16.11.13

Neil Diamond Tribute Bands Are Awesome

By Katrina Wheeler


Neil Diamond tribute bands are not surprisingly popular. This perhaps has most to do with the popularity of the singer himself. He is one of the most widely recognized musicians. His music has spanned generations.

His songs lay in the category of adult contemporary rock. He began his career way back in the sixties and today is still going strong. He has been awarded a position in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The only other musicians to beat him in the billboard list for adult contemporary music are the famous Elton John and Barbara Streisand. His most noted songs are If You Know What I Mean, Song Sung Blues and I've Been This Way Before.

It is not true that these types of bands play songs exactly as the musician copied would. It is more of a tribute to their overall artistry. They are performance to the artist as a whole although many see this type of music too much like copying.

Neil Diamond may be especially easy to play the music of since most of his songs can be played and sung by one person. Most of his songs can be considered sixties pop and use the acoustic guitar. There are some numbers that require more instruments such as bass or drums and of course capturing his mellow alto singing voice can be requires skill.

A tribute band is free to take on interpretations of his music and create really creative covers. The band can emphasize or down play certain aspects of the songs like in pitch of voice or beat length. The band may decide even to delete whole stanzas are combine two different songs.

Whatever direction it takes, the members are expected to know every song by the artist and not just the popular ones. They can expect to be in front of an audience who are hardcore fans and who have tired of the repeated tracks. They may prefer more esoteric numbers. Also they might not appreciate an newly formatted track. It is up to the musician to gauge the atmosphere of the audience.

This is a great way to make money. This is true specifically for those who love to play music but do not know how to write or make up new songs. On the other hand many striving musicians might use this as a way to make money to support their own musical careers.

Tribute bands should expect to play in venues much smaller than those played by the original artists and to be paid much less. However the opportunity is there to play in places like taverns and low key restaurants. They may even find a spot playing the instrumentals for live karaoke but would be expected to know music from various artists. A Neil Diamond tribute bands can surely find numerous spots to play since he is a widely noted and liked musician. On the other hand, this can cause problems in that his popularity has more than likely inspired many tribute bands. The best piece of advice is to play his stuff as best as possible while having some good imaginative interpretations on hand.




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