I've never been able to sing and wanna give it a crack so I can utilise my voice as an additional instrument. I plan to do a couple of Ken Tamplin-type course thingies but also want decent stuff to load into my DAW so I can practice against. I tend to make more indie and rock type stuff, so would ideally want some kind of instrumental/karaoke style tracks that don't sound too MIDI/awful.

Anybody got any pointers to any good sources for good popular and current tracks?

 

Try http://karaoke-version.com/ . You'll get full stems if you pay a few more dollos. Quality varies. You could also try iTunes Store.

 

Had a look but seems a bit expensive at £1.50 a track minimum. Anyone know of anything else, ideally ones that are free?

 

Well, you'll need to makeyour own from MIDI then.
Use a soundfont for better sounding sounds. or try YT

 

Why not just accompany yourself.

Just like when you learned an instrument it is better to be real simple while you are learning. Just one note, or chord at a time, and develop how you want to sing. This gives you room to be you, so that you may learn what you tend to do when you are relaxed and natural. A cover may cause you to try to sound like someone else, even if you are not doing it on purpose.

Also, if you get an other person's midi there is the temptation to futz around with the midi, rather than just to get on with the singing. This can waste a great amount of time and will shift your focus off your primary goal. You might resist the temptation but I know I could not.

You can buy sheet music, accompany yourself, and learn to sing on the cheap and cheerful side of things if you find binders at a local flea market or a second hand shop.

Just my 2 cents, but you should always do what feels right to you in the end.

 

practice with the (sometimes) real chaps...
guitar hero game ripped multitrack stems... naughty, but i've seen 'em around.
sister site lists some, but I've no idea if the links are still live.

 

Why the fuck did this not cross my mind?!?!

Just been on YouTube and they have pretty much every track in the World on there are instrumental/karaoke versions. My jDownlarder downloads them and with FFmpeg also split the audio and video for me too ready to put in my DAW.

I. AM. SUCH. A. CRETIN!!!!!!

 

If you don't mind roommates/neighbors/family thinking you are crazy when you sing you can always try singing Japanese anime (cartoon) music. Pretty much every opening and ending song played in pretty much every anime has a corresponding single that was released with its karaoke version. You can easily find lyrics online also, and their language is very simple to pronounce, nothing but consonant and vowel combinations for the most part. If you are a songwriter you can always just make up your own lyrics and melody to sing over the backing tracks. There are thousands of these backing tracks out there matching many styles of music but mostly gravitating towards the pop/alternative rock music style of the 90s - early 2000s.

If you have a piano there is an abundance of classical repertoire out there from lied and art songs to operatic arias; that is how I learned to sing. Most piano accompaniments are fairly easy to sight read for even for a beginner-intermediate pianist.

You can always transcribe and arrange your favorite songs for piano and voice also. This is an invaluable skill that everyone should practice daily...

 

Last edited: Jun 24, 2017

Try here: https://www.guitarbackingtrack.com/

 

I don't always search something. But when I do, I use google.

Code:

"parent directory” mp3 instrumental -html -htm -download -links

Just add another word you want to search for.