Jam Tracks
Country – Practice improvising using the C major scale over this typical three-chord (C, F, and G) country progression.
12-bar Blues in A – This is a 12 bar blues shuffle in the key of A. Practice
your A minor pentatonic or A blues scale with this one.
12-bar Blues in G – Here’s a great-sounding professional recording to jam with. Use G minor pentatonic or G blues scale.
I Am The Highway Chorus – The chorus progression in this Audioslave song is a great launch pad for soloing over complex chord changes. Try using the C major scale for the first seven chords, and then use a note or notes from the E major arpeggio over the E chord, which doesn’t belong to the C major chord family.
Here’s the chord progression: / C – – – / G – – – / Dm – – – / Am – – – / C – – – / G – – – / Dm – – – / E – – – /
Stairway To Heaven Fast or Stairway to Heaven Slow – Use Am Pentatonic, but throw in some F major chord tones over the F5 chord.
Here’s how this one goes: / A5 – – – / G5 – – – / F5 – – – / – – – G5 /
You Asked Me To – This is a rhythm track (guitar and bass) to accompany the guitar solo in Alison Krauss’ cover of Waylon Jennings’ “You Asked Me To.”
Here’s the rhythm track for the solo in “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World, at both 120bpm and 160bpm.
Jam Workshop Recordings
“Harvest Moon” by Neil Young
Main Strum Breakdown– The easiest way to play the song
Verse and Chorus Using Main Strum – With me caterwauling in the background. How Neil gets away with singing out of his range, I don’t know.
Main Riff Breakdown
Low Riff Breakdown
Harmonics Breakdown
Solo Breakdown (Slow Tempo)
Solo Looped (Slow Tempo)
Solo Jam Track (Slow Tempo) – Just the rhythm guitar part
Solo Looped (Normal Tempo)
Solo Jam Track (Normal Tempo) – Just the rhythm guitar part
“2 Kool 2 Be 4 Gotten” by Lucinda Williams
Strum Breakdown – How to strum the main progression
Main Riff – The electric guitar riff that introduces the song
Main Riff Jam Track – A long loop of the main progression, so that you can practice the main riff.
Solo – No drums or rhythm guitar, just the guitar solo played solo, so that you can hear it better.
Solo – No rhythm guitar
“Before You Accuse Me” by Bo Diddley
Blues Shuffle Breakdown
Arpeggio Breakdown
Turnaround Breakdown
Intro Breakdown
Full Progression – I call out the chord changes as I play.
Slow Jam Track – A long loop of the 12-bar progresssion, played at 80 bpm (beats per minute). Good for practicing your improvising!
Fast Jam Track – Same thing, played at 120 bpm.
“Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash
(Johnny Cash recorded “Folsom Prison Blues” w/Capo 2, but these audio files were recorded with no capo.)
Strum Breakdown
Intro Breakdown
Solo Breakdown
Solo (Slow)
Solo Jam Track (Slow)
Solo (Full Speed)
Solo Jam Track (Full Speed)
Blues Workshop Recordings
Blues Turnaround in A #1
Blues Turnaround in A #2
Blues Turnaround in A #3
Blues Turnaround in A #4
Blues Turnaround in A #5
Blues Turnaround in E #1
Blues Turnaround in E #2
Ventura Highway Vocal Harmony Practice Tracks
These are tracks for practicing the three vocal parts in the chorus of America’s “Ventura Highway”. I recorded them at two speeds: 80bpm and the original 130bpm.
- M = Melody
- H = High harmony
- L = Low harmony
Ventura Highway 80bpm H
Ventura Highway 80bpm HL
Ventura Highway 80bpm L
Ventura Highway 80bpm M
Ventura Highway 80bpm MH
Ventura Highway 80bpm MHL
Ventura Highway 80bpm ML
Ventura Highway 130bpm H
Ventura Highway 130bpm HL
Ventura Highway 130bpm L
Ventura Highway 130bpm M
Ventura Highway 130bpm MH
Ventura Highway 130bpm MHL
Ventura Highway 130bpm ML
Ventura Highway Harmonies Guitar Pro File – For those of you with Guitar Pro, here are the three vocal parts in tablature and standard notation.
And here are PDF’s of the three vocal parts in tab and standard notation:
Ventura Highway – Melody PDF
Ventura Highway – High Harmony PDF
Ventura Highway – Low Harmony PDF
