Backing Tracks

This is probably a really stupid question, but is there a way to download the backing tracks from the lessons for looping, etc.?

Thanks,
Bryan

Funky Players

Hey All,

Well clearly most everyone on this site is well versed in who the greatest technical players around are.

I thought I'd start a topic on some funky players. I'm a huge fan of funk/acid jazz/soul and two of my favorite players are

Simon Bartholomew - The Brand New Heavies
Rob Harris - Jamiroquai

Both of these guys play funk rhythm in the pocket like it's their job (oh wait....). Well anyway, their rhythm and feel are great.

Does anyone else know about/like these guys? Does anyone have additional funk/soul players that they're into?

_Bryan

Edit: Here is a great Jamiroquai vid with Rob Harris on guitar. Great phrasing on lead break at end of song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLa8CtJG3-U

Right Hand Picking And Metronome Questions

Hi Guys,

Just wanted to throw a couple questions out to the group to see what kind of thoughts you guys had.

I've been playing for a quite a while now (25 years!), but have never put in the time to get really good right hand picking technique. I've started working hard on it now. I know the fretboard very well from playing so long, and am comfortable with 3 note per string scales (all modes of major scales, all modes of melodic minor), and all the regular CAGED scale inversions, pentatonics, etc.

1-My first question is, with my fretboard knowledge, should I still practice alternate picking with the more simple exercise patterns that are shown in a lot of GMC lessons, or should I apply that practice to scales I already know, scale patterns (scales in intervals, etc.)?

2-When practicing with a metronome, it's not often discussed how to vary the tempo during the practice session. For example say yesterday I did a particular exercise at top speed of 100 BPM after working up from slower tempos. So, today what tempo should I start that exercise at, and how many minutes should I repeat that exercise at each tempo moving towards my new goal for today?

For me I find that starting each exercise very slow (maybe 60 bpm) and doing 2 minutes of an exercise before moving the tempo up 5 BPM and then repeating works well, but it's extremely time consuming by the time I get up over 100 or so (I'm not very fast yet!). I realize this practice must be time consuming to be effective, but I'm asking if this is the MOST effective use of the time, since it definitely decreases the number of individual exercises I can do.

I'm wondering if anyone has better suggestions.

Thanks so much!
Bryan