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#242911 03/06/14 03:44 PM
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I understand how to auto generate an intro. But how do I enter my own intro in so it is just played once at the begining of the tune?

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I often use that Intro auto-generate and then change the chords it enters manually to suit my song and tastes.

The full manual method is to change the 1st Bar starts on block to another bar number, typically 4 bars for a slower song, 8 bars for a fast song. Then enter chords in the bars before the new Start of Song bar.


--Mac

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I usually write my own intros. Lets do a 4 bar intro for example. Write your intro then set your play loop start to 5, end to however long the song is and chorus to the number of time you want to repeat the song. If it is a 32 bar song, you want to repeat it 3 times and you have a 4 bar intro your settings would be 5-32-3.


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Yes, that's what I referred to in my second paragraph above.

But over the years, I find it faster to simply use the Automatic Intro Generator, set for the number of bars I want, say Okay and all that stuff gets entered automatically as to Start of Chorus, etc. - and then I can just highlight the typical Old Jazz sounding chords that BB has entered, at the first bar and type in my own replacement chords, hitting the Enter key each time to advance the cursor, and done!

Less clicks.

Mind doesn't have to switch from Creation side over to the Bar Arithmetic side...


--Mac

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I never use the auto generate thing on intros.

I also always expand the song to ONE BIG CHORUS before I do anything.

I simply enter the chords I want for my intro, and then use a part marker to mark the beginning of the song at measure 5. Generally speaking, my intro and first verse will both be a blue part.

Occasionally I will have a 6 measure intro and the process is essentially the same with the part marker going at M-7.


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Like Mac, I also will let BIAB create the intro, substitute my own chords (sometimes just the last few chords of the song), and then I will also use the BIAB melodist to create a melodic intro (since you can specify the bars in which to create the melody). Soloist works, too, but it tends to be too "busy".

The above method doesn't work if you are trying to create a "cover" to match an original, but it's great for making a song your own rendition.


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