Practicing with backing tracks can be a fun way to improve your timing, develop the skill of improvising, and help get you out of a rut. You can find premade backing tracks… but I like to make my own. Here’s how I do it.

Outline of the Steps

• Find a song

• https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/

• Web search

• Determine the key

• Usually at the top on the sheet 

• First and last chord

• Find the sheet music

Link to RGS lesson: How to Find the Key (log in)

• Now for Band-In-A-Box

• Select Key

• Choose style

• type title in song picker

• choose which ever sounds good

• Type in the chords

• Sing the words

• You may refer to the sheet music if you are unsure

• Play the song to test 

• Add intro: Edit > Song Form > Add Intro

• Sing along and make changes

You can also…

• Change keys

• Change Tempo

• Play along with guitar

• Experiment with different grooves

• Improvise over chords

Download as an MP3

More Information…

I don’t remember where I originally bought Band-in-the Box but I’m pretty sure I started with the least expensive version. I have upgraded several times over the years directly from https://www.pgmusic.com.

I currently own the Band-in-a-Box UltraPAK 2020. I purchased my last level upgrades on a portable hard drive which they mailed to me.  The file for the versions with the Real Tracks are quite large (many Giga Bytes) and it would take a lot of my time to download them. I run the program directly from the hard disk. 

Here’s a forum post on the PGMusic website that explains the different versions Understanding the Different Band-in-a-Box PAKs