Up till now I have been struggling to find a groove on this one.. mainly because the backing track has such subtle changes of the beat. It's a very nice backing track and I don't want to change it in any way really.. well yes I do.. haha.. but it would truly be a different beast if I did and would no longer be the original track etc..

So my alternative to this is to add a guide track to it, which I will remove before I render the track into an MP3. I have basically just added some standard 4/4 rock drums at 90 bpm.. and for some sections I've added extra high-hats hitting on the 16ths. By adding this guide track, I have changed the entire dynamic of the backing track so that in my mind I can hear grooves and things that were not there before.

I thought I would mention this now not because I consider it to be cheating it any way.. but because I thought it was a good method to consider when trying to record a solo over something you're not familiar with. Think of purely as a metronome but with a groove and you'll see where I am coming from. It helps me keep in time not just with the backing track itself but with my own groove that I am trying to put on top of the backing track.

I am trying to branch out from the standard solos I have been doing and try to make true music like I hear all my idols doing (Steve Vai, Satriani, Eric Johnson).. if you take away their guitar solo instrumental stuff, you're left with a really barren musical landscape that doesn't have a lot to it.. it's very much like this backing track.. there's not all that much to it.. it's like the edge of the water at a beach with the waves sliding up the sand, only to be sucked back into the water again.. it just rolls back and forth gently.. but there's not a lot to it.. So that's where the "lead" guitar comes in and makes it into a musical piece.