Instant bass and drums backing for a Shadows instrumental where you know the chord sequence but don't have a backing track? Or simply want to noodle around a 12-bar with bass and drums that won't want a tea break after half an hour? There's a pedal that will do it now.
These days clever electronics can listen to guitar chords and work out what they are - G major, A minor etc. It's used in vocal harmoniser pedals.
This Trio Band Creator translates the chords into a bass guitar sequence and also works out the tempo and the rhythm for a drum kit.
Once the pedal has 'listened' to your chord sequence it will play it back instantly as bass and drums and you can play around with the tempo, genre and style. It'll never be exactly the way Jet or Licorice or Tony or Brian played it but it's not bad.
Introduced last year, it cost a couple of hundred notes but now that Digitech have brought out a 'Plus' version the basic Trio has tumbled to £47 at some places and I even got mine on 'special offer' for £39.99. Unless you need a Looper (the main addition in the Plus) it's a nifty way of getting a backing.
There's a three-button foot pedal you can buy for £23 that saves bending down to adjust some of the controls.
Ray