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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2008
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OP
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One of the harder parts for me is finding a style for some songs. I have some 1728 styles and it's a bit overwhelming.
Could someone suggest a style for "Angel From Montgomery"
I thought some of the folk or blues simple guitar might work but no luck so far.
It's not a must have, but if any have some ideas, please let me know.
Thanks Wyndham
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2007
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Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 122 |
Well, it helps if you can mention who is the artist and or version of this song... A lot of times, you may not find something that is an exact match, but you gotta go with something in the ballpark...
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436 |
Was that John Hyatt or John Prine?
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: May 2000
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Veteran
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Veteran
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Quote:
One of the harder parts for me is finding a style for some songs. I have some 1728 styles and it's a bit overwhelming.
How to find Styles that fit your particular song.
*Start the song playing back after checking the "Loop" checkbox in the mainscreen. Doesn't matter at this point what style it is, but it is a good idea to start with all MIDI styles because they load instantly (RealTracks styles take too much time to load. RealTracks styles will be preceded by a '=' sign or an underscore "_" in their filename and will always appear at the top of the alphanumerical listing in the Stylepicker's center window. Just scroll past those for now.).
*Open the Stylepicker.
*First thing to do is find any style that has proper *timing* FEEL and METER for the target song that is playing back. You can usually narrow down the possible choices quite a lot by taking advantage of the subgroup listings over on the lefthand side of the Stylepicker window.
*At this point I usually like to set the dropdown selection under the "Show Styles by 'Feel' and 'Tempo' to "Show all style rhythms" -- unless the original style that is already playing is close to what I want. These are powerful filters here. So powerful that unless and until you have identified this important part of the equation, they can actually hide styles that you would want to try. More on this in a minute.
*Make sure that the "Preview on doubleclick" near the bottom center is checked. This is the power here, doubleclicking on any MIDI only style, you can almost instantly hear it playing your chords and decide right away if it is a good fit or not.
*Once you find a Style that is "near" what you want to hear, take advantage of the "Feel and Tempo" dropdown to limit the possiblities in the upper center window some more. Go with the "If feel matches prototype" first, unless you are certain of the song's BPM tempo (good idea to note that before the Stylepicker is opened). If you are certain that the song will be locked into a certain tempo, then by all means narrow down the choices further by selecting "If feel and tempo matches prototype".
*Whenever I find a style that fits at all, I make a note of that using Notepad, but I don't stop there. Maybe there's a better fit in another style somewhere further down the list. So I keep trying selections, filtering both automatically using those tips above and also by using the "filter" between my ears as I read the style name and description by single clicking down the list while the song is playing. Of course, I doubleclick on every seemingly viable candidate.
*Don't neglect use of the "Search" feature in the Stylepicker, either. You can type in a single word there and find all instances of it by clicking on the G next to it while the song plays. And if you've already selected a subfolder on the LH side, it will only search through there first instead of "All Styles". Sometimes you can type in a group's name, too, like "beatle" or the like because of the memo notes associated with each style. Or you might type in "shuffle" if you know that your song has a shuffle feel to it. Things like that work well to narrow the candidates down quite a bit. "Ballad" may be another example, or "Folk" or "Pop" or whatever you can think of that may describe the song in question. Every once in a while, even the NAME of the song may do the trick, just type in one word of the name, though, picking the most useful word for such searching.
Using the above method it does not take as long as one might think to isolate if there are any styles that can be made to work with your song.
And, of course, once the Feel, Tempo and type of style has been found, go back over the list in Notepad using the same Play on Doubleclick "auditioning" to narrow that down to one style you like.
After you find the style is the time to start trying RealInstruments or RealStyles that may work also. Using the "Fits Feel and Tempo" filter can even narrow down those RealStyle candidates in a hurry.
AND -- The above is exactly what I would have to do for you to tell you which style might work with your particular target song today, but only after I could HEAR a recorded example of that song first. And BIAB is designed so that you can do all that for yourself. So get started. The more you do this and practice it, the faster you will be able to narrow down style selections in the future.
--Mac
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,058
Expert
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OP
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Thanks Mac, the artist is John Prine as done by Bonnie Ratt . Thanks for the tutorial on style picking, there's a lot of info there to absorb, Wyndham
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436 |
I have been listening to John Prine for years, back to the Dear Abby, days. I think you could start with a blank chord sheet and plug in the chords. I think they both use a capo on the 2nd fret. I plugged in the chords below, and added RT acoustic guitars in one at a time and got a good feel for the song. The RT's won't have the exact phrasing as they did of course, but with vocals added, it would sound good. RT acoustic fingerpicking #522 sounds like many of his songs did, and you could pan one to 23 and the other to -23 and it sounds real good. #375, 365 and 522 sound good. I used # 375 and #533 panned apart, and you could add some bass to your liking. I don't think there were drums in the versions I heard. I really like "In spite of ourselves" by John. It is so funny. I used the following chords, but with the capo on 2, that would really be Bb? for the sake of accuracy?
Try #368 and #522 together with some bass at about 97bpm.. It is close, but not John, of course. . .
Intro: / G – C - / x4
G C G C
I am an old woman named after my mother,
G C D (G)
My old man is another child that's grown old.
G C G C
If dreams were lightning and thunder was desire,
G C D (G)
This old house would've burnt down a long time ago.
Chorus:
G F C G
Make me an angel that flies from Montgomery.
G F C (G)
Make me a poster of an old rodeo.
G F C G
Just give me one thing that I can hold on to.
G C D (G) (x2)
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.
G C G C
When I was a young girl I had me a cowboy,
G C D (G)
He weren’t much to look at, just a free ramblin' man.
G C G C
But that was a long time, and no matter how I try,
G C D (G)
These dreams go by like a broken-down dam.
Chorus
G C G C
There's flies in the kitchen, I can hear ‘em there buzzin'
G C D (G)
and I ain't done nothin' since I woke up today.
G C G C
How the hell can a person go to work in the mornin’
G C D (G)
and come home in the evenin' and have nothin' to say?
Chorus
G C (hold) D (hold) G (hold)
To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.
Good Luck
Last edited by Luvs3rds; 02/12/09 10:02 PM.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,058
Expert
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OP
Expert
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Thanks, I had found those chords on one site and started looking for styles. I like the the different RT's that you used. I'll see what I come up with,thanks again Wyndham
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,058
Expert
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OP
Expert
Joined: Jan 2008
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Luvs3rds, you mentioned 2 rt's that I don't have. I thought i had them all but you mentioned #522 &533 and was wondering which group that comes from or was it a typo, thanks Wyndham
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436 |
#368 and #522 are finger picking and strumming patches. Right click at the top on GUITAR track from BB, and go to Assign/regenerate RT. When the page comes up, type 368 in the FILTER window at the bottom, and click UPDATE. This will come up if you have it. Listen to it at the top by clicking AUDITION wma. If you don't have it, just put GUITAR in the filter box, and it will pull up only guitars. Then choose a strumming one and a fingerpicking one and see if they sound good enough.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,058
Expert
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OP
Expert
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I have 368 and looked but don't have 522. Will look at my dvd's of the RT and see if this one's there. Thanks Wyndham
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 436 |
You're welcome.
Probably almost any combination of a strum/fingerpicking patch would work, as long as it wasn't too far off in the way it sounded. I have much better luck sometimes just building players from scratch. Because you can listen to them ahead of time to see if it is close, and then regenerate until close. It is much easier to make an original song with these programs. It is seriously frustrating to really find a pre-made style for an artist. I tried this song after reading your post, because I really like John Prine. I even tried putting vocals to it using the built in harmonizer for the first time, and came up with a "one down, and one Up" male/female vocal that sounded good. I didn't even have to hire a country female singer! LOL.
Have fun, talk to you later.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 455
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 455 |
Thanks to Mac.
I have bookmarked this page re the stylepicker.
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Band-in-a-Box for Windows
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Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 66
Enthusiast
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Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2014
Posts: 66 |
This is a long dead thread but... did you build this song? gotta student that needs it. I'd love to NOT have to build it. :-)
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