Why I Built a Practice Room, Not Another Backing Track
I learned drums playing along to songs in my headphones. Here’s why backing tracks get stale, and why I built a practice room where you play with the band.
By Dominic, Founder of Play Sonara
Most of what I know as a musician, I learned by playing along to songs. Not backing tracks or loops, but real music with a real band around me. If you’ve ever wanted to practice with a band and didn’t have one, this one’s for you. It’s also the reason I built a practice room where you can mute your instrument and play with everyone else.
Headphones on, phone next to me
I’m a drummer. I’ve played for a long time, though to be honest, not much in the last few years. I’ve got a kit set up again now, and getting back behind it reminded me how I actually got better in the first place.
Growing up, practice looked the same most days. Headphones on, phone on a chair next to me, and whatever I was into that week. Rock, funk, pop, stuff my friends showed me, stuff I found by accident. I’d play along to the whole song, listening hard to what the drummer was doing and trying to keep up.
That’s how I learned feel. Where to push, where to lay back, how a fill sets up a chorus. And honestly, it’s how I discovered half the music I love.
I don’t think I’m unusual. Talk to most drummers, guitarists or bassists and they’ll tell you the same thing. We like to practice by playing music.
Why backing tracks get stale
The problem was there wasn’t really a platform for it. If I wanted a song without the drums, I’d search “drumless tracks” on YouTube and get the same handful of stock-standard songs. Then I’d bring my laptop down to the kit and play it off YouTube. It worked, sort of. It was clunky, and it was never a great experience.
Backing tracks and loops have the same problem in a different way. They’re fine for a week. Then you’ve played the same track so many times you’re on autopilot. Essentially, you learn the track, not the music. A loop doesn’t build to a chorus. A click doesn’t groove. Nothing is listening back to you.
Playing with a band is different. You lock in with the bass. You leave space for the vocal. You feel the song moving and you move with it. That’s the part you can’t get from a static track, and it’s the part that actually makes you better.
Why I built Sonara
So I built the thing I wish I’d had, for anyone who learns this way. Sonara is a practice room for musicians. You open a music pack, your instrument is already muted, and you play along with the rest of the band.
Every song is split into separate instrument parts, which gives you two ways in. You can listen to your instrument’s part on its own to learn it, then mute it and try to replicate it. Or you can mute your instrument straight away, forget what was there, and make up your own part. Improvise. Jam with the band and see what comes out.
Packs are themed sets of songs in one style, like Slide City, The Summer Terrace or The Basement Pocket. On Starter and Pro you can generate more songs in the same style, so when you love a pack, you don’t run out of it. That’s where the tech earns its place. It’s there to give you more to play and help you get better, not to make music for you to put out.
To be honest, that’s the whole point. Sonara isn’t about publishing music. It’s about the time you spend with your instrument, and making that time feel like playing with a band instead of playing at a recording.
If that sounds like how you like to practice, come try it. You can practice on the free tier, no credit card needed.
Practice with songs. Don’t just make them.