Playing with backing tracks

Huh??? Whaa??? Can ya say that again???

Cat :?:

I make up a backing track from ...

www.jamstudio.com

When try and play lead to what I made and it always sounds like I am playing a different tune to what the backing track sounds like I am ..

I know I am in the right key but my timing seems to be off a lot ,

Is there something I should be listening for , only started playing ...

Trev

Are you able to post an example of your playing on Soundclick/Youtube, etc. for us to hear?

I make up a backing track from ...
http://www.jamstudio.com
When try and play lead to what I made and it always sounds like I am playing a different tune to what the backing track sounds like I am ..
I know I am in the right key but my timing seems to be off a lot ,
Is there something I should be listening for , only started playing ...

Trev

Trev. It's all about the one, man. You can know "1, 2, 3, 4" but you also have to have that little metronome in yer head that knows where the first beat of a measure is with the certainty of a full body slam. It's kind of an unconscious "WHAM! 2, 3, 4, WHAM! 2, 3, 4,WHAM! 2, 3, 4"

Suggested exercise: This one gets harder the SLOWER you go. Start a metronome (you can get free ones online for your computer if you don't have one) at a moderate tempo. I'd suggest 100 to 120 bpm to start. If you can, have it emphasize the first beat of each 4.

Now play a staccato note (any note) ON the one. Not just in front of the one, not just behind the one, ON the one. If you're timing is spot on, you won't hear the tick at all. Once you can get the timing for your first tempo down, drop 10 bpm and repeat. Keep dropping until you reach 60bpm.

You can curse me later for giving this fiendish exercise to you :twisted:

A lot of what timing is, Trev (and this is, for the sake of this discussion (I hope), just when discussing things like making solos and improvisations), is simply perspective as well as what you may be used to. When someone sings a song, for instance, he or she doesn't have to land precisely on a given note at a given time. There's a lot of leeway for artistic impression or what we might think of as style.

Same thing with soloing. A lot of guitarists base solos on the scales they practice and tend to be fairly rhythmic, almost to the point of being very monotonous in terms of playing a lot of eighth notes or sixteenth notes and also in terms of always landing on the beat.

But the art of soloing is often in how a phrase plays around between the beats. Give a listen to Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits and solo recordings), maybe a song like Sailing To Philadelphia, and listen to how the phrases of the solo never start or end where you think they might.

If you are used to listening to music where the soloists are very skilled at dancing around the beats and playing phrases that have odd rhythms but still work, then you might not sound as "off" to yourself as you might think. But most people, especially those coming from rock and roll backgrounds, will initially find this type of soloing a little jarring. Kind of like hearing some exotic chords for the first time. Some you like and some you don't but the more you hear them and get used to them, the more you understand how it all fits together.

Having said that, though, there is also a very fine line between playing around the rhythms and being completely at odds with what's going on in a backing track. This not locking onto the rhythm may be what you're having problems with. If so, you may just want to start out as simply as possible to start with. If it's like anything, it's most like how people work at singing and playing at the same time. You've got to be in rhythm even when you're playing off the beat, if that makes sense.

So instead of trying to nail down a big solo, how about starting by just trying to hit a note on every first beat? Then go for first and third or second and fourth. Then maybe two eighth notes at the first beat. Or the exericises that Moonrider suggested (as I was writing this response!). Gaining some confidence in this way might help things go a little easier.

Two people you definitely want to hear from are Wes and Greg (gnease). Having played with both, I can vouch that they are exceptional when it comes to phrasing and Greg has often put me in awe of just how much one can do with a simple lead played in a more interesting rhythmic style.

I really hope this helps more than confuses things further :wink:

Peace

WOW ...

Thanks David that is amazing reply and I am going to listen more intensely to Mark Knopfler thanks so much , I'll keep returning to this post s I dilute it as I go and appreciate it such a defined reply ..

Moonrider : Thanks heaps for the exercise and I know the things that are really tedious are the things that will make me better and I would never curse someone who has offered their experience , I will how ever be cursing my fingers as they just do not know how to play a guitar , my head does tho LOL :lol: :lol:

Thanks very much

Trev.. :note1: :note1: