Backing Tracks for live gigs

**Sandro** · 10-28-2014, 10:26 PM

Hi guys,

I am contemplating to do some solo gig with a little help from my computer, but I am concern with the quality of backing tracks I have I use BIAB a lot to practice but I don't think is good enough for live gigs. I mainly play jazz standard along with bossa nova type of tune, can you suggest me a good quality backing tracks for this type of music?

Thanks for your help
Sandro

**mr. beaumont** · 10-28-2014, 10:36 PM

No backing tracks are good for live gigs.

**Sandro** · 10-28-2014, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

No backing tracks are good for live gigs.

I was afraid of this answer

**Kolbi2112** · 10-28-2014, 11:55 PM

There's nothing wrong with using backing tracks for live gigs. Try jazzbacks or Bobby's Backing Tracks, both are good quality. Just get out there and play, don't listen to all the other nonsense.

**docbop** · 10-29-2014, 12:22 AM

BIAB is fine because the audience doesn't know the difference or care. When solo you're what they see and focus on and backing tracks are just filling in some bass and a beat for them.

**henryrobinett** · 10-29-2014, 01:29 AM

For some small terrible cafe gigs that are like busking gigs, or where you're on a street corner playing for tips - sure. Whatever works. Backing tracks. I think it's incredibly lame, but so what? Whatever you can do to get a gig, fine. I have a very good friend, a sax player who I've played with for many years and who played in my band for many years, who says he's done several gigs using Jamey Abersold play-a-longs.

**mr. beaumont** · 10-29-2014, 09:08 AM

Guitar players have no excuse. We got a mini orchestra on our lap. You wanna gig by yourself, learn how to use it. You ain't gotta be Joe Pass.

I saw a guy advertised as a "jazz guitarist" at a local wine bar a few weeks ago. Tracks. Cheesy ones too. Played the melody, didn't even improvise. Did horrid crap midi arrangements of tunes like "Feelin' Good" and "Rhythm is Gonna Get You."

I was gonna drop off a CD and a business card, but I knew I never had a chance.

I knew a great piano player once pressured into using tracks...he had a steady, had surgery, was out for a bit, came back and the owner happily gave him his steady back...then said (insert thick accent of your choice here)

"Some guys while you gone...they have the recordings, you know? It's like whole group for price of one musician! You maybe get the recordings?"

**Sandro** · 10-29-2014, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by docbop

You're forgetting in this economy for many its called paying your bills. A place can't afford a group they hire a solo musician, but audience still want more of a group sound. Do you feel the same about solo musicians with looper pedals a lot of that where I live. It's weird here guys doing solo Blues/Rock with a loopers, but little places can only afford a solo artist. So can be an artist and starve or go out and make some money playing even if it's solo with looper or backup tracks.

Personally I think using a looper on a gig gets old fast, and would rather hear solo or with a backing track.

This is exactly where I am at, no able to book a full band, money are just too little to share, and I need a little extra to put food on the table, but I am concern with the quality of my product and I want to make sure I can offer the best I can with what I have, starting with the quality of the backing tracks.

Regarding the chord melody thing I don't know about you guys but I don't know enough chord melody tunes to go on for 3 or 4 hours you need at list 50 tunes but most important is not the right venue for that, this are not gig where I showcase my technical ability, I will play a few chord melody tunes for sure but only to give a break to the listener from the backing tracks, also I will use a Roland GR33 for some different sounds like trumpet, piano, flute and more just to keep thing interesting to the listener.

Thank you all for your feed back and keep on coming please.

Sandro

**GuyBoden** · 10-29-2014, 03:59 PM

Just mime to "Kind of Blue" with a plastic trumpet, there's no real need to learn an instrument.

**cosmic gumbo** · 10-29-2014, 05:31 PM

Let's face it, live musicians are a disposable breed, it's cheaper to fire up the ol' jukebox, and that's what the musician's union has been trying to warn about since the dawn of recording. Beware, you will be replaced by technology.

**kris** · 10-30-2014, 04:05 AM

Backing tracks in jazz club it is not good idea but in the restaurant who knows...:-)

**targuit** · 10-30-2014, 08:33 AM

^^^^ that is something NO OTHER INSTRUMENT CAN DO. We are the ONLY instrument that can fit into the tiniest corners of the tiniest restaurant and play the quietest music in the quietest room ALONE.....

Perhaps you have forgotten that perennial haute culture restaurant favorite - the bagpipes!

