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GMC Forum _ PRACTICE ROOM _ Lesson Backing Tracks
Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Jun 5 2008, 06:33 PM
Here are some thoughts about lesson backing tracks -
I am about to suggest to our instructors that our lessons should contain
* Backing track at full speed
* Backing track at full speed with loop, 3-5 minutes for jamming
* Backing tracks at different speeds
* At least one extremely slow backing (Am I right in thinking that in some cases even the slowest backings are too fast for many people?)
Looking forward to your feedback! 
Posted by: Matt23 Jun 5 2008, 06:47 PM
I think having an extremely slow backing track for when you're trying to memorise something is very useful.
Posted by: DeepRoots Jun 5 2008, 06:51 PM
Yes, yes and more yes Those are great suggestions- especially the extremely slow one, as we need something to practise/jam to while we are still learning the lesson aka we're still really really slow! That especially goes for some of the 9/10 or 10/10 difficulty lessons.
Thanks Kris 
and might i suggest that the extremely slow backing track should be around 25-35% of the original speed- seems about right to me- dunno about the rest of you guys though 
Posted by: chmilew Jun 5 2008, 07:04 PM
I remember that some of Gabriel's lesson contained a BT with loop, and I thought this idea was great !
Actually, when I play a lesson over a Backing Track, I always used to continue to jam over it even its finished, I don't know why.. maybe something is wrong with me 
Also an extremely slow backing will be veeeery useful, cause you're right Kris, some of slow backing are too fast specially when you're learning a new technique like sweeping.
So, I voted definitely YES !
Posted by: SEANCD2005 Jun 5 2008, 07:16 PM
i vote yes i would love to have the back track loop over and over
Posted by: skennington Jun 5 2008, 07:24 PM
Yes, I think those options would be great. What I would really like to see is the lessons laid out the way you did http://www.freelicks.net/Fade_to_black1.htm
I love the different screens with parts of the lesson broke down and looped with Tab. This way you learn each part then put it together!
Posted by: Oxac Jun 5 2008, 07:47 PM
Chris, why not add the feature for extra payment if the teacher explains how he/she created the backingtrack? How he or she did the rythm with the drums, got samples for strings and added them together?
This would be very helpful for us who's getting started at making backingtracks.
Posted by: Nick325 Jun 5 2008, 07:58 PM
Yes!!!
Posted by: besip Jun 5 2008, 07:59 PM
AGREE!!!!! 
Posted by: Matt23 Jun 5 2008, 08:35 PM
Definitely
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Jun 5 2008, 08:58 PM
eheheh I wanted to vote yes but I clicked the wrong button
One longer backing for jamming would be cool addition definitly
Posted by: Smells Jun 5 2008, 09:00 PM
I think they are all good ideas, especially the looped backing track for jamming
Posted by: Trond Vold Jun 5 2008, 09:08 PM
I'm all for this
Posted by: audiopaal Jun 5 2008, 09:37 PM
Sounds great
Posted by: superize Jun 5 2008, 09:40 PM
I agree fully with this and especially with the extreme slow one as i find it more fun to practise with a backingtrack insteed of in GP
Posted by: Marek Rojewski Jun 5 2008, 09:57 PM
Hmm, I think that slow backing tracks would make learning easier, BUT is it not one of the point of having different difficulty level lessons, that some of them are for more advanced players and some aren't? I know that playing above lvl 3-4 is to hard for me, so I will use the lessons that are on my level in order to improve, and than have a take on the higher level ones. I think that onces I master the lower level lessons I will be able to practice the more advanced ones more less, even without extreme slow backing track. So to sum up, I know that the more for us ( students ) the better for us, but I rather have our instructors focus more on keeping the superb work they are doing, than on making a lvl 1 difficulty backing track for their lvl 10 lesson.
Posted by: rokchik Jun 5 2008, 09:58 PM
Excellent suggestions Kris and I say yes to them all Really like the looping BT idea for jamming, it will help me out greatly with my improvising.
rok
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Jun 5 2008, 10:00 PM
Fine by me too! Anything to keep the backings to a higher level
Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jun 5 2008, 10:11 PM
I agree wholeheartedly with the slower backing track - sometimes even the slowest BTs are waaay too fast, especially if you are stretching yourself and playing something waaay advanced, just very slowly.
