Garage Band for the Mac

So for my birthday my girlfriend got me " a mac genius" for a whole year! sooooo that means I can go to the apple store and sit with a mac genius and get one to one lessons on my mac.

I can pick any area or program I want...they have someone who specifically works with garage band too. They even have instruments there at the store to aid in teaching you...

so I just wanted to know if there is anything specific you think I should ask or have them show me. I know there are some mac/garage band users out there and I wanted to know what issues you had or think I might run across.....

appreciate the help. Thanks!

Garage Band is a great tool for songwriting, practicing; just about anything involving music. It is used by anyone from beginners to professional songwriters/producers, etc. It is a very, very easy program to use and it was designed so anyone could use it to make music.

As far as general questions, it all depends on where you are at currently in using the software. Do you have any experience working with it at all? What kinds of projects have you done with Garageband already? Are you using an interface or the mic in your computer to record your guitar tracks? Do you have a MIDI keyboard to record any piano or other instruments? These tools will help you but aren't completely necessary.

Again, give me an idea of where you are at in your understanding of Garage Band currently; and than I can hopefully assist you in what questions to ask in your one on one lesson with a Mac Genius.

Sounds like a great present! Happy Holidays!

Thanks for the reply!
I started looking into this a while ago when I first got the mac but then started worrying about other things on it I needed to learn.

Well....so far I havent done anything yet with garage band. So I am brandy new to it. Lisa was trying to help me out a while back but then I got wrapped up in some photo work and just getting used to the layout of the mac all together. Ive had the mac for a few months now but I was getting frustrated so just used it for what I needed it for. Plus I thought I was going to have to buy a whole bunch of hardware to do what I wanted....BUT no money means no hardware!

I am specifically wanting to be able to loop some chords and rhythm so I can work on leads over it. Thats my goal.

Anything else I can do with it will be bonus! I dont have a mic or a keyboard. My main deal was just getting my guitar hooked up to it. When I was looking into it initially thought I need some type of interface to be able to get the guitar connected to the laptop and thats what stopped me. Didnt really have any extra cash to invest. So now with the genius....I am hoping they can teach me the basics so I can take advantage of the program!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by: Itsmesilly
I am specifically wanting to be able to loop some chords and rhythm so I can work on leads over it. Thats my goal.

OK; this helps! You can very much do this without an interface, and believe me I know the financial burden that encompasses that. Although, these days you can get a nice interface for around $150 that works great, especially for guitar. Here is a link to where you can check one out;

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrack.html

If that is not in your means, that certainly doesn't stop you from working with Garage Band and recording loops. What you first need is a 1/4 inch -
1/8 inch cable. There are ones made for guitar specifically, although you can use any standard cable from Radio Shack, etc. That is really all you need to record your guitar.

Once you open Garageband, you will want to start a new project, and give it some clever title. From there, a MIDI track should already be set up. You want a REAL INSTRUMENT TRACK, and to do this; you need to go to TRACK, and simply select NEW TRACK. If you have the newest version of Garage Band, than you choose ELECTRIC GUITAR as a track option. With this setting, everything is all set up for you as far as sounds, pedals, etc. To ensure that your guitar is working with your computer and you have the cable hooked up, go to GARARGE BAND - PREFERENCES - and than click the AUDIO/MIDI tab. This will choose your default input and output of your project. In your case, you want to choose for OUTPUT - BUILT IN OUTPUT, and for INPUt - BUILT IN INPUT. This will make it so you can hear your guitar, and listen through your headphones.

From there, you can have the MAC GENIUS help you get everything moving. I would suggest setting up a drum loop to play along with and than recording some guitar rhythm over the top of it. You can set this up to loop very easily and than you simply set up another guitar channel with a lead sound you like to solo for days.

I would say before you go, make sure you understand this; that way you can really maximize your time and get something new besides these basic operations. Does this make sense?

yeah 150 isnt bad....im hoping some christmas cash comes my way. I was going to buy a looping station for 189 but If I can do that with garage band..why bother? .....so I have to weight the options.

I can get the cable...no prob. As far as the software I have to mess around with it more.

I'd also recommend:
http://www.macprovideo.com/tutorial/garageband09101

It's only $20 and is very extensive with lots of great info. The instructors voice is a bit thin for an instructor and he is a bit silly but the info is really very good. Really gets you through all the things you would take months to have to figure out.

Just a thought.