The Hawk | E MINOR, 70 BPM | BACKING TRACK

The purpose of this backing track is to help you develop basic skills required to master the art of improvisation. How does it work? The visual part of this backing track can be best thought of as a dynamically changing cheat sheet. As the backing track progresses, it keeps highlighting the tones of which the currently sounding chord consists. Since these tones are already contained in what you are hearing, playing them will sound good. Or at least, it won't make things worse. Now, this doesn't mean you should use the highlighted tones exclusively! Think of them as safe houses in which you may or may not choose to stay. The point of playing over this backing track is to develop a feel for these tones. In time, you will be able to see them without actually seeing them. This ability will help you reach what I think should be the ultimate goal of every beginner improviser. To explain, here is what I believe to be the most important difference between beginner and advanced improvisers: Advanced improvisers use musical instruments to express musical ideas originating in their minds. In other words, they always know what the things they're about to play are going to sound like before they actually play them. Not many beginners can do this right from the start. And that's OK! It takes time to develop this ability. This backing track can help you make the first step. Note for guitarists: This backing track presents five easy to play patterns which - in terms of natural form of minor/major scale - cover the whole guitar fretboard. These patterns are known as box shapes. The general idea behind box shapes is to provide guitarists with an efficient way to move within scales. As mentioned above, this particular set of box shapes was derived from diatonic scale formula. Finally, don't forget this track can be freely transposed. For easier navigation through my backing tracks, visit my website. Thank you for using my backing tracks. Have a nice jam! Please consider checking out the social thingies below. Every single like/subscription/... is a great motivation for further work. Thanks! Facebook: http://facebook.com/pages/sandalled-stephencom/211925988960504 Google+: http://plus.google.com/111244549709463546014 Twitter: http://twitter.com/sandalledsteve/ Youtube: http://youtube.com/sandalledstephen/ Website: http://sandalled-stephen.com/