for!
Find the key, follow the chords, play agreeable notes in time. I try to avoid playing where the singer is singing. Filling in between phrases, etc..
This right here. I think people take 'covers' to literally sometimes and expect everyone to play exact parts from the recording. None of the bands I'm in treat covers that way at all, we each play appropriate parts and come together as band to make the songs happen. I am *much more involved* with listening to the other players live to find the right part, than I am about listening to the recording to learn the exact part\*. \*critical melodies and licks obviously want to be learned and included
No one actually wants those covers lol. 99 times out of 100, a band mimicking every little thing on the record is just a worse version of listening to the record. Almost all good covers are new takes on the original.
It really depends on the crowd and the event. People go to see scary pockets because they want to hear new interpretations but your average bar/club often wants familiar tunes. We spice it up on certain songs, do mashups etc... but there is definitely a market for covering songs close to the original. I'm not saying we do it better than the original but sometimes seeing a good cover band is as close as your gonna get because artists don't tour or bands break up. And then there's the fun of seeing songs from 50 different artists in one night. This is specifically about live performances though, on an album I totally agree with you. I would never listen to a cover album that just follows the original.
I run a community band that my students play in and we do our covers like this. And don't tell anyone we often copy the versions done by Scary Pockets
This is what I do pretty much every single gig, on guitar.
A lot of keyboardists take on the bass parts, or rhythm guitar.
i read up on a few advice that said how keyboardists shouldn't clash with the bassist but i think i'll give synth bass a try
There are plenty of octaves so sharing is possible. Organ on the low end gives that nice vibrato to thicken up the bass without making mud.
We do. I’m a synth bassist and keyboardist
Never take the bass part
That makes no sense. How many songs don't need bass?
If you have a bass player then don’t play bass.
I don't know why anyone would, if there was a bass player.
when I used to play out with my old band, traditionally if we did any covers we'd do out best to make them our own as we weren't a cover band. That being said, if it was minimum keys then maybe just low string pads in the back, The occasional single low bass piano note also makes an excellent impact sound. Also adding addl. percussion crashes in synch with the drummer works along with triggering audio samples. We had one song that had a metal guitar crunch Eb -D at the intro that also was in the verses. To make it bigger I sampled my guitarist so I would just double the sound when he hit it.
Go onto Spotify (or whatever, even YouTube should be enough) and search for three songs: Bette Davis Eyes, Tainted Love, and Don’t Dream It’s Over. Those are great examples of how artists made a song work with keyboards. Oh, and Blinded By The Light as well.
Grab a pee. Grab a beer. Grab a tambourine and shake shake shake.
If you have guitar lead sheets, you can essentially pad chords in those same keys, something like beats 2 and 4 if it's 4/4. But you can also noodle around like you're playing lead guitar in that key, but with synth. Varies per song/genre, YMMV. If you're low on ideas and looking for something specific to emulate, consider digging through other covers of the song that may be translated to keys/synth by another artist. Even if you don't use their arrangement 1:1, it may give you a jumping off point for your own arrangement that's not too distracting but does add value to the mix.
currently teaching myself how to play the guitar so i can read tabs better and translate them to the keys
Lead sheets are even easier than tabs, listing the chord above the stanzas where it applies: [https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/the-girl-from-ipanema-feat-astrud-gilberto-19426249.html](https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/product/the-girl-from-ipanema-feat-astrud-gilberto-19426249.html)
Because we have only one guitarist in the band, I often provide the missing rhythm guitar part using either a gritty Wurly patch or a distorted organ, a la Jon Lord.
mm i was considering learning the lead or rhythm guitarists' parts in case either of them can't make it to our gigs. this is a good advice thank you
I have this issue quite a bit. I play a lot of open mics. Peeps always want me on a Nirvana song or an AcDc song...and I'm like, "no!" I say, "Thank you VERY much for the invitation, but I prefer to hear those tunes without a keyboard fucking it up. Call me up when you want to do Tom Petty, Pink Floyd or The Cure." One thing I can't stand is a musician that just HAS to play on everything. I'll never be that guy.
Bring something new to the table. You just have to use your imagination. ;)
do whatever fits the song best just by inventing a keyboard part of my own.
Don't have advice for you but I wanted to thank all these wonderful keyboardists in the comments for killing it! Played with a few keyboard players and all this stuff was stuff I wanted them to do, would've LOVED them to do but they always just kinda wanted to bang away chords on a basic piano sound. Thank you for doing what you do! Those that know ball will love you and appreciate you the way you deserve!
i struggled with this so much and never thought to ask reddit until today. i appreciate everyone who answered and even you too for complimenting them
Find a cool pad or sound that can elevate the song and put our own twist on it that makes it unique from the 1000s of others doing the same song cover exactly to the T
Depends on the style. If the band only has one guitar and it’s a two guitar song I’ll play power chords on an organ with a little distortion. Generally I’ll just play piano, electric piano, organ or a pad. Whichever feels right.
