Here’s a tip we picked up from Vernon Reid (guitarist for Living Colour, Masque, Free Form Funky Freqs, and many others), who is here at Sweetwater presenting a clinic on Parker Guitars and Randall Amps. Vernon is using a Mac to play back tracks from Ableton Live and iTunes, which he then plays along with on guitar. The tip: when playing with tracks, include a volume pedal between the output of the computer or player and the input of the mixer. This lets you do fade ins and fade outs, as well as have an “emergency” volume control you can step on if you miss a cue or if the volume needs to be adjusted quickly.