User Guide

Chapter 8: Automatic Music Features 114
ideal type of sight-reading practice; playing along to music that you haven't
heard before.
- Ear Training: Play along with the Melodies and chords that the program is
generating, without looking at the music. Since Band-in-a-Box is always
using intelligent chord progressions and melody phrasing that a professional
would actually use, you are learning to recognize chord progressions and
melody phrases that you will encounter in real playing situations.
- Guitarists can extend the 'Sight Reading' concept by just watching the
on-screen guitar fretboard play the melody notes. If a student were
watching his teacher reading music, he would watch the guitar not the sheet
music. This is because guitar is a very visual instrument. Similarly, you
may prefer to watch the on-screen guitar instead of the notation.
Generate Less than a Complete Song
Here are ways that you can use the Melodist short of generating a full song:
- Auto-generate / regenerate / remove an intro for an existing song. You
can learn from the intelligent chord progressions that are generated to lead
in to the first chord of the song.
- Auto generate pedal bass patterns over existing songs, to add
tension/release effect to your Band-in-a-Box arrangements.
- Generate chords only, and then compose your own melody by playing or
singing along with the chord progression. This can help composers to write
new songs by starting them off with a chord progression that they might not
ordinarily use. And if you're stuck at a certain bar, see what BB will
generate/regenerate as a melody for that section.
- Generate chords only, and practice playing your musical instrument
along with the chord progressions. Print out the generated lead sheet of
chords so that you can see the chords easily on the music stand. Working
with new chord progressions is useful to “get-out-of-a-rut” in your
practicing by playing new chord progressions. You can also improve your
harmony ear training, by figuring out the chords as they are being played,
without looking at the chord symbol display.
- Generate Melodies only, over existing chord progressions.
Using Melodist Jukebox
Use the versatile Melodist Jukebox feature to:
- Generate Songs (Chords & Melodies) in succession
- Generate Solos only over generated chord progressions
- Generate Solos over the same chord progression (to practice blues soloing
for example).