Learning a Song You Hate

mmulcahy1

Platinum Member
I'm planning on getting together with a couple of other musicians (bass & guitar) later this week and I have to learn a song one of the guys suggested - we each picked 3 tunes.

One of the songs the guitar player picked is from Jane's Addiction. To be perfectly honest, I have heard of them but I have never listened to any of their music. The song he wants to play is Mountain Song - and quite frankly, I hate the song. Way too heavy metal for me.

I mean no offense to the JA crowd out there, but how do you go about learning a song you hate? Any suggestions?

Thanks, everyone!

P.S. This will be the first time I've ever gotten together with other musicians. I have tried before but things usually get messed up during the planning phase.
 
You pitch in and do it for the band. That's partly what a band is about.

Oh, I'll learn it if it kills me. I just want to try and be happy while I'm being tortured.

I'm so out of touch with heavy metal. Judas Priest 's British Steel album is where my mind is with metal. ;-)
 
If I only played tunes with bands that I like, I wouldn't play with many bands :)
Suck it up and play it! Who do you think that you are, a guitar player or a singer?
You're a drummer! You're better than that! You can play anything that they dish out!
 
I tend to just not.

Granted, I like a wide variety of music, so it's rarely a problem.

But I came to the conclusion a long time ago I didn't spend so much time learning how to play drums just to play music I don't like. Of course, that might be part of the reason I'm not a working pro anymore.
 
I've tended to just suck it up. A couple of times I've been lucky and it's been dropped quickly because it clearly wasn't having the effect on the crowd that it should have. On the occasions where I haven't been lucky enough to see it disappear, I've just cringed, grinned and bared it....and poured myself a stiff drink after the gig to recover from the horror. But ultimately, the crowd make the call. If they like it, it stays. If they don't, then you can always argue for its removal.

Unfortunately, I've always detested one of the most popular Aussie bar band songs of all time. It was a staple amongst so many cover bands when I was playing live and there was little avoiding it. I hated it more than I've ever hated anything, yet I had to play it week in, week out. Sometimes there's just no avoiding the pain.
 
Mitch, please!

A pro learns and plays every song as if it was their favorite.

There are songs I play that I might not listen to otherwise, but you'd never know it by watching or listening to me play them. :)

Suck it up, grin and bear it, never let 'em see you sweat, just do your job and take their stinking money!

If you really can't bring yourself to play what's thrown at you, I know how to reach ten thousand drummers who'd line up for the pleasure to be in a gigging band!.

Bermuda
 
Mitch, please!

A pro learns and plays every song as if it was their favorite.

There are songs I play that I might not listen to otherwise, but you'd never know it by watching or listening to me play them. :)

Suck it up, grin and bear it, never let 'em see you sweat, just do your job and take their stinking money!

If you really can't bring yourself to play what's thrown at you, I know how to reach ten thousand drummers who'd line up for the pleasure to be in a gigging band!.

Bermuda
+1, 2, 3, and 4! I play Country music that I loathe all summer at campgrounds because the money that I earn pays for things like Istanbul Agop cymbals that I use to play Jazz with my other band that I love! Actually, I kinda like playing some of the Jason Aldean tunes but don't tell anyone. shhhhhhh
 
What Bermuda said.

And: Play it better than the original drummer played it.
Own the song and make it yours, sneak in some fills that make the song sound better than the original.

.
 
I'm planning on getting together with a couple of other musicians (bass & guitar) later this week and I have to learn a song one of the guys suggested - we each picked 3 tunes.

One of the songs the guitar player picked is from Jane's Addiction. To be perfectly honest, I have heard of them but I have never listened to any of their music. The song he wants to play is Mountain Song - and quite frankly, I hate the song. Way too heavy metal for me.

I mean no offense to the JA crowd out there, but how do you go about learning a song you hate? Any suggestions?

Thanks, everyone!

P.S. This will be the first time I've ever gotten together with other musicians. I have tried before but things usually get messed up during the planning phase.

Just play through it a few times. That song has a cool tom pattern and I think it's pretty fun to play. Just dive in and try it. You may end up really enjoying it.
 
Consider yourself lucky. I have to play Disney music for 40 minutes at a time. You wanna talk about going crazy? I'll give you CRAZY!

Ha !


Yeah, I went to a circus last year and I was listening to the band. I would hate to play that stuff every night !!

.
 
Ha !


Yeah, I went to a circus last year and I was listening to the band. I would hate to play that stuff every night !!

.

Well, like Bermuda, I just suck it up and make it my best friend. My reality is that there are ALOT of other drummers who would love to do what I get to do, so I have to love it more. Over the years I've learned how to just deal with it and I'm really good at tuning things out so I can do the job correctly. I think given the chance as everyone figures out it's better to be playing than not playing, everybody's attitude gets better.

I think I've played a little bit of everything so far and it'll just be more of them same. You're not going to like everything so you just have to remind yourself that it's better to play, than not play.
 
It is possible that the other musicians will lose interest in the song after playing it 5 or 10 times.
 
Playing a song you don't like is like playing golf, it's much more fun to play than to listen to. I know some guys that hate playing Mustang Sally. I look at it this way, if I stuck the groove to Mustang Sally in another song, would it necessarily be that much more fun to play? I love playing the drums. I love hitting drums and cymbals. It doesn't matter if it's a song that's been played to death by every cover band in the world or a song I don't like. I'm playing drums!
 
FREEBIRD!!! THREE STEEPS!!! BROWN EYED GIRL!!! the list never ends. :)
 
FREEBIRD!!! THREE STEEPS!!! BROWN EYED GIRL!!! the list never ends. :)

I'd much rather play these songs than Mountain Song by Jane's Addiction.

It's just not the musical direction I want to go. When I first got in contact with these guys, I stipulated that I was looking for Classic Rock and Blues.

I love rock music that is blues-based. To me, that's where my creative juices flow the best.

I will pick up the groove for this song come hell or high water, but I may not have much of my tongue left from biting it too much.
 
Just out of curiousity, what are some other songs that you'll be doing? Which ones did you recommend?
 
Just out of curiousity, what are some other songs that you'll be doing? Which ones did you recommend?

I chose these three:

About A Girl – Nirvana
Runnin’ Down a Dream – Tom Petty
Fortunate Son – CCR
 
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