User Guide

Chapter 6: Band-in-a-Box PowerGuide
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The dialog has options to read channels into the Melody and/or Soloist tracks.
Read in Chords from a PG Music or Band-in-a-Box MIDI file.
Many of PG Music's programs have MIDI files with the chords in them. You can open
these files in Band-in-a-Box, and the chords will be imported onto the chordsheet. To
import the chords from a PG Music MIDI file (i.e. a MIDI file made by Band-in-a-Box,
PowerTracks Pro or some other PG Music programs), choose the menu item File | Import
Chords from MIDI File and select “OK to use PG Music chord names from MIDI file.”
The chords will then appear on the lead sheet starting at bar 1, overwriting any chords
that were there previously.
“Jazz Up” the Chords; “Jazz Down” the Chords.
When switching genres (from Pop to Jazz, or Jazz to Pop), it’s often necessary to change
the chords from “Pop/Rock” chords (C) to Jazz type chords (Like CMaj7). Now you can
quickly do this, by new menu options called “Jazz Up,” “Jazz Down.” Choose the menu
item User | “Jazz Up” … or User | “Jazz Down” … to do this:
- “Jazz Up” - This function simply converts triads to 7
th
chords, producing a lead
sheet more suitable for Jazz. If you have a song with triad chords like C or Dm, you
can choose to “Jazz Up” the chords. When you do this, you get an option of
whether you'd like to see Maj7, Maj6 or Dominant 7
th
for the major triads.
- “Jazz Down” - This function converts 7th chords to triads, for a lead sheet more
suited to Pop music.
Applying Styles
There are many styles available for use with the Band-in-a-Box program. For the
purposes of this program, styles refer to styles of music, i.e. Jazz Swing, Tango, Blues,
Pop Ballad, etc. Either before or after you have entered the chords to a song, you will
have to pick one of these styles. Once a style is loaded, the song will be played back in
that style.
Current Style Window
The name of the current style appears under the name of the song in the Title window. It
is also displayed under User | Current Style and information on the current style can be
viewed by selecting Style Information… from the User menu.
The [F] button launches the Favorites / Recently Played
dialog. (User | Load Favorite Styles... also opens this
window.)