==== ==== Do you write songs? Do you want to write songs? Not sure which chord goes where? Or which chord comes next? Then you need these!! 300 Chord Progressions in C Major & A Minor: http://andeanm.iancribs.hop.clickbank.net?tid=ca ==== ==== So What Is Band In A Box?Band in a Box is a software program made by a company called PG Music. A very quick description of how it works is this: you have a blank 'music sheet' into which you can enter chords for a song or a chord progression for an exercise.Once you have entered the chords into Band In A Box you can then choose a style - and there literally thousands ranging from light rock to classical to reggae to jazz - and tap the space bar of your keyboard twice and Band In A Box will generate a complete musical arrangement that marries the style you have chosen with the chords you have entered.What Do Band In A Box Songs Sound Like>Back in the day all of the different styles that you could select for your arrangement were programmed using midi data. And some of the sounds were cheesy - particularly some of the drum and guitar sounds. However that's all changed in the last year or so.PG Music have introduced something called Real Tracks. Real Tracks are essentially 'loops' played by real musicians. And the program can interpret these loops and transpose them not only to different keys, but also to different starting notes. And there are linking mechanisms built into the program and the real tracks so that chords have authentic sounding voice leading, the drums have authentic sounding fills in the right places, and the bass lines connect from chord to chord in an authentic manner.Although jazz and country are the genres most currently represented by the real tracks, there are some good rock tracks as well. So this is a massive improvement to the program.A few paragraphs can't do justice to the program. If we need to change key, that's done with the touch of a button. If we need to vary the tempo again that's the touch of another button. Want to loop a 4 bar groove 100 times over to really work on it? No problem, that's the touch of a further button.For non keyboard playing bassists Band in A Box is a really quick and easy way to generate authentic sounding chordal and rhythmic backing for any exercise that we want to do.So How Can Bass Players Specifically Use Band In A Box In Learning How To Play Bass?The possibilities for bass players to incorporate Band In A Box into their practice routine are endless. One of the main benefits is that it allows us bass players to program a backing track for just about every exercise that we want to practice. We can mute Band IN A Box's bass player so that our frequency range is not crowded. Having chordal accompaniment as well as rhythmic accompaniment is a great feature - every time we do exercises like this we get a healthy dose of subliminal ear training, as well as making our practice sound more authentic.Here are some specific ways that you can use Band In A Box:(i) Generate an unlimited amount of sight reading etudes in different time feels and styles. (ii) Generate fresh chord progressions that you can practice playing along too. (iii) Create custom user styles aimed at specific exercises - e.g. I programmed a 'drum style' that has a cross stick sound on Beats 2 and 4 of every bar. (iv) Ear Training. There is an ear training module. (This hasn't made it to the Mac version yet however, just Windows only for this feature so far). (v) If you were working on a specific 4 bar progression you can program that 4 bar progression in every key to ensure that you are learning this progression thoroughly. (vi) It's a great deal for generating ideas to play along too. E.g. you can enter the chord progression to a popular song - let's say a rock song - and then turn it into a reggae flavoured
track. Or a bluesey flavoured track.The possibilities of how you can use it are only limited by your imagination.What Are The Drawbacks Of Band In A Box?Some people think it's expensive. The full package is around $400. Personally I think it's an absolute steal. I've read that there are problems with the PC Version, which is apparently a big buggy. I run the Mac version so I can only comment on that, and the Mac version seems pretty stable. I've had it crash on me once in the last 3 months which is not bad going, as I use the program every day.The other big issue is that the real tracks take up a lot of space on your hard drive - I think the full package weighs in at around 85-90 gb of hard drive space. There is an option to buy the full program pre-installed on an external USB drive.Summary?Band In A Box is in my opinion as close to a must buy for people learning how to play bass as it gets. My order of buying equipment would be a bass, a tuner, a headphone or practice amp, and then band in a box. There are so many benefits to practicing with both chordal and rhythmic accompaniment that I only wish it had been available back in the day when I was learning.If you are interested in Band In A Box you can download a 30 day free trial from PG Music. They also operate a great forum with help and tips. ==== ==== Do you write songs? Do you want to write songs? Not sure which chord goes where? Or which chord comes next? Then you need these!! 300 Chord Progressions in C Major & A Minor: http://andeanm.iancribs.hop.clickbank.net?tid=ca ==== ====