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British band Glass Animals are absolutely massive! At the time of writing this, they’re ranked #257 in the world on Spotify. Most artists as famous as them have achieved their success as a result of an obsessive striving for celebrity. However, Glass Animals seem to be obsessed with making catchy music instead. And not only that, their music is surprisingly creative for a band as successful as them.

If you’ve been doing our Hack Music Theory tutorials for a few years, you’ll know that we don’t usually cover “celebrity artists”. The reason for that is because (nowadays) there’s an inverse correlation between the success of an artist and the creativity of their music. For an artist to achieve a fanbase of tens of millions, their music needs to appeal to the masses. And most people (nowadays) want “sugary” ear-candy music that’s pleasantly predictable, i.e. boring, bland background music.

So why are we doing a tutorial on such a huge band? Well, Glass Animals’ new single “Creatures in Heaven” is a masterclass in catchy melody writing. The lead melody in their chorus has a whole bunch of creative hacks, as well as a very clever twist in its tale.

So, inspired by “Creatures in Heaven”, here’s our 6-step method for writing a great melody that’s catchy enough for the masses. But first… Tea!

Open your DAW, leave the time signature on 4|4, but change your tempo to 80 BPM. Next, create a four-bar loop on your melody track, with a 1/16 grid. Okay so you may be wondering why the first step in a melody tutorial is… the chords?!

Well, all great melodies are written over chords, or implied chords (chords are “implied” when they’re not played separately but their notes are incorporated into the melody instead). The reason it’s best to write a melody over chords is because it gives the melody a harmonic progression. Without this progression, the melody will sound mind-numbingly boring, as it won’t go anywhere harmonically. The difference is night and day. It’s like walking through a beautiful forest along the ocean compared to walking on a treadmill in a stinky gym. There’s no comparison!

So let’s get our chord progression written, that way we’ve set ourselves up to write a great melody. Glass Animals are in the key of D major for their chorus (so we’ll use it too), and they use four chords in their progression (so we’ll do that too).

D Major (notes)

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

D

E

F♯

G

A

B

C♯

D Major (chords)*

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Dmaj

Em

F♯m

Gmaj

Amaj

Bm

C♯dim

As you probably know (or as you’ll hear if you play it), the diminished chord is crazy dissonant. It’s safe to say that using C♯dim ain’t gonna appeal to the masses, so take that off your menu. But other than that, you can use whatever you want.

Glass Animals use all three major chords, and only one minor. Playing three major chords in a major key gives their chorus a wonderfully uplifting vibe. So, think about your balance between major (happy) and minor (sad) chords. Also, think about the order of your chords. Glass Animals play the root chord (Dmaj) second. This detracts attention from it and creates a more fluid atmosphere. We played Dmaj last, though, which creates a more final ending. You can play Dmaj wherever you want, but consider where you want to draw people to the “home” chord. Here’s our progression: Gmaj → Bm → Amaj → Dmaj

*If you need help working out the chords in a key, read Hack 10 in our Free Book.

Once you’ve chosen your four chords, draw in the root note of each chord for a full bar (in a low octave). These roots will provide harmonic reference for your melody, which you’re gonna write above. This way you’ll be able to hear the relationship between each note in your melody and its accompanying chord. When you’ve finished writing your melody, mute these low roots. Then, create another track specifically for your progression, and draw in each full chord (i.e. 1, 3, 5).

Root note of each chord in progression (key note, D, highlighted)

Great melodies contain drama, and there’s no better way to bring the drama than by using a big interval.* You see, larger intervals create intensity, while smaller intervals create continuity. You need both. In fact, you need a lot more smaller intervals than bigger intervals. However, if your melody contains only small intervals, it’ll be awfully boring. On the other hand, if your melody contains only big intervals, people will presume you were thoroughly drunk when you wrote it.

*New to writing melodies? Use the Melody Checklist in our Songwriting & Producing PDF.

Over your first chord, write a handful of notes that end with a big interval around beat 3. And that big melodic jump should go up, not down (a large descending interval contains only a fraction of the drama of that same interval ascending).

Be sure to begin your melody on beat 1, as this will make the most impact, and as this section is the chorus, first impressions matter even more than usual. Use a combination of note values for interest. And remember, if you wanna emphasize a chord’s major (happy) or minor (sad) vibe, then play its 3rd in your melody above.

Melody’s opening segment with large interval (highlighted) for drama

You’re now gonna finish your melody’s first phrase with “the fall”. This is an utterly brilliant technique that Glass Animals use in their melody. And, it makes for a deeply pleasing balance between the drama and the gentle ride down afterwards.

Your last note is currently that high note around beat 3, so now you’re gonna write a smooth contour that flows back down to somewhere around where you began.

All good melodies have phrasing (i.e. where the melody rests), regardless of whether they’re sung or played on an instrument. This is because the melody itself needs to breathe, not just the singer. These rests also break-up a melody into digestible bits (i.e. phrases), which makes it easier to remember. So, end your first phrase on a longer note, and have at least a 1/16 rest at the end of your first bar (i.e. beat 4a). You can have an 1/8 rest if you prefer, but nothing longer than that, otherwise you’ll lose the momentum.

First bar completed with “the fall” (highlighted)

Notice how we didn’t play the chord’s root (G) in our melody. That root will be played in the chords below, so you don’t need to play it unless you actually want to.

Copy and paste your first phrase into bar two, and make sure to also start it on beat 1. Glass Animals use a great hack in their second phrase, which makes it familiar to the listeners while simultaneously freshening it up so it’s not boring.

They achieve this by using rhythmic variation. Simple, but massively effective. By only changing a few note values, the phrase is both predictable and unpredictable.

First phrase copied and pasted into bar two (highlighted)

Repetition is vital if you wanna appeal to the masses. People love a melody they know. But, too much repetition will make a melody predictable. And as soon as it’s predictable, their attention will move to some other novelty in their environment; probably their phone (it’s a sad reality that music is competing with phones for people’s attention). So it’s essential to repeat your melody for it to get stuck in their heads, and rhythmic variation will prevent it from losing its novelty and appeal.

Glass Animals change almost all their note values, but only slightly. Let your ear guide you into the Goldilocks Zone in this step, as too much change will make the phrase sound unfamiliar, while not enough change will make it sound predictable.

Lastly, Glass Animals add one new note at the end of their phrase, so it actually finishes on the last beat of the bar. This new note is a 1/16, which is completely unexpected, so it adds to the novelty. We did this too, but you don’t have to. If you don’t, though, then extend your last note so it also finishes at the end of the bar.

Second phrase with rhythmic variations (highlighted)

We’re halfway through our melody now. And after two phrases that “fall”, Glass Animals counters that with a phrase that “climbs”. In the same way that the notes in our “falling” phrase aren’t all descending, the notes in our “climbing” phrase don’t all have to be ascending either. But, there needs to be an overall climbing contour and feel to it. So, you’ll wanna start this phrase slightly lower than your “falling” phrases, and then play around with writing a generally ascending contour.

Also, Glass Animals start this phrase on beat 1+, which is another way of adding novelty and interest. We did the same. You don’t have to start there but you do have to start on an off-beat, as your previous phrase ends right at beat 1. And your melody needs a breath there, so your only other options are beat 1e or beat 1a.

Before you jump in and begin writing this phrase, there’s one more guideline. After their climb, Glass Animals actually take their melody down a big interval. In fact, it’s the exact same big interval they use in their first phrase, but this time it jumps down instead of up. This provides a clever mirror image, which is utterly brilliant, but most people won’t notice that. What is noticeable, though, is how this low note extends the range (i.e. distance from lowest to highest note) of their melody.

Climbing segment of third phrase (highlighted)

Good melodies usually have a range of about an octave. This ending note is the last opportunity to extend your melody’s range to somewhere around an octave.

Final note (highlighted) of third phrase, extending melody’s range

This final step is a game-changer! You see, when we hear Glass Animals’ third phrase (i.e. the “climbing” phrase in Step 5), we obviously perceive it as a new phrase because it’s totally different. This is a common structure used for melodies. It’s known as AABA, where A is the first phrase and B is the second phrase. So in other words, the first phrase is played twice, then there’s a new phrase, and then the first phrase is played again (for the third time). By the way, it’s equally common to hear AAAB, where the first phrase is played three times in a row, followed by the second phrase. Okay, this Glass Animals melody seems normal so far, right? Yes. But (and it’s a BIG “but”), in this fourth bar where everyone will be expecting the return of their first phrase, Glass Animals repeat their second phrase instead.

By doing this, they actually transform their second phrase from being a “variation” to being an equally-important main phrase. So, this melody now consists of two main phrases: the first one that’s repeated in bars one and two, and the second phrase that’s repeated in bars three and four. This is known as an AABB structure.

This structure is surprisingly rare compared to the far more common AABA or AAAB. When it’s done well, the AABB melodic structure can take the catchiness of a melody to a whole new level. When done wrong, though, it can make a bad melody even worse. That’s because if you want your B phrase to be equal in importance to your A phrase, then it has to be equally well-written. However, most songwriters/producers approach their variations as nothing more than a variation. In other words, they feed you catchy stuff in their A phrase, then give you bland filler junk in their B phrase, and then they quickly bring back their catchy A phrase.

