iTunes from my external HDD

Hi, I just got a Macbook and am very happy with it, except for one thing. I buggered up the switch from my external hard drive to the iTunes library because i made the foolish mistake of dragging and dropping the music folder in the HDD into iTunes. What I want is for iTunes to automatically access the HDD for my music library, so I want to import the library from the HDD, but there only seems to be an export option. Should I wipe off all the music from my iTunes library and start again? My iTunes is currently a complete mess of duplicates and exclamation marks that mean I have to locate each and every song. Any help would be very welcome.

Where exactly would you like to store your music, external hard drive or on your MacBook? If all your music is currently stored on the external hard drive and you wish to move it to the MacBook, you'll need to do a transfer. Or, if you would like iTunes to always use the external hard drive....

See if the following article helps: LINK

Also, Apple provides instructions on how to transfer your iTunes library. LINK

Regards.

Cheers, I'm doing what the Apple link said to do, i think it was changing the automatic path in itunes preferences that made it go sour. Trying all over again.

NB I want to store the music on my hard drive