How to record backing tracks?

[Stephen Porter]

Hello,

I'm interested in finding out how to approach setting up a system for recording backing tracks to play along with for practice. This would be great for me in getting my guitar chops back and also to have something to play along with when practicing banjo or mandolin.

Basic requisites must be a microphone and some kind of recording/music software and plugging the microphone output into a computer?

Also related, is there software where you can slow the tempo of a piece down without losing pitch?

Newb questions, to be sure!

[Jim Adwell]

For recording I use Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). It's free, you can slow down the tempo without changing pitch, and also change pitch without changing the tempo. And it does a bunch of other things, too. Also it's easy to add tracks to existing recordings (like for instance adding a bass track to the rhythm track you just recorded).

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

[lukmanohnz]

So many options! There are many desktop programs as well as mobile apps available for this now. For myself, I'm still a bit old-school. I have a Boss Loop Station that lets me record the progression once or twice through, then it will loop that over and over as long as I want. I can also alter the playback speed after the fact. I use whichever mic is hooked up at the time - my looper has a dedicated mic input, so it's a snap to use.