Originally Posted By: vic


  • How to enter poly chords/pedal points like B4/F
  • How to create the "short detours" you mention - is it simply a matter of adding a new chord progression?
  • How to create a repeating root progression
  • How to add holds and shots
  • What does your nomenclature of "|Csus...bd ^Dsus...bd|" mean?
  • I've never heard of a crunch voicing - may I ask what you mean?
  • How does one specify voicings explicitly?
  • Might you explain what you mean by "a novel use of it's melody harmony feature"?




Hi Vic
On pedal points and slash chords; simply right click on a chord and choose chord settings. you'll see a dialog box for pedal bass where you can specify the bass tone, the number of bars its held for and which beat it sounds on.
For slash chords that don't have a bass pedal just type in the chord as in the example above Fsus/B.
Compound chords which are an aggregate of two triads have alternative spellings which yield a voicing supported in BIABs chord list; e.g. Emaj/Cmaj could be rendered as AbmMaj7/C or even at a pinch, G13b9/C.

By short detours I simply mean going out of the mode for a few bars using 4 or suspended chords from other keys returning to the home key. The reference to a 'repeating root progression' is better described as a cycle of chords where the roots are governed by an interval. e.g m3rds Csus Ebsus Gsus Bbsus etc. This is a good way of going 'outside' the key in a logical manner.

Creating holds and shots using the nomenclature described |Csus...bd ^Dsus...bd| is a shorthand way of entering pushes holds rests etc which you can learn about in the guide. The | symbol was just my way of representing a bar line for the purposes of explanation, you don't actually input that.... alternatively you can right click on the chord and under 'chord settings' you are able to specify these variables in the dialogue boxes provided.

A 'crunch' voicing is another word for a chord where the notes are bunched together in close proximity; usually referring to a build up of Major or minor seconds in the voicing.

Specifying particular voicings isn't possible in BIAB when simply typing in a chord.
Voicings are dependent on the notes present in the individual patterns that make up a part within the style. They can also be influenced by global 'embellishment' command which you can cancel within the style editor. (this is the embellishment command that actually works!)
As I said before, you can sometimes achieve a voicing which isn't in the chord list by typing an inversion. e.g. CmMaj7b5#5 ( C Eb F# Ab B ) could be input as Ab7#9/C.

The novel use of the melody harmony feature is something I have referred to in previous posts and would take a while to repeat for a beginner. I'll leave it for a separate answer when i figure out a way of describing it that wouldn't confuse the hell out of you!! grin . Suffice to say that its a way of adding notes to chords and/or achieving chord overlays.