Here’s a playlist for an old practice tape I just found.
A drummer friend of mine used to play along with records all day. That was his way of practising. From that, he got the feel. He got to learn about rhythm. He got to learn the melodies. He was hearing harmony. He was soaking up the history. He was practising with people. He was playing music.
Because he did all that, people HEARD that he sounded great. He was really musical. He made everyone sound good.
His phone used to ring. A lot. He played gigs every night. This made him sound even better.
He did not play along to Band in a Box.
You will not learn anything about feel from Band in a Box
You will not learn anything about rhythm from Band in a Box
You will not learn anything about melody from Band in a Box
You will not learn anything about harmony from Band in a Box
You will not learn anything about history from Band in a Box
You will not learn anything about playing with people from Band in a Box
You will not learn anything about music from Band in a Box
So there.
I think BIAB, iRealB and any other of those sorts of things sound terrible (super square feel) – they can’t be any good for your time/feel and encourage a tendency to ‘float on the top’ harmonically rather than developing real changes playing. I suppose you’re better or with Aebersold – at least those are real musicians playing time… But really? Somehow some of the greatest jazz musicians ever managed to learn back in the day without any of these things, by going out and playing with human beings…. TL;DR what Mike said ;-)
Yes, you’ve been very naughty ;)
I’m working right now on compiling a list of alternative ways to get ‘backing tracks’ from records. And I’ll show you how to use Transcribe to make it easier.
Working on it!
Well that’s me told! That’s really useful Mike, I’ve been using biab a lot but I can see what you’re saying, i think I had an inkling of this but it’s just so damn convenient to use.
Ha! You’ll feel better, I promise :)
Point taken! Sorry to see it go tho’ – despite it never sounding like ‘real music’!