You’ve probably noticed this already, but what’s so clever about Glass Animals’ melody is that they balance two “falling” phrases (AA) with two “climbing” phrases (BB). This symmetry is beyond pleasing to our ears. Almost nobody will notice this, but everybody will notice how perfect their melody sounds and feels!

Right, let’s get your melody finished. So, copy and paste your B phrase (bar three) into bar four, starting on the same off-beat. This step is the same as Step 4. You’re gonna use rhythmic variation to create a freshened-up version of your B phrase.

B phrase copied and pasted into bar four (highlighted)

At the end of bar four, Glass Animals add another note, just like they did at the end of bar two. We actually added two notes (see MIDI below), but do whatever works for your melody, to create a smooth flow when it loops back to bar one.

B phrase with rhythmic variations (highlighted) and two new notes at the end (highlighted)

With that, you’re done. Thanks for reading, we appreciate you and hope you had fun. Are you ready to sing along to your mass-appealing melody? Hit play & enjoy!

Final melody (highlighted) in AABB structure

Did you enjoy this tutorial? Do you want more “musical recipes” like this one? If so, we can keep you cooking up new music with our library of PDF Tutorials.

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

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While it’s normal to hear at least a few different kick patterns and hi-hat patterns in music nowadays, it’s rare to hear an interesting snare pattern. The rhythm assigned to this neglected element of the drumkit is almost always an afterthought. In 4|4 (which most music is in), the snare is usually one of these three rhythms:

So, when listening through to the new releases on Spotify, it was rather shocking (pleasantly so) to hear something completely unusual. The collaborative single “Snare Thing” by French producers Matt Sassari & Tony Romera is a refreshing celebration of the drum that almost always plays the most boring rhythm!

With these PDF tutorials, we usually have to make an educated guess as to what the creator’s intention and process was behind the song. But, based on the less-than-subtle title of their track, it’s safe to say that the duo were intentionally showcasing the snare drum’s creative potential. So, inspired by “Snare Thing”, here’s our 4-step method for writing creative snare patterns. But first… Tea!

Set up two bars of 4|4 with your grid on 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 126 BPM. The first thing we need to do is write a motif, which is a short idea that’s repeated to give the music structure and make it more memorable.

As we’re writing for the drums, our motif will obviously be a rhythmic motif (when using pitched instruments, you can also write melodic and harmonic motifs). The motif that Matt and Tony use is a couple of 1/16 notes followed by a 1/16 rest. They then repeat this motif to create their snare rhythm.

Motif repeated to create snare rhythm

As you can see, their motif is three 1/16 notes long. Having a motif that’s an odd duration (like three, five, seven, etc.) will make it far more interesting, because each time the motif is repeated it’ll start on a different 1/16 note beat (e.g. 1a, 2+, 3e).

A motif lasting four (or eight) 1/16 notes will repeat on the same beat, so it’ll get repetitive and boring extremely quickly. Therefore, avoid using an even-number motif here. For the record, though, they can sound great when played on melodic instruments, because you can repeat the same rhythm while changing the pitches.

Right, when you’re happy with your motif, copy and paste it into the first three 1/4 note beats of bar one. You wanna leave beat 4 open for now, as that’s where you’re gonna write a variation. Next, copy and paste your rhythm into bar two.

Snare rhythm copied and pasted into bar two (highlighted)

Now it’s time to write your variation in beat 4 of bar two. This variation will prevent the snare rhythm from getting boring, by turning it into a two-bar rhythm:

Two-bar snare rhythm created by adding variation (highlighted)

With such an unusual snare rhythm, it would be completely acceptable to move on and write the kick drum pattern now. But, Matt and Tony have one more brilliant snare trick up their sleeves. Instead of using the regular straight grid that you hear in almost every song, they use a swing grid. This is a game-changer!

If you’re new to the swing grid, you’re in for a treat. An easy way to think of the swing grid is that it’s a long note followed by a short note, and that occurs in each beat. But to be precise, the swing feel is what you get when you repeatedly play a triplet’s first and third notes. And that’s one way you can program swing rhythms.

DAWs allow us to use a swing grid, though, which gives us way more control over the feel (that’s actually the way drummers play swing rhythms, too). If you ask a drummer to play a swung beat for you, they’ll ask how strong you want the swing.

The stronger the swing (i.e. the later that second note is), the more “lazy” the rhythm feels. And the weaker the swing (i.e. the earlier that second note is, and therefore the closer it’ll be to a straight grid), the more rigid the rhythm feels.

The three MIDI screenshots below show the difference between using a triplet grid, a swing grid at 50% strength (usually the default in DAWs), and a swing grid at 66% strength.

Notice how the triplet and 66% swing grids are pretty much identical, but the 50% swing is slightly closer to a straight grid (we’ve left that second snare hit in the same place in all three MIDI screenshots, so you can see the grids’ differences).

Now, loop it up (or put the metronome on), and decide how much swing you like. We chose 65% strength, as we wanted it to have that stronger swing feel. While the swing strength you use is obviously up to you, we recommend going with something over 60%, otherwise your drums won’t have that super cool “lazy” vibe.

Grid set to 1/16 triplets

Grid set to 1/16 swing, at 50% strength

Grid set to 1/16 swing, at 66% strength

Right, now that you’ve chosen your swing strength, simply quantize your snare. If you’re new to quantizing, you can either try to find that function in your DAW, or you can just move your snare hits onto the new grid (that’s all quantizing is).

Snare rhythm quantized to 1/16 swing grid (swung notes highlighted)

A quick bonus hack before we move on. In “Snare Thing”, Matt and Tony mute the last three snare hits in every other loop. So, when you’re totally finished with your two-bar drum beat, copy and paste it, then mute those last few snares in bar four. This is an easy yet effective way to create variation. Remember, variation is not always about adding, the same effect can often be achieved by subtracting.

Last three snare hits muted (for variation) in every other loop, i.e. bar four

Now that your snare rhythm is swinging, literally, it’s time to add the dancey element. And when it comes to enticing people off their comfortable chairs, there’s no better remedy than a four-on-the-floor beat. If you’re new to that term, it’s simply a drum beat where the kick is on every 1/4 note beat. And usually the snare will be on beats 2 and 4 (i.e. a regular backbeat). While a four-on-the-floor drum beat is not very creative, it’s guaranteed to bring the dancey vibe to any song!

Right about now you may be thinking: But wait, we’ve already got a snare rhythm?! Yep, and this is where the French duo take their drums to a whole new level…

They have two snare drums playing simultaneously! And not only do the two snares have very different rhythms, but they also have very different sounds.

FYI: this beat will make most drummers angry (i.e. “How many freakin’ arms do you think I have?!”), so if you have a drummer friend, please don’t ask them to play this.

Four-on-the-Floor drum beat added (highlighted)

Okay, so if you thought the previous step was a drummer provoker, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! We’re about to add hi-hats. But, one hi-hat isn’t enough for these ambitious Frenchmen. Yep, they also have two hi-hat rhythms playing. Madness!

They actually start with only one, but then when they wanna build up the energy, they bring in their second hi-hat rhythm. So let’s get the first rhythm written now, which will be played on the closed hi-hats (see MIDI screenshot below).

They have a relatively simple swung rhythm on the closed hats, with a couple rests.

You can go for something with more variation if you want, but be careful not to have a closed hat rhythm that’s too complex, as that will fight for your listeners’ attention. Remember, there’s only enough space in the spotlight for one element!

Also, be sure to have a slightly different closed hat rhythm in your second bar. Once again, though, don’t make the variation too noticeable. Simple is best here.

Closed hi-hat rhythm added (highlighted)

What you have now is your main drum beat. However, as you build up the energy in your other instruments throughout the song, you’ll wanna ramp up your drums too. And that’s when Matt and Tony introduce their second hi-hat rhythm, which is played on the open hi-hats. That swoosh sound of open hats is great for energy!

If you look at the MIDI screenshot below, you’ll see that we’re well into the realm of drummer impossibilities now. Not only are there moments where the closed and open hats are played together (which is impossible on most drumkits as they only have one set of hi-hats), but there are also moments where the drummer’s need for two hi-hats would be the least of their problems, as they’d also need three arms! A couple examples of this can be found on beats 2+ and 3+ in bar one.

Okay, so now that we’ve thoroughly annoyed most drummers (which, I confess, is one of my hobbies because my big brother is a professional drummer), let’s write our second hi-hat rhythm.

These Frenchmen may be wildly ambitious, but they certainly know when to balance complexity with simplicity. And that’s exactly what they do with their open hats, which plays a super simple off-beat rhythm on beats 1+, 2+, 3+, and 4+.

Along with the flour-on-the-floor, this off-beat hat rhythm is another classic dance element. You can do something slightly more complex if you prefer, but once again, simple is best here. Too much variation in your open hat rhythm will result in it fighting for your listeners’ attention. And this beat is all about that Snare Thing!

