Advise for looping phrases for practice.

ChristopheCarington

I'm interpreting your question as how do I create a backing track to practice a specific phrase I've already figured out at home not how do I loop a phrase to learn it / accompany myself live / etc...

So, just like @Bones said: create your own backing tracks.

1. Literally can just use your phone to record and accompany yourself, so no additional tech/skills required.
2. Rhythm is so important to this genre that the extra practice is never bad. If you can't repeat a progression for ~5 minutes without major mistakes... you're going to have a hard time playing live anyways.
3. If you're repeating a phrase you already learned for more than 5 minutes at the same speed... you're not going to gain much. Take a break, practice something else and come back to it, or just sleep then practice the next day will yield better results. Even better is to solo over a song, and insert the phrase as often as possible between your other licks.
4. For home practicing licks, you don't need the added flexibility of changing keys or speed adjustment. Practicing phrases for muscle memory (e.g. in all keys) or for speed (add 3-5 bpm after nailing a phrase 10x) you can do with a metronome.
5. If you need the backing track to better understand how the phrase outlines the chords (e.g. what it sounds like), you only need your original backing track... assuming you played it at a speed you're comfortable with originally.

I say the above as someone who currently/previous used Audacity, YouTube backing tracks, Riffstation (now Fender Play), iRealPro, Band-in-a-box, etc. They're all great, but have a learning curve, take extra time, or lack functionality. Just using your phone keeps you practicing and playing, which I feel is most important.

billyshakes

@Bones and @mjd, I tried the iPhone thing but couldn't really hear the playback when I played over the top of it. Do you use headphones or a bluetooth speaker? I bought a Wonderboom, but it doesn't seem to want to playback from the Voice Memo app native to Apple. Do you use a Different app? Garageband?

I do like the idea of the looper for needing to constantly reload the loop every practice session. And one of my guitars has a BigTone, so that could work. Just curious how you've worked this issue of hearing the iPhone playback during practice.

Bones

I just move the file onto my laptop and play it thru the computer/ext powered speakers if I want more volume. Can also adjust speed with windows media player.

dbox

Another handy option with the looper (depending on the model, but the Boss RC-3 I have supports it) is that you can record and store tracks as well.

So most of the time I delete everything and thus force myself to play the backing track fresh every time, but for some use cases I have backing tracks stored on the looper that I don't want to record every time again (e.g. for practicing a solo with an intro and outro to the song). With the RC-3 you can also connect your computer and down- and upload sound files - I used that a couple of times to store some of my recordings where I laid a solo over the backing track. Could also be handy to upload your favorite backing tracks from others that you can then run through your amp without needing your computer or phone.