Well, OK. Wonder where I fit in?

I'm in group A. I have had zero music education in my life. Because I have not taken formal music classes. I signed up for band in elementary school and quit before ever selecting or receiving an instrument to play.

I'm in group C. I play an instrument but not all that well. I hold my own and play strictly by ear or memorization. I have recorded hundreds of recording where I spent hours and sometimes days practicing a specific series of difficult chords in a progression or fingering out a riff or strumming pattern for a song that after the recording and some time passes, I can no longer recall how to play. Once and done, many times.

But I've had times that required I be in group D. I play at a fairly proficient level. For at least one song or series of songs in a gig or recording.
Think - Practice, practice, practice.

Oddly, I also had a similar conversation as Eddie with a lady just this morning. As a member of group A, and with this mornings experience to help me along, I'll answer Eddie's question.

"If you have had zero music training, how do you know what to enter into the chord sheet page to create your songs?

When I said zero music training, I meant zero. Like if you don't know that there are 12 keys, how do you know what to put in on bar 1?"

Many times I applied the mechanics of music without the benefit of any theory. For example, I learned the names and chord shapes on a guitar, but not the individual notes that comprised the chords. I memorized chord progressions and chord shapes watching "Midnight Special", "American Bandstand", "Austin City Limits" and similar TV shows as well as watching live bands.

Yet I had my first song copyright in 1959. Have had a dozen or so songs copyrighted and commercially released since then. Recently sold a song that was recorded 44 years ago to be used in a documentary.


But that's enough about me and my limitations. To answer how someone without even the basic knowledge I have can use BIAB. I believe I can show anyone how to create their first song in BIAB in less than 15 minutes. What is required is a nominal knowledge of how to operate a computer. If one can do a file search, open and close a file and basic navigation skills. They can create music with BIAB. Here's what I tell people who ask.

Decide on a song title and do an internet search for a midi file of that song. Download that midi file and remember where it downloads to.

Open BIAB, tell them the hot key to open a midi file (F7) - From the open file window, navigate to the midi file you downloaded and select that file to import and open.

The BIAB Chord sheet will populate with the chords of the song, usually in the original key the song was recorded in and at or near the original tempo.

Show how to open the style picker and set search parameters for time signature, feel and tempo. Show how to alternately search for the downloaded midi file song by the BIAB song title search feature.

Show how to audition styles, select a style and generate a song.

Show how to mute the midi channel and if they are still with me at this point, show how to use the Sequencer to edit the midi tracks.


With that knowledge, they have enough skill to repeat and create a playlist in BIAB of every song they know and can find a midi file of.

BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.