User Guide

Chapter 6: Making Songs in Band-in-a-Box
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Chord Options
Chord options include rests, pushes, and pedal bass. The Chord Options dialog opens with the C7 toolbar
button, or from the right-click contextual menu in the Chordsheet.
Normally, when a “shot” or a “held” chord is assigned,
the instruments that are excluded from the shot/held
chord play normally.
There is an additional option for those excluded
instruments to stay silent. To set this, open the chord
options dialog, and select a shot or held chord, and
then select “Excluded instrument(s) should rest.”
This option gives you the ability to rest some
instruments while others play the shot or held chord.
Other settings for how chords play are made in the Edit
menu. You can choose Edit | Settings (for This Song) to
open the Song Settings dialog and set the rests (breaks) to
happen only in the first, middle, or last choruses.
There are also settings to allow pushes, pedal bass, and
chord embellishment.
Pushes
”Pushes” (also called anticipations) are chords that are played before the beat. For example, in Jazz Swing, the
piano player often “pushes” a chord change by playing the chord an eighth note before the beat. To execute a
“push,” you can use either keystrokes or open the Chord options dialog box by right mouse clicking on a given
chord.
To use keystrokes :
Type the caret symbol [^] before the chord. The caret symbol is located above the numeral 6 on your computer
keyboard.
Type a single caret to get a chord an eighth note before the beat, e.g., ^C7
Type a double caret to get a chord a sixteenth note before the beat, e.g., ^^C7
In Jazz styles (and other triplet feels), the chord will be pushed by a triplet, regardless of whether there is a single or
double caret (^^).
Velocity Boosts for Pushes, Shots, and Held Chords
You can set the amount of velocity boost, so that
the effect won't be too loud.
In the Preferences dialog (Opt. | Preferences) click
on the [Arrange] button to open the Arrangement
Options. Then type in the amount of velocity
boost for pushes, shots, and holds.
The style can override the velocity for the pushes,
and drum velocity for shots, held chords, and pushes is also set in the StyleMaker.
Part Markers and Substyles
Part Markers
Part Markers are placed on the chordsheet to indicate a new part of the song, to insert a substyle
change, or to insert drum fills. They typically occur every 8 bars or so, but may be placed at the
beginning of any bar.