Basic Chord Entry Lesson #1
Yo Props!
Welcome to the Forum and Band in a Box! You are about to embark upon a very fun journey.
Remember, that learning is the fun part, so never get frustrated. You will learn something new every day and after a while you will discover new confidence in your problem solving skills and cleverness as you try and figure things out, trust me!
Here is a little lesson with a link to a BIAB folder I have in drop box to add user tracks and files and other stuff people might find useful.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ujowwpqh5y42t/AABnCcRP8YYL6ydXzoebe2Nza?dl=0In the dropbox you will connect to by the link there is a file with a style called a “multi-style”. Pop Multi-Style Plus. (You can find all multi-styles sorted in the style picker if you type in the + symbol) This style will remind you of "Hotel California" a bit.
Here are some thoughts and cool things to learn:
1. These + styles. These styles are “pre-arranged” if you will--so they are pretty cool.
2. Also notice (if you grab my drop box version) that I have chosen to show the chords in both the key “letter names” and also as roman numerals by toggling the chord display. (See screen shots.)
3. This is interesting because almost all Pop Songs are based on the use of I ii iii IV V vii and Dim7 chords in any key--but put in a different order. We will never run out of interesting combinations and new melodies over these combinations in this or any lifetime.
Fiddle and fool with these combinations and you will write 1000 songs easily by the end of next year.
4. This style shows some very cool chord progressions in the various parts. All of the bases are covered in terms of the numbers given above.
The numbers relate to the steps of the scale
C D E F G A B C
C Dm Em F G Am Bdim7
I ii ii IV V vi VIIdim I
1 2m 3m 4 5 6m 7dim 1
(Nashville Notation)
In country or pop it is somewhat rare to play a true 2nd chord (or D in the C scale) so that is why the major and minor chords above are referred to most often. Classic exception. Rolling Stones, You Can’t Always Get What You Want. “If you try some time…” goes to the second.
Bb But if you….
C…Try some time…
Rules are made to be broken right??
AND, once you see what’s going on number-wise, and see that you are mixing it up, all you have to do is hit transpose to try this out in other keys.
Also, in drop box I put a pdf manual to the Band in a Box key chord entry short cuts in case you are interested.
Finally, for further arrangement fun, get very used to the dots. Look up shots and holds in the manual and you will have a blast.
Here’s the tip of the day: One dot (period) placed after the chords will solo the instruments.
The “slots” go in this order
1. Bass (b) (could be another instrument here but still “b”)
2. Piano (p) (could be another instrument here but still “p”)
3. Drums (d)
4. Guitar (g)
5. Strings (s) (Could be another guitar or another instrument but still “s”)
In the file I put in drop box, the piano is built into the substyle. (You can see what is in the substyle by hovering over the gold bar and right clicking)
Type E.p and it shows up in pink. Rinse and repeat for other intro chords and you get a piano intro.
Or you can type E.pg and use piano and guitar. A world of wonders.
(If you use the dots I spoke of, and then save and open the BIAB file in Real Band, your “arrangement” is preserved and ready for use or export. Wicked cool.)
Remember to save the Real band file as an .seq (sequence) file.
Have fun!
P.S. This lesson also in drop box as a pdf.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4ujowwpqh5y42t/AABnCcRP8YYL6ydXzoebe2Nza?dl=0
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean