I love it when a band or artist drastically changes the vibe and structure of a song when they're covering it.

Soulive's cover of the Beatles' Taxman is a perfect example of that.

As mentioned in Wikipedia about George Harrison's inspiration for writing Taxman:

‘Taxman' was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes. It was and still is typical.” As their earnings placed them in the top tax bracket in the United Kingdom, the Beatles were liable to a 95% supertax introduced by Harold Wilson's Labour government (hence the lyrics “There's one for you, nineteen for me”, referring to the pre-decimal pound sterling which consisted of twenty shillings). In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, Paul McCartney explained: “George wrote that and I played guitar on it. He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did. He had never known before then what he'll do with your money.

When Krasno and the Evans brothers covered Taxman for their Rubber Soulive album, they stripped the snark right out of the song and replaced with a joyful, driving lilt.

Here's some buddies and I covering Soulive's version.  This was the tune played immediately after Get Out of My Life.

Guitar Gear Used in the Performance:

– Fender/MJT Jazzmaster Guitar with Seymour Duncan Antiquity II Pickups
– Wampler Ego Compressor
– Ibanez TS9 Tubescreamer (Analogman Silver 808 Modded)
– Xotic EP Booster
– TC Electronic Polytune Noir Mini Tuner
– Two Rock Studio Pro Plus 35W Combo Amplifier with Celestion A-Type British Speaker
– Pedals mounted on a Pedaltrain Nano & powered by a Pedaltrain Volto 2
– Pig Hog Tartain Plaid 10′ Guitar Cables
– Pickboy Pos-a-Grip Jazz Classic T Shell Cellulose Picks 1.50mm

Chords

Most Beatles tunes have some kind of compositional twist in them, and Taxman is no exception.

Instead of a nice, even 8 bar chorus (section B), they skip a bar.

Although one bar seems like a small omission, a 7 bar chorus is a fairly odd experience for a mid 60s pop tune, and this definitely adds to the frenetic pace and vibe of the original.

Also, the D7#9 doesn't take its normal place as an altered V chord here.

In a typical song, we may see the D7#9  resolving to a I or i chord (A or A minor, respectively).

But that doesn't happen, the D7#9 doesn't really go anywhere.

Rather, it's just a super tense chord that I think emotionally captures the anger that Harrison felt towards his government.

Soulive added a great jam section in the song (section C), where they switch back and forth between four chords of F, and four of D.

On Rubber Soulive, guitarist Eric Krasno and organist Neal Evans each take the entire repeating 8 bar section of the form for their solos.

For our cover, we did it differently – Conor takes the F7 chord and I take the D7 chord, leading to a tense battle where we switch off every four bars.

Taxman Opening Riff

When I was a kid I learned dozens of licks & riffs that John Frusciante played on The Red Hot Chili Pepper's early albums.

This opening lick was subconsciously inspired by John's right hand style, where he fits in a ton of chicken-scratched 16th notes while staying in the pocket.

Although I may never come close to Frusciante's genius playing from the late 1980s, I never tire of striving towards it.

As one of my mentors told me:

It's better to shoot for the moon and land in the mud, than it is to shoot for the mud….and make it.

Speaking of landing in the mud…

I really dislike my playing in this version.

“Dislike” is putting it lightly.

My improvised lines didn't come out the way they sounded in my head.

Everything I played in the jam section sounded weak, in hindsight.

I don't actually remember how they sounded in my head in the moment, but unless I had chugged a handle of Robitussin during soundcheck, I know they did not sound the way it came out on the recording.

So why would I go through the trouble of sharing this performance?

When I listen back to this version of Taxman, I can hear that I am trying my best while improvising.

Even if my fingers weren't doing what my ear was telling them to do, in the moment..I truly gave a shit.

So I'm not necessarily proud of my playing but I am proud of my effort, as well as the inspiring playing of the three ultra-talented musicians around me.

And if I only posted videos that were perfect, my YouTube channel would be empty and this site wouldn't exist.

Never wait until the moment is ideal, just start!  An ounce of progress is worth more than a gallon of waiting.

As the driving force behind Saturday Night Live, Lorne Michaels, has famously said:

“We don't go on because we're ready.  We go on because it's 11:30.”