I think 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% would probably be a good selection to aim for, and hey, what about 125% for when you have nailed it
Posted by: Fran Jun 5 2008, 10:25 PM
Sounds really good to me, specially the 3-5 minutes loop part!
Posted by: Juan M. Valero Jun 6 2008, 07:49 AM
I think those are great ideas, specially the loop one, but I think that if you are playing slow is better to practice with guitar pro than directly with the BT, so what does exactly "extremely slow" means ?? if it's less than 50% I don't think it was a good idea 'cos at this tempo you lose all the spirit of the original lesson...
BTW it's just my opinion, and if members want slower BTs it's not a problem, hehe, it's just less than a minute 
Posted by: Marcus Siepen Jun 6 2008, 12:16 PM
Sounds fine for me
Posted by: dango Jun 6 2008, 02:38 PM
Extremely slow backing track is most welcome. Is this apply for the existing lesson, too? If it's so, that would be wonderful.
Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Jun 6 2008, 02:49 PM
Slow backing will certainly help me out. We should have a 250 beats per minute version as well so Muris can post his slow takes
Posted by: David Wallimann Jun 6 2008, 03:14 PM
I'm all for it!
Posted by: Tsarpf Jun 7 2008, 01:17 PM
Yes, I liked the suggestions
Posted by: Hisham Al-Sanea Jun 7 2008, 11:23 PM
no problem for me my backing tracks are midi VSt so i can do any speed. usually i put the
the normall speed 100% and the 50% then 25 % from the normal speed
Posted by: Kosei Kubota Jun 7 2008, 11:28 PM
I agree. Extremely slow backing track will be very helpful.
If you can play PERFECTLY at half a speed, you are almost there!
Posted by: Muris Varajic Jun 8 2008, 12:53 AM
Since now I was uploading 50% of normal speed as slowest backing.
But now with this pool I see the real situation and needs,
it's good to know what community is after,noted.
Posted by: Marcus Lavendell Jun 8 2008, 09:04 AM
Sounds like a good idea! No problems here
Posted by: Bondy Jun 8 2008, 09:07 AM
Excellent idea
Posted by: eddiecat Jun 8 2008, 09:20 AM
YES!
Being able to loop the BT would be just great!
Please...
Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Jun 8 2008, 04:07 PM
But now with this pool I see the real situation and needs,
it's good to know what community is after,noted.
Heh, if you uploaded a 25% speed backing track for extreme neclassical, hell, I could probably play it at that speed in 5 years time
Posted by: kaznie_NL Jun 8 2008, 05:18 PM
The loop is great, the full-speed part is very usefull and the very slow version is very handy. It's good to help the beginning guitarplayers, because already a lot of this site is a bit on the advanced side. I think an example of a great BT collection would be something like this:
120BPM (full speed)
120BPM looped
100BPM
maybe 80BPM
50BPM
The 80 BPM is maybe, because I don't know if that would be used a lot.
Hope I helped a bit. Good idea Kris!
Posted by: Jenkinson Jun 12 2008, 04:25 AM
Kris, is there anyway we could get the instructors to play along with their backing tracks at each speed? ie. Gabriel's Iron Maiden 1 backing @ 114bpm. This helps us keep the lesson in correct timing even when playing at a reduced speed. Some of the odd timings, and pauses make it difficult to practice very slowly. Thanks
Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Jun 12 2008, 10:28 AM
Ok we have discussed this between instructors and it looks like we will pretty soon start seeing this in new lessons!
Also - some instructors have already started "upgrading" old lessons - we will get back with more news about that!
Doing this sure would be cool, but also very time consuming - I can't quite see that it is motivated when there is a guitarpro tab which allows you to change the bpms to your heart's desire.
Posted by: besip Jun 17 2008, 12:12 AM
I'm not read all of this and i'm also don't know if we talk about this-------->>>>>>>>
i'm was thinking it's be can possible also Zoom and slow down the video player??????
