Originally Posted by: light487Hey people.. well this kind of fizzled out over the Summer break (and winter for me). Just that time of year I suppose. Anyway, I thought I'd throw up a backing track (yeah I know it's mid-month) and see if we can get things rolling again.

This is something I whipped up today, which I will be using for piece I am working on. It's just the basic verse section looped over for about 2 minutes or so. The chords are D E G D.. so guess what key it is in? That's right.. D! It has a very upbeat bluesy feel to it.. so D Major and B minor pentatonic scales work very well.

You can get the file here:
Right Click and Save As...

Geez, what's happened to the monthly assignment threads? Anyone would think the Tour de France and the Olympics were on or something ;) July seemed to dissappear into the ether but there were a couple of thousand hits on the thread and only a paltry handful of solos... :confused:

I am wondering what actually motivates people to contribute to these backing tracks...???

1) A need for honest feedback, opinions, suggestions and constructive criticism about one's playing ability, sound, compositional skills, versatility and personal progress from a community of like-minded and open-minded fellow guitarists, in order to facilitate further learning, development and improvement in these areas (I guess this might be a main motivating factor for most people on a site like GT)...

2) A need for one's ego to be massaged - for those whose desire it is to have people observe and recognise them by telling them how amazing their playing is... Or perhaps even be discovered by some A & R people or famous act looking to recruit a major talent... :rolleyes:

3) A need for one's ego to be massaged - for those whose desire it is to appear to be the ones whose critiques are the most "knowledgeable", "self-righteous" and technically jargonistic in the sense that they really seem to know what they are talking about when picking someone's performance to pieces... ;)

4) A desire to contribute to someone's development on the instrument or in a compositional sense - by giving insightful and constructive suggestion.

5) A genuine interest in developing an original work by adding the finishing touches to a pre-prepared canvas - a need to actually play something to express one's art - a desire to post it here for the pure fun and enjoyment of having been a part of it and to have added something unique to a backing track.

6) For those who revel in the challenge of trying to get their heads, ears and hands around different styles of soloing.

7) Perhaps it's a convenient way to be involved as a guitarist if you aren't a member of an actual band.

8) For the social butterfly that just wants a friend or 20 in the guitar realm.

9) For the genuine interest in listening to the diversity on offer in other people's guitaristic expression.

10) A combination of the above...

I'm sure there are a hundred other possible reasons...

Anyway this is just something to make people think about why they do this. For me, personally, I know why I do it (actually for many reasons) - and I guess ego is definitely a part of it because I'm kind of dissapointed when people don't put in the effort to make this whole thing more interactive for me personally and other individuals that post solos. Especially when so many people actually view this thread each month.

Anyway - just thought I'd get on my soapbox about it. I think this month I'm relegating myself to purely No. 9 and will join the many invisable members of the throng ;)