How to Make Melodies in GarageBand

Create your own melodies on your Macintosh.

GarageBand is a computer recording software program with enough features to let any user make as many melodies, songs and musical mixes as desired. With this program you can create or mix melodies to use with homemade videos, websites or cellphones. You can record your own personal mixes on CDs, DVDs or download any melody to your MP3/MP4 player.

Instructions

1. Open GarageBand and select “Magic Garage Band” from the left menu that appears and choose the music genre you want to create. This can be blues, jazz, rock, country, reggae or funk.

2. Look at the musical stage instrument window that appears with the six different instruments that work in a band. The guitar or rhythm track is on the right, the bass player position is above that, the drums are located at the back center, to the right sits the keyboard and on the left is the melody. In the center of the stage is the main instrument.

3. Click on the spotlight under one of the rhythm instruments that surround the main instrument. Click on any of the options that appear underneath to make changes to that instrument within the melody.

4. Move on to the next position on the stage to make changes to that instrument. Click “No Instrument” if you want to remove that sound from the melody.

5. Click the “Open in GarageBand” button in the right corner when you finish customizing the instruments. This will open the garage window with the different tracks on the audio timeline that make up the song.

6. Click on the up arrow in the LCD window located at the bottom of the new screen. Select the clock icon from the list that appears. Drag the red timeline located at the top of the first intro music track to the end track. Look at the LCD display to view the length of the melody you created.

7. Add different beats at the beginning, middle or end of the existing melody by integrating loops. Click “Control Browser” at the top of the screen and select “Show Loop Browser.” Select the “Column View” button and look for the beats that go with the melody you want. Click the location where you want to insert these, whether at the intro, the melody or the chorus. These controls are under the center instrument stage. Choose the type of instrument loop and pattern you want to play from the available list.

8. Make the melody longer or different by moving or copying a track and placing it in the center, beginning or end of the audio timeline. Click and drag your mouse around the track you want to move or copy. Hold down the “Options” key and drag the section to the end of the track timeline. This will make the melody longer. Click the “Edit” tab at the top of the screen to split or delete a track you don’t want.

9. Export the melody to play it on a website or other media. Click the “Share” tab at the top of the screen and choose one of the export options such as “iTunes,” “Send Ringtone to iTunes,” “Send Podcast to iWeb” or “Export Song to CD.” Choose “iTunes” to save it on the Mac and find it later in the iMovies media browser.

References

• Macworld: Adding Some Magic to GarageBand Songwriting
• Stanford University: Music Composing in GarageBand