Garageband shortcuts for Mac

The core GarageBand shortcuts are Space to play/stop, R to start recording, and Cmd+Z to undo. Press Z to jump to the beginning of the timeline and Cmd+Left/Right to move the playhead. Use Cmd+E to toggle the editors panel, Cmd+I to open Smart Controls, and Cmd+Y to toggle the Loop Browser. Press / to set the cycle region on/off.

Position the playhead where you want to split, then press Cmd+T to split a region at that point. To delete a region, select it and press Delete. Use Cmd+J to join selected regions into one. You can also press W to turn the Split mode on, which lets you drag across regions to cut them. Hold Option while dragging a region to duplicate it.

Open the Musical Typing keyboard with Cmd+K — this turns your Mac keyboard into a playable instrument. Use the keyboard row (A S D F G H J K L) to play notes, Z and X to shift octaves down and up, and 1-8 to control velocity. You can also use Cmd+Option+K to open the MIDI keyboard viewer for connected MIDI devices.

If GarageBand shortcuts aren't responding, make sure the Tracks area or the main window is focused — some shortcuts only work in specific panels. If you've remapped shortcuts in macOS System Settings, they may override GarageBand's defaults. Try going to GarageBand > Preferences and check if any custom bindings are interfering. Restarting GarageBand usually resolves temporary shortcut glitches.