Hi all,

I haven't upgraded to BiaB 2012 yet, but looking at the feature list, the Woodshed Tempo feature really catches my eye (scroll to the very bottom of the feature list to read about it: http://www.pgmusic.com/bbwin.new.htm ).

I plan on using the new Woodshed feature to learn all of the Master Solos series, which seem to contain some pretty tricky stuff! Is there an easy way to set it up so I can get the following functionality?

• Show the first phrase (maybe 2 bars or 4 bars)
  
• Loop that section indefinitely, starting out very slow
  
• The Woodshed Tempo feature will increase the tempo on each successive loop by a programmable amount
  
• If I use "up then down" mode or "up then reset" mode, I will keep playing the phrase until I feel comfortable.
  
• When I am ready for the next phrase, jump to the next 2 bar or 4 bar section (preferably with a shortcut key)
  

It seems like this is all possible, but I just wanted to make sure I understand this new feature correctly before I take the plunge and buy the EverythingPAK.

Bullets 1 thru 4, yes. It's a very cool feature, and I tested it all the way to 500 bpm and back (no, I did not attempt to play bebop at 500).

About bullet #5, the woodshed feature increments the tempo at the end of each chorus (in the jazz sense of chorus being once through the whole song), or at the end of each loop. If you are willing to manually highlight a section of a song and press the Loop button, then the Woodshed function works on just that section! The shortcut key for Loop is the F10 key. I don't know if it is possible to "step to the next loop" other than stopping playback and highlighting another section.

Thanks, Matt. It looks like I have another item to add to the wishlist.

By the way, I found a kind of hack-y way to step ahead by a certain amount of bars using Loop Section.

You set up the notation screen to only show one row, and you set the number of bars it shows to a set number (2, 4, 8, etc.). Then pressing the down or up arrows on the keyboard will allow you to jump ahead (or back) by one "page" of notation. That appears to even work while looping. So, that's a nice workaround for now.

EDIT: In order for this to work, you also have to set the Loop Section options to loop "One screen of notation".

I found a way to do this using the Conductor Mode and shortcuts. It's working really well.

- Enter Conductor Mode. (click the conductor icon on the icon menu)
- Enable Control by QWERTY Keys in the conductor setup window.
- Enable Loop Section (NUMPAD 1).
- In the Loop Section settings, set the loop length to 4 bars.
- Press the X key (conductor shortcut; this will set the loop length to 4 bars starting on the current bar).
- Start playback.
- The first 4 bars of the song will start looping.
- When you are done practicing the first 4 bars, hit NUMPAD 1 to disable Loop Section.
- When playback reaches the next section you want to practice (bar 5 for me), press the X key. This will re-enable Loop Section with 4 bars, this time starting at bar 5.
- Repeat until the song is learned!

After this, I go back and set the Loop Section to a larger size, like 8 bars or more... and I keep increasing that loop length until I've memorized the song.