Steve Vai's "Naked" tracks

[toyL]

Check this out - http://www.vai.com/nakedtracks/index.html
Steve Vai has released 53 of his songs, minus the lead part, in mp3 format. You can purchase them by the album ($7.99) or download individual songs for $0.89 each. I did notice that a few of the songs are not available, for whatever reason. The above site has links to amazonmp3, emusic, Rhapsody, etc. where the mp3s can be purchased. If you're at all familiar with Steve Vai's music you'll understand that this isn't exactly for beginners. I realize that Vai's style isn't for everyone, but I would expect that pretty much ANY guitarist would really appreciate at least a few of his songs. These might include "For the Love of God", "Warm Regards", and "Hand on Heart". This is an extraordinarily rare opportunity to practice/play along with what amounts to the "original" studio recordings of one of the best guitarist in the world, and you can't beat the price. I purchased nine of the mp3s--ones that I learned over the years by playing along with the album. They sound fantastic.

From Steve: "For the most part, the tracks in this series are presented in their original form with the lead guitar removed. In some cases, I looped some solo sections to give you an opportunity to stretch out". "I suggest you import these files into a sequencer program of sorts, such as ProTools, GarageBand, etc. and create loops of various parts of the songs to jam over. On many tracks, a hit or count-off was added to the intro to indicate where the song starts. On some tracks, a small portion of the original melody guitar may have been tacked onto the intro as a guide".

[ermghoti]

I've heard of this, and it's pretty cool. I also like how some artists are releasing older multi-tracks for fans to remix.