Song Help Request Do You Change Songs?

Take an existing song, change the chords and/or lyrics. I do it all the time. I don't mean transpose,
I mean add, change or delete. I'm amazed that some songs with silly lyrics become hits. I don't
mean to dis songwriters, but haven't you have said to yourself I can do better than that, or this
sounds better to me.

That's a great thing to do. It makes the song your "own". Why should you have to do it the same way someone else does?

The most I do is jazz up songs, like throwing around major sevenths and augments liddat. Music is pretty subjective and people cover songs for many reasons, sometimes to mock, sometimes to challenge themselves, and sometimes just to make it sound better to their own ears. I think the whole appeal factor comes from the arranger's balance of creativity and the original feel of the song they're covering. And I feel that songwriters, creative as they are, are open to the interpretations of others so they can learn from them. The music community is very supportive and they wouldn't take tech skill showboating at a personal level.

I don't change lyrics but I always slightly alter arrangements and put my own spin on a song. Always. I don't think I have ever played a song in the identical fashion as the original. I think it's healthy and kinda the stuff of what the folk tradition is really about. It's nice to play something you're own way, I've found that listeners like it too for the most part. Never be limited by a script, ad-libbing is fun!

Yes, of course. Well, with some caveats.

There are a lot of songs out there with poor or inappropriate arrangements. Changing, for example, a major to a seventh chord - or vice versa - can make the song song "right."

Some songs are just fine as is. But don't be afraid to tinker. Make the music your own.

Well, I usually play the chords that "belong" but I often change the lyrics because either I always thought it was something else or another phase just creeps in. Some call this a "Senior moment" but I think it's Senior creativity. Hey, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I change songs all the time...

1. The overwhelming majority of music on the web is stuff that someone just figured out, or has already been altered to make it sound "better" on a ukulele. If you use music from the web, you really have to just trust that whoever put it there actually knew what they were doing. (Most don't...) It might sound good. It may even sound better. Most of the time it really doesn't.

The same problem exists in some ukulele song books for legal reasons. In order to print original music that isn't public domain, permission is required from the copy right holders. People get around the restrictions by intentionally altering the music just enough skirt copy right laws. There are versions of songs that have been altered because some artist or another changed the key or lyrics to make it their own, so those versions deviate from the original work. When you have several versions of the same song by well known artists, there's a chance that every version is under copy right, so often even the previously altered versions have to be altered in order to print the music.

2. Then there's the difference between most instruments and ukuleles. An acoustic ukulele doesn't have the same resonance as most instruments, which is why we learn strumming patterns or learn to pick out the notes.

3. I have a fairly limited vocal range, and since I only play songs I sing to, sometimes I choose one version of a song over another so it doesn't freak out the cat. But also, singer/strummers use a version of chord melody that doesn't really follow the same rules as someone who just plays. Singer/strummers have two instruments (our instrument and our voice), and as long as we can sort of harmonize the two, we can play a little fast and loose with chord structure a bit. One of the things that really amazed me when I started on the ukulele is the number of of people who play, but don't sing... If someone is picking or strumming without singing, they have to be a lot more precise.

Really, there isn't much choice in the matter unless you're reading actual sheet music instead of chord sheets or tabs. Timing is everything when you play tabs, and changing a strum pattern can change the entire meaning of a song. With all the variables already in play, I reckon that I'd rather try to make my music mine instead of trying to play exactly like someone else.

Oh sure, all the time! You're participating in a wonderful thing known as the "folk process" (unless you are commercially recording nearly identical versions of songs that aren't in the public domain. Then you are participating in copyright infringement ).
There's actually a name for changing song lyrics but keeping the melody. It's called "filking". Love the sound of that word for some reason...

I've learned that changing the lyrics to a popular tune is called a "pastich". When you change the lyrics and kind of poke fun at the original it's called a "parody". I like to do both as well as writing my own music. When I first started to play uke I would take the song I was currently working on for myself, that might not be so interesting to little children, and change the words to cater to them. Then I had a song to play for myself and one to play for the kids at school. Loads of fun

I rarely sing songs as written. I turn country to blues, etc, if I like the lyrics but not the rest.

I try to keep a couple of elements that are crucial to the songs identity, ie the chord progression obviously as well as maybe a lick or two that are just ingrained in my head as being that song, but I came to the realisation early on that I'm never gonna sound like the CD so I should try and do my own thing.

It's quite good at an open mic when I've completely changed the feel of a well-known song and seeing the realisation dawn on the faces of the punters.

One guy who used to go quite often plays folk punk on an acoustic guitar and harmonica, and he came up with this really good arrangement of 'The Model'. He basically left the synth riff out of the verse but after the first line he had the entire pub singing that riff in the style of a German drinking song. It was brilliant.

As soon as you play a song on the ukulele you are changing it ,because not much is written for a uke ....well not much post 30's 40's ...but I will stand corrected ......and yes I think you should give it your own "twist"...when playing a tune on guitar with friends, if someone says "that's not how such and such plays it"
I say ,very nicely...if you want to hear how "such and such plays it listen to their CD on which it will doubtless be played much better than I am doing it ...however this is how I play it "

CJ

I think that this video that talks about "genre-skipping" applies to this thread.



Changing a song from the original arrangement is definitely not a bad thing and it should be encouraged. It allows the individual musician to grow and learn. Recently, I figured out how cover the song Nessun Dorma from Puccini's opera Turandot. Definitely not originally meant for the uke, but the original spirit of the song was still there (despite how different it sounds).