This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Creating a Jazz Tune
Tired of just playing a few notes? Want to jam a little? Good. Let's put together a jazz tune using some Software Instruments.
We Got Rhythm
First, let's launch GarageBand and create a new song:
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Select File > New. Keep the tempo at 120bpm and set the key to A using the Key menu. Finally, let's name the song Jazz Thang and click Create.
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Get rid of the Grand Piano track for now. Select Track > Delete Track (or press Command-Delete).
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To create a Real Instrument track for your drums (in order to save processor power), select Track > New Track (or press Shift-Command-N).
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In the New Track window, click Real Instrument and then click Drums and Detailed Drums. Then click OK to create the track for our drums.
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Next, open the Loop Browser by clicking the Loop Browser button (or press Command-L). Expand the Loop Browser by dragging the Control Bar up. Select Drums and Jazz from the Loop Browser.
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Drag the Lounge Jazz Drums 01 loop to the timeline. Drag the right side of the region (using the curved-arrow cursor) to extend the loop to the right. Drag it all the way to the other side of the screen and let the timeline scroll automatically to the right. Extend it to 32 measures, stopping at the start of measure 33.
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Go back to the Loop Browser and click Drums to deselect the Drums button while still keeping Jazz selected.
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Next, click Bass and drag the Cool Upright Bass 01 loop to measure 1 of the timeline just below our drum track.
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Drag the right side of the region (again, using the curved-arrow cursor) to extend the loop to the right. Drag it all the way to the other side of the screen and let the timeline scroll automatically to the right. Extend it to 32 measures, stopping at the start of measure 33. One more track and we'll have a groove.
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Go back to the Loop Browser and click Bass to deselect the Bass button while keeping Jazz selected. Click Elec. Piano and drag the Fusion Electric Piano 12 loop to measure 1 of the timeline just below our bass track.
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Drag the right side of the region (using the curved-arrow cursor) to extend the loop to the right. Drag it all the way to the other side of the screen and let the timeline scroll automatically to the right. Extend it to 32 measures, stopping at the start of measure 33.
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Finally, click Cycle to turn on the Cycle Section and drag the Cycle Section bar so that it covers from the beginning of measure 1 to the beginning of measure 33. Click Play to hear your rather sleepy jazz rhythm section.
TIP
All Software Instrument loops become Real Instrument loops when dragged to a Real Instrument track. This is a very important concept for getting more tracks out of GarageBand. Real Instrument tracks barely impact your Mac's processor compared to the heavy toll that Software Instrument tracks demand.
Solo Time
Now that we've got our rhythm section groovin', let's lay a solo on top.
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Go to the Track menu and select New Track (or press Shift-Command-N). In the New Track window, click Software Instrument. Next, select Woodwinds and then Alto Sax. Click OK.
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While this is an okay-sounding sax, let's bump it to the next level. Open the Track Info window for the sax track. Click the Details triangle. Next, let's tweak the reverb effect up to about 75% and the echo effect up to about 50%, as shown in Figure 3.12.
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Close the Track Info window by clicking the red button in the upper-left corner of the window.
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Figure
3.12 A little reverb and a little echo and we have an alto sax suitable
for a rainy night solo.
You should now have a very wet and lonely sounding alto sax with which to play your solo. What about your solo? That's up to you. Hit the Record button and let's see what you got, baby!
Be sure to save this song for future reference, and so that all your hard work isn't lost.