Blues Tracks: The Ultimate Backing Track Collection for Guitar

Okay I'm a middle aged male, aspiring blues guitarist, pretty mediocre, to be honest. I love play-along books for the most part as I can't find a band to play with and can't sound good enough "solo" to make a go of it on my own - so I use a lot of backing tracks. I have pretty much every blues MP3 backing track for guitar available on Amazon. That's not an exaggeration, either. Which brings me to the point of this review of this particular book and cd, which I should in theory love. It is usually exactly what I'm looking for except...It has guitar solo's in the songs already.Seriously. Who's decision was that? I understand we have to learn to play with other guitarists but the guitar player on these tracks makes me sound like a fool so I don't even want to go up against him on the same song. It's freaking discouraging, man. I hate this book/CD product. I HATE it. It makes me want to stop playing. The guitarist on these tracks blows me away (and probably blows away anyone buying this book because if you can play that well you're already a professional) and frankly that is not encouraging me to play but rather discourages me. Also the tracks are needlessly complex - we just need standard 8 and 12 and 24 bar blues tunes, with the occasional quick change thrown in - most of the tunes in this book are simply "too complex" for the middle of the road guitarist. I don't know, maybe I suck but when I get a jam track I want it to be EASY to play against - not complicated. These are complicated tracks for the most part (a few are easy 12 bar blues but they have ripping guitar solo's right in the middle of them that will make you sound like a joke in comparison) and it sucks. Everything sucks. I hate everything. I want a cookie. I'm going to go take a nap now.

Great Value. Backing compositions in many keys, A, Bb, C, Db, D, E, etc. Many start with a lead example, and then turn it over to you. Lots of good notes/lick examples, both with the backing example, as well as in the appendix. The solo guitar examples are clean, not too fast or complex, and demonstrate the key and modes that would go well with the practice. At various points you are encourage to practice the rhythm, and the leads that are used are documented. That helps with understanding the opportunity to use of Major, Minor modes, etc.For the student guitarist (most levels that I can see--advanced beginner on up) who wants to work out with a band. Quality of the CD and the band--since these are backing tracks--are very good. At least a couple of the slow blues selection even provide a horn section (how cool is that?).This is a lot like when you go to a lesson, and the instructor shows you a lead example, and then encourages you to practice soloing while the instructor plays rhythm. The examples are long enough, and you have plenty of space to hash out your own leads.I 've worked on a couple of examples and plan to keep using this as part of my standard practice. It is a good addition to my instruction library.

if you want to get into the blues..this is a good start..