I am a guitarist, been playing for 45 years give or take. While I'm not gigging anymore, I do like to play along to my favorite old tunes and use backing tracks.

Initially, I just want to create some basic blues tracks at various tempos and different degrees of complexity. I have over 29GB to install off 7 DVDs. I can't imagine using all that at the start.

Any suggestions on what basics I should install for now? Later, I'd like to export the material, pull it into something like Reason, add more guitar and vocals, and have fun. This looks pretty complex so I want to start small.

Thanks for your help.

John

Hi John,

Welcome to the forums.

"Starting small" is a great way to learn BIAB and how to drive it effectively.

As for the installation, most of those 29GB will be Realtracks -- these are audio instrumental tracks that BIAB uses to create backings.

My advice is that if you have the space on your computer to install all of them, do so. The Megapack does not contain the full complement of all available Realtracks thus to get the best from this package, it will be best to have everything at your fingertips.

Regards,
Noel

• my latest song: What Do You Say

Greetings and welcome to the forum Boss 281,

The Band-in-a-Box (BiaB and RealBand programs are the same for all packages. The difference between the packages is the optional content. The MegaPAK you purchased has a lot of content but is still way less than half of all the content available.

Program windows such as the StylePicker, SongPicker, RealDrums and RealTracks picker list ALL content so many new users become frustrated as they try to select content with the N/A (not available) tag in the listing. Concentrate on learning the program by using the content you have and don't fret about what you don't have.

PG Music has some free video tutorials you may find useful. I'd start with the beginner videos listed +++ HERE +++.

Groove 3 offers a video tutorial series on Band-in-a-Box. Although the video for Band-in-a-Box for Windows was made in 2015 and the one for Mac was made in 2014 the information is still valid. Groove 3 offers a monthly subscription service (ALL ACCESS) to view any video they offer or you can purchase and download a video series. Take a look at the sample video and series description +++ HERE +++

If your experience is like mine I think you'll discover the devil is in the details. If you know the chords and tempo of a song you'll find creating a song file that sounds pretty good is relatively simple. Taking the next step and getting the song to sound like you want can be frustrating.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

Styles determine if the timing is 3/4 or 4/4. 3/4 and 4/4 are the only times available. Anything else will be an emulation that might sound right but will not properly notate.

Styles load the initial instrumentation. There are eight tracks and you can change the instrument on any track without changing the style.

Each bar or measure can have up to four chords. Chords are entered in half measure groupings where beats 1 and 2 are one group in a bar and beats 3 and 4 are the second group of a bar. An example of a bar with four chords would be entered as a,b (tab) c,d. You advance between groups using the tab button or point and click with the mouse. You can enter just one, two or three chords in a bar by leaving the unused beat blank. For example a bar with chords on beats 1 and 4 would be entered as a (tab) ,d.

Last, please use the forum as a learning resource. We love to help!