I've spent well over an hour trying to get line based lyrics entered into a song and am still nowhere... I've watched the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joU7xrWDXbQ and found it next to useless. It's four years old. Once I open the Notation window there is no "beige" editing area referred to in the video. I have been able to add NOTE based text but that is not what I'm after. Is there a guide somewhere to doing something which should be simple?

Which version of BIAB are you using? I thought that line based lyrics were not supported anymore in recent versions and older files needed to be converted to bar based lyrics.

As John says, line-based lyrics haven't been used by the program for a couple of years. The video that you watched is relevant to pre-2015 versions of BIAB (if I recall correctly).

If you are running a recent version of BIAB, it's bar-based lyrics that are now used.

For a detailed explanation of bar-based lyrics go to 25:00 minutes on the below Youtube clip at PG Music Inc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCRt2hQ137M

Also, the Big Lyrics Window might be useful for you too when it comes to display chords and lyrics.

Lastly, there's a Lyric Document Window that allows for the lyrics to be displayed in a text document format.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Noel

• one of my songs: I Like Walking Beside You

Hi John, Noel. Yes, I'm using BIAB 2017 for Mac. Ummmm, it seems to me that it might have been a good idea for BIAB to either pull that video down and replace it with something more up-to-date / relevant. I found it (the video) on the support page and ended up battling for a long time to get it to do something that it no longer does. I'll follow up by looking at that video you linked to Noel. Thanks, Darrin

Ok thanks Noel, I took a look at that video - it did help in that I did manage to get lyrics in using it (bar by bar). Ive bookmarked it for further reference on other matters that without doubt will arise. (e.g. now that I've got the lyrics in I've spend 40 minutes trying to get the lyrics to increase in size in the lead sheet. Nothing I do in the lead sheet / notation windows - including the options window which has options that appear to be for use with formatting the lead sheet seem to have any affect whatsoever. I can cause change on other elements in the lead sheet (font on other elements of the page) but not the lyrics. They're so small as to be almost unreadable.
This program (BIAB) appears to have a ton of features but coming to grips with it is like pulling teeth...

Hi Darrin,

Glad to read we're getting somewhere.

Now to make the bar-lyrics text bigger....

Although I use BIAB (Windows), I suspect the process is the same for you on BIAB (Mac).

Go to the link below to a post that I created in 'Tips and Tricks'. This will help.

http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=442115&#Post442115

Regards,
Noel

• one of my songs: Every Single Day

Hi all, thank you for this thread! I keep forgetting how to enter bar lyrics.

If anyone else is in the same boat, here's how, extracted from the video that Noel referenced above.

1) Be sure you are in (normal) “Chord Sheet” view
2) Select with your cursor the first bar you want to add a lyric to
3) Choose Views: Chord Display >> Layers >> Bar Lyrics
4) A space will open up above the selected chord, where you can input text.

Hi,

I'm doing the same. However I noticed something strange. I select the lyric box above the chords (as instructed), which changes colour and input lyrics. So lyrics are above the chords. But when I select 'lead sheet' the lyrics are below the chords, which is where I want them. This was really confusing, so I'm now in-putting lyrics 'below' the chord and then when 'lead sheet' is selected, the lyrics are in the same place. Also found that generating an intro 'after' lyric input, works better.

Any explanation would be appreciated. Am I doing it right?

Is there a way to get two lines of lyrics, or to use note based lyrics and bar based lyrics at the same time?

Hi All,
I've had to revert to inserting lyrics above the chords as instructed by BIAB Mac, because otherwise it creates problems with generated endings. But as I previously said, when you select the lead sheet, lyrics are in the usual place 'below' the chords - where they should be. Is there any reason why BIAB has made this so confusing? If I'm reading from a printed music sheet, I have to remember to insert lyrics in BIAB in the opposite position!

Terri

Terri,

On the lead sheet with the Windows version of the program, if one prefers the lyrics above the chords so that they match the chord sheet, this is controlled under Print options.

I'm not sure if this is the same on the Mac version but it would be worth having a look at.

Regards,
Noel