Apple GarageBand Tutorial: Lesson 1 - Manual (Page 2)

2 Lesson 1: Building a Basic Arrangement
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 tempo . The tempo defines the rate at which beats, the basic rhythmic
pulse, occur in the song. The tempo is measured in beats per minute, or bpm . You can set the
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).
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.
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.
Click here to set the tempo.
Tempo slider
Key pop-up menu Time signature
pop-up menu