A lot of experimenting. Trying to think through our set list. •Cumbersome - organ holding out chords. •Comedown (Bush)- dark synth bass accenting beat 1 and then piano to help the chorus contrast with verses •Buried a Lie- play an acoustic guitar in choruses/intro, lead electric guitar patch on verses •The Middle - piano, block chords on chord changes higher focus on vocal harmony •Sara Yellin’ - honestly don’t remember 🤣 •Beggin- wrote a trumpet line •All the small things- Piano rhythm •The Red- don’t play focus on vocal harmonies •Smells like Teen Spirit- leave stage and video I’ve experimented with 7 Nation Army to route a channel of the lead vocals into a vocoder/synth patch.
Drone.
You can always sub synth for bass... You can add neat white or pink noise...
I also play all kinds of percussion.
I bought a bass guitar
In this case, our keyboard player would switch to guitar.
For me the majority of those are double guitar songs. For a few of them I'm using acoustic guitar samples or physically modelled acoustic guitar with some virtual amp. But it's rare that it falls into place and generally I'll substitute with either strings, pads or a more aggressive saw sound with some effect modulation to make it unique. Really depends on the song and how the band plays it. Personally I've started to enjoy these occasions more and more because of the absolute freedom to work with. On songs with keys parts there's usually something iconic that's got to be in there allowing less room for creativity. I rarely go for piano/organ in this case. In fact while I don't have anything against the Hammond sound per se I get very little satisfaction from actually playing it. I've got one drawbar preset which I never change and I haven't even bothered to assign a proper button to the lesley speed switch. Horns are even worse as I find them even harder to deliver them even somewhat convincingly. Virtually always substitute or layer them with something else so it doesn't sound like fake horns so much.
Every band I've been in required all members to "double". In other words you play a main instrument, but also must be able to sing, or play percussion, or switch to a sometime-used instrument for solos (harmonica, bouzouki, concertina, theremin, ocarina etc.) One of the time-tested hooks for playing live is to do a song or two where every member of the band visibly switches instruments with another onstage. Audiences love it.
Say what you will about Kid Rock, I went to a show on a whim after his first wave of popularity had kinda waned and not only did he and his giant band and backup singers put on a killer show, that mfer played every instrument on stage competently. I was shook!
Mostly it ends up being piano or organ. If you're talking classic rock, stuff that was written for guitar, then a lot of that is blues-rock based so you're gonna use blues/southern-rock voicings and riffs. If you don't know what that is, start listening to stuff like Leonard Skynrd and the Allman Brothers and the Black Crowes. Anything you learn there will translate over into hard rock genres. You can also listen to Jon Lord (Deep Purple). Additionally to that, you put on your arranger hat and choose which would be good songs to add strings, horn stabs, pads. For example on Brass in Pocket I'll add simple strings on the chorus. For What's Up, I'll play basic piano chords on the verses, and add simple strings on the chorus. Doing this enhances the song for the listener while staying off the toes of the guitarist.
Chords are great, but if I can come up with a fun descant style line that works well in the tune to accentuate melodies
Play pads or rock organ chords to make the background fuller
The topic you ought to look up is called Piano Arrangement. There are books written on it.
For rock-based songs, I'll add a piano or organ part that compliments the guitar(s). If there's an acoustic rhythm guitar part on the original that's not being covered by the band, I'll do a similar rhythmic part using an acoustic piano sound to fill that in. Otherwise I'll add strings/pads during choruses/bridges to add atmosphere, depending on the song. If there's absolutely no keys/synths, I'll sing background vocals or play percussion. I never duplicate the guitarists' part. I think that's stupid unless it's really intentional. I once subbed in this cover band that played Madonna's "Dress You Up" and he didn't know clean funky muted rhythm guitar worth shit so he just played power chords that was the same as the synth part. Drove me crazy.
Good question. I sing with a houseband sometimes. The keyboardist is so talented it's insane. When I sang purple haze by Jimi Hendrix, he took a backseat and just played two chord for the song with the organ. It fit the song well. He just held onto the notes. So my advice is to just look for ways to add music, but give the song a backseat feel. OR have the mindset of "remixing" the song.
I just play simple parts that don’t get in the way of what everyone else is doing.
I usually play piano or whirly with an Organ back. I usually bring the organ in and out with a foot pedal and if you have a good crunchy hammond sound use that and work the leslie. But this is very important: NO THIRDS!! Just octaves and fifths. Stay away from the third unless you’re soloing. It helps you blend in with the guitars better. And don’t take your hands off the keyboards too much, try to be a bed that the guitars can sit on. Watch YouTube videos and learn how to palm the organ with your left hand. If I’m playing a big synth pad Bon Jovi style I usually roll some of the mids out to leave room for the guitar frequencies. High frequencies are your friend. In short, fill in the holes and make the band sound bigger. They will love you for it.
