PG Music Home Forums PG Music Product Forums Band-in-a-Box for Windows Just give me a kick on how-to

Dear All,

yesterday I've upgraded to the new UltraPlusPak. Now I have an incredible amount of styles and real instruments (amazing).
Since I am a absolut beginner I like to know from you guys where and how I have to start to generate a backup track for a song to play along. How do I find a appropriate style out of the thousands and what comes next (drums, bass, ...) and in which order do I have to put things together to make it work. I'm probably not the first one asking this question so there are probably already existing answers somewhere here in the forum.
Any help is appreciated.

sep

Let's start by choosing a song to learn on. I'd start with something you like a lot, know the chords to and can play along with. One of my favorites is "Act Naturally" which was recorded by both The Beatles and Buck Owens. You can choose any song you want but it helps for the song to be easy (this one has four chords).

The next thing is to start populating the top of the screen with information about the song. The name of the song, Act Naturally, and what key you're going to compose the song in helps. I like the key of E for this song. I also know the three chords used are E, A and B. Now you need the answer to two more important items, what speed or tempo is the song and is the song in 3/4 (so called waltz time) or 4/4 time? Mentally I say to myself is the count for each measure 1,2,3 or 1,2,3,4. Set the tempo at 120 for now. The tempo can be adjusted while it playing so we just need to be close for now.

Now switch to the stylepicker. Styles select the initial set of instruments, if the instruments are midi or RealTracks and the feel of how the instruments are played.

First make sure all the styles are available for use by hitting the rebuild button on the bottom. Notice the list of styles on the left; too many so use the filter at top left on the screen. Type in: 4/4, country,rock,swing,120 then press the update button. Boom! Much more manageable. Highlight each style and audition until you find one you like.
End of part 1.

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Here are some videos to check out:

http://www.pgmusic.com/videos.bbwin.htm

Also, if you bought BiaB on a hard drive, go to "PG MUSIC" and then the VIDEO TUTORIALS pack.

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>>>...How do I find a appropriate style out of the thousands and what comes next (drums, bass, ...)...>>>>

On the main screen, click on the lower part of the Style button, and then "Band Styles.' BiaB will make suggestions. There will still be lots of trial and error involved. Thats the fun.

>>>...and in which order do I have to put things together to make it work....>>>>

Each of us has our own way of working out the steps. Take a look at the videos, follow them for a while and gradually you will work out your own workflow. There is no mistake you can make that will break anything.

>>>...I'm probably not the first one asking this question...>>>

Certainly not. You are most welcome to ask any question you like.

How you doing so far? Seems like you have to do a lot of things to even get started, don't it? A lot of that is the difference between telling a computer program what to do versus telling yourself or a picking buddy. Did you have any trouble finding which button to press to select the StylePicker? It's easier with the 2014 interface but the tip ballons still help alot.

Sorry for the part 1 and part 2 stuff but I was on my tablet for part 1 and the battery was dying. I'm on my desktop now and have 2013 BIAB loaded.

I tried five styles before settling on _BOOGBRT.STY. It's a country boogie Real style with drums, bass and three guitars. I was correct in guessing the song needs a swing style; you have a 50/50 chance on that. To me if a song is "peppy" it's most likely a swing style. If multiple choices don't work, try using a style with an even feel. O the other hand if you tried multiple even styles first and none had the right feel, then try a swing style.

How am I trying all these styles? After narrowing the number of selections with the filter, I auditioned different ones in Stylepicker to narrow the list even more. Once I had five or six likely candidates I started loading each candidate into BIAB, then hit the play button. Notice that since we told BIAB the song is in E it placed an E in the first measure so I'm hearing the chord I expect to hear and can concentrate on feel and tempo. All it takes is a few measures (called bars in BIAB speech) of listening to determine if the style works or not.

So now it's time to input some chords. The first E is in measure 1 so we hit the play button and sing the song to ourselve, mentally play the song in our head or whatever it takes to keep track of where you are while BIAB is playing. At measure 3 the chord changes to A. You've most likely past the beginning of measure 3 when you realize you need to change the chord. That's ok. Press stop, use your mouse to click on the left side of measure 3, enter the letter a then press the GenPlay button. BIAB will generate the song again with the addition of the new chord.

As you progress you'll realize a few things: You don't need the song to loop three times so you can press the square with a 3 in it and change the number to 1. You need more than the default of 32 measures so press on the square with 32 on it and change that to 48.

The chorus starts at measure 17 so click on the 17 and an "a" appears beside it, press again and the "a" changes to a "b". A and b are part markers so BIAB will start selecting b variations at measure 17; for instance you may hear the drums switch from side stick and high hat to snare and cymbal rides. The next verse begins at measure 33 so you'll need to put an a part marker there.

When you get finished, you should have these chords at these measures for the first verse: 1-E, 3-A, 5-E, 7-B, 9-E, 11-A, 13-E, 14-B, 15-E, 16-E.. The double dots behind the E at measure 16 tells BIAB to play a shot. Try changing the two dots to 3 dots and see what happens. What happens with 1 dot? Dots or periods are powerful. They get used a lot.

Measure 17 has a b part marker and starts the chorus. Chords are: 17-B, 19-E, 21-B, 23-E, 25-B, 27-E, 29-F# and 31-B

Measure 32 starts second verse so there's an a part marker and the chords are: 33-E, 35-A, 37-E, 39-B, 41-E, 43-A, 45-E, 46-B, and 47-E
48-E is automatically entered as an ending.

Ta Da! Your first song and a durn good one at that!

Hi Jim,

thanks a lot for the detailed explanation. I will follow your instructions using the same song and set it as you described above.

flatfoot -> thanks for pointing to the videos!

I will keep you guys up to date on how I progress.

sep

I hope you'll find parts 1 & 2 helpful. Flatfoot's video suggestion will help a lot too. Once you're comfortable trying the things mentioned so far, let the forum know and we can start on part 3.

You should realize a few things: BIAB can do much more than you've been exposed to so far. It's not very difficult to get some pretty good sounding tracks. You can move around, modify, add and delete chords while in play mode but you won't hear the changes until you press the genPlay button.

Some more things you might want to try: Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move your cursor to different measures. Use the From green play button to regenerate the song and start playback at any measure you specify. Use the s and m buttons to solo and mute tracks. Most of all, have some fun! You've got an amazing product, enjoy it.

Hi Jim,
thanks a lot for part 1&2.--> very useful. I'm currently not in front of my equipment but will be back home in a few days. Let me go in detail through them and then we might talk about part 3 or 4. (btw. very cool sounds)
I'll get back to you.

sep

We've got time. I took the liberty of telling the musicians they can take a break until you return.

They're on break right now, but you really ought to pay 'em a bit more, right now they are all out in the lot, under a tree, passin' the same short little cigarette around between each other.


--Mac

Yeah I noticed. That thang shure smells funny, don't it?

Vaguely reminiscent, *cough*

Hi guys, I'm back again (sorry, took me longer than expected).
I went through all your suggestions, typed in the chords and played the song. From the chord progression point of view it sounds ok but 120 bpm is a bit to slow - shouldn't it be something around 190? What would be next (fine tuning) to make it sound a bit closer to the original one?

sep

The BPM window is just to the right of the Songtitle window...

BPM ???

Beats Per Minute.

Merry Christmas,

Yes, sure!

Check your Mt Stuff (flashing). You have mail. ;)------Leon

OK, I had a closer look to the count-in's today. Is it possible to create user defined count-in's like 12 1234 or 1234 1 or are they fixed?

sep

from earlier post:


from later post:



How do you use a term in a post then not understand that term in the next couple posts?
<grin>

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