Hi Andrew,
I see you're a cane toad - I'm a cockroach! Welcome to the forum. Band in a Box is not something that you can master immediately. It's a lot of trial & error, but rest assured there are a lot of nice people on this forum who will help you & guide you through.
The best way to start "Sultans of Swing" is to enter the chords, and then select an appropriate style (perhaps search for "Dire" in the style picker - there are a few there.)
Listen to the difference between the A pattern (blue) and the B pattern (Green) and decide which you want and where.
Experiment - press every button & dial & see what it does, and in no time you'll learn the infinite, wonderful possibilities that BIAB can offer. Remember...the first few songs are the hardest.

With regards to the soloist, to turn it on & off, go to the relevant bar and press F5. On the left hand side you will the various channels, go to "soloist" and highlight your selection (mute/back to normal) and this will start or stop the solo feature.

Good luck with the learning curve, and don't be afraid to ask questions - we all started somewhere.


Cheers,
Keith