songinspire's posterous

Jan 20 / 10:55am

WAR PIGS in Guitar World Feb 2011 Issue

We've got the best backing track for this classic song, check it out at: http://www.songinspire.com/AlbumSamp9.html.

The original recording of this song has lots of varying tempo changes...and our backing track captures all of them. ENJOY!

Nov 21 / 4:37pm

Here's my Christmas Eve Sarajevo performance!

Nov 9 / 12:21pm

Gotta Learn the Christmas tunes!!

I've got 2 Trans Siberian Orchestra backing tracks (Christmas Eve Sarajevo / 12/24 and O Holy Night) available to practice with and I love them! Rich strings, some keyboard, and heavy drum hits. I'm getting into the holiday spirit and I'm going to learn these songs. Just great lead guitar stuff. I'll post the videos of my playing here pretty soon.

Aug 9 / 2:25pm

Who can play a whole song?

Songinspire Backtracks Volume 12 is almost finished. The completed tracks so far are "Rock This Town", "Bodies", "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)", and "Scream". The song "Scream" by Avenged Sevenfold is new to me. I was very impressed with the guitar phrasing and drum beats....those are some talented writers and musicians.

How good do you have to be to enjoy playing along with Backing Tracks? I'd like to hear feedback from some of you. Are all of you veteran performers? I am. I can't stand playing the guitar parts without the rest of the band parts. Playing the solos suck without a beat and basic chord progression (just having the bass notes is fine). I wonder how many people who own a guitar can play a whole song with a band or backing track? 20% 40%?

How many of you can?

Jul 7 / 7:28am

How To Play Along With Backing Tracks?

I saw this question posted on a guitar site and I thought I would try to answer it. I’ve been playing in bands for so long that I don’t even think about it, but it definitely is a learned skill. One of the key skills needed to play with others in a band (or with backing tracks) is to play in tempo. Tempo is the timing of the song, the beat, the speed of the rhythm, how fast you want to tap your foot while listening to the song. If you are practicing by yourself, you tend to focus on the notes and sound of the riff… getting your hands into position to play that goofy chord. Tempo doesn’t feel that important by yourself….it sounds good to you. But as soon as you play with one other person…tempo is the guide that allows musicians to play together without staring at each other’s hands and instruments…trying to guess when they are going to play the next note.

The first thing to know about playing along with others is how to count music rhythm. Learn to count the beats and follow along with the sheet music while listening to the recorded version of the song. The lyrics of the song are a good hint at where you are, but are very difficult to use as a beat counter because they are so ‘free form’. The drums are the first place to listen when determining the speed of the song. Kick – Snare – Kick – Snare – Kick – Snare – Kick – Snare. That’s the simplest drum beat in rock. Each drum hit is played on a beat and there are usually 4 beats in a measure (look at the rock sheet music). Count them 1 2 3 4, Kick—Snare – Kick – Snare. The first thing I’d recommend to playing along with the Backing Tracks is to learn to follow along with the sheet music while listening to the recorded song. Practice playing along with the original recorded song. Work hard to stay in time with the song. If the song is too fast for you… turn the song off and practice the tough parts slowly until you can play it as fast as the original. Now that last sentence took 2 seconds to write, but can take weeks or months or even years to implement. I still can’t play Eruption as well as I’d like to…and I’ve only been practicing that for 20 years. When you can play along with the original song, then you can start with the Backing Track. That’s when it gets very rewarding!! Because the guitar you hear is all you and it sounds like the record. Pat yourself on the back, you just filled in for the rock star on the record.

Keep practicing!!

Jun 24 / 5:26pm

New Guitar Jack for the IPhone, IPod Touch

This is the third device I've seen that allows you to plug a guitar into into an IPhone/Touch device. It seems to be very durable and top-notch quality. This is exactly what you need to play along with backing tracks on your device.

http://www.sonomawireworks.com/news-2010-06.php

Also check out: PRS Jam Amp: http://www.prscables.com/prsjamamp/

and AmpliTube http://www.ikmultimedia.com/irig/features/

Jun 14 / 5:34pm

Rock Band 3 Pro Guitar Control

Have you seen this yet?

They put a button for each string on each fret...that's a lot of buttons...and pretty cool. I've only played the game for 5 minutes at the store and I got frustrated after the computer was telling me that I was playing the song wrong....when I actually knew how to play the song on a real guitar! According to the couple of posts from E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the new Rock Band has Pro instruments...keyboard, drums, and the guitar. They advertise these 'instrument controllers' as actual teaching tools to their real-world counter parts. That's actually really cool (to me). What I've been waiting for is the ability to plug a REAL guitar into a game console and practice my Major Blues Pentatonic positions while blowing up ZOMBIES! So there are two new things you learned about me. I keep up to date on video games and I have a love/hate relationship with ZOMBIES. WORLD WAR Z....a must read!

Jun 11 / 11:31am

Playing In Time to the Backing Track

I've been practicing a few of the songs... I'm Yours and Use Somebody...and I was surprised at how much effort it took me to consistently play in time to the beat...especially when trying to sing the lead vocals. The backing tracks we produce sometimes have a bit of 'free form' accompaniment that spice the song up...but makes it more challenging than just a straight metrodome beat. It is definitely a good practice tool to learn how to listen to the beat and adjust your playing to follow along. These particular songs were more challenging than I thought... probably why they are so catchy!

The party I was supposed to play at is outdoors and it's calling for lots of rain...so I don't think I'll be playing this one. I'll keep practicing for the next one.

Anyone out there use backing tracks to play shows or parties?

Jun 8 / 7:54am

Introduction to SongInspire

Let me introduce myself, my name is David Blue and I run the company SongInspire. I’m a guitar nut…I just absolutely love looking at guitars, playing guitars, drooling over new gear, and jamming a great Rock and Roll tune! I originally started this company with the idea of writing software for guitarists and songwriters (hence the name SONGINSPIRE)…but decided to work on the practice backing tracks first. I’m still working on the software ideas, but for now I’m more focused on producing a great collection of Back Tracks for my huge collection of Guitar World magazines. It’s amazing to see how things have changed so much since I was teenager. I’m generation X. In High School I couldn’t wait to get Guitar (for the practicing musician) and Guitar World magazine in the mail. They had (and still do) the best transcriptions for all of the relevant rock songs. I was just learning guitar then and I didn’t have the patience (or skill) to try and figure out the song myself…I wanted to know where to put my fingers to play that riff on the radio the right way. I played in bands in high school (Aftermath, Teaser....our haters called us 'greaser') and in college (MESH) and we were always referencing these magazines to help learn new tunes for our shows. After I got married and stopped playing in bands I really missed the sound of the other song parts when practicing. So I started working with rhythm machines and 4 track recorders to produce backing tracks to play along with. I’ve been producing backing tracks for over 14 years now and I still use them to improve my playing and learn solos to songs I’ve always wanted to. I approached the guitar magazines with the idea of including these practice backing tracks with each issue over ten years ago. I sent them a sample and they replied that it was a good idea but that they were not interested at that time. So I continued producing these tracks for personal use. Fast forward 10 years and the industry and technology has advanced so much that I can now deliver these tracks over the magic of the INTERNET. How cool is that? We’ve been operating for 1 year and we’re still dedicated to producing a great selection that appeals to as many practicing guitarists as possible. We’re always anxious to hear from our customers, so please feel free to send an email to me: dave@songinspire.com. BTW, I’ve been asked to play a party this weekend, so I’m practicing a couple songs from our catalog… Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll, Kings of Leon Use Somebody, and Tool’s The Pot. I’ll try to get some video of it and put on the blog. LATER!

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