How to Play Music On Your Own

Whether it’s in a single button format or a mutli-channel desk unit, the loop pedal and creative looping should be every guitar players best friend and certainly at the very least, a member of your pedal collection. Not only is it such a positive practice tool for improving rhythm, time feel and confidence but it enables us to build whole song structures on our own. The latter is such a hugely important factor consider because in the long term, it will massively improve your creativity and even make you a better musician with a better understanding of what makes you a musician and where your strengths (and weaknesses) lie.

Though, with so many different looping options, it can be an overwhelming task just getting started. My advice: start at the very beginning. Get a no nonsense, one button loop pedal with plenty of recording time and get the hang of YOU interacting with it, as this pedal is going to force you to be on your rhythm ‘A game’. Once you feel like you’ve mastered its function, move to a two-button looper, then a multi-output, multi-channel looper etc...the sky is the limit. Once you do move to a multi-output loop pedal, you can begin to introduce other instruments. Vocals, bass, keyboards and percussion are just a few examples of how creative you can get with one of these things.

Whether it’s practising your strumming and rhythmic precision, creating melodies and guitar harmonies, or crafting whole songs from scratch and being able to play them all on your own, this fantastic practice tool is most definitely pedal no guitarist should pass on getting to know.

Technology is always moving forward, and the world of guitar technology is most definitely seeing huge transitions in our ‘in the box’ capabilities and choices. From uncanny digital replications of vintage valve amps paired with delicious algorithmic digital reverb plug-ins, to AI drummer assistants and streamlined samplers; we live in a world where it has never been so easy to create professional and inspiring sounds in the comfort of your own home. Using a DAW can be, not only a quick and easy way to practice with a plethora of exciting guitar tones from your computer, but also an opportunity to really open the ‘Pandora’s box’ of musical possibilities.

With the affordable acquisition of an interface, you can begin to expand your creative capabilities, harnessing the latest technology to improve your practice regime, as well as learning new music technology skills. Furthermore, don’t underestimate how quickly those skills will start to develop. From just getting a basic sound, importing a backing track and playing along, to layering instruments, programming your own drum parts and dipping your toes into the world of mixing; once you find a DAW that works best for you you will begin to accumulate these credentials.

With some slow and steady practice, before you know it you will be quickly crafting, recording and mixing your own music in real time; hugely improving your creative work flow. Though, what really makes a DAW awesome is the ability to utilise its function within a live situation, allowing us to take our carefully crafted music and play it on our own, in real time.

There are many awesome free options to get you started with how this imperative modern musician’s tool works. However, any purchase of such a versatile device is nothing short of a sound investment!

Backing tracks often get given a hard time, with performers who use them often deemed as ‘cheating’ and guitar players using them called ‘bedroom guitarists’. The truth is, backing tracks are a fantastic way to build any player’s confidence, providing a comfortable foundation for us to perfect and improve our technique, theory knowledge and improvisational skills. For this reason alone, the use of backing tracks should never be something a guitarist or in fact, any instrumentalist should overlook.

However, a thing people often overlook when pondering the backing track argument, is that they can utilised to great effect in a live situation. There is absolutely no shame in basing an entire solo performance around the use of backing tracks. As a matter of fact, I’d say is quite the opposite. With the addition of loopers and multiple instruments; the possibilities of creating a multi-dimensional and engaging set are endless. If you’ve spent the time to perfect your use of a loop pedal and have navigated the deep DAW waters, it might be time to give something like this a try to push your live performances to the next level. Gosh, you could even start to create your own backing tracks, whether it be for use as a practice tool or to expand your live performances.

The way I always defend the use of backing tracks as a practice tool, is that before they were readily available; guitarists had to simply play along with recordings to practice with context of instrumentation when not in a band situation. Now, we have the amazing convenience of searching for what we want to play over and in one click, there it is. Though, imagine having to pick up the tone-arm of your record player and keep putting it back to the song or section you want so desperately to play along with. That’s a lot of time, and now it is something that we can take advantage of, with minimum wasted time or effort.

So what are you waiting for? Whether you use them to simply practice or as a foundation to build around, the use of backing tracks are a fantastic way to play music on your own.

*REMEMBER* - You have instant access to a fantastic library of guitar backing tracks as part of your Lick Library membership.

Check out our page of over 400 jam tracks here. Filter by scale and key.

With all these new ways to play music on our own with the additions of various technological aids, it can perhaps feel a little overwhelming making the decision of which to use or at least, get started with first. Though, after all, remember that we can always decide to practice and later perfect simply being a solo performer. Some of the best musicians and songwriters of all time performed unaccompanied and built their legacy doing so.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what inspires you with natural reaction and if performing with just one instrument or with the addition of your voice is where your natural confidence and ability lies; run with it. It worked for thousands of years before we had the tempting tech tools we have available today, so don’t be distracted by them if you simply don’t need them!