If you place a Part Marker (making the beginning of that measure have a blue or green indicator), it will 'break' the line and place that measure on the start of the following line.
Click on the blue or green to change it to no color, and the measures will 'close up' back to the line above.
You also have the option to turn this behavior off. Right-click in the chordsheet and bring up Display Options. Uncheck "New Line for Every Section'.
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
I know why the sections have different colors. What I’m asking is why the measures themselves are gray? Gray as in the color of the cells where the chord names exist.
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core Processor. 3.79 GHZ; RAM = 32.00 GB; 64 Bit Operating System; Windows 10; Focusrite 8i18 External Card; Real Band; Band in a Box; Coyote Forte Wave Table; Oxygen 49 MIDI Controller
Have you changed the default colors of the Chordsheet? If not, there is a clear difference between the color of a cell that is empty or has a chord entered, and a cell that is ‘blocked off’ for the reason I described. Could you elaborate more?
BIAB 2026 Win Audiophile. Software: Fender Studio One 8, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Fender Quantom HD8 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
I know why the sections have different colors. What I’m asking is why the measures themselves are gray? Gray as in the color of the cells where the chord names exist.
Do you possibly have more bars than the chorus setting. i.e. that extend past the length of the chorus, like this?
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I know why the sections have different colors. What I’m asking is why the measures themselves are gray? Gray as in the color of the cells where the chord names exist.
Hi,
Would you mind posting a screen-capture of your desktop when BIAB is open? It would help a great deal to see the situation that's confronting you.
The link below explains how to capture a screen shot and post an image in the forum should you not be familiar with this process.
When I see the gray bars it's because I haven't reset the END OF THE SONG number of measures. This will happen when I do a copy and paste that adds measures to the song that now extends it beyond the song ending in the number of bars in the song box. I don't recall the exact wording so excuse my verbiage.....
Simply go to the "last measure of the song bar number" box and edit it to be a higher number. It's perfectly fine for example to have a LAST MEASURE set to 150 and only need 120 measures in the song. I do that all the time when I am creating my own unique ending such as a slow down to a hold and don't want to use the BB canned ending.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 07/07/2203:25 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
I tend to agree, Herb. I think there are possibly more bars in the song than the chorus settings are set for. Hopefully the O/P will provide some feedback that can assist.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
An alternative reason would be if the song is in 4/4 time and you have some measures set to 2/4 time with 2 chords in the cell. Something to double check.
BIAB2026 Windows 10 Pro (Never Windows 11!) WA6NCB
Another good point, and one that definitely needs investigation and clarification. This could be exactly what is being witnessed.
Hopefully the O/P will provide a response soon.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
An alternative reason would be if the song is in 4/4 time and you have some measures set to 2/4 time with 2 chords in the cell. Something to double check.
FWIW, I had that after importing a MusicXML file, because BiaB was confused about something in the XML. The song was in cut-time (2/2), but BiaB was trying to treat is as 4/4 time and did as you show.
Quote:
2022 (912) is very much better. The MusicXML imports OK and appears to show chords and notation almost as expected.
The one thing which doesn't work quite right, the greyed out second half of each bar, I looked a little further into. This appears to be due to the time signature being cut-time and the import seems to misinterpret that. I changed the MusicXML file to common-time and the import then worked as expected.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
All valuable points. The interesting thing is that the O/P mentioned "Why Are Bars Gray and they Won't Play". No mention of the individual chords in the bars was made, only the bars. But let's hope that one of these great suggestions from everyone here assists to resolve the issue.
Our collective inquiring minds need to know
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I can’t do a screenshot because I just deleted the song and started over. I can tell you this. The gray bars were inside of the song. So e.g. if the song was 24 bars long the gray bars might’ve been 19 and 20.
Also, I looked at the settings for each of the gray bars at the time. I put 44 time for all of them. So I don’t know where any time changes could’ve come from. I didn’t even make any
AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 12 Core Processor. 3.79 GHZ; RAM = 32.00 GB; 64 Bit Operating System; Windows 10; Focusrite 8i18 External Card; Real Band; Band in a Box; Coyote Forte Wave Table; Oxygen 49 MIDI Controller
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
Special Offers
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac and save up to 50% on most upgrade packages during our special offer—available until May 15, 2026. Visit our Band-in-a-Box® packages page to explore all available upgrade options.
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK Add-ons
Our Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK are loaded with amazing add-ons! The Free Bonus PAK is included with most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac packages, but you can unlock even more—including 20 unreleased RealTracks—by upgrading to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
PowerTracks 2026 is here—bringing powerful new enhancements designed to make your production workflow faster, smoother, and more intuitive than ever.
The enhanced Mixer now shows Track Type and Instrument icons for instant track recognition, while a new grid option simplifies editing views. Non-floating windows adopt a modern title bar style, replacing the legacy blue bar.
The Master Volume is now applied at the end of the audio chain for consistent levels and full-signal master effects.
Tablature now includes a “Save bends when saving XML” option for improved compatibility with PG Music tools. Plus, you can instantly match all track heights with a simple Ctrl-release after resizing, and Add2 chords from MGU/SGU files are now fully supported... and more!
Get started today—first-time packages start at just $49.
Already using PowerTracks Pro Audio? Upgrade for as little as $29 and enjoy the latest improvements!
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean