Make a Song on Garageband

GarageBand is a fun and highly entertaining application. It allows users to create music, learn how to play an instrument, and much more. But GarageBand can also be overwhelming and confusing program if you are not familiar with it. The following steps will teach you how to create a basic GarageBand song, and hopefully help lead you to become a GarageBand professional!

In this article, you will learn how to compose simple songs without lyrics, almost more like beats. These beats can be used just for fun, or you can include them in other projects (slideshows, home movies, etc.). Learning to create a simple song does not require you to be able to read or write music. It does requires the audience to understand how music works together to create a song/beat, which is really just playing around with different sounds.

Steps

  1. Open GarageBand 09 and a window with different project types will appear. Select the Songwriting project under the New Project tab.
  2. Name your song (or leave it and name it later) and leave the tempo, signature, and key settings on default, unless you would like to change those.
  3. Hit Create. You should now be on a blank GarageBand project similar to this:
  4. Click the View/Hide Loop Browser button in the lower left (it looks like an eye). This will allow you choose instruments and certain loops to mix and match and create a song.
  5. Select a drum set for your song. Click the All Drums button and scroll through the available kits. You can also specify your search and click the buttons highlighted to find a certain type of drums. To hear the drums just click on them. Once you find your drum set, drag it out to the center of the screen and it will automatically set itself on the timeline.
    • You can copy a drum set (or any music/instrument) and paste it to create longer songs more quickly.
  6. Click the play button to hear your drums. Now lets add some guitar. Click the reset button (double arrows pointing backwards) and then select the guitars tab. Again, you can narrow your search down to the exact type of guitar. Once you have a guitar selected, drag it out to the timeline underneath or above your drum’s line.
    • Use a combination of instruments playing with each other and/or solo by spacing them appropriately on the timeline.
  7. Select a third instrument to add into the song timeline. Drag it and adjust it to fit your song.
    • At any time you can hit the play button (or space bar) to hear what your mix sounds like.
  8. Add a fourth and/or even a fifth instrument.
  9. Save your song and enjoy!

Warnings

  • Notice: GarageBand is a very complex program and can be used in a vast number of ways to create a vast number of songs/beats/sounds. This is a basic guide to creating a song on GarageBand. It teaches the user the common controls and techniques for creating a simple song.

Things You'll Need

  • An Intel-based Mac with a dual-core processor or better
  • GarageBand (09) Application (comes with all Macs, but can be downloaded off Apple's main website)

Related Articles

  • Compose Music Using GarageBand
  • Connect a Yamaha PSR E413 to Garageband
  • Use Quicktime Instruments in Garageband
  • Make a Ringtone on a Mac Using Garageband

Sources and Citations

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