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Following on from another thread on this topic I recall that one of the masters of using "Backing Tracks", perhaps i use the term loosely, was, of course, the great Les Paul, particularly in the Les Paul Mary Ford era! I was reminded of this earlier this afternoon when I watched the Jeff Beck Rock 'n' Roll Party (Honouring Les Paul) DVD, recorded live at the Iridium Jazz Club. Jeff and Imelda May recreate a number of Les and Mary's iconic tracks including HOW HIGH THE MOON, MOCKINGBIRD HILL and WHERE's THE TIGER, faithfully reproducing the multi-tracked harmony vocals of Mary Ford and using per-recorded tracks to work to. The effect is superb. I really recommend this DVD. Jeff also plays a great and very true version of APACHE and SLEEPWALK.

Brian

I would guess that Les Paul would have been one of the first people to use BTs live..and he made them all himself too!

There's some well known video where he demonstrates how he does it- on the spot!

He invented looping I suppose!

The essential difference is if you've made your own backing track.
Creation comes into it then, something to make your ears pop up.

And Les Paul was a perfectionist, so I wonder how many acetates found their way into the bin before the final version!