And with that, you’re done. So, clear some space, hit play, and get dancing. Enjoy :)

Final beat (open hi-hats highlighted)

PS: Did you enjoy this tutorial? Do you want more “musical recipes” like this one? If so, we can keep you cooking up new music with our library of PDF Tutorials.

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

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Do your arpeggios all sound rather similar? It’s a common problem for producers.

Arpeggios are when you play a chord one note at a time, and it’s one of the best techniques for making your progressions more interesting. And while it’s definitely more rare to hear arpeggios than “block” chords in popular music genres, most of the arpeggios you do hear are rather boring. Merely playing chords one note at a time is not a foolproof way of making progressions more creative. If you want better arpeggios, you need to write an internal melody within them. Want even better arpeggios? Write two internal melodies, or maybe even three!

What are we talking about when we talk about “internal melodies”? Well, the melodies need to be formed from notes within the arpeggios, as opposed to writing a melody over the top of them. There’s obviously nothing wrong with doing that, but it will be heard as a separate melody, not as part of the arpeggios.

While there’s an abundance of genius examples of this in classical music, there are sadly not many to be found in popular music genres. If you’re into the rock side of things, Muse has plenty of creative arpeggios. Examples are even rarer on the electronic side of things, though, but Daft Punk comes to the rescue with their song “Motherboard” (check out their new “Drumless Edition” of this song, as it’s easier to hear the arpeggios). At 28 seconds into this track, the most beautiful arpeggios begin to sweep up and down. Despite their fast pace (i.e. 1/16 notes), they’re thoroughly calming due to their smooth, sweeping motion. And it’s not just the fast pace that makes their arpeggios so creative, it’s also their choice of notes.

So, inspired by “Motherboard”, here’s our 5-step method for writing sweeping arpeggios, which are guaranteed to stand out from all those boring, clichéd arpeggios. But first… Tea!

As arpeggios are simply broken up chords, the first step is to write a chord progression. So, set your tempo to 103 BPM, then create a four-bar loop and set your grid to 1/16 notes.

Daft Punk play their arpeggios on woodwind instruments, but we’ll get to that in the last step. For now, we actually recommend using a piano, for two reasons. Firstly, piano arpeggios are beautiful, so if you want, you can keep them on a piano sound (we did). Secondly, the piano has a much bigger range than any woodwind instrument, so you won’t be held back by not being able to play a note because it’s too high/low for that instrument.

Daft Punk’s arpeggios are in the key of E minor, so we’ll use it too:

E natural minor

1

2

♭3

4

5

♭6

♭7

Em

F♯dim

Gmaj

Am

Bm

Cmaj

Dmaj

Regarding what chords to choose. This PDF is all about arpeggios, so we’re not going to cover the “chord choice” topic. If you need help with writing better chord progressions, we recommend our Songwriting & Producing Course.

The only three guidelines we suggest are to choose four chords, avoid the diminished chord, and play the root chord somewhere (you don’t have to start with it, though). Here are the chords we chose for our progression:

Cmaj → Gmaj → Dmaj → Em

After you’ve chosen your four chords, draw in each chord’s root note for one bar.

Root note of each chord in progression

Just a heads up, those long root notes are just there for reference, they’re not going to be part of your final arpeggios (you’ll mute them in the last step). Having the root notes there while writing arpeggios is a super helpful hack, because it allows you to hear the interval/harmony between each note in your arpeggio and the root of that chord. This way you can hear if each note is conveying the right emotion.

Now, in this step you’re going to write the lower portion of your arpeggios. You see, sweeping arpeggios tend to cover a wide range. That’s what gives them their unique sound. Those boring, clichéd arpeggios that you hear most often usually only cover the range of each chord, which is almost always one octave or less.

The range of Daft Punk’s arpeggios is just over two and a half octaves, and the range of ours ended up being just over three octaves. Those are massive ranges! And that’s one of the most notable features of sweeping arpeggios.

As we mentioned in Step 1, writing this on the piano is ideal because not all instruments can accommodate huge ranges. We don’t know if this range issue was the inspiration behind Daft Punk dividing up their sweeping arpeggios between the clarinet and flute, but it sure is a beautiful outcome. The clarinet has a lower range than the flute, so their arpeggios start with four lower 1/16 notes on the clarinet, then the flute takes over and plays four higher 1/16 notes. So beautiful!

We decided to do three notes for the lower portion of our arpeggios, because it gives us five notes to navigate up to the climactic peak and back down again. However, please feel free to use Daft Punk’s four-and-four formula instead.

The lower portion of your arpeggio is going to be the first three (or four) 1/16 notes. So spend some time now experimenting with what notes you want to begin your arpeggios with. You’re going to use the same pattern for each chord, so make sure you really like the notes and their contour. We chose the (shockingly) simple pattern of 1, 2, 3, because we’ve got a trick up our sleeves that we’ll reveal below.

Lower portion (highlighted) of Cmaj arpeggio

This lower arpeggio portion needs to anchor it, so playing the root is a must. You don’t have to start on the root, but it’s not a bad idea. Daft Punk do, and so do we.

When you’re happy with your three/four notes, copy and paste them into beat 3.

And yes, you’re going to sweep up and down twice over each chord. There’s two reasons for this. Firstly, the repetition will help your arpeggios to be more memorable. And secondly, if you only did one sweep up and down in each bar, your range would be absolutely ridiculously gigantic! As we mentioned above, our final arpeggios ended up sweeping across three octaves in a mere two beats, so imagine the GARGANTUAN range you’d end up with if your arpeggios swept over four beats, instead of two. That’s definitely way too much of a good thing!

Now, here’s the trick we mentioned above. Instead of playing the same three/four notes in beat 3. Move them to create a variation. For the record, Daft Punk doesn’t do this in their song, it’s our little hack to add more melody into the arpeggios.

And to make things even more interesting here, we don’t start this second lower portion on the root note, we start on the 5. We then play the root, and then the 3.

Second lower portion (highlighted) of Cmaj arpeggio

When you’re happy with the second lower portion of your arpeggio, play the same pattern over your other three chords. Our lower pattern is: 1, 2, 3 and then 5, 1, 3.

Lower portion of Gmaj arpeggio

Lower portion of Dmaj arpeggio

Lower portion of Em arpeggio

Now that the lower part of your arpeggios is complete, it’s time for the upper part. Instead of writing this in one go, though, we’re going to divide it up. This allows us to bring more melody into the upper part, but we’ll get to that in the next step. For now, we’re focusing on the peak, which is where your arpeggios will reach their highest note. After that, they’ll begin their descent. High notes are attention-grabbing, so these peaks will stand out. Therefore, writing them first prevents us from getting distracted by the other high notes that’ll lead up to them.

So, choose two (or maybe three) notes that you like over your first chord. Your peak is going to happen in beat 2, and then again in beat 4. But, before you get too attached to the notes you’ve chosen, copy and paste them over the next two chords as well. In other words, you’re going to play the same two/three notes as your peak in bars one through three. That peak has to sound equally good over all three chords. If it doesn’t, try different notes. This is a brilliant hack of Daft Punk’s, as that repetition creates stability through all their fast-paced arpeggios.

We used F♯ and G as our peak notes. Over our first chord, Cmaj, the G is 5 and the F♯ is ♯4. Daft Punk plays the F♯ over Cmaj as well. We wanted to do that too, so we could share how clever this note choice is. You see, with their first chord being Cmaj, that ♯4 makes it sound like they’re in the Lydian mode*. This is a super clever and creative illusion, and makes their arpeggios instantly stand out!

*If you’re new to the modes, we recommend taking our Songwriting & Producing Course.

Peak notes over Cmaj

Peak notes copied and pasted (highlighted) into bars two and three

So what about the peak notes in your fourth bar? Well, Daft Punk use a double-hack in their fourth bar. They use different peak notes. This creates a variation, which keeps the listener’s attention. And, it becomes the climax of their arpeggios as well. So, your fourth bar is going to contain the highest two/three notes of all your arpeggios. Try to create a satisfying, concluding feeling with them too. Also, while Daft Punk uses the same notes for both peaks in their fourth bar, we used different notes. This adds even more melody into our arpeggios.

One thing to consider with your peak notes is to try a combination of harmonic notes (i.e. from the chord) and non-harmonic notes (i.e. not from the chord). If those concepts are new to you, here’s a couple of examples to demonstrate. Over the Cmaj chord, the harmonic notes are C (1), E (3), and G (5), because they’re in the chord. The non-harmonic notes over Cmaj are D (2), F♯ (♯4), A (6), and B (7).

If you only use harmonic notes for your peaks, it will sound boring. If you only use non-harmonic notes for your peaks, it will sound like you got lost in your own progression. And yes, as long as you use notes from the scale, they’ll all sound fine, but we’re not going for “fine” here, we’re going for jaw-droppingly beautiful. Lastly, leave space for at least one 1/16 note after each peak (for the next step).

Climax of peak notes (highlighted) over root chord, Em, in last bar

Now that we’ve got the top bit of our arpeggios written, as well as the complete lower part, we’re going to write a melody in between them.

