Build your own band: 16 moods and 20 styles in any key and tempo, with drums, percussion, bass, two chord instruments, a pad and lead fills, each with its own sound and volume.
This is an F♯ major slow blues backing track: a slow 12/8 blues with room for long bends: ninth chords from the guitar, a bass walking the chord tones. It plays the 12-bar blues progression in F♯ major at 58 BPM in 12/8, round and round, so you can practise soloing, rhythm or both.
F♯ and G♭ are the same pitch; the chords are spelled in F♯. The player above is set to this track. Press Play, slow it down or speed it up, mute the guitar to play the chords yourself, or mute the bass to play the bass line. You can also switch key or style without leaving the page.
How the band plays it
Twelve slow eighth notes a bar, felt in four big beats. There is a lot of space, so every note you play is heard; ninth chords from the guitar keep the sound full under you.
The chords
The 12-bar blues: four bars of the I chord, two of the IV, two of the I, then V, IV, I and a turnaround on V. In F♯ major that is F♯7, B7, C♯7.
1F♯7
2F♯7
3F♯7
4F♯7
5B7
6B7
7F♯7
8F♯7
9C♯7
10B7
11F♯7
12C♯7
In numbers: I7 = F♯7 · IV7 = B7 · V7 = C♯7. The numbers count from the key’s root, so the same progression works in any key.
The shapes the guitar plays
Three- and four-note shapes without open strings, close together so each change is a small move.
Play the rhythm part yourself
Play the ninth chords on beat one and let them ring, then add small triplet stabs on the last beat as a pickup into the next bar. Mute the guitar in the player and the band leaves the part to you.
What to solo with
F♯ minor pentatonic: F♯ A B C♯ E. The classic blues sound, bend the ♭3 toward the 3.
F♯ blues: F♯ A B C C♯ E. Minor pentatonic plus the ♭5 blue note.