I learned guitar when I was the second keyboard in a band with only 1 guitar. It took practice and lessons, but it helped me be a better musician
If I’m playing a punk song with no keys ( like ramones) then I go to Farfisa/Vox. That’s what would have been there if the ramones had a key player. It’s what I did when playing with rat scabies
Our singers bust out a tambourine if there’s no vocal part for them, a keyboard player could probably do the same thing.
I have a guitar set up with my keys and play rhythm guitar on the ones that keys don’t fit. It’s not as much fun as keys, but I still get to play the song with the band.
Depends on the tune. If it's like "more than words" or something iconically sparse then you don't add keys at all. If it's some shit like "what's going on" I invent a key part with a timbre and approach suitable to the tune that adds something with like a nice fender Rhodes sound. Different keyboard types are better than each other depending on the genre and era.
I find an instrument set that works, like an acid organ or phat synth, something that can be rhythmic or melodic depending on what the song wants. And I leave space when necessary. I do not try to copy what the other instruments are doing or use their air space. I’ll usually go two-hands high, mixing the colors, back off one or the other. In another band with one guitarist I just grab the rhythm guitar.
I do a lot of other things. I’ll add claps, rim shots, any sound effects that are in the songs, do whatever harmonies are needed. I also play guitar too so I’ll do that when needed.
I just fill in what’s missing, if the bass player sucks I’ll take his part but usually I’m covering rhythm or vocal harmonies on keys. If every part is good and it sounds too full I just add texture, usually with pads
For what it's worth, I've been playing keyboard for about 18 years and when I joined my current band, I decided instead of adding typical keyboard instruments, I loaded up a nice bass patch and used my wireless keytar to walk around aimlessly. Since I've been playing so long, playing bass lines on keyboard is incredibly easy and really opened me up for more performance, movement and creating cool little bass licks. I've performed in technical prog Rock bands and honestly, playing bass keytar in a rock band is the most fun I've had as a keyboardist, ever!
Comp. Add fills and solos.
Just make something up dude
If there’s really nothing play hype man to the vocals or guitar riffs
I usually add some ambient pads or subtle synths to fill out the sound.
Learn the song, jam along just like if you were playing it on a piano using the Nashville number and see if you can find something in there that reflects the original song that may not be expressed by the limitations of the live setup. Maybe there is a little melodic part here and there that isn't well represented in a 3 piece band. I used to get stuck on playing something through an entire song, but it's also fun to do the sparse parts that pop up here and there that create "moments" for the listener. At one point, I had stacked keys with each one zoned out for multiple sounds - 80's tracks - and didn't have to switch sounds much. Basically, a spread of DX sounds and one with Juno/Jupiter with some knobs assigned to adjust on the fly. I also had organ/piano, rhodes/synthpad, EPiano/strings, etc. Generic setups designed with the sounds I could get a wide range of expression. I'd use these generic templates for songs of the time period that didn't have any standout parts for me, but could find a way to support the song live without taking away from the vibe the audience is looking for. For instance, if a song had a Billy Idol vibe, I would pull up the square wave, balance it with a saw, and make sure I can twiddle the vibrato and filter settings. Add something rhythmic to support guitars. However, if what you are adding doesn't vibe or it takes away from the central theme, just sit it out and enjoy someone else playing a song for you.
Find the pocket. But seriously: If the song does not have a piano, I learn the guitar and bass parts, and then learn how to emulate or accompany them. It also depends on who else is in the band. If you don’t have a bass player, keys need to cover bass, if you don’t have a rhythm player, key’s need to cover rhythm, if you don’t have a lead instrumentalist (e.g. lead guitar), keys need to cover that. Find the hole, and fill it. If there is no hole, you are like the fiddle player in a country band, you are just there to sprinkle on some color from time to time
What I do in a case like that is create a keyboard part centered around the existing music.
I was once invited to join a Cream tribute band - on keys. My reaction was wtf? Cream was a power trio, what would you have me do? Then I listened to the entire Cream catalog and to my surprise there are keyboards on nearly every single track! Mostly played by Jack Bruce, I am told. All these years, I'd never noticed.
Nobody.....and I mean NOBODY expects a cover band to sound exactly like the original. You're not supposed to. For some reason, musicians get caught up with that notion. It just puts a lot of extra pressure on yourself for no good reason. Just play the chords. Throw in some little fills here and there if you think it needs it. Or come up with a simple riff to play over the verses or the chorus. That's the most fun thing about doing covers! You can make little arrangement changes as long as you keep the original spirit of the song intact.
ahh this! i wish more people understand this especially if they're covering songs
Typically a band with a keyboardist doesn’t play songs without a keyboard, unless the keyboardist plays another instrument.
keys aren't my strongest instrument yet, so i just try to play something that doesn't suck :D as long as some chord tones and the tonic are in there, it usually doesn't go too far of the rails... until I start circling fifths while taking a solo, then we goin' outside
They’re just chords. Or notes. Play them anyway you want. Make it your own.