Transferring music from hard drive to new macbook

So here is my situation I can't seem to figure out.
On my old imac, I kept all  of my music on an external hard drive.
Now that I have a new macbook pro, I would like to transfer the libary on to the itunes, while keeping it on the external hard drive.
When I go to do that, it won't reference the folder I have all my albums in because it says it is not a valid itunes library file.
Please help!
Thanks!

So your media are on the external drive and your library files are on the internal?  iTunes is a bunch of files, not just your media files.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
If your library files are on your internal drive you need to copy the iTunes folder from Home > Music to the same location on the new computer (make sure you don't mind replacing the one already there), then start iTunes.  It may want to update your main library file.
If instead of what you say, the whole iTunes library is on the external drive:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

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