“Naked Tracks”, a series of play-along CD’s designed for aspiring guitarists is now available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Napster and other mp3 sites. In Vai’s own words, “this series of CD’s is designed for the jammers – those who crave playing their instruments along with a band, but don’t have the band to back them up.” The series consist of a mix of Vai’s songs without the lead guitar so guitar players or instrumentalists alike can play along with the track or make loops to jam to. Albums available as naked tracks include: Passion & Warfare, Sex and Religion, Fire Garden, Alive in the Ultra World and The Ultra Zone. For the most part, the tracks are presented in their original form with the lead guitar removed. In some cases, some solo sections have been looped to give an opportunity to stretch out. You can download the full albums as well as individual tracks (ex. Passion & Warfare’s tracks are $0.89 each or $7.99 for the full album at amazon.com).

“One way to play along with these tracks is to learn the original guitar parts that are on the album versions of the songs, but I would encourage you to take a more active role in using these tracks as a bed to lay your own creative interpretation over. There are really no rules. So sit back, flip on a naked track and dress it up with your own artistic musical apparel.”

For more information visit Steve Vai’s website here