How do I get a section of a song to repeat till I stop it and then go back to playing the rest of the song?

GB does not offer a feature like this

the best you can do is drag out your B section (loop it) the maximum length you could possibly want, record yourself jamming, when you're done cut off the excess B section, and then add your C section

garageguy2 wrote:

Say I have a song with three sections ABC and want to use it as a backing track for a live "performance". The song repeats these three sections, except that the B section is intended for improvising. So when I get to B I want to have it keep getting repeated till I am sick of improvising and then go back to A and continue cycling on ABC. I think the idea is clear.

Actually there is a way to do that in GarageBand without stopping (kind of). It involves a modifier Key and a mouse click.

• Section A: Bar1 - 9
• Section A: Bar 9 - 17
• Section A: Bar 17 - 25

Here is the procedure

1. Set the Cycle Range in the Ruler to bar 1 to bar 25 and have
2. Now you cycle Section ABC
3. To change the cycle to 9-17, just shift+click on bar 9 in the Ruler and shift+click on bar 25 in the Ruler, now you are cycling only Section B
4. To change to Cycle ABC (while still playing!), shift+click bar and sh+click bar 25

The trick is the key command "shift+click on the Ruler" to extend the left and/or right border of the Cycle Range. TO good thing is that you can do that without during Play Mode.

You can find all those details in my graphically enhanced manual "GarageBand X - How it Works"

Hope that helps

Edgar Rothermich

http://DingDingMusic.com/Manuals/

'I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.'

garageguy2 wrote:

Hey Edgar, that's a great idea, but not feasible while I am playing guitar live (look ma, no hands!). There needs to be a way change the cycle region (or a completely different concept) with a simple keystroke.😉

No problem, lets turn it up a notch .

The next workaround is technically possible, but you have to have this solution really bad in order to make that happen:

You need a Macro program like QuicKeys. You use that to automate the various clicks and then you assign a simple key stroke that performs those clicks.

One Macro would include a sequence of two mouse click actions, the one with the shift click to define the Cycle Range for the Section ABC and another Macro would include a sequence of the two mouse clicks to define the Range of Section B (as described in my previous post).

Mouse Clicks, however, are defined by coordinates, relative to the screen or the window. and in order to make the Macro work, you have to work with a fixed GarageBand window layout. That is one major drawback of the "solution". However, if you are familiar with the Macro app, then it is not that difficult to re-define the click coordinates. At least you don't have to recreate the entire macro.

I think you get the idea.

Often, when GarageBand users are looking a special solution, the answer is: It is not possible in GarageBand, but Logic can do it (because GarageBand is basically a subset of Logic). However, I couldn't find anything in Logic to make your requested feature happen either 😢.