**KEOKI** · 10-30-2014, 08:43 AM

A very real and controversial issue and technology is enfluencing the performing marketplace. Singles and duos now replace bands with more $ per performer and less overhead for owner/operator. A band has to have something special happening to justify the expense. I.e. A strong following. I can do about an hour of chord melody. That is where I am. I am constantly improving in that regard because that is my passion right now. But that is where I am. I do my own backing tracks on a looper. I play the bass lines and comp with either keys or guitar. This makes me much more versatile and marketable. I can make $150 for ninety minutes. The valid argument is that I cheated a bass and piano guy out of work. But you won't find a bass or piano person around here willing or capable of playing that kind of music for fifty bucks. It is what it is and I will not stay home and play for the cat and dog if backing tracks allow me the opportunity of playing my music for others. Eventually I WILL be able to do three hours of solo chord melody. I think I will always have the looper and my own backing tracks available just to fulfill a request I may not have mastered yet. It is called customer service and gets you asked back.

**targuit** · 10-30-2014, 10:50 AM

Keoki, just curious. Do you find it hard to find restaurant or wine tastings or other gigs where you can play chord / melody style tunes with your looper? I'm wondering how you find these gigs or do you have an agent?

**targuit** · 10-30-2014, 11:21 AM

Let's put it this way. As a solo performer, when I use my 'backing tracks' that I create with Sibelius, I can provide a bass, percussion, and piano accompaniment, over which I play guitar and can sing the melody "live". Rather than thinking of this as a limitation of improvisation possibilities, I think it expands one's options. Nor is it something one has to do with each and every tune. One can play solo chord melody for certain tunes, like My Funny Valentine, eg. But with others, especially up tempo tunes like There Will Never Be Another You, or a song like Georgian On My Mind, one can expand the soundstage. In effect, I see no advantage or 'more virtuous character' to using a looper over employing tracks that I have created to provide rhythm support. (No criticism of the use of loopers specifically intended - more a matter of 'technical difficulty' in execution.) If anything, it is less complicated and more secure.

And I think that the performance context matters a lot. In a situation in which you are 'background music' like a restaurant or wine tasting gig, delivering a more complete soundstage is not analogous to lipsynching. It is delivering the product in such a way that the customer or consumer will hire you again. For that matter I think it is far less deceptive or deceitful than using Autotune to sterilize vocals that are off key. That is truly despicable. And no, I would not try to pull it off in a jazz club. Remember what those were?

Jay

**markf** · 10-30-2014, 12:35 PM

"where can I get some good backing tracks?"

as Targuit says, I make my own. It's easy. If you can actually play jazz at all, you can make your own.Then you get the exact tempos you want, the changes and keys you want, the sounds you want and so on.

**mr. beaumont** · 10-30-2014, 12:41 PM

There's nothing inherently more entertaining about canned drums, bass, and piano. A performer is either entertaining or not.

Some gigs are not about being entertaining anyway, they're about providing atmosphere.

**Stevebol** · 10-30-2014, 01:53 PM

Using a looper limits you in many ways but I like the way some people use them, especially vocalists. There seems to be a culture to it too. I'd guess many of us who wouldn't use backing tracks on a gig don't like them to begin with. I don't even use them at home.

**EightString** · 10-30-2014, 02:32 PM

If I want to work with pros with no "issues", it's a minimum of $50 or more per person per night PLUS rehearsal pay IF I'm lucky. That's okay for a special show at a bigger venue, and I've certainly contracted high-end musicians for those situations.

But for a small club or restaurant gig where I might pull $250, I'm not spending $225 or more on hired guns, or paying less for sub-par "problem children" to put on a sloppy show.

And many of my gigs start out as jazz standards dinner music and later morph into rockin dance parties if the audience is so inclined. Even in Los Angeles, to find a drummer, bassist, and piano/keys player who all three can and will go convincingly and consistently from Mercer to Motörhead and everything in between with a rock-solid repertoire of hundreds of songs across a dozen genres and will accept the kind of pay the small clubs and restaurants are willing to pay... well the odds are astronomical.

Finally, I often get hired for situations where the venue owner or party planner wants a full sound and an entertaining front man/musician, but is explicit about NOT wanting a full band and the additional space/hassle/volume that implies.

Backing tracks it is.

