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This tutorial assumes you have the SuperJAM! program installed and
running.
- The program starts you off with a song, one Section long. Click on
that Section in the Song window to make it active (it will turn red,
if it isn't red already), and then press the Delete key to get
rid of it. The reason for this is simple: We want to start fresh, and
configure our song in the Keyboard window, so that every new Section
will be created with the setup we already want.
- On the left side of the Keyboard window, there are three dropdown
menus. The top one (the one with the blue sphere, red cone, and yellow
cube) is the list of Styles. Click on it once, and scroll around until
you see a Style you like. If you're not sure what to start with, Boogie,
Country, or Rock II are good first choices, with a lot
of variation in the activity levels (known as "grooves") and
flexible riffs that will fit a lot of songs. Click on the Style name
to select it.
- The menu below that, with the Drama-Comedy masks, is the list of Personalities.
Click on it once, and select the emotional tone of song you'd
like to create. (Remember, this is supposed to be a fun tutorial --
you're almost certainly not going to pull the Song of the Year out of
thin air your first try. Don't sweat this too hard.) Honest is
a solid first choice, producing the kinds of basic chords that most
songs are written with (and which are certainly easier to play on guitar
than most ;-) .
- The menu below that is the list of Bands set up for that Style. I
only tell you this now so you know what it is. Leave it alone for the
moment. (However, if you're really feeling ambitious, this would
be a good time to jump ahead to Tutorial #3
and come back....)
- Just to the right of the button with the picture of a stop light are
two up-and-down arrows, and a box with a letter in it. This is your
Key Signature button. If it does not say "C", click on the
arrow keys until it does.
- Just above the Style menu is a button with a picture of a pie-chart
(the fourth button, the one just to the right of the button with a six-sided
die on it). Click on it once to create a new Section. You'll be given
a chance to name it however you want; name it verse1. Next comes
the option to change its length in measures from the default of 8. Leave
it.
- Now here comes the fun part. Click on the title bar of the Section
window to make it active, then go up to the Compose menu item
and select Chord Progression. You'll get a little window with
a dropdown menu. Click on this, and you'll see the following words:
- Falling
- Level
- Loud
- Quiet
- Peaking
- Random
- Rising
These refer to the activity levels of the music in that Section.
"Falling" means it'll start out really busy, then taper
off; "Level" means it'll stay reasonably busy throughout;
"Peaking" means it'll start out less busy, pick up in the
middle, and then taper off; and so on. Pick any one you'd like.
- There's also a slider for "Chord Activity". The further
to the right this slider is, the more chord changes you'll have in the
Section. Leave this alone for the moment. Also leave alone the two check
boxes, "Intro" and "End". (If they're checked, SJam
will generate an Intro and an Ending to your Section, and we don't want
that in this case. But try it later. ;-)
- Click "OK". Ta-daah! SJam instantly creates chords and activity
levels ("grooves") for your Section. Click on the Play From
Beginning button (the blue triangle with a line just to the left) in
the Section Window to hear what your Section sounds like. Don't like
it? Click on the Stop button (the same button as Play From Beginning,
only now it's a red square -- remember, context is everything in SJam),
then go back to Compose / Chord Progression in the menu and try
it again.
- Now, here's where it gets really cool. Hold down the Control
key, click on the Section, and drag it to the right. When you release
the mouse button, you'll see that the Section has been duplicated. Do
this three more times. (You might have to expand the Band window to
see everything; just click on the lower right corner and drag it to
a larger size.) Congratulations! Just like that, you've got a five-verse
song! Click on "Play from Beginning" in the Song window to
hear your first creation.
Of course, any song can use a little fine-tuning. If you want to really
spiff it up, first save your work (go the the File menu and select
Save Song As...) and then move on to the fabulous Part
Two!
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