I think I'm ready now to introduce backing tracks to my practice sessions. Should make practice more fun. I've used the CD that came with my Learn to play the Blues book. But they play at the faster speed so until I get proficient with that song I'm more focused on speed than form.

What would you recommend as a good trainer/backing track player. Don't want to have to invest in a new computer at this time. So I may be limited in software with my old computers.

thankx

joe

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The Tascam Guitar Trainer is a useful tool and it will definitely slow the tracks down for you. It will also pitch shift to another key which can be useful for learning E-Flat tuned guitar songs in standard tuning. Thing is, the more you tweak the original signal the more distorted it sounds but you always hear the right pitches at the right time even so. You can also program it to play repeating loops so if there's a passage that's giving you trouble you can listen to it over and over without having to search through the song for the start of the passage. Example: You want to learn SRV's Cold Shot. You pitch shift up a half step so you don't have to retune your guitar, slow it down by increments of halves down to one thirty-second of original speed and create a loop of the passage you want to study.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

The Tascam Guitar Trainer is a great tool. You can jam along with CD's, slow down and loop passages. The on board effects aren't great but with a bit of tweaking they're definitely usable. The only thing that it doesn't do well that Tascam claims is the guitar cancelling feature, it really only works on CD's that are recorded with the backing track on one side (left/right) and the guitar on the other but most training CD's are recorded this way.

It is kinda cheaply made so don't be too rough with it.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

I've had mine for close to 2 years now and use it constantly (MP-GT1). Everything said previously before is correct. But I have NOT found it to be fragile at all.

It should suit you just fine.

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-- Joe --
77 Bradley Les Paul Custom
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03 Epiphone '56 Gold Top LP P90
04 Fender Telecaster MiM

I got a brand new Tascam GT2 for Christmas. Before that I used my Dad's old Tascam bass trainer. The new and improved version is great, you can slow a song down in increments anywhere between -1 and -50. The key change feature is great for learning songs that were originally played on a drop tuned guitar, as a previous poster has already mentioned. The construction seems solid on it too.

I don't use the effects on it at all, since I don't plug my guitar into it. You could, but I play through my amp and listen to the guitar trainer through headphones. If you have a stereo system you could plug the trainer into there and skip the headphones all together.

I use it almost daily for a good portion of my practice. It's amazing how much it can help.

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thx everyone for the replies. It sounds like the MP version is the way to go over the CD's.

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Why do you say that? Everything you can do with the MP3 player, you can do with the CD player. Unless, of course, you just prefer MP3's.
I guess it depends on how your current music library is made up. If you have more MP's than CD's that might be the way to go. If you plan on using the CD's that come with instruction books, you will want the CD version. That's one of the reasons I got it.

My Dad has the MP3 version for bass and he spends more time reformatting the file than actually playing. That's why I went with the CD version.

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I do have mostly CD's, but I figured if I only want one song I can download it vs buying the whole CD. But your right my lesson books have CD's.

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2011 Taylor 814ce
2009 EC Custom Shop Merc Blue
2008 Schecter ATX
1964 Epi Granada E444T
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You could always burn CDs into MP3s or MP3s into CDs. It's not too big of a deal.

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I don't know. It seems like too much hassle, it's much easier to just pop in a CD. As far as only having to download one song (an MP3) to learn instead of buying a whole CD, I figure, usually, if I like an artist enuff to want to learn one of their songs, I won't really mind getting an entire CD. I might find other songs on there I would want to learn. Who knows?

I have the CD version. I burn a CD with a bunch of songs I plan on working on. That way, I don't have to change CDs all the time.

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Will

Once again all sage advice from the forumites. Sounds like CD's would be a better alternative for me.

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2011 Taylor 814ce
2009 EC Custom Shop Merc Blue
2008 Schecter ATX
1964 Epi Granada E444T
Fender Super Champ XD

Well... I have over 100 MP3s in mine, and use the Playlist feature very often often, the MP-GT1 is the way I went. I'd be changing CDs far too often. Also, if you want to take it with you, there is no lugging around a stack of CDs. Its all loaded in the Trainer.

IMHO, Just convert all the CDs to MP3s and get it over with. (iTunes does it fast and easy enough).

_________________
-- Joe --
77 Bradley Les Paul Custom
06 Ovation Elite-T 1868T-5
12 Martin Custom GPCPA4 RW
07 PRS CE22 MT
11 PRS MC58 Artist
04 Ltd EC-1000FM ASB
95/02 Fender Stratocaster MiM
03 Epiphone '56 Gold Top LP P90
04 Fender Telecaster MiM

Man,things have come a long way from when I slowed a 33 1/3 down to 16....I don't even know what y'all are talking about,but sounds like you have some great learning tools.