August 2024 Guitar Newsletter: How To Use Play-Along Tracks To Improve Your Chops And Ears

Play-along tracks are fantastic for improving your guitar playing abilities.  These recordings emulate the feel of playing with a real band and allow for refinement in various areas.  These so called backing tracks come in all kinds of genres, ranging from blues, jazz, folk, bluegrass, pop, funk, rock to metal in varying degrees of difficulty. They are excellent for all levels of players and provide the perfect setting to make use of music theory and expand your fretboard knowledge.  I was first exposed to play along backing tracks in high school when my band teacher used Jamey Aebersold vinyl play along records to practice improvising a 12 bar blues in the key of F and Bb.  To this day, I appreciate backing tracks old and new of all kinds.