This middle melody is probably our favourite thing about these arpeggios. Everything in these sweeping ascents and descents is beautiful, but this middle melody is like an extra special gem hidden amongst all that beauty. The reason for that is because you don’t notice it at first, but the more you listen, the more the movement of these middle notes begins to pop out as an independent melody.

For the record, this middle melody isn’t in the Daft Punk song, but we saw another opportunity to weave in even more melodic material to our arpeggios, and we just couldn’t help ourselves!

So right after your peak notes (in that space you left open in Step 3), you’re going to add a note. Depending on how much space you have there, you may have to add two notes, as this needs to link up to the lower part of your arpeggios.

With this step, it’s essential to hear these middle notes as a single melody across the whole four-bar loop. So, start by adding the middle notes over your first chord in bar one. As you move on to each new chord, though, be sure to keep listening to the entire four-bar loop. If you don’t, you’ll lose the context of these middle notes forming an independent melody. It’s a tricky step, because you need to find notes that sound good harmonically over each chord, while also sounding good melodically. Take your time finding these notes.

Over Cmaj we chose E and D, which are the 3 and 2 respectively.

Over Gmaj we chose D and A, which are the 5 and 2 respectively.

Over Dmaj we chose A and G, which are the 5 and 4 respectively.

Over Em we chose G and E, which are the ♭3 and 1 respectively.

Once again, notice the combination of harmonic and non-harmonic notes. Each chord has one of each, other than our final chord, which is the root, Em. Over that chord we chose two harmonic notes, as we wanted a strong conclusion.

Final middle melody (highlighted)

Let’s wrap this up. As you can see in your MIDI, the only missing bits in your arpeggios now are in between your lower part and the peaks. So let’s link ‘em up!

Depending on how many notes you used in the previous steps, you’ll only need one or two to link them. Once again, use a combo of harmonic and non-harmonic notes. For example, over our first chord, Cmaj, we used C (1) and D (2).

While these links are important for creating a smooth and flowing contour, it’s not necessary for them to form an independent melody of their own. Your weave of melodic material is thick already, so these links only need to join everything up. Having said that, though, we don’t like wasting any opportunity to add more beauty, so…

As you can see in the MIDI below, we actually managed to create counterpoint* within our linking notes. We used two notes for these links. Each link’s first note forms a descending melody, while each link’s second note forms an ascending melody. This is subtle, but the counterpoint adds a depth that wasn’t there before.

*If you’re new to counterpoint, that’s also covered in our Songwriting & Producing Course.

Link notes (highlighted)

Your arpeggios are now complete. All that’s left is to decide how you want to play them. If you’ve fallen in love with them as piano arpeggios (like we did), then simply mute those long root notes at the bottom, and you’re done!

Otherwise, if you’d like to play your arpeggios on woodwind instruments like Daft Punk, then duplicate this track a couple times. On the one track, delete the low arpeggios and select a flute to play the remaining high arpeggios (the flute’s range is high). Then on the other track, delete the high arpeggios and select a clarinet to play the remaining low arpeggios (the clarinet’s range is lower than the flute’s). 

And with that, you’re done.

So sit back, hit play, and enjoy your sweeping arpeggios that are not only jaw-droppingly beautiful, they’re also gonna stand out from all those boring, clichéd arpeggios!

Final arpeggios, with low and high parts (highlighted) played on different instruments

[long root notes below are muted]

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2620271/memorable-bass

Yes, your lead melody is important. But a great bass line has the power to make or break a section. Despite that fact, though, most producers approach their bass as an afterthought. Think about it. How many songs’ bass lines can you remember?

Almost all the bass lines we hear in the new releases each week are not really bass lines, they’re bass frequencies. If a producer merely plays each chord’s root note as their bass line, that’s not a melody (“line” is just an informal word for melody).

In order for it to be a bass line, it needs to be an actual melody. We’re obviously not saying that your bass should play a catchy melody like you’d want on the lead synth or vocals. But, it does need to contain the characteristics of a well-written melody, which will also make it memorable. And that’s a good test for yourself. The day after you’ve been writing, can you remember the bass line in your head?

A great example of a super memorable bass line, which doesn’t steal any attention away from the lead melody, can be found in the song “So Easy” by Norwegian electronic duo, Röyksopp. If you haven’t heard this song, have a quick listen, it’s the opening track on their brilliant album “Melody A.M.” from 2001. The song actually begins with both their bass line and lead melody playing, and while the lead is crazy catchy, the bass below is 100% memorable as well, without ever taking any attention away from the lead melody. It’s truly brilliant!

In this PDF you’ll learn the characteristics that make their bass line so memorable, as well as our 4-step method for writing memorable bass lines. But first… Tea!

Set your tempo to 104 BPM and leave your time signature on 4|4. Then create an eight-bar loop on your bass track, and set your grid to 1/16 notes. When you analyse Röyksopp’s bass line, one of the most obvious characteristics you’ll notice is that half of it isn’t there, or so it seems. In other words, they use a ton of rests! So many, in fact, that their bass line consists of about half notes and half rests.

That’s a rather counterintuitive approach to bass, as it’s the foundation upon which the music is built. If half your foundation isn’t there, then surely you’re heading for trouble, right? Nope. Their clever use of rests ensures their bass line stands out because it’s different. But, as it’s not even there half the time, it’s not taking attention away from the lead melody. On that note, their lead is the opposite. It consists of longer connected notes, with no rests other than where they phrase it.

Okay let’s get to it! So you’re gonna start by writing a two-bar rhythm on C, the root note. But remember, you want about half of it to be rests. Also, all the notes should be short, so use a combination of 1/8 notes and 1/16 notes. And don’t be shy with the syncopation! If you play too many notes on the beat, it’s going to sound stiff and rigid. Those off-beat accents are gonna bring your bass line to life.

Two-bar rhythm on root note, C

When you’re happy with your lively two-bar rhythm, copy and paste it into bars three and four. Now, delete beat 4 in the fourth bar. You’ll find out why in Step 4.

Two-bar rhythm copied and pasted (highlighted) with beat 4 in fourth bar deleted

Then for variation, make one tiny change to a note towards the end of bar four.

Tiny rhythmic variation created at end of fourth bar (highlighted)

The next thing you’ll notice about Röyksopp’s brilliant bass line is that it begins with three punchy on-beat root notes, before taking off to a bunch of other notes.

They repeat this pattern every two bars. That anchors the bass line into their key’s root note, as well as providing a rhythmic anchor. Every couple bars their bass briefly anchors melodically (to the root) and rhythmically (to the beat), before it ventures off to explore. And that exploration creates a melodic “arc” (i.e. contour), which we’ll get to in Step 3.

For now, you’re gonna select the first few notes at the beginning of bar one and bar three to function as your anchor. You can choose two, three or four notes, but don’t do more than that, otherwise you won’t have many notes left for your arc.

So, keep your anchor notes on C, then move all the other notes an octave higher. This separation is just a sketch for now. We’ll move those high notes into their arc in the next step. Even though your bass line is currently playing the root only, it should still sound energetic and full of potential. If it doesn’t, perhaps you’ve got too many anchor notes. So try a different combination of anchor and arc notes.

Bass line separated into “anchor” and “arc” notes (highlighted)

Currently your bass line is still pretty much a rhythm, but this step will transform it into a memorable melody!

As you can see from the MIDI above, you’re going to have two different arcs. Your first arc will start towards the end of bar one, and finish at the end of bar two. As always, you can do whatever you want, but here are a few guidelines:

Use a huge range. You don’t have a lot of notes here, and there’s a bunch of rests already. So to increase the impact of those few notes you have, be sure to cover a big range from your lowest to highest notes. Röyksopp’s bass line has a whopping range of 17 semitones, which is absolutely massive! We did the same, as the impact this makes is phenomenal. We encourage you to try to make your arc this high too.

Also, large intervals are great, and essential in order to cover a range of this size. But, try to make your contour as smooth as possible. In other words, in between those big jumps, use as many small intervals as you can. This will ensure it sounds like a cohesive and flowing melody, not like a cat jumping around on your bass.

And by the way, Röyksopp uses the C Dorian mode here, so we’ll use it too.

C Dorian mode

1

2

♭3

4

5

6

♭7

C

D

E♭

F

G

A

B♭

There’s two vital caveats, though. Don’t use E♭ (♭3) in your arc. You can use all the other notes, but not E♭. Not yet. You’ll find out why in Step 4. It’s a brilliant hack! Also, be sure to use B♭ (♭7) in your arc. If not your first one, then definitely your second. You’ll find out why in Step 4 too. It’s a super creative twist in the tale.

Bass line with first “arc” written (highlighted)

Right, now it’s time to write your second arc, which will start towards the end of bar three and finish at the end of bar four. And same thing here. To create a flowing melodic contour, use a combination of big and small intervals. That’s the only way to cover such a large range in a smooth way. Röyksopp actually repeats their first arc here with a little variation. You can do that too, if you want.

We decided to use this second arc as an opportunity to turn our two-bar melody into a four-bar melody. We did this by writing a similar arc to our first one, but using slightly different notes. This means that when bar three comes around, our listeners are expecting a repeat because it starts out the same as bar one (with those three roots), but then it goes somewhere new. And not just somewhere new, it goes to our highest note, i.e. our climax. Now our melody is four bars long!

