Ok, you guys check these out and tell me if this link works. You should be able to download to your computer without a drop box account.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ujowwpqh5y42t/AABnCcRP8YYL6ydXzoebe2Nza?dl=0

I am playing several styles of guitar, fingerpicking, including a Ramirez classical, in a soft accompaniment style meant to add flavor to tracks and not be the standout item, especially suited for adding some spice to ballads. They are the same styles I use on some of my own softer tunes. The JT style refers to James Taylor and I am playing some of the mutated type chords he is famous for which you can see in the chart. The charts basically move through all of the common chords you would use in a pop song, plus those James Taylor-ish chords. I hope this is useful. Let me know how it works for you guys. They seem to hold up well to transposition, though you would have to add some gain change and an EQing device like the IK Multimedia Classic EQ (acoustic guitar setting) but I use these VSTS on all acoustic RTs anyway.

Well, just an experiment. Let me know. Here is the link again:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ujowwpqh5y42t/AABnCcRP8YYL6ydXzoebe2Nza?dl=0

I'll give this a try this weekend. Thanks, David.

Hi David,
thanks for your user tracks. They seem to work well. A little eq helps a lot.
Maybe I will use them in one or two songs
greetings Rob

I'll be happy to try them out, as I've made quite a few of these myself. So this should be fun and hopefully educational along the way, thanks for sharing

Cool, there is a million more where that came from in time, just wanted to experiment, let me know..

Cool, there is a million more where that came from in time, just wanted to experiment, let me know..

Cool, there is a million more where that came from in time, just wanted to experiment, let me know..

Ok, after just a quick first run on these, my first couple of advices:

1. Make some (more) '2-chords-per-bar' entries, at least the more common ones like IIm7-V7, IV-V etc. Better still would be some common '1-chord-per-beat' too, like you see in some of the longer PG templates for Usertracks making - The less the program needs to chop your audio up, the better.

2. The quickest way to spot potential issues in UT's is by using them in ways you didn't envision them for (let alone intended!), both in terms of concept and chords used.

Icelander, I am lost man.

I posted this in another area. Maybe you can help explain this to me. I don get it.


"I have taken a look at the User Track Templates in the zip files mentioned but have no idea what they mean or what they are used for. The "10 minute" version is like 33 bars with maybe five chords created in each key.

What do you do with these?

The "30 minute version" is like 4 chords....Huh?

Is there a user manual?

I know I am being stupid so don't laugh at me, but I don't know how this works. I have created my own user tracks by building a long chord template and playing along and that worked, fine, but I have no idea what these templates are for or what 10 and 30 minutes mean. Are you supposed to stitch them together?

Again please don't laugh, but I am feeling dense and confused here."

Also, I am not sure I understood your own comments.

I created my own charts and played at least 2 bars of every chord hitting the downbeat. Is that not what I was supposed to do? It works fine for my stuff when I use it.

Thanks!!

First of, there's no need for you to sell yourself off short like that - and I guarantee no one is "laughing" at you.

Right, I'm not sure just precisely which templates you are talking about, but the idea in these names you mention is that, they should make for somewhat the amount of playing time as their names indicate - but the chosen tempo makes a considerable difference there. And no, you're not supposed to stitch them together. As to how or why 'The "30 minute version" is like 4 chords', I cannot say, for the one I found (but never used) has far more chords than four. So you are well in your rights to be confused about that, I am too
There are a couple of rudimentary "Making a Usertrack" type of videos on PG's main site, you can find them here, but precious little to find in terms of reading material in any proper details yet (something I've complained about to Support many times over).

And about my comments confusing you even further, my apologises, that was absolutely not my intentions. Let's see if I can't explain myself better:
Making your own set of chords to work with is perfectly fine, absolutely nothing wrong or bad about that whatsoever. Nor is there any "right" (or "wrong") way either, it's just a question of usability. See, the potential caveat of only using your own chords is that it may end up limiting the usage of your creation. So my main comment suggested that you add/included some bars where there are more than one chord within a single bar. Ok, so maybe the style(s) you were trying to emulate don't really play music which contains more than one chord in a single bar, but what if the user still wanted your UT to do that for his work, in a completely different settings - do you see what I'm getting at?
That was really the fundamental philosophy I was trying to suggest. The more possibilities you account for in your UT, the more possibilities it will have for other users.

And just to hammer in a cliche, because it's true: There's no such thing as a 'stupid' question!

I'm with Dave regarding Usertracks. I tend to think a UT is intended for a unique use that can be played over various tempos and key signatures. A UT is not necessary to create a live track for a particular song. Thinking of UT's in that manner makes Icelander's comments make more sense to me. I envision a circumstance in which a UT is the appropriate choice is to consider a UT more as a style than a track.

To me, they are similar to a Norton Style that seems to be based from a popular song such as the Beatle Norton style that sounds like "Get Back" or a Bee Gee Norton style that sounds similar to "Staying Alive" but is a Style that can be used for many songs.

So, for example, say there is a unique rhythm guitar strumming pattern in the Beatle song "And I Love Her". It would be appropriate to create a UT of that particular strumming pattern so the pattern (style) can be played over any chord progression in any key. That same particular strumming pattern would need to be recorded in varying tempo's of 60, 85,100 and 120. Each recorded pattern template of each of these tempos would be a repetition of the strumming pattern using all the chords of the song, "And I Love Her" in both short and long phrases repeated over 7 or 8 complete repetitions of the song in order to provide the UT many variations to play when the UT is used in a song while always maintaining that unique guitar rhythm strumming pattern.

So in my mind, I understand that to mean I would record 8 repetitions of the complete "And I Love Her" at 60 bpm in the key of A, B, C, D, etc. Then repeat the same recording process at 85 bpm. Repeat again at 100 bpm and so on until my folder has a number of tempo and key wma files to play that UT rhythm guitar strumming pattern (style) over any key signature at many different tempos.

Hey Charlie,

Thanks. Here is a question I still don't have answered. I go to file folder with "30 minute styles." I see there are more than 20 in every key. I see they are about 33 bars. I see there are approximately 5 chords in there, like A, D, E7, F#m7, etc.

If I were to play all the way through the "30 minute" template in A with just those chords (that do not cover the pop cadence spectrum, by the way) I would be finished in about 2 and a half minutes at 1 chorus setting.

So why do they call it the "30 minute template." I am truly confused. When I open the 1 hour version I see maybe 4 chords and even less bars. I must say I am stupified and have no idea what this means.

I created my own templates of say 85 bars with all of the major pop chord variations and played along and those seem to work fine.

But again, I have no idea what 30 minute template means in the BIAB template folder. Do you know what they mean by "30 minutes" and if these are templates you are supposed to add chords to?

They just can't possibly be ready to go as they are.

I watched the video and it was self explanatory. But still no explanation of why they refer to it as the "30 minute version" though.

Do they mean "It will take you 30 minutes if you play all of these"???????

That has to be it, that they make up for about 30 minutes of combined playing time.

UT's also let me play in the style of, well, "me". There are some things that I do on the piano that seem to find their way into multiple songs, and a UT would let me capture that for multiple songs.

Also, there are several songs I play that, for example, use running arpeggiated 16th notes. A UT would allow me to capture that for multiple songs, without having to re-record it each time.

And for David Snyder, I think your question was asked in the other thread you posted where it's the multiple SGU's that you would play along with to cover different genres, chords, feel, etc. You don't just record the 4 or 5 chords found in the one file. Each file will have different chords.

UT's allow you to store multiple SGU and WAV files in a single UT folder, and the UT manager keeps track of what's there (which chords, the length of the phrases, etc) and picks an appropriate riff to play depending upon your song's chord progression.

This also allows you to start with something simple, then add more variation to it later.

"UT's also let me play in the style of, well, "me". There are some things that I do on the piano that seem to find their way into multiple songs, and a UT would let me capture that for multiple songs."

That's what I mean. It can be any unique or particular style for any reason that you find a need or use for. A lot of musicians have a signature rhythm for guitar or a particular way they play keyboard that make them instantly recognizable. Each is a good case for a User Track.

A particular instance for me is I own a unique vintage guitar and the sound it produces would be a good User Track candidate so that particular and unique sound and rhythm guitar can be useful in many songs. A lot of varied sounds can be created. It has two PAF Humbucker pickups on a double neck guitar and each combination makes a different and unique sound that can be made into a User Track.

Ah, there ya go. That makes sense. I do not think anyone ever said that before or referred to it in a video or instruction. Unless I completely missed it. seems like the kind of thing you would put in bold with a magic marker and talk about at the beginning of your video, right?? But again, it may have been there and I missed it.

Thanks John!!!

Ok, now I get it John answered it, record them all and put them in the same folder. Now it makes sense.

And now I (finally) get why you were so confused
It looks like I made that elementary mistake of presuming knowledge, my bad.

I like this one a lot, have to admit never had thought of them that way

I see it's coming together for Dave. I missed his post while I was making my last post but he's got his answer.

Realtracks by Brent Mason, Paul Franklin and Oliver Gannon, each unique but musically fit into many styles and songs.

UserTracks by Jford, Icelander, Seeker, and Dave Snyder, each unique but musically fit into many styles and songs.

The more time, key signatures, chord progressions and complexity results in UserTracks being on close par with RealTracks...

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your UT's.

Yes that link works.

There are 8 zipped files.

Which of those 8 zipped files are relevant to your posting. ?
or should i just download all 8 ?

w ( Mr Magoo )