Band In a Box

Band in a Box is a program that lets you program in different chords, and then lets you improvise on your instrument to the music. You can choose different styles of music, and it will play the background rhythms differently to create the style you chose. To get the basic chords and styles, this is what you do:

CHORDS

  1. To make chords, click on the bar measure you want the chord to be on.
  2. Type in the chord you want by typing in the letter of the it.
  3. You can get to another measure by using the arrow keys.
  4. If you want to copy some chords, just highlight the ones you want, and choose copy under the EDIT menu, press OPT-C, or choose the COPY button.
  5. Click on the bar measure you want, and then choose paste from the EDIT menu.

STYLE

  1. To choose the style you want, click on the Style Maker box. (It is under the OPEN button, under the black and white keyboard keys)
  2. In that box you can choose the tempo, the name of the song, how many measures it has, and how many choruses there are.
  3. Click on the style, which is under the name of the song.

MELODY

  1. To make a melody, click on the NOTATION button.
  2. There are three different ways to enter the the melody. The first one you'll see is called the Notation Mode. In this mode, you can't enter the notes, but it will display the notes while the song is playing.
  3. If you click on the "N" button, it will change the ways to enter the melody.
  4. The second one is called the Editible Notation Mode, and in this mode, you can click on the place you want your note to be. The note will hold over to the next measure, and if you want to get rid of that, click on the Rest box so there is an "X" in the box. Then click in the middle of the measure and it will cut off the rest of the note. This is probably the easiest way to make a melody.
  5. If you click on the"N" button again, it will go into another way to the melody. This one is called the Piano Roll Mode. This way is written out differently, and it is a little more confusing to read, so if you were to use it, then it would probably help to use the manual as you learn it.
  6. When you are ready to play your song with the melody and chords, click the PLAY button.

 

These are just a few of the very basic things. If you want to know more about Band in a Box, I could teach it to you. But this should be enough to practice improvising and solos.

 

 

Image Credits:

Background [Online Image] http://www.lizard.org/clipart/backgrounds/back2.htm May 26, 1998

Music Staff [Online Image] http://www.salvation.org/graphics/music.htm May 27, 1998

Music Bar [Online Image] http://www.skdesigns.com/internet/music/images/bars.htm May 28, 1998