This addition is a great hack for extending a melody’s longevity, as the shorter a melody is, the quicker it will become boring. If you also decide to do this, though, then use a motif (i.e. a short idea) from your first arc to write your second arc. We repeated the descending three-note motif from our first arc, but in our second arc we started it a note higher. This creates repetition and variation at the same time.

Bass line with second “arc” written (highlighted)

Okay this is the step where your bass line is gonna be magically catapulted to a whole nother level! Yes, it’s sounding good already, but with the hacks in this step it’s gonna become truly memorable. So what makes something memorable? Well, it has to stand out in some way, as our brains are hardwired to notice unusual things.

I always use the example of names. If you meet someone and his name is Dave*, it’s much easier to forget their name than if it was Spatula. And yes that’s a name. My brother went to university with a guy named Spatula. True story! That was over 20 years ago, and I never even personally met him, but how can you ever forget a dude called Spatula?! Alright, are you ready to Spatula-up your bass line?

*If you’re David, we’re sorry for using your name as an example, but please know that Davids are especially important to us, as that’s the most common name in our Apprentice Network.

Firstly, copy and paste your four-bar bass line into bars five through eight.

Four-bar bass line copied and pasted (highlighted) into bars five through eight

Now, do you remember in Step 1 when you deleted the notes in beat 4 of bar four? Well, you just pasted that gap into your eighth bar, and that’s where a little magic is gonna happen now. So, add some notes in there. If you have space in beat 3 too, start there. Whatever you do, be sure to end on an 1/8 note on E♭ (♭3).

Small variation added to end of bar eight (highlighted), ending on E♭

You’re obviously wondering what’s up with having to end on the ♭3 (E♭)? So do you remember in Step 3 where we told you not to use E♭ in your arcs? Well, your bass line doesn’t play the mode’s 3rd note until the very end. And as you know, the 3rd note is what determines whether something is in the major or minor family.

So what does this mean in a practical sense, for your listeners? They’re gonna be (subconsciously) feeling your bass line as more Mixolydian* than Dorian. Well, until the very last note, when suddenly… Surprise! You pull the rabbit out the hat and reveal that your bass line is actually in Dorian. This magic trick creates modal ambiguity, because until that last note, your bass line could be in either mode.

*Need to brush up on the modes? Use our 3 hacks in the Songwriting & Producing PDF.

You see, the major 3rd is more consonant than the minor 3rd, so if you don’t play any 3rd note at all, your listeners’ brains will automatically fill in the major 3rd (in their imaginations). It’s like if I write the incomplete word: computr. Your brain has no problem filling in the missing vowel (e) and reading the word “computer”. Same with scales/modes. If there’s a missing note, our brains will fill it in with the most consonant option. So, your listeners will be imagining a major 3rd all the way through (i.e. C Mixolydian), but then on the very last note, BOOM! It’s Dorian.

The only difference between Dorian and Mixolydian is their 3rd note:

C Dorian mode

1

2

♭3

4

5

6

♭7

C

D

E♭

F

G

A

B♭

C Mixolydian mode

1

2

3

4

5

6

♭7

C

D

E

F

G

A

B♭

Quick disclaimer. Röyksopp actually plays E♭ (♭3) in their melody over the top, so our ears do in fact hear their bass line in a Dorian context. But, it makes for a way cooler hack to start our song with only bass and drums, so the ♭3 is a big surprise!

Lastly, on top of that magic trick, Röyksopp also borrows a note from the parallel Ionian mode (i.e. C major scale). If you’re new to the term “parallel”, it’s just the fancy word for another mode with the same root. And we call this borrowed note “non-diatonic” (or “chromatic”), which means it’s not in the scale/mode we’re in.

Röyksopp plays B, which is the major 7th, and acts to further muddy the modal waters. Playing that major 7 (B) helps to trick the ear into thinking the 3rd will also be major. It’s brilliant! As we mentioned above, though, they spoil the surprise by playing the minor 3rd in their melody over top, but if you start with only bass and drums, this major 7th will really trick your listeners into expecting the major 3rd.

So, somewhere in your bass line, move two or three notes to the 7 (B). We moved three notes that were on B♭ up to B. If you also have a bunch of B♭ notes, you can do that too, but leave at least two or three on B♭. With that, you’re done! Sit back, hit play, and enjoy your memorable bass, also known as Spatula music ;)

Final bass line with borrowed 7 (highlighted) from parallel Ionian mode, i.e. C major scale

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2591466/suspenseful-melody

The dictionary definition of suspenseful is “causing a feeling of excitement or nervousness because you are waiting for something to happen”.

That perfectly describes the intro of “Tubular Bells - Pt. I” by Mike Oldfield.

It’s easy to hear why The Exorcist (1973) director William Friedkin chose this music for his film. Recall that classic scene where Chris starts walking home alone as the “Tubular Bells” intro begins. Eeek! Talk about “waiting for something to happen”.

If you wanna make music that keeps people listening because they need to know what happens next, then knowing how to create suspense is essential. Mike Oldfield has given us a masterclass with this music. So, inspired by “Tubular Bells”, here’s our 4-step method for writing a suspenseful melody. But first… Tea!

One of the first things we notice about the intro of “Tubular Bells - Pt. I” is that it’s in an odd time signature. If you count along with that piano part in the intro, you’ll count 15 beats. So, change your DAW’s time signature to 15|4 and set the tempo to 150 BPM.

On closer analyses of the piano part (i.e. where its melody repeats), it becomes apparent that the time signature is actually one bar of 7|4 followed by two bars of 4|4. But as that adds up to 15|4, we’ll just go with that to keep things simpler.

Next, create a one-bar loop of 15|4 on your piano track, with the grid on 1/8 notes. We’re gonna start by writing a rhythm on E (the root), using only 1/8 notes and 1/8 rests. You can do whatever you want, but don’t play more than two notes in a row. Also, only make your rhythm seven 1/4 notes long, i.e. one bar of 7|4.

7|4 rhythm (on E)

Now it’s time to turn this rhythm into a melody! Mike Oldfield uses the E natural minor scale for this piano part, so we’ll use it too.

E natural minor scale

1

2

♭3

4

5

♭6

♭7

E

F♯

G

A

B

C

D

You may be wondering why F♯ (2) is in red. That’s because it’s out-of-bounds! Yep, you can’t use that note in your melody. Why? Well, we’re gonna create some suspense all of our own here, as we’re not revealing the reason for this until Step 4. One more tiny guideline here. If you wanna use E, use the high octave (i.e. the 8).

Without the F♯ (2) you still have six notes, which is plenty, so write your melody by using all the usual elements, like a big range and a smooth contour. Need help with this? Use the Melody Checklist in our Songwriting & Producing PDF.

7|4 rhythm turned into melody, by moving notes to different pitches of E minor

When you’re happy with your melody, then copy and paste it (starting at beat 8).

7|4 melody copied and pasted (highlighted)

That gives us 14|4, so extend your melody by one note to complete the 15|4 bar.

Note added (highlighted) to end of melody, completing bar of 15|4

Now that you have the full melody, you can hear that it’s a 7|4 melody looping, except the loop has an extra beat that makes it eight 1/4 notes long (i.e. two bars of 4|4). That odd-time element from Step 1 has now become very noticeable!

7|4 melody looped, with looped version (highlighted) transformed into two bars of 4|4

The interesting takeaway here is that alternating between an odd time signature (7|4) and an even time signature (two bars of 4|4) makes the melody sound more odd. It seems counterintuitive, but the melody would actually sound more normal if it was exclusively in 7|4. The reason for that is because our pattern-loving brains will figure out an odd time signature after a few loops, and then get used to it. Therefore, alternating back and forth prevents us from adjusting to the odd time. So thanks to those 4|4 bars, the 7|4 continues to sound odd every time we hear it.

This is the final piece of the piano part, and it’s the easiest. Simply draw in the root note (E) in all the rests. This drone on E creates two layers in your piano part, which not only adds depth, it also adds tension between the melody and its root.

Final piano part, with drone on root note (E) highlighted

Now that you’ve finished your piano part, you can have some fun with the orchestration by duplicating the track, then changing its sound (and octave). As this piano part is at a super high register, you can lower it by an octave on the duplicated track, then change the sound to a glockenspiel or anything suspenseful.

That’s enough suspense! It’s finally time to reveal why you couldn’t play F♯ in your piano part, back in Step 2. This is gonna be pretty shocking! So, are you ready for a massive twist in the tale of this tutorial? Okay, here it is…

You’re actually not in the key of E minor, you’re in A minor.

WTF?! I know, right? That shocked us, too! This magic trick of Mike Oldfield’s is probably our favourite element of “Tubular Bells - Pt. I”. Let’s explore it in depth.

After the piano part has been playing for 50 seconds and the key of E minor has been well and truly established by the piano’s drone on E, Mike Oldfield brings in the bass guitar. But, the bass plays a drone on A for almost five 1/4 notes. WTF?!

