Some people are a bit obsessed with making exact copies of original recordings, they want the intro to be note for note, they even want to capture the voices in the arrangement as exact as they can. If that’s what they like to do, more power to them. But I found that in many years of playing this is hardly ever necessary. Mostly I would play my own intro. There are a few iconic intros people like to hear, like John Lennon’s Imagine, but I never worried too much about being exact. The truth is that hardly anyone has enough of a musical memory to remember it note for note anyway, so close is usually good enough. The other thing is that we don’t have the same vocalist, or backing singers, or maybe no singers at all. So why try to do an exact copy of an intro or arrangement. If they want exact, they could just play the original recording and forget about live music.
Mike
Well put, Mike.
I believe there are two basic approaches to playing other peoples' music:
tribute or
cover. With a tribute, you're playing the song note for note, exact same dynamics, same key, and so on. With a cover approach, you're putting your own twist on a song, which gives you a lot more latitude.
However, in some songs, there are signature parts that define the song and if one wanders too far off that path, the song loses its appeal. A good example is the bass line from
I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles). McCartney wrote that line as a divorce from all the typical schlock bass lines of the day - root and 5, and walking bass. To this day that bass line challenges even the best bass players. Fortunately, that situation is rare. Most of the time we can put our own spin on a song and enjoy it just as much.
The only time I alter a style is when those special formats like the bass line in
I Saw Her Standing There must be altered to give the song an authentic feel. Okay, everyone back to their Genos' for one hour of scales
!