[Jim]

After the debacle I posted last weekend, I hope to redeem myself - at least to some extent - with this.

Last November my friend (the same one that is friends with Les Paul's producer/Guitar tech and who got me in to see Les without waiting on line....) recorded this backing track for us to practice over - and named it "Little Blues". It's a simple A7 based blues progression but (I think) pretty well played and recorded (including guitar, bass and drum machine). This one is also a LOT shorter - less than 3 minutes!

After the plain backing track I've uploaded what I think are the two best takes I did over it earlier today (way earlier -- I'm spent a lot of time listening so I don't repeat my last mistake. ). I couldn't decide which of these two takes I liked better, so I'm posting them both. They both use the same thematic material (yes, these are based on a melodic theme I came up with) but with a little different treatment and flavor.

They're both played with my Clapton Strat through my Digitech RP80 effects processor. I think my fingers are finally getting used to playing on the strat, as they have become on the Les Paul.

I really (really) hope you enjoy both the backing track (and I hope others do some takes over it) as well as my playing over it. I'm learning - and I thank those that helped me learn last week - special thanks to Ben! )

Jim