Bass drone on A (highlighted) below piano part, which is muted and just there for reference

In building architecture, the lowest floor is the foundation. Same with music. The lowest instrument is the musical foundation. All the other instruments are like the floors built above. So, that A drone in the bass reframes the music around that keynote, which results in the listeners perception shifting as soon as the bass starts.

However, Mr Oldfield has one more magic trick up his sleeve…

A natural minor scale

1

2

♭3

4

5

♭6

♭7

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

But first, you’re probably wondering why the F (♭6) is in red. And don’t worry, we won’t make you wait for the answer this time. The F is out-of-bounds, too. Why? Well, as you can see if you compare the A minor and E minor scales, they only have one note difference between them. A minor has F, and E minor has F♯. The two keys are very “close” to each other, because they have six notes in common.

So by avoiding F♯ in the piano and F in the bass guitar, all the music consists of the six common notes. And as the piano part drones on E while the bass line drones on A, it actually sounds like the music is in both keys at the same time!

You see, if the bass played F, it would make everything sound like it’s in the key of A minor, because the bass guitar is our foundation. So, as long as the piano avoids F♯ and the bass avoids F, the music sounds like it’s in both keys simultaneously. This causes a lot of tension, and therefore, suspense. What a brilliant magic trick!

By the way, playing in two keys at the same time is called bitonality. Theoretically, it could be argued that “Tubular Bells - Pt. I” is not bitonal, because neither the piano nor the bass solidifies what key they’re in. But, the effect is certainly bitonal.

Right, let’s finish up the bass line now. So, in your bass guitar track, draw another longer note under the beginning of your looped 4|4 melody (i.e. from beat 8 onwards). These longer notes function as root notes of the implied chords in your progression. In other words, while you don’t have an actual chord progression here, these longer notes in your bass line create the equivalent harmonic effect. To learn all about implied chords, read our Melodic Bass Drop PDF.

Mike Oldfield’s implied progression consists of two chords, so feel free to keep it simple like that. We added a little more harmony, cos, well… we love harmony!

Longer notes added to bass line (highlighted) to create implied chord progression

When you’re happy with your implied chord progression, simply link up the longer notes with a variety of shorter notes. But remember, avoid playing that F, and also, be sure to give your bass line a big range and a smooth melodic contour. And with that, you’re done. So click play, sit on the edge of your seat, and feel the suspense!

Final bass line, with shorter “linking” notes highlighted

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2579130/tech-drums

If you’ve been in the Hack Music Theory family for a while, you’ll know we love technical drum beats! And there probably ain’t nothin’ more tech’ than polymeters*. While polymeters were relatively popular with those bold “modern classical” composers of the early 20th century, they haven’t been used much since then.

And yes, over the last few decades there have been a few rare examples of polymeters in popular music. But, it wasn’t until a group of hairy Swedes with exceptional talent (otherwise known as Meshuggah) came along and re-popularised the polymeter.

What made Meshuggah’s polymeters unique, though, is their genius idea of having their drummer’s hands (snare & cymbals) play in 4|4 as the one time signature, while his feet (kick) play in an odd time signature, like 17|16.

The genius of the Meshuggah method is that listeners can nod (or mosh) along to the 4|4 time signature, while the odd time signature slithers around unpredictably. The brilliance of this can’t be overstated. They created a way to play in odd time while the audience dances in 4|4.

To get an idea of how weird odd time signatures sound without this method, listen to “March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails. They alternate three bars of 7|8 with one bar of 4|4. And while we love this song, you have to have a relatively high level of music theory knowledge just to be able to dance along to it. That’s obviously not ideal for the average listener. Also, 7|8 isn’t even that weird. Meshuggah uses far weirder time signatures! But, because they’re playing them against 4|4, you can dance along.

Meshuggah’s method has become a favourite for prog/tech bands over the last couple decades, and TesseracT are one of them. Their new album “War of Being” kicks off with a great polymeter (in the track “Natural Disaster”) which finds them adding a few creative twists to Meshuggah’s method.

So, inspired by “Natural Disaster”, here’s our 6-step method for making technical polymetric drum beats. But first… Tea!

*If you’re new to polymeters, it’s the term for playing in two (or more) time signatures simultaneously.

When it comes to the Meshuggah polymeter method, the one time signature is usually 4|4 played by the drummer’s hands (snare and cymbals), so that’s where we’re gonna start. And this is where TesseracT brings their first creative twist to the table. This type of polymeter almost always loops every eight (or sixteen) bars of 4|4. However, TesseracT loops their polymeter every four and a half bars!

So, set your DAW’s time signature to 4|4. Then, create a loop on your drums track of four bars and a bar of 2|4 at the end, making the polymeter’s loop a total of eighteen 1/4 notes. And for this step you can set your grid to 1/8 notes.

If you look up the tempo of this song online at one of the many BPM websites, they say the tempo is 165 BPM. But, the pulse of this song (measured in 1/4 notes) is clearly half that, so set your tempo to 82.5 BPM. It might not seem like that’ll make any difference, but at 165 BPM all the notes values will be twice as fast as their normal range. For example, a 1/4 note pulse, which is the range your heart beats in when it’s resting, will instead feel like you’ve just been for a really fast run!

Now, draw in 1/8 notes on your crash (or hi-hats, if you don’t want the section to sound heavy). Then, draw in a regular backbeat snare, which is on beats 2 and 4.

4|4 pattern consisting of 1/4 note pulse on crash and regular backbeat snare (highlighted)

Right, now it’s time to get this polymeter party started, so change your grid to 1/16 notes. TesseracT chose 17|16 for their odd time signature, so we’ll use it too. It’s a super fun time signature, because it’s only one 1/16 note longer than a bar of 4|4, so it feels like a slightly stretched out 4|4. Now, spend some time making a creative kick pattern in 17|16 (i.e. the pattern’s length is seventeen 1/16 notes). You can play two or three (or more) consecutive 1/16 notes, but be sure to leave some rests too, as that contrast will actually make your drums groove way more!

Kick pattern in 17|16

Okay so while that previous step was straight outta Meshuggah’s polymeter playbook, this step is a creative addition (literally). Usually this is where you would copy and paste your 17|16 kick pattern all the way to the end. And honestly, that sounds really cool! However, when every song follows the same formula, it does get old. So just like Meshuggah have added countless creative twists to their own polymeter method, TesseracT have also brought their own flavour into the mix.

Start by copying your 17|16 kick pattern and pasting it on beat 1e of the second bar. Then if you have any kicks that fall on regular backbeats (beats 2 and 4) under the snare, mute those kicks. It sounds tighter when the snare doesn’t have a kick with it.

17|16 kick pattern copied and pasted (highlighted), with kick muted that coincided with snare

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s second bar]

Now, here’s the first TesseracT twist. Add one kick somewhere in your second bar.

One kick added for variation, making polymeter harder to follow

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s second bar]

Why add a kick? Well, two reasons. Firstly, it creates a little variation, which keeps things fresh. Secondly, it makes your original 17|16 kick pattern less recognizable, which makes the 17|16 time signature less rigid, so the polymeter sounds fluid.

Now, here comes the second TesseracT twist. They add an extra kick to the end of their 17|16 pattern, turning it into a 20|16 pattern. This is super creative. While the first twist made the original 17|16 kick pattern less rigid, the second twist goes so far beyond that, that the pattern isn’t even in the same time signature anymore!

You can do this like Tesseract, and add one kick to the end of your 17|16 pattern (in the third bar of 4|4), or you can add a couple kicks, it’s up to you. Just make sure that this second bar of your kick patterns adds up to 20|16 when you’re done.

17|16 kick pattern extended to 20|16 by adding one kick to the end (highlighted)

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s third bar]

Okay this step is proper quick and easy! Simply copy and paste your original 17|16 pattern into your kick’s third bar, which starts on beat 2e in the third bar of 4|4.

As usual, though, remember to check if you have any kicks that fall on snare hits. If you do, mute those kicks. That’ll keep your drums sounding tighter and neater!

17|16 kick pattern copied & pasted into third bar, with kick muted that coincided with snare

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s third bar]

The end is in sight. So, to finish out your drum beat, copy and paste your original 17|16 pattern. Polymeters can get confusing the longer you go, so just to confirm, make sure that you pasted your 17|16 pattern on beat 2+ of your fourth bar. And once again, if you have any kicks that fall on snare hits, mute those kicks.

Now, here’s the next TesseracT twist. If you count from the beginning of this 17|16 pattern (starting on beat 2+ of the fourth bar) to the end of your drum loop, you’ll notice there’s an extra 1/16 note. In other words, this last kick pattern is actually in 18|16.

Let’s take a minute to appreciate all TesseracT’s twists. Instead of their kick just repeating a 17|16 pattern, it’s ended up with almost every bar being different: a bar of 17|16, then a bar of 20|16, then a bar of 17|16 again, then a bar of 18|16. If you like maths, that’s a total of seventy-two 1/16 notes (i.e. eighteen 1/4 notes).

