By Dirk Laukens

SETTING THE TEMPO, NUMBER OF BARS, AND NUMBER OF CHORUSES

When you first open BIAB, you start with a blank canvas.

The first thing you will do is set the tempo of the song we are creating a backing track for (Autumn Leaves in this case).

You can do this in three ways:

1. Tap the line next to the tempo display at least four times in the tempo you want to play in.
2. Use the up and down arrows to set your desired tempo.
3. Click the tempo display and type your tempo in the popup box.

Next, we will set how many bars our song will have, 32 in the case of Autumn Leaves. We will do this by entering “32” in the “End” box (4).

Finally, we will set how many choruses Band in a Box should play by entering a number in the “Choruses” box (5).

ENTERING CHORDS

Now we are ready to enter the chords of Autumn Leaves into BIAB.

To enter a chord, you simply type the root and extension of the chord and then click enter.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when entering chords:

1. To enter a flat, use the letter “b” (Eb7 for example).
2. To enter a sharp, use the # symbol or the number “3” (for example, F3m7b5 will result in an F#m7b5 chord).
3. It doesn’t matter if you type upper or lower case. Typing “d7” will give you a D7 chord, in fact, you will never have to use the Shift key when entering chords.

Chord Shortcuts

Here are a few shortcuts you can use to enter chords:

• J = Maj7 (typing “fj” will result in an Fmaj7 chord)
• H = m7b5 (H for half-diminished)
• D = dim7
• S = Sus4

Another great shortcut is that you can download many free Band in a Box songs online or this file that contains all songs of the Real Book.

Chord List

Here is a list of chords that are recognized by Band in a Box:

Major Chords

C, C6, Cmaj7, Cmaj9, Cmaj13, C69, Cmaj7#5, C5b, Caug, C+, Cmaj9#11, Cmaj13#11

Minor Chords

Cm, Cm6, Cm7, Cm9, Cm11, Cm13, Cmaug, Cm#5, CmMaj7

Half diminished Chords

Cm7b5

Diminished Chords

Cdim

Dominant 7th Chords

C7, 7+, C9+, C13+, C13, C7b13, C7#11, C13#11, C7#11b13, C9, C9b13, C9#11, C13#11, C9#11b13, C7b9, C13b9, C7b9b13, C7b9#11, C13b9#11, C7b9#11b13, C7#9, C13#9, C7#9b13, C9#11, C13#9#11, C7#9#11b13

C7b5, C13b5, C7b5b13, C9b5, C9b5b13, C7b5b9, C13b5b9, C7b5b9b13, C7b5#9, C13b5#9, C7b5#9b13, C7#5, C13#5, C7#5#11, C13#5#11, C9#5, C9#5#11, C7#5b9, C13#5b9, C7#5b9#11, C13#5b9#11, C7#5#9, C13#5#9#11, C7#5#9#11, C13#5#9#11

Sus 4 Chords

Csus, C7sus, C9sus, C13sus, C7susb13, C7sus#11, C13sus#11, C7sus#11b13, C9susb13, C9sus#11, C13sus#11, C9sus#11b13, C7susb9, C13susb9, C7susb9b13, C7susb9#11, C13susb9#11, C7susb9#11b13, C7sus#9, C13sus#9, C7sus#9b13, C9sus#11, C13sus#9#11, C7sus#9#11b13

C7susb5, C13susb5, C7susb5b13, C9susb5, C9susb5b13, C7susb5b9, C13susb5b9, C7susb5b9b13, C7susb5#9, C13susb5#9, C7susb5#9b13, C7sus#5, C13sus#5, C7sus#5#11, C13sus#5#11, C9sus#5, C9sus#5#11, C7sus#5b9, C13sus#5b9, C7sus#5b9#11, C13sus#5b9#11, C7sus#5#9, C13sus#5#9#11, C7sus#5#9#11, C13sus#5#9#11

THE CHORD BUILDER

Another way to enter chords into Band in a Box is by using the Chord Builder.

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The Chord Builder lets you choose a root note, a chord extension, and a type of voicing (root position, closed voicing, or open voicing) and can be accessed by clicking the “Chord Builder” icon.

THE CHORD SUBSTITUTION WIZARD

The Chord Substitution Wizard is accessible by going to Edit > Chords > Chord Substitutions Dialogue (choose your own).

This dialogue gives you suggestions on all possible chord substitutions that you can use for a given chord progression.

This is a great way to bring variety to your chord progressions and learn chord theory at the same time.

COPYING BARS

Because jazz standards usually have recurring sections, it’s a good idea to learn how to copy bars so you don’t have to enter the same chords multiple times.

There are three ways to copy bars:

1. Highlight the section you want to copy by click-dragging with your mouse. Press “CTRL + C” (or right-click and choose “Copy”), go to the bar where you want to insert your copied chords, and press “CTRL + V” (or right-click and choose “Paste”).
2. Another method is to click in the bar you want your chords to be pasted and type “K”, followed by “Enter”. This will copy the previous eight bars to the bar you are in now. You can also type “K4” (or any other number) and this will copy the previous four bars.
3. Yet another method is to highlight the section you want to copy, then click and hold the first bar number of that section and drag it to where you want it to be copied.

SYNCOPATION, SHOTS, HOLDS, AND VARIATIONS

Now that you know how to enter chords into BIAB, let’s have a look at some ways to bring variation into your backing track.