..actualy..somethime is very hard to see how instructors use their fingers in lower speed..and actualy somethime is also not easy for me to play over backing track drums or beep..{and somethime those backing don't have any drums beat}
i'm find my self to be cool play with instructor on video player..but when coming some hard part it's was not easy 
Posted by: Praetorian Jun 17 2008, 01:22 AM
The loop part is desperately needed! Also, I do agree that even the slowest backing tracks are sometimes too fast for us beginners.
Posted by: -Zion- Jun 17 2008, 08:05 AM
Im all in..
On a side note, is it possible to add the difficulty to the actual lesson? When people are linking directly to lessons, i cannot see the difficulty of the lesson.
Posted by: Kapto Jun 17 2008, 09:12 AM
Good Idea.
It also good be nice to have those sections with a loop that repeats itself after 2 seconds so we don't have to click on the video screen over and over.
Posted by: Kristofer Dahl Jul 7 2008, 09:45 AM
I just wanted to notify you that we have started to retroactively upgrade some lessons, today the following lessons by Trond got more backings! Get jamming!
String Skipping Melodies
Am Rock solo
Pinch Harmonics
Canon Metal
A little bit of everything
Posted by: jacmoe Jul 7 2008, 03:54 PM
You can loop, if you move the diamond shaped sliders just a tiny bit "inwards".
That works for both the video and the backing tracks.
I discovered that just when I was about to complain about that missing feature.
@Kris:
Awesome!
Posted by: fkalich Jul 7 2008, 10:44 PM
myself, I don't care about any of that. for the most part don't consider backing tracks helpful in developing skills. exception might be with odd time lessons. personally, I feel they tend to distract you from noticing the flaws in your play. I realize I probably am a lone (or near lone) wolf with this view.
what I would have liked is for lessons to have a full length version WITHOUT backing, as O'Toole provided when he was here. i never understood exactly why that has not been provided, it seems obviously useful. Quite often the lesson's slow parts do not really capture the rhythm and nuances of the long video, and trying to capture that through a thick backing track is not always easy.
Posted by: Guitar1969 Jul 8 2008, 12:30 AM
I like the backing ideas, and one step further, I would like to know the vitals of the backing as well, like the key its in(Or the chord progression it is), as I'm at a stage where I want to know why a particular lead part fits well over a backing, to help me in the development of my own parts.
Posted by: Xose Pineda Jul 8 2008, 01:23 AM
Couldn't agree more.
I think TAB's are a bit simple... sometimes I've a lot of numbers 'cause it's a sweep arpeggio or something... would be nice to have the chord name... also some forget to put BPM, tempo, key and such important info.
Any improvement it's always welcome
Cheers all!
Posted by: zygleth Jul 8 2008, 04:49 AM
I agree with the track ideas and to Guitar1969 suggestion. I am working on theory and this may help jump start applications of certain parts, so to speak. Great ideas.....
Posted by: stickyfingers Jul 8 2008, 06:46 AM
nice ideas
i saw those faster backingtrack always as a challenge - when i was able to finally play along with the slowest backing i felt like i achieved sth.
but then again slower backingtracks would be great to have a closer look at your mistakes while still playing the lick in it's intended musical environment.
alternatively you could add some tracks to the guitar pro files - any student could adjust the speed or tuning the way it fits them best. i don't know how much more work that would mean, though.
Posted by: Ctodd Jul 21 2008, 01:37 AM
Hey is this whole thing still going on?
I really like playing to the looping backing tracks!
Posted by: RIP Dime Jul 21 2008, 03:12 AM
I can't see how this won't help, I know I've wished that I could have had a slower backing or longer backing at times.
Posted by: jacmoe Jul 21 2008, 03:37 PM
I really like playing to the looping backing tracks!
You can make any backing track loop by moving the small diamond shaped tracker things a small bit 'inwards' from each side.
Posted by: Ctodd Jul 21 2008, 10:50 PM
That is a good idea, haven't thought about that. that would only eliminate the need to keep clicking the play button.
most of what I am looking for is a fluid continuation of the backing track.
like in Gabriels one http://www.guitarmasterclass.net/solo-guitar/major-pentatonic-intermediate-solo/
Posted by: Tryton Jul 22 2008, 05:14 AM
What he said...
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