[Harp-L] Harp-L Digest, Vol 188, Issue 3 - backing tracks vs live musicians

[Richard Hammersley]

Dunno about in the USA but in UK April pranks after noon fall on the prankster. I prefer playing with live humans because they can cover up my mistakes :) but I also like editing music on computer sequencers because I can edit out my mistakes and make weak music sound magical - like 90% of current popular music does. Least favourite is playing “live” to backing tracks. I simply don’t enjoy it very much although it can be good practice. Why would I inflict this on other people? Plus if you have ever had your performance to a backing track interrupted or heckled then you will know the obvious problem…

That said, some harmonica players are really good at playing to backing tracks, Christelle Berthon springs to mind, and produce listenable to results. Also, I am aware that much popular recorded music includes backing material not necessarily played by the named artiste, and not always played by session musicians specially for the recording - there is a huge industry in pre-recorded samples, tracks etc covering almost anything you can imagine. Is this “backing tracks” too?
Richard
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