Members richardmac Posted April 1, 2012 Members Share Posted April 1, 2012 I also posted this in the music biz forum. For all of you fellow guitarists out there, Guitar Center is having it's annual "Battle of the Blues" contest. I hate Battle of the Bands type contests because I don't think art and competition belong in the same sentence, BUT GC has some top notch blues backing tracks that you can go download from their site for free right now. You probably can't use them commercially, but if you like to jam to the blues (and what guitarist doesn't,) here's a good opportunity to get a mess of high quality blues backing tracks for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted April 1, 2012 Members Share Posted April 1, 2012 I also posted this in the music biz forum. For all of you fellow guitarists out there, Guitar Center is having it's annual "Battle of the Blues" contest. I hate Battle of the Bands type contests because I don't think art and competition belong in the same sentence, BUT GC has some top notch blues backing tracks that you can go download from their site for free right now. You probably can't use them commercially, but if you like to jam to the blues (and what guitarist doesn't,) here's a good opportunity to get a mess of high quality blues backing tracks for free. Found 12 from the 2007 "Battle of the Blues" contest on www.beemp3.com. Now those are on my iPod...very handy! Are there others? If so, have you the URL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted April 1, 2012 Members Share Posted April 1, 2012 The guy from my local blues society keeps sending me entry forms. But you know what I hate about these things? The fact that it reduces the blues format to just a platform for wanking on a guitar. I try to work hard on songwriting, arranging, and keeping the blues genre alive as a viable genre. These "contests" are nothing more than guitar slinger events designed to sell more guitar goodies, and "the blues'' just becomes a prop. No one gives a cat's crap about the writers of the songs, what their lives were like, what they were trying to say. It's all bout the triplets and the hammer ons, baby! The pull offs and innovative use of scales! The melodic twists while paying homage to the greats! The awesome tone and bitchen effects! Pass. But I do like the backing tracks to practice with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members leftyjay Posted April 1, 2012 Members Share Posted April 1, 2012 battle of blues link the link doesnt always work, but i'm sure thats the link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted April 1, 2012 Members Share Posted April 1, 2012 ... No one gives a cat's crap about the writers of the songs, what their lives were like, what they were trying to say. It's all bout the triplets and the hammer ons, baby! .....!Pass. Yep. I've listened to the (real) blues since I was a teen but never gave myself permission to play blues because it wasn't my roots. Now the blues has been pretty much re-cast as old-white-guy music so I can let-er-rip with the rest of the wankers. Lots of fun but nothing you'd want to take seriously (or listen to, mostly). Young folks, I've learned, regard blues the same way I regarded dixieland when I was their age; with complete disdain bordering on nausea--regardless of the players' legits or chops. Sultans of Swing comes full circle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted April 1, 2012 Moderators Share Posted April 1, 2012 and yet, blues is becoming ubiquitous in advertising...go figure. Every year, like BlueStrat, people send me the tracks, entry forms etc...'you play blues! you should do this!'...no, I shouldn't, mainly because I don't think I fit the mold that competitions like this target....and I don't like the thought of music being a competitive endeavor, or that anyone can say what is better in music, because it is so subjective. But by the same token, blues is not just an old black man with a diddly-bow on the porch of a sharecropper's shack in Mississippi...and it isn't some guy with a Stratocaster and a wah pedal in Chicago, either. No one owns the blues, and the blues isn't a single genre...and no one should have the right to tell someone playing the blues they aren't doing it it the right way.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members pogo97 Posted April 1, 2012 Members Share Posted April 1, 2012 I think one issue is that the blues is two (two, two) big things in one. First, it's a genre. So Bessie Smith singing ANYTHING is the blues. Second it's a harmonic clich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jersey Jack Posted April 2, 2012 Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 The guy from my local blues society keeps sending me entry forms. But you know what I hate about these things? The fact that it reduces the blues format to just a platform for wanking on a guitar. I try to work hard on songwriting, arranging, and keeping the blues genre alive as a viable genre. These "contests" are nothing more than guitar slinger events designed to sell more guitar goodies, and "the blues'' just becomes a prop. No one gives a cat's crap about the writers of the songs, what their lives were like, what they were trying to say. It's all bout the triplets and the hammer ons, baby! The pull offs and innovative use of scales! The melodic twists while paying homage to the greats! The awesome tone and bitchen effects!Pass.But I do like the backing tracks to practice with. True, but: 1. The OP's original point was exactly that useful backing tracks are available; he wasn't suggesting that we participate2. Blues settled long ago into a guitar-player's genre--much as jazz is a keyboard/horn genre and bluegrass is a banjo genre. That said, I'm with you about the old white guy wanking--but I'll take SRV-influenced blues wanking any day over the EVH-influenced shred wanking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members richardmac Posted April 2, 2012 Author Members Share Posted April 2, 2012 The guy from my local blues society keeps sending me entry forms. But you know what I hate about these things? The fact that it reduces the blues format to just a platform for wanking on a guitar. I try to work hard on songwriting, arranging, and keeping the blues genre alive as a viable genre. These "contests" are nothing more than guitar slinger events designed to sell more guitar goodies, and "the blues'' just becomes a prop. No one gives a cat's crap about the writers of the songs, what their lives were like, what they were trying to say. It's all bout the triplets and the hammer ons, baby! The pull offs and innovative use of scales! The melodic twists while paying homage to the greats! The awesome tone and bitchen effects!Pass.But I do like the backing tracks to practice with. LOL! Yup, that's pretty accurate. Then add in the whole "music as competitive event" and it has the feel of the NFL Combine - I'm surprised they don't time the guitar players to see how many notes they can play in 8 seconds. "Oh, this kid from Boise State, he can play 150 notes in 8 seconds. That's going to be hard to beat!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators daddymack Posted April 3, 2012 Moderators Share Posted April 3, 2012 remember when they used to hold the 'guitarathons'...where people would have to sit at the local GCs and keep playing until they were the last ones standing? :rolleyesI never understood that at all, either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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