Practice Gear

Tom Mooney · From: Arlington, TN, USA

I'm trying to get back into playing a little, but technology has passed me by. I need advice on the simplest, easy to use system that I can find to play practice tracks, rhythm tracks, etc. I started back when the cassette player was the way to go. What's out there now? Many thanks.
Tom

Ron ! · Posted 29 Apr 2009 5:48 pm

I think the best way you can go is cd's

Chris Morrison · From: Massachusetts, USA

There are a bunch of options; the ones I know of are:

- Tascam "guitar trainer" takes any CD, plays it at various slower speeds without changing pitch. Will go as slow as 50% speed. Will independently alter pitch so you can change keys, and/or tune the CD to your instrument, important with older recordings where players didn't care about exact A = 440 Hz. Best thing about the Tascam is that it has a drop-dead-easy way to loop a section, short or long. It's easy to select the in/out points so the repeating section plays in rhythm, without hiccups. I use this

- Lots of software:

Audacity is a good freeware sound editor that enables the above and lots more. It has a noticeable learning-curve though, especially on a Mac. I use it a lot. Mac & PC versions

Amazing SlowDowner is just that and probably more, approaching Audacity in power, but easier to use for slowing-down at least. Lots of my friends use it. It's either freeware or shareware; may be PC-only.

Quicktime: if you play a tune in the free Quicktime player, you can slow down tunes from the A/V Controls menu selection (in the Quicktime "Window" menu on a Mac, dunno exactly where on a PC) I use it a lot, b/c it's, well, quick, if your tunes are set to play in Quicktime by default (this will not interfere with iTunes)

Band In A Box: costs money (around $100?), popular among many players. Its strong point is that it's easy to type in chords for a tune and get an "instant" backing track. It also comes with lots of pre-built backing tracks. Downside: it plays in MIDI, realism is not it's strong point. I use this as well. Mac & PC versions.

There are many others, especially software. If you want to work with physical CDs, the Tascam is the way to go. But if your music collection is on a disk drive somewhere, a software program wins hands down over the Tascam (you'd have to burn 'em to CD to use it!)

I hope this helps!

-Chris

John McClung · From: Olympia WA, USA

Adding to what Chris says:

Amazing Slow Downer is for both Mac/PC. I love this app.

For simplicity sake, I'd recommend:

• the absolute simplest way is to buy songs and rhythm tracks on CD and just play them through a boombox near your steel.

A step above that is:

• using a laptop with your learning materials, so you can set it right beside your steel. You need quick access to software controls, so this is ideal. Small external speakers are helpful for better, louder sound.

• buying rhythm tracks on CD. I recommend Texas Dance Hall Classics, all 3 volumes, from Steve Alcott here on the forum.

• playing the CD's on your laptop, optionally playing them through Amazing Slow Downer for speed and pitch control. I use this a lot in my private lessons.

So that's the simplest way.

Other good options are BIAB, but you've got to import songs, or create them yourself.

I like storing practice tracks on my iPod, then playing through my studio's boombox stereo. Handy, but not necessary.
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Tom Mooney · From: Arlington, TN, USA

Thanks guys, that gives me a lot of options. I'll have to digest them all, but I'm bound to find one of them that'll work for me. Bobby, you can close this thread now. Thanks again.
Tom

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