Source for Backing Tracks?

tm3

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I'm interested in obtaining some backing tracks to practice blues soloing and improvisation over. Nothing extensive, just a few in C and A.

I'm aware of a product called Band in a Box but that would be way overkill for me.

Any recommendations? TIA
 
There are also a bazillion backing tracks on Spotify. Search for “backing track” on your favorite music service and you should be rewarded.

It costs a few bucks (an order of magnitude less than BitB), but I really like iRealPro. It’s a bit more flexible than a canned track. It’s easy to add a new song if what you’re looking for doesn’t already exist and you can switch up the backing instruments to open up the part you want to play.
 
There are also a bazillion backing tracks on Spotify. Search for “backing track” on your favorite music service and you should be rewarded.

It costs a few bucks (an order of magnitude less than BitB), but I really like iRealPro. It’s a bit more flexible than a canned track. It’s easy to add a new song if what you’re looking for doesn’t already exist and you can switch up the backing instruments to open up the part you want to play.

Great suggestions, thank you! The flexibility of iRealPro is appealing and it does not sound like it would be too hard to create the tracks (I want to spend my music time on the uke, not on playing sound engineer!). I could put it on desktop, ipad, or phone -- do you have a recommendation? Seems like desktop might be easiest to work with and then I could export the file to my phone or tablet but hard to tell without actually using it.
 
Great suggestions, thank you! The flexibility of iRealPro is appealing and it does not sound like it would be too hard to create the tracks (I want to spend my music time on the uke, not on playing sound engineer!). I could put it on desktop, ipad, or phone -- do you have a recommendation? Seems like desktop might be easiest to work with and then I could export the file to my phone or tablet but hard to tell without actually using it.
I've only used the iOS version on my phone. The file format is text based and can be written in any text editor if you want something specific. It's only the chord progression so it's compact and ends up represented as a url. See https://irealpro.com/ireal-pro-file-format/ for details
 
I'm weird, but I like the rigidity of canned tracks. Making music is all about curbing your enthusiasm and playing in the pocket to serve the goal of the music. For me it is about ego-suppression and obeying the inexorable mistress of Time. To that end, it serves my purpose to have a strict rhythm to play with and it also helps not having the exact track that you want because then you really have to suck it up and try your best with something that you perhaps wouldn't normally play.
 
Making music is all about curbing your enthusiasm and playing in the pocket to serve the goal of the music. For me it is about ego-suppression and obeying the inexorable mistress of Time.

Teach us, master! :worship:
 
Teach us, master! :worship:

If I remember correctly, in your last book you said it better than I could. You were recounting how you were trying to take your music to the next level by getting fancier and fancier. However it wasn't until you started simply performing that it all came together.
 
I'm weird, but I like the rigidity of canned tracks. Making music is all about curbing your enthusiasm and playing in the pocket to serve the goal of the music.

Thanks, that is an interesting point.

Band in a Box works really well.

Yes BinaB seems to be the gold standard, but also seems to be way overkill for me.
 
I've generated simple backing tracks, purely for practice, using ABC http://abcnotation.com/software to write them, I use ABC Explorer, then playing it as a MIDI. Can be as simple or as complex as you want, just chords, chords and bass, even with a percussion track, with a choice of instrument sounds and, of course, the tempo is almost infinitely variable. Can even introduce a counter melody or "call and response" if you're feeling really adventurous ;)

Inevitably there's a learning curve … but it's free ;)

Inevitably - YMMV :music:
 
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