Practice Trax for Guitar (Private Lessons) [Paperback]

Danny Gill (Composer)

Book Description

Series: Private Lessons | Publication Date: April 1, 2001

Based on the famous Open Counseling class at Musicians Institute, this one-on-one lesson with MI instructor Danny Gill lets guitarists practice soloing with a real band! The CD features 20 full-length jams in the style of Satriani, Beck, Zeppelin, The Beatles, U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and more! Each song is analyzed by key, mode and pitch axis. Patterns for the major and minor scales, major and minor pentatonics, the blues scale, modes and altered scales are also provided.

Product Details

• Paperback: 32 pages
• Publisher: Musicians Institute Press (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0634026216
• ISBN-13: 978-0634026218
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,278,213 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but: lacks variety in tempo/style, can't Xout guitar, July 13, 2001

By 

Billy Murata Sloane "bmsloane" (Roanoke, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practice Trax for Guitar (Private Lessons) (Paperback)

CONS: The jam trax are useful but they could have been improved by placing rhythm guitars on the CD panned hard right or left so they could be removed. I was hoping for just drums and bass to jam with.

Also, there was some variation in track key and style but overall the tempos and feel of the set of tracks was more similar than i would have preferred. To me it felt like the same improvisation style fit on too many different tracks. The chord progressions are generic (as required i guess). Most annoying to me was the tempos didn't vary enough for my taste. One solution is to get the Marantz PSD230 that can change the tempo of a CD without changing pitch and the pitch without changing tempo.

REQUEST: Maybe Danny Gill can put out style specific Jam Trax in the future !!? :-) I'd be willing to try them and i bet a lot of others would too.

PROS: It is still good for solitary practicing, convenient, and the recording had good sound quality. It's a good occasional alternative to a metronome. In defense of the author i think it would be difficult to put together a "be all, end all, emcompasses all jam track CD that pleases everyone". It could be that it just didn't suit my taste. If you want an beginner to intermediate level, upper mid tempo with lots of blues and minor pentatonic scale based stuff this might be just the thing for you. Plus it always shows up to practice!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Good practice product for many styles of guitar., March 10, 2009

By 

heywood Jablome (SLC, Ut) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Practice Trax for Guitar (Private Lessons) (Paperback)

Great product! Many different styles of music (blues, ballads, metal, funk, country-gospel like tunes. Great recording quality with a book that offers many suggestions as far as pitch axis melodies, keys and scales for practicing chops. I have used this book for 2+ years and still am learning new ways to jam over the tracks. I would highly recommend this book for any guitarist who doesn't have the time or resources to hook up with other musicians and practice. This is one of the best backing track packages I have in my collection.

5.0 out of 5 stars Band in a Box, November 17, 2006

By 

Carl E. Rowley "Lefty" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Practice Trax for Guitar (Private Lessons) (Paperback)

This book and more importantly the CD is a great practice aid. It comes with a number of tracks in many styles, keys and progression. The tracks start out with simple one chord jams and work up to very complicated chord progressions. The accompanying book contains the transcribed chord chart with suggestions for scales, key center etc. This information is key to using the CD.

The backing band is very professional and the chord progression can be very demanding. All in all an excellent tool to further developing your shops - intermediate to advanced players will get the most out of this set.