17|16 kick pattern copied and pasted (highlighted), with kick muted that coincided with snare

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s fourth bar]

To make the end of your kick pattern a stronger and more stomping ending, delete the kicks in your fifth bar (i.e. the bar of 2|4). Now, draw in kicks on beat 1+ and beat 2+. This simplicity after all that complexity will not only give your listeners a little breathing room to recover, but it’s also a heads-up that the loop is about to repeat.

Last two 1/4 notes of kick pattern are simple, revealing the cycle to listeners

[vertical red line shows beat 1 of kick’s fourth bar]

This step is the cherry on top. We’re gonna throw in a few accents on other cymbals. You can use another crash, a china, or even a ride or open hats. Start by accenting the first beat in each bar of your kick pattern, then add a few other accents for spice.

Accent every beat 1 of kick pattern with a cymbal (highlighted)

A few other cymbal accents (highlighted) added for interest

Yes this is a drums PDF, but TesseracT’s riff is so good that we just had to include a quick bonus hack about it. They use the half-whole diminished scale, which we recently taught in our Octatonic Riff PDF. Here are the notes and their spelling:

Half-Whole Diminished Scale

1

♭2

♯2

3

♯4

5

6

♭7

A

B♭

B♯

C♯

D♯

E

F♯

G

There’s a weird enharmonic there (i.e. calling the ♯2 a B♯ instead of just saying C, which is what it is in practice). There’s a good reason for that, but this is a big topic, so if you’re interested in learning this scale, read the Octatonic Riff PDF.

Now, if you wanna write a riff to go along with your drum beat, copy and paste your kick pattern into your bass track. But, remember to unmute all the kicks you muted because they fell on snare hits, otherwise you’ll miss some notes. You now have the riff’s rhythm. Next, move the notes up and down to fit the scale. And finally, boil the kettle, make a tea, and get ready for your very own polymeter party!

Riff in the half-whole diminished scale (riff’s first note highlighted for reference)

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

There are 7 elements that create a beautiful melody.

In this PDF tutorial you'll learn what they are, and how to use them!

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2554562/beautiful-melody

When I recently heard “Ray Of Solar” by Swedish House Mafia on Spotify’s “New Music Friday” playlist, the song’s beauty jumped out at me from amongst the almost 150 tracks that all seem to be sounding more and more alike each week.

And for the record, while I’ve heard the name Swedish House Mafia, I don’t think I’d ever listened to them before. In fact, I don’t even know if they’re from Sweden. I mean, you’d think the electronic duo Boards of Canada are from Canada, right? Wrong. They’re from Scotland! What?! Yep, it’s true. But I digress…

So, despite not being a Swedish House Mafia fan, the beauty of this song is undeniable. And as a result, we’ve ended up in the rare situation of making two tutorials on the same song.

In last week’s tutorial How to Write Beautiful Arpeggios (Free PDF) we taught our 6-step method for making a beautiful chord progression like you hear in “Ray Of Solar”. In this tutorial, inspired by the same section, you’ll learn our 7-step method for writing a beautiful melody.

And no, you don’t need to have done the previous tutorial, this one is completely independent. If you have, though, then you can write a melody for the beautiful arpeggios you made from that tutorial.

Alright, read on to learn the music theory hacks that create this undeniable beauty, and how you can use them to write your own beautiful melody. But first… Tea!

Before we get to the melody, we need to talk chords. All beautiful melodies either have chords accompanying them, or if it’s a solo melody, the melody itself will imply chords. For more on implied chords, read MELODIC BASS DROP (PDF).

So let’s start by choosing some chords for a progression. If you did the other Swedish House Mafia tutorial mentioned in the intro, then load up that file in your DAW. You can write this melody over those chords. If you didn’t do that tutorial though, no problem, you can just write an eight-bar chord progression now.

“Ray Of Solar” actually has a sixteen-bar chord progression, which is super rare. Most songs nowadays don’t even have an eight-bar progression! Four-bars is standard. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can write a sixteen-bar progression, but there’s no need for that, as eight bars is plenty for writing a beautiful melody.

So, set up eight bars of 4|4 with a 1/4 note grid, and your tempo at 135 BPM. Swedish House Mafia is in the key of F♯ minor, but we’ll use A minor instead, as it keep things simple because it’s just all the white notes. Here are the chords:

1

2

♭3

4

5

♭6

♭7

Am

Bdim

Cmaj

Dm

Em

Fmaj

Gmaj

You can use whichever chords you want, but start on the root chord (Am), as that will anchor your progression into the key. Here are the chords we chose:

Am → Cmaj → Dm → Em

Dm → Cmaj → Dm → Em

If you’re making a new progression, then four chords is all you need. We have eight chords because it’s our sixteen-bar progression from the previous Swedish House Mafia tutorial. We’ll only use the first half for now, though, then as a bonus (Step 8), we’ll show you what to do with your eight-bar melody if you’ve also got a sixteen-bar progression.

Right, so once you’ve chosen your chords, draw the root note of each chord on the grid. If you have four chords, start by drawing each root for two bars. But, it will sound better if they’re not all the same length. So keep a couple roots two bars long, but then make one root shorter (i.e. one and a half bars), and one root longer (i.e. two and a half bars).

If you’re writing a new progression, duplicate this track and draw in the full chords. Load up a warm pad sound on that other track with the full chords. That will make for a lovely accompaniment to your melody. Then on your melody track, mute the root notes, as they’re only there for reference while we write the melody.

Root note of each chord in our eight-bar progression (muted), for reference

Alright, it’s melody time! Well, kinda. You’re gonna start by first writing your melody’s rhythm. You see, one way to think of a melody is that it’s a rhythm with pitches assigned. By approaching it this way and starting with the rhythm, you’re tapping into a primitive musical element. That’s a powerful way to express yourself.

So, spend some time playing around with a two-bar rhythm. The rhythm Swedish House Mafia uses consists almost exclusively of a hypnotic 1/4 note pulse. However, they use one 1/2 note in their two-bar rhythm. This creates a beautiful balance between regularity and surprise, as you’re not expecting that 1/2 note.

We changed the rhythm, but used the same note values. Try it too, as there are actually so many different ways to arrange these six 1/4 notes and one 1/2 note. And just use the root note (A) to write your rhythm on.

Two-bar rhythm consisting of six 1/4 notes and one 1/2 note (highlighted)

Once you’ve written your two-bar rhythm, copy and paste it into bars three and four. One of the many clever hacks used in the “Ray Of Solar” vocal melody, is repeating a two-bar rhythm but changing the assigned pitches. In other words, the melody repeats every four bars, but its rhythm actually repeats every two bars.

Okay, so now that you’ve got your four-bar rhythm, you can start assigning pitches.

Two-bar rhythm copied and pasted (highlighted) to create four-bar rhythm

A motif is a short musical idea that you repeat in order to give your music structure, which in turn makes it more memorable. Swedish House Mafia uses a beautiful ascending 3rds motif. In other words, they start on the root (A), then go up a 3rd (to C). They then repeat this ascending 3rd motif from B up to D. And again, from C up to E.

So in this step, you’re gonna spend some time creating a motif of about four notes, which you’ll then repeat later in your melody. As always, it’s your music, so you can do whatever you want. The only guideline here is that it should be catchy. And funnily enough, it’s actually far easier to know what isn’t catchy! For example, playing four notes in a row ascending through the scale (A, B, C, D) is definitely not catchy. It sounds like someone practising scales, not playing a melody.

Making motifs is a really fun process, so play around with a bunch of different ideas and see what ends up sticking in your head. If it doesn’t stick, keep playing.

For our motif, we started on the emotional ♭3 (C), then went to the notes on either side of it - the 2 (B) and the 4 (D). Then to end our motif, we returned to the note we started on, the ♭3 (C).

Four-note motif (highlighted)

Once you’ve written your motif, you can repeat it later in your melody on different notes. But before you do that, you need to consider your melody’s range.

The range of a melody is the distance between its lowest note and its highest note. The vocal melody in “Ray Of Solar” has a range of way over an octave. In fact, it’s almost an octave and a half. That’s HUGE! Sadly, nowadays there aren’t many vocal melodies that even have a range of one octave. The huge range that Swedish House Mafia uses is probably one of the first things people notice (consciously or subconsciously) about their melody. It’s definitely a standout feature, so let’s use it.

You don’t need to use a melodic range as big as “Ray Of Solar” though, i.e. 17 semitones. Our range ended up being 15 semitones, but anything over an octave is plenty big. Especially if you or a friend is planning on singing this. A melody with a 17-semitone range is difficult to sing, so it’s a good way to lose your singer friends!

When you repeat your motif later in the melody, you want to do it somewhere else in your range. In other words, if your original motif is low, then go high with the repeat. If the original is high, then go low with the repeat. And if the original is in the middle, then you can go higher or lower with the repeat. But then be sure to reach in the opposite direction elsewhere, in order to extend your melody’s range.

Four-note motif repeated on different notes later in melody (highlighted)

Regarding those notes (on A) in your rhythm that you haven’t yet assigned pitches. We recommend muting them in this step, because they’ll interfere with listening to your two motifs. There are six of these notes (on A) in our melody, which we muted. This also helps with listening to the current range of your melody. But, don’t worry if it’s not quite big enough yet (i.e. an octave or more), as you can extend the range with those remaining notes, which we’ll assign pitches to next.

