Playing With The Backing Tracks Options

[Gabriel Leopardi]

Playing with the backing tracks is surely the most fun and effective way to practice. It is the next best thing to playing with a live band.
When practicing, metronome can come in very handy but it doesn't allow us to practice in a musical kind of way. After all, the practice we do is all aimed for ultimately playing music. This is why I would recommend practicing with the backing tracks.

I still remember the first time I got a backing from my first guitar teacher. It was in E minor and it was a melodic ballad style. I was just starting to learn the scales so playing along with it was like magic for me. I could stay all day jamming over it, it was like playing in a real band!! Nowadays, we can get lots of backing tracks using youtube and also GMC so there are no excuses to find the ones that you like and use them to practice scales, technique exercises, phrasing and everything you want/need in a musical context which makes everything more real and entertained.

How easy or hard do you find playing with a backing track?

What I have noticed that we sometimes just don't listen to the track enough. In order to successfully play against a backing track which you are having problems keeping up with, you could try the following : listen to the drums. Listen to when the drums are playing the kick drum, when the snare is played and what the hi hat is doing. These 3 essential elements of the drum kit are easy to hear in any song or backing track, you just need to concentrate on those sounds (rhythm). Once you have that down, try to do the same with other instruments. Listen closely to start hearing the exact rhythm in which the bass guitar is playing. Listen to what the guitar and keyboard is playing.

This advise might feel obvious but you'd be surprised how we can just not listen even though we think we are. By intentionally focusing our attention to certain instruments in a music track will shows us exactly that. You'll hear some details you didn't know were there.

Once you are listening, it will be just a matter of jamming along and pure practicing to fit in the track with your playing.

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