Play-a-Long

1992-1995

Way, way back when I experimented with multi-track recording on my Tascam Porta-One 4-Track cassette recorder, I had Boss sound effects pedals, an Alesis drum machine, a cheap Casio keyboard, and of course, all of my guitars. I used all of these items to try to make decent recordings of play along jam tracks.

You see, I used to bring my guitar to quite a few parties - but the problem I always faced was me not having any sort of rhythm track to play along with. I had a nice boombox that was plenty loud - so I recorded a bunch of songs onto a cassette tape so I would have something to play along with. These were songs that most people could sing a long to, and everyone would have fun.

Well, these old tracks are a testament to the ancient, antiquated ways things were done back then in a shall I say, less than professional approach. This was several years before the digital age or the advent of home computer recording software for the novice musician. I don’t think I even knew about scratch tracks or playing along to a “click” track. I honestly don’t even remember how I made these recordings. All I know is that I was limited to four tracks; and I had to somehow “ping-pong” all these tracks back and forth while trying to maintain some sense of minimal noise on the tape. Well, there’s plenty of noise on these tracks.

If for nothing else, it was a great way for me to learn how to record myself doing all different instruments. Practice is practice, no matter what the outcome is . I did play this tape at a few parties, and it worked well enough to keep everyone moving to the music.

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1. Main street - Bob Seger (Date recorded: May 13, 1995)

2. Pink house - John Cougar Mellencamp (Date recorded: May 13, 1995)

3. Take it easy - The Eagles (Date recorded: May 13, 1995)

4. Nights are forever - England Dan and John Ford Coley (Date recorded: May 14, 1995)

5. Tequila sunrise - The Eagles (Date recorded: May 19, 1995)

6. Peaceful, easy feeling - The Eagles (Date recorded: May 23, 1995)

7. Margaritaville - Jimmy Buffett (Date recorded: May 24, 1995)

8. Why don’t we get drunk - Jimmy Buffett (Date recorded: May 25, 1995)

9. Time for me to fly - REO Speedwagon (Date recorded: September 17, 1993)

10. Hurts so good - John Cougar Mellencamp (Date recorded: June 16, 1992)

11. Give a little bit - Supertramp (Date recorded: January 23, 1993)

12. Black water - The Doobie Brothers (Date recorded: January 24, 1993)