User profile for user: eacosta
eacosta Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

most basic garaband question ever .. chords ...

I just got my macbook pro, and when I read the garageband 08 reviews , I just drooled over the idea of creating music so easily . I´m too far from being an accomplished musician, in fact all I can do is play some piano and guitar chords, fairly good enough to play the most simple rock songs.
I have been trying for several hours to create a version of my favorite songs, starting from scratch and using the loops. The problem I am facing is so basic, it might make you guys laugh, but I haven´t been able to find an answer in any forum, or in the manual.

For example, let´s use U2´s “With or without you” to present my problem to you. The songs basic chords are “ D - A- Bminor – G” . I set the main chord as “D” and insert a basic bass loop… but when I have to move to A, I have to do this complicated movement, counting the seminotes from D to A , and manually pitching –5 to get to my second chord (A).

First question is .. Is this the only way to pitch a section of the song from one chord to another ? If this is so, Garageband is far from what I expected.

Second question … In case the former question is answered “yes, that´s the only way to pitch ..” .. how do we get to MINOR chords ? --

I must recognize I´m not too much of a manual reader, I´ve just been reading the titles pretty fast so far .. maybe the anwer is out there, but it is kinda hidden for being such a basic issue for creating the music.

Mac book pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 25, 2007 7:58 AM

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17 replies
User profile for user: Christoph Drösser
Christoph Drösser
User level: Level 6
11,358 points

Sep 25, 2007 8:31 AM in response to eacosta

Sorry to have to disappoint you: The loop-based approach of GB (which comes from techno and electronica music that isn't very complex harmonically) doesn't lend itself to programming chord changes easily, as you have found out already.

What you can do:

• Green (software) loops: You can easily transpose them the way you described. To change them from major to minor: take the 3rd note (an E if your loop is in C) down a halftone by double-clicking the loop and selecting all the E's.

• Blue (real) loops: Transposing is sort of limited, you'll notice that they tend to sound unnatural if you take them too far from their origin. Change between major and minor is impossible since you can't change single notes.

Overall, an accompaniment created this way tends to sound poor, since real musicians don't do chord changes by moving everything in parallel (there are exceptions).

Short answer: GB isn't really made for working with chord changes. A program that can do chords, especially for complex jazz tunes, is Band-In-A-Box, you might take a look at it. For example, you could create accompaniments there, export a midi file and import it into GB to continue working with it.
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User profile for user: mapexvenus
mapexvenus
User level: Level 1
36 points

Oct 25, 2007 4:35 PM in response to Christoph Drösser

Christoph Drösser wrote:
Maybe you can share with us why you are so disappointed? I don't think anyone here is using the program, so that might be of help for others. Also, didn't you try the demo version before you bought it?


I apologize for not providing the context when I submitted my last post. I also didn't know that there was a demo version. I thought I looked, but maybe I didn't look hard enough?

Anyway, what I really needed was a piece of software that could provide backing instrumentation for rock music that was simple to use, and that came with adequate documentation. Unfortunately Band in a Box didn't quite do it for me on all these criteria. Firstly, I had trouble even figuring out the UI. Then I had trouble turing off backing tracks and when I finally did I couldn't quite figure out how to lay down a simple track, define an instrument, input chords, get an output that sounds good, and then export all this into a format that I could reuse in Garage Band, or Cubase. I wasn't even able to get past turning off backing tracks thanks to a UI that is so hard to work with.

I also noticed that there are differenced between the Windows and Mac versions - the initial demo video I saw was for the Windows version.

I think that I was initially drawn to the simplicity and of Jamstudio.com, which is very close to what I was looking for. I assumed that Band in a box would be one better.

I am going to keep poking around with the tool to see if I can use it.
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User profile for user: Christoph Drösser
Christoph Drösser
User level: Level 6
11,358 points

Oct 25, 2007 4:41 PM in response to mapexvenus

I just dl'd the demo version (yes, there is one) and must agree that the interface is really quirky and windowsy. And the program seems to have its strong sides in music styles like jazz or latin music. There it really produces some nice chord extensions even if you only enter the basic harmonies.

I think if you want to use it creatively, you'll have to go through the manual and learn it step by step, then you might be able to do some nice tracks that you can fine-tune in GB.
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User profile for user: Mark Grudzinski
Mark Grudzinski
User level: Level 1
25 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:13 PM in response to eacosta

Not trying to sound mean or flip about this;, but instead of trying to find software to basically make music without knowing how to play it, why not buy a cheap USB music keyboard and one of those illustrated chord books? That way you can learn the fingering of a D, A, Bm and G and actually play it yourself. With the joys of GarageBand and the magic of MIDI, you can slow the tempo way down so you can play the chords slowly and easily. This way you can learn how to really play music instead of having software to it for you.
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User profile for user: mapexvenus
mapexvenus
User level: Level 1
36 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:25 PM in response to Mark Grudzinski

Mark Grudzinski wrote:
Not trying to sound mean or flip about this;, but instead of trying to find software to basically make music without knowing how to play it, why not buy a cheap USB music keyboard and one of those illustrated chord books? That way you can learn the fingering of a D, A, Bm and G and actually play it yourself. With the joys of GarageBand and the magic of MIDI, you can slow the tempo way down so you can play the chords slowly and easily. This way you can learn how to really play music instead of having software to it for you.

this is exactly what I did last evening 🙂 I went out and bought an M-Audio MIDI keyboard and am already having fun with it.

Your suggestion did not sound mean at all - this is what I should have done in the first place.
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User profile for user: Michael Peterson1
Michael Peterson1
User level: Level 1
143 points

Dec 13, 2007 8:15 AM in response to Mark Grudzinski

Hi. I just found this discussion about being able (or not) to change chords easily in GB, especially to minor. I am understanding that GB basically cannot do this. If that's the case, I am unclear what all the software instruments are about and how they are useful for anything. No one writes a song with one chord.

The last suggestion to a person here was to go get a keyboard and learn to play that and play into GB via midi. Well, OK.

But that begs how this software, that is advertized to be about making music, can even do the very very basics.

Michael
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most basic garaband question ever .. chords ...

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