Originally Posted By: Matt Finley
Yes, this is what really starts to make a song sound realistic.

Let's say the 6-beat held chord is a G7 chord and it starts on measure 30.

Put this: G7... in the beginning of measure 30. Yes, that's three dots after the chord name.

Go to the second cell of measure 31 and put C.d

In measure 32, you will probably want to put a new chord so chords start playing again.

Explanation:

If you look in Help, Index, Rests, you will see how to use one, two or three dots after a chord name to make a rest, shot, or hold respectively.

C.d means, play a C chord but rest all instruments EXCEPT the drums.

This will give you just a drum playing. I used the chord C because if you are resting all the other instruments, it doesn't matter what chord you put here.

Next you can also experiment with substyle part markers (the blue or green colors you get by clicking over the measure numbers) at the beginning of measure 32 because they will generate a drum fill pattern and you can try to get the one you want.

Play around with these and you should get to the next step. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

Thanks so much Matt! That was extremely helpful. I'm still trying to figure out how to get passing notes/chords, and how to change chords for each beat in a 4 beat measure, instead of every 2 beats. Would that mean finding a style with a different time signature? LOL Sorry...hitting you with more questions! grin

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