1. By default, BIAB uses two chords per measure, but you can also put chords on every beat by using a comma between chords. BIAB also recognizes slash chords such as Am7/G (Am7 with G in the bass).
2. You can add syncopation to the chords by adding a caret sign (^) in front of the chord. This will push the chord by an eight note.
3. By adding two caret signs (^^), the chord will be pushed by a sixteenth note.
4. You can add shots and holds to a chord by right-clicking a chord and going to “Chord Options”. You can shot or hold certain instruments while others continue playing. An alternative way to do this is by typing periods after your chord: Cmaj7. (a pure break), Cmaj7.. (first a shot, then a break), Cmaj7… (holds the chord until a new chord). Breaks are, besides being an arrangement tool, a good way to practice your timing and tempo control.
5. Clicking once on a bar number will turn it blue and will make BIAB play a drum fill.
6. Clicking a second time on a bar number will turn it green and will make BIAB play a variation of the current style, usually a bit busier. This is ideal for a B section of a jazz standard, for a chorus, or for a solo section.

PICKING A STYLE

BIAB 2020 Pro has over 900 styles spread over genres such as jazz, ballads, bebop, bossa nova, smooth jazz, gypsy jazz, jazz-funk, swing, crooner, blues,  bluegrass, pop, rock, country, reggae, folk, praise & worship, …

With so many styles available, it’s a good idea to organize your favorite styles, which you will learn in the next video.

MUTING INSTRUMENTS

Another useful feature of Band in a Box is the ability to mute instruments.

You can do this by right-clicking an instrument in the instrument bar on top and selecting “Mute”.

Some examples of what you can use muting for:

• Mute the bass to practice walking bass lines.
• Mute the piano to practice comping or playing themes or solos in chord-melody style.
• Mute drums and piano to play in a bass/guitar duo.

BAR SETTINGS

By right-clicking a bar (or pressing F5), you can open the Bar Settings dialogue.

In the Bar Settings dialogue, you can change the following:

• Number of beats in the bar
• Tempo
• Key signature
• Style
• Instruments

ROMAN NUMERALS AND TRANSPOSING

You can access the “Display Options” dialogue by right-clicking anywhere in the chord window and selecting “Display Options”.

You can change all kinds of options here, but I usually use this dialogue to:

1. Change the chord display to Roman numerals.
2. To transpose a standard I’m working on to another key.

THE LEAD SHEET WINDOW (SIGHT READING PRACTICE)

By clicking the “Lead Sheet” button, the lead sheet window pops up.

There, you can select any instrument and the notes played by that instrument will show on an animated lead sheet.

This is ideal to improve your sight reading skills!

THE GUITAR WINDOW

The guitar fretboard window in BIAB shows you the correct fingerings and chord voicings of what is being played.

It also has a function to generate guitar chord solos based on the notes in the Melody or Soloist track.

The fretboard window has support for left-handed guitar players and 11 alternate tunings such as DADGAD, various open tunings, and drop D.

DIRECT INPUT GUITAR AND AMPLITUBE CAB SIMULATION

Band in a Box comes with a free version of Amplitube, a VST plugin that you can use to add cab simulation and effects to your guitar input and audio tracks.

Recording your guitar solos over Band in a Box is a great way to improve your playing because you get to hear how your lines sound in a realistic setting.

THE SOLOIST FUNCTION

The soloist function in BIAB generates a solo that matches the style and chord progression of your choice.

This is a great way to come up with new ideas that you can use in your own solos.

Here’s a small selection of soloist styles that are available in the 2020 Pro version: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Barney Kessel, George Benson, Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Django Reinhardt, Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny, Toots Thielemans, and many more.

THE SCALE WIZARD

The BIAB Scales Wizard is a great tool for practicing jazz standards because you can see the scales that are used for each chord of a given progression.

You can access the Scale Wizard by going to Soloist > Scales > Generate Scales.

The generated scales will be shown on the Soloist track and can be viewed in notation, on the guitar fretboard, or in the piano window.

THE EAR TRAINING WINDOW

Band in a Box features a full-fledged ear trainer in which you can practice chords, intervals, music replay, and even play a game (with UFOs!) to practice pitch recognition in chords.

WOODSHEDDING WITH BAND IN A BOX (SPEED TRAINING)

You can access the “Woodshed” window by going to Window (in the top menu) > Practice Window > “Woodshed” Tempo.

Here, you can practice your guitar playing at increasing tempos.

Specify a “Woodshed” tempo (5 for example), a bpm value used to increase the tempo after each loop.

POPULAR HOT KEYS

To make your workflow more efficient, it’s a good idea to start using hot keys.

The following list shows you the hot keys I often use:

• Space Bar – play or pause
• T + number + enter – sets the tempo. For example, typing T85 sets the tempo to 85 bpm.
• TR + key + enter– transposes your chords to another key. For example, typing TRC transposes your song to C.
• S + enter – opens the style picker.
• Ctrl + shift + G – opens the guitar neck window.
• Alt + 2-9 – mutes or unmutes instruments. For example, alt + 4 mutes the piano.
• F1 – opens the help window.
• F2 (or Ctrl + S) – saves your song.
• F3 – opens a song.

MORE FEATURES

There’s a lot more to Band in a Box than what is featured in this tutorial, but it’s too much to describe it all here (the user manual is over 600 pages long).

Here are some more features that I didn’t include above:

• The Melodist – creates songs in a specific style with an intro, chord progression, melody, …
• The Audio Chord Wizard – finds out the chords of an mp3 file.
• The Reharmonist – creates a chord progression based on a melody.
• Video Slow Downer – you can load a video in BIAB and slow it down while staying perfectly in sync. Very handy for transcribing!
• iOS App – with this app for iPhone or iPad, you can remote control BIAB.
• VST plugin – allows you to use BIAB inside your DAW of choice (GarageBand, Reaper, Cubase, Pro Tools, Ableton, …)

Do you have questions about how you can use BIAB for your guitar practice or tips that I haven’t covered in this tutorial? Let us know in the comments below…

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Credit: Jazz Guitar Online