These are not the usual tracks where you’ll ‘air guitar’ the hit of the moment or the classic riffs of the past times. These are tools to improve your skills and your knowledge of scales, modes or whatever you are practicing. It’s a concept I have been taught a long time ago and I found really beneficial, so I freshened up the samples giving it a more contemporary sound to pass them on to you. I advise using a good set of speakers or a good set of headphones where you’ll be able to hear the bass clearly, as it is a key element of these tracks.
Watch the video below to learn how to use these tracks.
And these are the 12 tracks – About 5min each – Good Luck!
MrG Blues Tracks – Pro Blues Backing tracks for all instruments!
If you liked these tracks then check out my Pro Blues Backing Tracks site, where a similar concept is applied to the blues structure. You’ll find 12 top quality blues tracks in different 12 different styles, tempos and keys.
In these few pages I will guide you through simple steps from how to hold your guitar to playing your first chords and strumming a simple song. Let’s start!
1. Posture
Sit on the edge of the chair with your back straight making sure your whole body is relaxed, especially your arms and shoulders. There are two popular ways to hold your guitar:
The first one is borrowed from the classical world where you hold the guitar between your legs and the headstock is roughly at the same height as your eyes. Your left foot can be slightly raised on books, a foot stool or the guitar case.
The second one is a very common ‘folk’ way of holding the guitar where the contour of the guitar’s body sits on your legs when crossed.
2. Left hand
The best way to describe the action of your left hand is comparing it to the movement of a train. The neck is the railway and your hand (the train) glides effortlessly over it, in a relaxed way.
Your left hand knuckles should be parallel to the edge of the fretboard but without touching it.
Your fingers should reach for the frets by bending the joints and not by twisting the wrist.
Your thumb should sit opposite your fingers, behind the neck of the guitar, to balance your hand.
3. Right hand
Your arm rests on the edge of the body, allowing the wrist to hang relaxed over the hole of the guitar.
To hold the pic (or plectrum) properly:
Hold your hand out and open as if to shake somebody’s hand.
Bend your fingers.
Place the pic on the top end of your index finger with the tip of the pic facing yourself.
Place your thumb over the pic and hold it by applying light pressure.
Always hold the pic in a relaxed way and when you strum hit the strings with one decisive motion.
4. Your First Song: chords
The song we will learn is something similar to “Brown eyed girl”. I am sure there are many other songs with this progression of chords. Make sure when you learn the shapes, press the tip of your finger just before the metal fret, like in the picture.
The chords are G C G D where each chord fills a whole bar (or ‘a count of four’).
G C G D
| 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 |
The ‘G major’ chord
The ‘C major’ chord…this is a variation on C major that will make your life easier. Just move the index and middle finger down a string.
The ‘D major’ chord
5. Strumming Patterns
When we play chords to accompany a song, we hit the string with two basic rhythmic motions of the arm.
Downstroke:
Upstroke:
These are three of the most popular strumming patterns.
All downstrokes – one per beat
This should sound something like this if used on the song:
Downstrokes and upstrokes 2 per beat
This should sound something like this if used on the song:
Strumming pattern: keep the motion of your right arm going but don’t play some of the upstrokes or downstrokes (those in brackets). Think of it like ‘down-down-up-down-up’ but keep the motion going!!
This should sound something like this if used on the song:
Just a short post about companies that sell or make custom backing tracks. Of course to practise you can use our own “MrG Blues Tracks”, but should you need a custom made track these are bigger companies that deal with that. A link is followed by a short description.
A good company that has a large catalogue. Categories ranging from Pop, Musical theatre, Party to Classical. Tracks cost between £2 and £4 depending on normal rates or special offers.
A lot of colleagues always ask me how to get work on cruise ships as a musician, entertainer or as part of a band so I thought of putting an article together to explain how life on ships works, what to expect and how to get some work. These are some of the biggest cruise companies, if you want to see what kind of entertainment they offer, and what routes they do, I think the best thing to do is visit their pages:
These are some of the categories you will be filling as a musician/performer:
Show band Musician (You play in the Theatre Orchestra) Cocktail Pianist/Piano Bar type act Jazz Trios Hi-Tech Duos (…a fancy way of saying: you play with backing tracks) Party Band/Lounge Band Island Caribbean Bands Strolling Musicians Classical duos/trios Main Act (you have your own show)
If you are a musician, the two options are looking for work as a group or as a single entity to be included in the orchestra. If you have your own show you can try and pitch it to some of the agents that deal with main headliner entertainers. Of course there are agencies that have bigger contacts than others…
Some of the smaller European companies like Costa, MSC, Festival, do not have a theatre orchestra so the self contained group is the only option. The type of entertainment you’ll be providing ranges from cover ‘top 40’ type stuff to more traditional waltzes and swing numbers.
Companies with different size orchestras are Princess Cruises, P&O, Royal Caribbean, Crystal cruises, Carnival Cruises ranging from 9 piece bands (5 horns + 4 rhythm section) to only rhythm section bands with maybe a synth or two. Your job will be to back up the entertainer of the week and play “production style” shows. Sometimes you’ll play the occasional jazz set and big band set which can be quite fun. Needless to say the main skill is the ability to sight read at a professional level and follow the lead of the musical director. Also you’ll need quite a bit of sense of humor, as some of the shows can be quite boring sometimes, but if you are lucky you’ll experience some great shows.
Some companies use their in-house agents (Royal Caribbean is one of those), but it is not rare to have companies that deal with external agencies to find musicians, agencies like Proship and similar. Do some research, and remember that an external agency will take a generous cut of what you make, usually 12-15%, for as long as they find you a contract. The easiest thing to do is to contact the cruise company and find out if you can be employed directly by them. Also, if you start using an agent you might be tied to them even if you find another ship gig for yourself for 6 months after the end of the contract.
Best way to get started is by recommendation. If you already know someone who works for a company ask them to put in a good word for you. This way you’ll stand a much better chance of getting the gig.
“Boat drill’,” import manning”: Google these two words and you’ll see what’s waiting around the corner for you…You’ll have to put up with some discipline and hierarchy politics, as passenger safety and order must be maintained. Make sure you find out what kind of clothing/uniforms you need for the gig. Most musicians have to wear a Tuxedo for formal night shows and some type of uniform for other shows…mostly you’ll wear ‘blacks’ meaning black shoes, black pants, black socks, black shirt…basically a nautical version of Dracula! Also it’s worth finding out if you need to wear uniforms while you are around the ship, sometimes this can get a bit tedious…it will feel like it’s a 9-5 job.
In terms of documentation all you need is a valid passport and a C1&D visa. Also a fluent use of the English language is advisable, mostly for safety on board.
The good news is that you’ll be able to visit some incredible places. In about three years I have been from Hawaii to Russia, sailing all over the Mediterranean and all around Mexico and the Caribbean…best of all, I got paid for it!
