Originally Posted By: DaClark
over spring break we got together and messed around with the tracks part. we had a heck of a time stayin with the beat. its easier to just play together. its nice having extra guitars and parts though. still need to figure how to have parts sometimes and stop in others. how do you hear other parts in songs we want to make? is that what they mean by polished? some songs we want to do just sound like real songs. like radio songs. i dont know how to say it. the production parts.


Easiest way to train your "staying with the beat" skills is to start small. Take a familiar song slow it down. You have that capability without changing the pitch. Take a short phrase lets say just 8 bars. Play your rhythm guitar along with the Bass, rhythm Guitar and Drums, mute the other channels if there are 4 or 5 parts. Some people say count the beats, but I have never been able to count and play at the same time(that's why I am not a drummer) Unfortunately you are not going to be much of a musician if you cannot play on the beat. So just don't challenge yourself at the beginning. Do a simple song that you'd like to learn and CONCENTRATE. Eight Bars at half time. Strum along, pick a song that changes chords every other BAR.

In 4/4 time that means you strum 8 times before you have to change the cord if you strum on every quarter note. I always cheated and skipped the last strum (#8) to give me time to change the chord. And actually that is OK most songs accent the 1st and 3rd strum of each bar. SO if you miss the 8th strum here and come in strong on the first beat of the next measure you are getting the correct feeling for good rhythm playing.

Gradually increase the speed of the track that you are practicing. In BIAB you can slow it down from 100 beats per minute to 5 if you want. The point is its much easier to practice parts of the song at slower speeds and then speed them up. But, there is also a very good reason to play the same song at different speeds. That is good ear training for "staying on the beat" just what you want to accomplish.

It is really quite basic train yourself to feel the rhythm of one of your favorite songs. 8 bars at a time. A short 8 bar excerpts of a song is real easy to create in BIAB. I assume you can do this or just post a question. I think the default setting in BIAB is always 3 choruses, and 36 bars or something like that. Change the choruses to 1 and start at bar 1 and end the song at bar 8. Enter a chord in the 1,3,5,7, bar. Loop the entire song and with the 4 beats count in you have a practice loop.

Have at it. I know this sounds like its too basic, but, do it. You will get better. You will train yourself to be a good rhythm guitarist.

"When you help somebody else you are really helping yourself"