Jam with Carlos Santana Review

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(More customer reviews)I first heard of this concept from a jazz trumpeter who said he used to practice to "MINUS ONE" versions of songs he liked. It was a similar complete package like the Jam With CD here, except it was on vinyl -- all the parts except for the trumpet part.
I really like this Jam with Carlos Santana CD and appreciate the musicianship on it. It's good for keeping time -- Santana, a great phraser, said he started practicing every morning with a drum machine, and wonder if practicing to a CD like this can be every bit as good. Some of the parts in the Jamwith renditions I even like better than on the Santana recordings. I like that many songs start with the drumsticks marking time. And there's one nice part in Europa where the guitar busts some actual Santana licks, solid-body tones and all. And though I have about a dozen Santana albums, there was at least one song on this CD I'd never heard.
As a nitpicker who learns by rote and solos note-for-note, I agree with a review I saw somewhere that significant sections of the originals were omitted and/or changed -- at least on the songs I know fairly well. In Oye Como Va it's exacerbated by a lack of differentiation between background parts when moving to new sections, that in the originals were part of their flavor and appeal.
There are justifiable omissions, like the ending of Black Magic Woman, which in the original moved from sultry, minor-bluesy pop into a major mode/scale with an entirely different time signature. This fit the 70's "concept album" format and you can really consider it a "between-the-tracks" mini-song, and arguably not part of the song. The organist is allowed a solo on the Jamwith version that indeed can hold a candle to Greg Rolie's. THAT's saying something because this was a definitive Rolie solo. You'll enjoy so much you'll even feel like stopping to listen! I know I did.
But some of the missing, incomplete sections mess me up. I would never play to these in public unless I first learned the Jam-with songs, with their slightly different structures, because it would mean slightly re-learning the songs. Then when you heard them on the radio and jammed to them, you'd be playing it the Jam-With way, i.e., differently. Europa seems to start with just drum beats, widely separated, that are not to give you the count, unlike the other Jamwith songs, but are there so you can play the lead to them.
That's my personality and the guy who I originally saw playing to this Jamwith in public is more relaxed about it. But my guitar work is a bit tighter and in part I attribute this to my over-diligent, perfectionist attitude at playing. I have to admit that Santana has differences in his song structures when playing live.
But I say have fun. These are a phenomenal learning tool. I prefer these to the CD player systems that allow you to play the CDs at different speeds. You can play these Jamwiths anywhere. I use the one I put on my Ipod. I also own a Jam With Satriani which is also very good. Despite my grousing I came to this website looking to buy more Jamwiths. Pity there's no Benson. His backup musicians would probably be hard to emulate.
Even though I almost exclusively use the aural component of this product (practice to the audio only) I highly recommend Jam With Santana for budding and accomplished guitarists.

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Carlos Santana's instantly recognisable guitar style brought the rhythms of Afro-Cuban music to generations of people who might otherwise never have heard them. His soulful playing has inspired guitarists the world over for the last three decades, and continues to do so today. The combination of musical notation and guitar tabulature in this book together with backing tracks on the CD gives you the opportunity to learn eight of Carlos' tracks note-for-note and them jam with a professional session band. The track listing reflects some of Santana's most popular recordings, providing something for guitarists to have fun with and improvise with, as well as something to aspire to.

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