Hi Lesley,

Some music circles call swing by a different name, shuffle. A good way to determine if a song passage is swing or even is to listen to what the foundation instruments (typically drums, percussion and bass in popular music) are doing.

In Band-in-a-Box select two styles that play sixteenth notes but otherwise are similar. By that I mean the styles use the same instruments (midi, Super midi or RealTracks) and are played at the same tempo. One of the styles needs to be even and the other swing.

Throw together a few chords and select playback. Once you feel comfortable with the groove, swap to the second style and get a feel for it.

Now, mute all instruments except for the bass and drums. Especially pay attention to what the drummer is playing on the high hat or ride cymbal. The drummer may be hitting the high hat or ride cymbal the same number of times for each bar but the timing of the hits should differ. Even styles have the hits occur exactly each sixteenth note. Swing styles have hits irregularly spaced.

If you were to count the hits on the even style the 16 count would be "one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a" while the swing count would be " one eand a two eand a three eand a four eand a". Same number of hits but unevenly spaced.

Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK
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