Technical information

Chapter 6: Band-in-a-Box PowerGuide
84
Support for other chord display types
You can enter or display chords in Roman Numeral notation, Nashville notation, or Solfeggio notation. For
example, the chord Gm7 in the key of F would be displayed as II
m7
in Roman Numeral Notation, 2
m7
in Nashville
Notation, and Re
m7
in Solfeggio. These systems are very useful for learning or analyzing tunes, since they are
independent of the key signature. You can take an existing song, and print it out in Roman numeral notation, so you
can study the chord progression. You can also type a chord in any of these systems, like “4” which will enter the 4
chord in the current key.
You can switch among any of these systems by pressing the Roman Numeral button on the right side of the
screen to toggle among the various settings.
The Roman numeral and other nonstandard displays use superscript for the chord display when in the Notation
window (or when printing out). Therefore, the alternative chord symbol displays are best viewed in the Notation
window.
Tip: Print out a song in Nashville Notation or Roman numeral notation. Then, learn the song this way, i.e. 1
maj7
4maj7
3
m7b5
6
7b9
. You'll soon discover that it is much easier to play the song in any key. Since you know the song goes from
the 1 chord to the 4 chord, so you can easily play it in the key of Bb, for example.
Repeats and Endings
You can add repeats and endings so that the Lead Sheet window will display and printout using 1st /2nd endings.
There’s a Wizard that will intelligently add 1st/2nd endings automatically for you, so you can view and convert any
Band-in-a-Box song to include 1st/2nd endings in lead sheet format. Simply select the “Fake Sheet” checkbox on
the Lead Sheet window, and Band-in-a-Box will display the Fake Sheet using 1st and 2nd endings. You can add
your own repeats and endings by right-mouse-clicking the Repeats-Endings option.
Playing/Pausing/Stopping Songs
Use the tool bar buttons to control the playback of your song in Band-in-a-Box.
Play song Loop selection Replay song Stop playback Pause (Hold) Play from any bar
You can also use the Play menu commands or keystrokes.
Lead-In Counts and Metronome
These settings are made in the Preferences dialog. Click on the [Count-in/Met.] button to open
the Count-in and Metronome Options.
You can select any drum instrument for the count in and choose different count-in rhythms (e.g. Tap on 2 and 4
instead of 1-2-3-4).
The Smart Lead-in feature avoids playing the count-in drum sound during a Melody pickup.
There's an option to play the drum count-in in all circumstances, useful when the style doesn’t have drums or for
drummers who play along with Band-in-a-Box by muting the drum track.
You can display a visible metronome on-screen during
the entire song (or just the lead-in). Choose the screen
position, the size (up to near full screen size), and the
visual metronome pattern. The on-screen metronome is
a great way for a student to learn to keep on the beat,
and with a settable size, students can view this from
across the room.