Jump to content
HAPPY NEW YEAR, TO ALL OUR HARMONY CENTRAL FORUMITES AND GUESTS!! ×

I've never gelled with backing tracks...


Recommended Posts

  • Members
Posted

I had Band in the Box, various backing tracks, and a loop pedal. Each time there's always a fire missing. I need musicians to feed off of. Perhaps it's the dynamics, but everything I play over backing tracks seem to be much worse for me in the long run. It's nice getting used to changes and what not, but I find a metronome much more satisfying, challenging and gets you used to having to outline the chords and hear the rest of the band. Dynamics are up to you and feel is all there. After watching some youtube videos, it's great hearing people rip some great stuff over it, but there's still something missing. I'm not bashing the people who use them, or say it's horrible to use one. I do invite people who use them to try the metronome technique along with the backing track.

 

Sorry about the pointless rant, just thought I'd share.

  • Members
Posted

I am with ya man, pretty much agreed.

 

Backing tracks are a small portion of my routine - but the fun blow off some steam part. They are nice to work on developing motifs across actual chord changes ... or for trying to "ear" your way through a piece. Often I throw one on and only play through it only once to force myself to find the changes on the fly. Sort of gig simulation if you will.

 

I dont think you can beat a metronome as a magnifying glass - there is nowhere to hide. But as part of a balanced practice session backing tracks can play a role.

  • Members
Posted

I definitely agree with you. Backing tracks are nice for learning techniques, and scales and stuff, but it's too mechanical. Music is meant to be dynamic and ever-changing. When a group of skilled improvisos get together and jam, an energy is created that can't be replicated by just jamming along with backing tracks. The great thing about improving is that you learn and become familiar with the other musicians' style: their little quirks and things that make their playing unique, and each musician has to build off of each others' quirks and habits musically. True improving, just putting musicians together and seeing what happens, brings out things about your playing styles and abilities that you might not notice by just jamming to tracks. I learned almost everything I know about guitar by improving with other musicians...I've been playing since I was five, and I'm only just now learning theory...and along the way I learned things from them and they learned things from me that we would never have learned on our own. Almost all of my skill lies in my improv ability....over the years I gained this ability to know which notes to go to to create differing levels of tension and relief, without knowing a thing about theory. I think this really helped me in the long run, because now Im able to learn theory without the physical barriers because I was already quite an accomplished player. I didn't have to learn theory while learning to play as well, so when I finally got around to theory I could focus solely on learning the theory.

 

Plus another one of the great things about being in a group that focuses on improv is that the musicians grow closer as friends, by simply having fun with the music. And as they grow closer, their music reflects their growing bond. You have to know each other, and in most of the bands I've been in, the use of cannabis really helps with that. I'm not trying to go into a pro-pot spiel, but I find that it helps the musicians connect on a deeper level, and the music reflects that.

 

Oh, and as a little side note, sometimes I wish someone could candidly record me and my buddy jamming some time...because it seems that my best playing always comes out when we aren't recording, and when do try to record a jam my jamming ability just seems to go away...it suddenly sounds like I'm trying too hard.

  • Members
Posted

I've had great learning experiences with backing tracks...

 

When I recorded them myself! The process that of creating and recording bass lines and chords is where much of the learning happens.

  • Members
Posted

I thin kthat every medium has its purpose. Playing unaccompanied, with a click, drum machine, backing track, another guitar (looped or live), full backing track, bands, etc.

 

Each will allow for more freedom in certain areas and restriction/constriction in others. I think it's important to be able to cultivate a similar skill set while working in all different mediums.

 

If nothing else, you will get BETTER at them, even if not AS GOOD as you are in one particular context.

  • Members
Posted

I love playing over backing tracks because I can wank and it will still sound like music.

 

JBender, smoking reefer doesn't make you a better guitarist or musician. If you truly believe that you're trying to justify your drug use.

  • Members
Posted

 

I love playing over backing tracks because I can wank and it will still sound like music.


JBender, smoking reefer doesn't make you a better guitarist or musician. If you truly believe that you're trying to justify your drug use.

 

 

You misconstrued what I said. I never said that cannabis makes me a better musician OR guitar player, nor do I need to "justify" my cannabis use to anyone, especially faceless strangers on the internet. My choice to use cannabis and my choice to be a musician were two independent decisions, completely unrelated. What I said was that, in my experience, when musicians smoke cannabis together it serves as an excellent social bonding mechanism, much in the same way a conversation over a cup of coffee can, which allows the musicians to bond on more than just physical or cognitive (wow, you like capn' crunch too?) levels. Cannabis use happens to be pretty common among musicians, so it's pretty common for musicians to bond over a pipe.

 

Back to the topic though, I agree with girevic that backing tracks are far more beneficial when you create them yourself. When you do this, you apply theory to it as well...it's all good to know that this pre-made backing track is in the key of C and blah blah blah, but you're learning so many more concepts at one time when you make your own backing tracks, because you have to apply much more theory to it.

  • Members
Posted

Back to the original post......it's not a pointless rant...........you make a very good point here.

 

One of my goals is to organise some kind of weekly music/jamming event in our local town here in Poland. As the local "actually English" teacher, this won't be too hard.

 

Going to a live gig....that's always a good buzz. Very human. I went to a blues night in Warsaw a while back, and it was phenomenal.

 

There's little better than well-played live music. The tradition goes back a long time!

 

I lean towards agreement with the cannabis point......I stopped my indulgences ages ago because the quality nose-dived (in Europe at least), and it became more and more a disappointing activity.

 

Never say nups.............

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...