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Hi All,

I play bass guitar in a rock cover band, and my bandmates have always harassed me a little bit about playing tuba. They've always suggested we do some tuba songs....well now that I have my killer tuba axe (Conn 40K), I am going to take them up on the offer! I brought my King to rehearsal a few weeks ago to try stuff out, and it was interesting.... There are definitely some songs that are more tuba-prone than others! Of all of the tunes we noodled with (before I got back on bass to actually rehearse), Led Zeppelin's Custard Pie actually seemed to work.

Anyway, I was curious if anyone had any ideas of tunes to play that work well with the tuba instead of bass guitar. I am by no means a tuba virtuoso, but I think I might be able to hold my own. I'd like to even push things a little towards a New Orleans feel if we can....but that will depend on if we are successful with actually getting a decent crowd response. What can I say Tuba could be a great built-in gimmick!

We tend to want to do more upbeat tunes and really anything is fair game...so what are your ideas?

Thanks,
jc
My band: http://3ifbyair.net" target="_blank" target="_blank

Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo and Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) both work pretty well.

Ken S.

Since you play both, think about the bass lines. Do they "feel" like tuba? Try them all out. Songs you might not think of may sound really good on a tuba. I've played a lot of older rock medleys in concert band, and some of them turned out quite well. Others, well, needed some re-arranging. I just got done with a concert where one of the songs was a Beach Boys medley, and "I Get Around" came off quite well, for example, after I re-wrote the oversimplified part to better match what people expect to hear similar to the recording.

Try it on everything. You and your bandmates will be able to determine rather quickly which songs work and which songs don't. Try it especially on songs that are more acoustic guitar oriented for rhythm rather than electric.

"Big Bottom" by Spinal Tap....get one other berson on bass and another on bari sax.....it works great!!

Zoot Suit Riot

You can get some great ideas by listening to Boom Pam - a 2 guitar, 1 tuba + percussion surf/rock/world music group from Israel. Also give a listen to anything Matt Perrine is involved with - rock/jazz/funk Sousaphone with a lot of mad skills!

The big band I am in, California Repercussions, plays about 70% rock charts and we have no guitars at all. We also do TV theme songs, Jazz, Swing and novelty songs, but we mostly do "Classic" and Popular Rock.

"Fire" - Jimi Hendrix
"Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin
"Have Mercy" / "Jesus Just Left Chicago" - ZZ Top

not rock-n-roll, but fun:
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" - Cannonball Adderley Quartet


*Edited: because I cannot believe I misspelled "Hendrix"

Hello MrBasseyPants, (cool name)
I have been playing tuba and rhythm guitar in John Reno's trop rock band for 10 years now.
Check the music page on John's website to find 10 or more tuba rock tunes:

http://www.johnreno.com/music.html" target="_blank

Because a tuba plays longtones well, it has a great solo capability in any type of music. When we were a trio of tuba, guitar and harmonica, most solo work was done by my old 1940 Eb King miked thru one or two 300 watt JBL EONs.
Bring your tuba to a rehearsal. It is no worse than schlepping a bass amp and is so much more fun to play.
toots

How about "House of the Rising Sun"?

tubbba wrote:"Fire" - Jimi Hendricks
"Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin
"Have Mercy" / "Jesus Just Left Chicago" - ZZ Top

not rock-n-roll, but fun:
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" - Cannonball Adderley Quartet

Along the same lines as Mercy3 - Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" is a popular brass rock/jazz fusion piece, especially in New Orleans.

Strangelove wrote:"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Already has a tuba part.

Great song, but the original search was for more "upbeat songs" How about the Doobie Brothers "Funky Dixieland?" AKA "Black Water." (Not my personal most favorite song in the world, but I have heard worse - much worse!)

David Richoux wrote:

Strangelove wrote:"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Already has a tuba part.

Great song, but the original search was for more "upbeat songs" How about the Doobie Brothers "Funky Dixieland?" AKA "Black Water." (Not my personal most favorite song in the world, but I have heard worse - much worse!)

All of the suggestions are great....but we are looking for Rockin' songs! I'll admit...we're loud...but the drunks love it! Our nightly set includes stuff from the Beatles to Metallica. We're just a 4 piece band with bass (tuba), drums, and guitar....our singer plays a mean vibraslap....but as of now...just three instrumentalists.

Thanks for the ideas!

jc

Strangelove wrote:Ok. How about Crazy Train? Perfect for tuba.

I dare you to try the bass line of Led Zep's Immigrant Song.

Crazy Train is definitely a consideration....that's currently in our set. Immigrant song would be good. We've played that in the past with another sing. It wouldn't be too bad on tuba....but it may sound strange

I've been pondering trying to incorporate it into some Van Halen covers since most of their tunes are tuned down to Eb for the "Brown Sound." ....#b is much more tuba friendly than E!

jc

"Tuba's in the Moonlight" by The Bonzo Dog Band.

MrBasseyPants wrote:

Strangelove wrote:Ok. How about Crazy Train? Perfect for tuba.

I dare you to try the bass line of Led Zep's Immigrant Song.

Crazy Train is definitely a consideration....that's currently in our set. Immigrant song would be good. We've played that in the past with another sing. It wouldn't be too bad on tuba....but it may sound strange

jc

Matt Perrine recorded Immigrant Song with his trio "Tin Men" - ( the video is not as good as the studio recording.)
I have played "Crazy Train" on Sousaphone probably more than 500 times in the last 30 years. It works!

Another good one is "Something About You"

Check out Jon Sass doing his version of The Chase band's "Get It On" and some others- you can DL Jon on iTunes...