Apple GarageBand Tutorial User Manual Lesson 1

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Lesson 1:
Building a Basic Arrangement

There are many ways you can work as you create a song in GarageBand. You can freely move
back and forth between adding loops, recording Real and Software Instruments, arranging
regions in the timeline, and mixing the song, as ideas and inspiration strike you.

Most popular music today is based on repeating rhythmic patterns (sometimes called “grooves”
or “riffs”), especially in the drum and bass parts. To create a song in a groove-based style, an
effective way of working is to add loops for the drum parts, then add loops for bass and other
rhythm parts. This lets you define the rhythmic feel of the song, and also lets you build the basic
arrangement of the song by blocking out sections with different grooves. Once the basic rhythm
parts are in place, you can record Real and Software Instrument regions to add lead, solo, and
harmony parts.

You start building an arrangement by creating a new song, and setting the tempo, time
signature, and key for the song. Then you add loops for the drum and other rhythm parts, and
arrange the loop regions in the timeline.

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Tutorial

Before You Begin

To make it easier to follow the lesson as you work, print the lesson before you start.

In many of the tasks shown in this lesson you need to choose menu commands. In the lessons,
and in GarageBand Help, menu commands appear like this:

Choose Edit > Join Selected.

The first term after
terms) following the angle bracket are the items you choose from that menu.

Choose

is the name of the menu in the GarageBand menu bar. The term (or

Creating a New Song

To start working in GarageBand, you create a new song. Songs are the documents that hold your
music and all the changes you make.

To create a new song:

1

Choose File > New.

2

In the New Song dialog, browse to the location where you want to store the song, then type a
name for the song in the name field.

3

Set the song’s tempo, time signature, and key as described in the following section.

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Setting the Tempo, Time Signature, and Key

Each song has a tempo, a time signature, and a key, which last for the entire length of the song.

Tempo

Each song has a speed, or
pulse, occur in the song. The tempo is measured in beats per minute, or
tempo to any speed between 60 and 240 bpm. The default tempo is 120 bpm, which is a
common tempo used in popular music.

To set the tempo:

m

In the New Song dialog, drag the Tempo slider left to slow down the tempo, or right to speed up
the tempo.

Note:

You can change the tempo later in the Track Info window.

Time Signature

Each song also has a time signature, which controls the relationship between beats and
measures. A song's time signature consists of two numbers separated by a forward slash, which
look similar to a fraction. The number on the left controls the number of beats in each measure,
and the number on the right controls the beat value (the length of the note that gets one beat).

tempo

. The tempo defines the rate at which beats, the basic rhythmic

bpm

. You can set the

Click here to set the tempo.

You can use any of the following time signatures in a GarageBand song: 2/2, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 7/
4, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, or 12/8. The default is 4/4, the most commonly used time signature.

Tempo slider

Time signature
pop-up menu

Key pop-up menu

To set the time signature:

m

In the New Song dialog, choose a time signature from the Time pop-up menu.

Note:

You can change the time signature later in the Track Info window.

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Key

Each song has a key, which defines the central note to which the other notes in the music relate.
You can set the song to use any musical key.

To set the key:

m

In the New Song dialog, choose a key from the Key pop-up menu.

Note:

You can change the key later in the Track Info window.

If you change the key of a song after recording instruments or adding loops, all Software
Instrument recordings and loops are transposed to the new key. Real Instrument recordings are
not transposed.

Adding Loops for Drum and Rhythm Tracks

You can quickly define the feel of a song by adding Apple Loops. Apple Loops are prerecorded
music files designed to seamlessly repeat a rhythmic pattern. When you add a loop to the
timeline, you can extend it to fill any amount of time, making it easy to create drum parts and
other rhythm parts.

When you add a loop to a song, GarageBand matches the loop’s tempo and key to the tempo
and key of the song. This lets you use loops that were originally recorded at different speeds, and
in different keys, and have them sound as though they were made to be played together.

Finding Loops With the Loop Browser

GarageBand includes a loop browser that lets you find loops by musical instrument, genre, or
mood. You can also perform text searches, and refine your searches for loops in several other
ways. No matter how large your collection of loops becomes, you can quickly find loops with the
sound you want using the loop browser.

To show the loop browser:

m

Click the Loop Browser button (the button with the open eye).

The loop browser has two views: button view and column view. In button view, you click
keyword buttons to show loops that match the keywords. In column view, you choose from
different keyword types, categories, and keywords to show matching loops. In the lower-left
corner of the loop browser are two view buttons you use to select button or column view.

To choose button view or column view:

m

Click the column button to show column view, or click the grid button to show button view.

Lesson 1: Building a Basic Arrangement

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Click a keyword button.

Matching loops appear in the results list.

Results listKeyword type

column

Keyword column

Category column

Finding Loops in Button View

Button view features a grid of keyword buttons. You click a button to see the loops matching the
keyword in the results list to the right. You can narrow your results by clicking multiple buttons.

To find loops in button view:

1

Click the grid button in the lower-left corner of the loop browser to switch to button view.

2

Click a keyword button to show matching loops in the results list. The columns in the results list
show the type of loop, name, tempo, key, and number of beats for each loop.

3

To refine your results, click multiple keyword buttons. This narrows the matching loops to only
those that match all of the selected keywords.

4

To end a search, either click the selected keyword again to deselect it, or click the Reset button to
deselect all selected keywords.

When you click a keyword, incompatible keywords (those that share no loop with the selected
keyword) are dimmed.

Now find some drum loops in button view by clicking the Drums keyword button. Scroll through
the list to see all the matching loops. Notice that the number of matching loops is shown next to
the search field.

Finding Loops in Column View

In column view, clicking a keyword type in the left column shows categories for that keyword
type in the middle column. Clicking a category shows keywords for that category in the right
column. Clicking a keyword shows matching loops in the results list. You can expand your results
by clicking multiple keywords.

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