**Stevebol** · 10-30-2014, 02:42 PM

A lot of us have to cut corners more than we'd like to admit. I don't have enough material with just acoustic guitar and voice so I think I should add something else. I'll try looping. I'm not going to say hey, don't use backing tracks just because I don't like them personally.

**dingusmingus** · 10-30-2014, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

There's nothing inherently more entertaining about canned drums, bass, and piano. A performer is either entertaining or not.

That sounds right to me. Without taking a stand on the backing tracks issue, it does seem likely to me that most listeners--both musically savvy and not--would tend to enjoy a solo guitarist mostly based on what he or she is actually playing and/or singing. I don't know if someone who's lackluster or doesn't have a real sense of swing/drive is going to sound a whole lot better with some midi tracks.

But I don't think I've ever seen someone live with backing tracks. Maybe I'm wrong!

**cosmic gumbo** · 10-30-2014, 04:44 PM

It's already been proven that musicians will stoop to anything to gig. So wear a clown costume and play backing tracks with circus music if it gets you a job, who gives a f#ck except some old school cats who feel ethically superior? If it's legal, make a buck and stay out of jail, it's all good. Don't wonder why your daughters get tattoos and become strippers...

**inwalkedbud** · 10-30-2014, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo

It's already been proven that musicians will stoop to anything to gig. So wear a clown costume and play backing tracks with circus music if it gets you a job, who gives a f#ck except some old school cats who feel ethically superior? If it's legal, make a buck and stay out of jail, it's all good. Don't wonder why your daughters get tattoos and become strippers...

youre more than welcome to make jokes but this sort of thing has very real implications for musician pay. You are worth what you make yourself worth. If you're willing to devalue your craft you're by association devaluing the craft as a whole. If a restaurant owner can get you to make some crappy midi sounds to give the impression of a full band for $50 then guess what... A whole band is now worth $50 and you did that. It's not cool and word gets around. In an industry where your entire livelihood is based on networking and your rapport w other musicians this is something you should consider very carefully. So from a business standpoint it actually has very real negative consequences for you and for the industry as a whole. From a misical standpoint I quite frankly don't even know why this is a discussion.

**Stevebol** · 10-30-2014, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by inwalkedbud

youre more than welcome to make jokes but this sort of thing has very real implications for musician pay. You are worth what you make yourself worth. If you're willing to devalue your craft you're by association devaluing the craft as a whole. If a restaurant owner can get you to make some crappy midi sounds to give the impression of a full band for $50 then guess what... A whole band is now worth $50 and you did that. It's not cool and word gets around. In an industry where your entire livelihood is based on networking and your rapport w other musicians this is something you should consider very carefully. So from a business standpoint it actually has very real negative consequences for you and for the industry as a whole. From a misical standpoint I quite frankly don't even know why this is a discussion.

This is a big non-issue. Jazz clubs aren't going to hire anyone doing karokee jazz. No jazz clubs? It's the fault of the musicians if jazz is that unpopular and jazz clubs barely exist. I don't think it matters at all what people do on restaurant gigs.
Jazz musicians generally don't want to compromise and play the kind of jazz that can draw the big spenders. They want to do exactly what they want to do and get paid but only a select few will succeed. It takes all genes of jazz to create a vibrant scene.
I put the blame on where I think it should be- on the club owners for one, and also on the low expectations of the American audience. They never did respect musicians. Demographics and parenting also dictate much of what goes on in the music business.
I don't blame the musicians.

**EightString** · 10-30-2014, 05:50 PM

I was recently in a situation where I was booked at an event to play solo "incidental" music in one hall for the evening.

In an identical hall next door, full bands were booked for the event to play sets throughout the evening.

Periodically over the mic I actively encouraged everyone to go and listen to the fine acts playing the stage next door, as that was intended to be the "main show".

My hall at the event was full of people all evening. The other hall was almost empty for most of the evening.

At one point, the headlining band from next door was seen watching me and one of its members was overheard to say, "That explains it. This guy is good. Damn good."

I tell this story to underscore an assertion that I'm not "stealing gigs" from bands or "devaluing my craft" by doing shows my way. On the contrary. I demand a certain level of excellence for myself because I'm the singer. I'm the lead instrumentalist. And if I'm not cutting it, I have no one to look at or blame on stage but me, backing tracks or not.

In that side-by-side situation, it was me as a front-man and performer "stealing" audience members. Not whether I used backing tracks or not. I would wager that it is me as a front-man and performer getting my gigs too.