Current range of our melody is just over an octave, from B2 (highlighted) up to C4 (highlighted)

Please note that in the MIDI screenshot directly above, we muted the six notes (on A) in our melody that we haven’t assigned pitches to yet.

Six notes of our melody (highlighted) still need to be moved into place

Whatever number of notes you have remaining that still need to be assigned pitches (probably about six), it’s essential to use them mindfully. Because, you need to create a beautiful melodic contour, and it’s all up to these remaining notes.

As you can see from our melody above, there’s a massive jump in between the two motifs. Having a big interval in your melody is great, because a well-written melodic leap sounds epic! But, small intervals are essential in creating a smooth melodic contour that flows. Without a smooth contour, your melody will sound like a cat walked across the keyboard while you were recording. Don’t get me wrong, cats are beautiful, but their melodies aren’t.

Take your time with this step. It’s gonna feel like a puzzle, as you’ve only got a few notes left, but they’re going to make or break your melody. Remember, these notes actually have two jobs. Firstly, they need to create a flowing contour. And secondly, they need to extend your melody’s range (unless it was already big enough in the last step). When you get these notes locked into position, though, you’ll have that amazing feeling we get when popping the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle into place.

Six remaining notes assigned pitches (highlighted) to create smooth contour and extend range

Congrats! The hard work is done. You’ve got a beautiful four-bar melody. Now comes the easy part. Simply copy and paste your melody into bars five to eight.

Four-bar melody copied and pasted (highlighted) into bars five to eight

Now go ahead and hit play, but don’t make your second cup of tea yet, because it’s slightly too early to be sitting back and enjoying the fruits of your labour. That’s because there’s a very good chance one (or more) of the notes in your melody will clash with the different chords in bars five through eight.

And when we say “clash” here, we’re not talking like Stravinsky’s “Rite Of Spring”, which was so dissonant it caused a riot at its premiere in 1913. No. All the notes you’re using are from the key of A minor, so it won’t clash badly, but it may be a subtle clash. But, that’s enough to ruin the beauty you worked so hard to create.

So, listen through to your melody in bars five to eight, and check if any notes aren’t sitting quite right over the different chords. Highlight those notes, then move them up or down until the beauty is restored. This little variation in the melody creates even more beauty, as it’s not repetitive now.

For the record, Swedish House Mafia don’t do this, as they don’t have any clashes. As a result, their melody is copied and pasted with no variations.

In our melody, the second last note in bar eight (C) didn’t sound great over the Em chord. That’s because C is the ♭6 of Em, so it clashes with the 5 (B), as they’re a semitone apart.

This was an easy fix, though. We just moved that C one semitone down to B, and the beauty was back, with interest, thanks to this variation!

C moved one semitone down to B (highlighted), to fix clash

Now we’ve just gotta put the finishing touches on, then you’re ready for your second cup of tea and the final playthrough. So, change your grid to 1/8 notes, and let’s give your melody some room to breathe, literally. This is called phrasing.

A lot of producers think phrasing is only for singers, as they need rests in the melody so they can breathe. And while it’s true that a synth (or cello, piano, guitar, etc.) doesn’t need to breathe, instrumental melodies still benefit from phrasing.

So, to add phrasing to your melody, sing along with it, and where you naturally take a breath, create a rest. You do this by simply shortening the note (by an 1/8 note). We did this on our longer notes, and that may be a good place for you, too. Because, shortening a 1/2 note still leaves a longer note, but shortening a 1/4 note leaves a short staccato-like note, which sounds abrupt. However, that may sound cool, depending on your melody. So, this is entirely between you and your melody.

The most important thing with phrasing is to make it sound natural, i.e. it should make your melody sound like it’s being sung, even if it’s being played on a synth.

Three of our four longer notes shortened to create places to breathe (highlighted), i.e. phrasing

Lastly, if you’re working over a sixteen-bar chord progression (like we are), then copy and paste your eight-bar melody into bars nine to sixteen.

Now, repeat the hack from Step 6, where you check for clashes over the different chords. And if you have any clashes, highlight those notes, then move them up or down to notes that work better over those chords.

We didn’t have any clashes in our melody against the different chords in bars nine to sixteen. So for our example, this step consisted of an easy copy and paste job.

Right, now you can put the kettle on, as your creation is ready for its debut. Then sit back, sip slowly, and savour every moment of your beautiful melody.

Eight-bar melody copied and pasted (highlighted) over second half of sixteen-bar chord progression

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2551818/beautiful-arpeggios

If you play all the notes of a chord simultaneously, you’ll create an instant emotion in your listener. This is a powerful technique, and the most common way to play chords. While allowing a chord to unfold and reveal its emotion one note at a time is arguably less powerful, in the right context, it can be even more beautiful.

One such context is the new single “Ray Of Solar” by Swedish House Mafia. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to Swedish House Mafia before, and I don’t know anything about them, but when I was going through the new releases on Spotify, this song instantly stood out thanks to its beautiful arpeggio intro.

And yes, arpeggios are widely used, but they’re almost always boring. Most producers clearly don’t know how to be creative with arpeggios. And as Swedish House Mafia uses so many clever hacks to make their arpeggios creative, we simply had to share them with you.

So, inspired by “Ray Of Solar”, here’s our 6-step method for writing beautiful arpeggios that will definitely stand out. But first… Tea!

The first hack that Swedish House Mafia uses to make their arpeggios far more captivating than most other arpeggios, is an incredibly long cycle. Sixteen bars!

When listening through the new releases every week, it’s rare to hear chord progressions that are eight bars long, let alone sixteen. That long cycle draws you in, because it keeps on going, which in turn spikes your curiosity as you’re (consciously or subconsciously) trying to work out the pattern, i.e. when it repeats.

So, create a track for strings or pad. You can use whatever you want, as long as it can play chords. At the very end, when you’ve finished writing your arpeggios, you can change the sound to a solo cello, like in “Ray Of Solar”. Solo cello will make your beautiful arpeggios even more beautiful, but that’ll have to wait till the end.

Next, set up sixteen bars of 4|4 with a 1/2 note grid, and your tempo at 135 BPM. Swedish House Mafia is in the key of F♯ minor, but we’ll use A minor instead, as it keep things simple because it’s just all the white notes. Here are the chords:

1

2

♭3

4

5

♭6

♭7

Am

Bdim

Cmaj

Dm

Em

Fmaj

Gmaj

Now, spend some time choosing four chords you like. You can use whichever chords you want, but start on the root chord (Am), as that will anchor your progression into the key. Here’s the chords we chose: Am → Cmaj → Dm → Em.

Once you’ve chosen your chords, draw them on the grid (each chord for two bars), and also draw the root of each chord below it. You’ll know why in a few minutes.

Eight-bar chord progression with root note of each chord below (highlighted)

Now it’s time for the second hack that Swedish House Mafia uses to make their arpeggios standout. Instead of changing chords every two bars, they change to some chords in unexpected places (i.e. halfway through a bar). The surprise of this not only creates a more fluid and alive sounding progression, it also keeps the listener engaged due to its unpredictability. As always, you can do whatever you want here, but just be sure to keep your progression to eight bars (we’ll get to the other eight bars next). Here’s how long we played each chord for:

Am - two bars

Cmaj - one and a half bars

Dm - two and a half bars

Em - two bars

Progression with second chord shorted and third chord lengthened (highlighted)

Next, copy and paste your progression into the second half (bars nine to sixteen).

Chords copied and pasted into bars nine to sixteen (highlighted)

Right, here’s the third hack that Swedish House Mafia uses to make their arpeggios so beautiful. By simply moving the root chord (Am in our example) in bars nine and ten to another chord, they transform an eight-bar progression into a sixteen-bar progression. This is an awesome hack, as it’s so simple but so effective!

When bar nine arrives, the listeners are expecting the root chord again because they’re expecting the progression to loop. So when they get a different chord instead, their ears tell them the progression is continuing as opposed to repeating. And that different chord will surprise them so much that they won’t even notice the rest of the progression (bars eleven to sixteen) is actually an exact copy. Instead, they’ll perceive this as a sixteen-bar chord progression. It’s a brilliant hack!

So, spend some time now moving your root chord in bars nine and ten to a different chord. Don’t rush this chord choice. It can take a while to find the right chord, as it needs to sound good coming from the chord before, as well as going to the next chord. We chose Dm.

Chord changed in bars nine and ten (highlighted), which creates a sixteen-bar progression

Once you’ve found that chord, it’s time to delete all your chords. No seriously, I’m not joking. We’ve got far more fun things ahead than simple triads, so say goodbye to them. But, keep the root notes below each chord, as that’s your foundation.

Sixteen-bar chord progression with chords deleted, leaving only the root notes

Now that you’ve got a solid foundation for your progression, it’s time to build the roof. This consists of one note that sounds good over all your chords’ root notes. This common note will beautifully tie your progression together. We chose D.

Common note (highlighted) played over all the chords’ root notes

Now that you’ve built your foundation and your roof, it’s time to build the walls (i.e. the notes in between). While I wouldn’t recommend this method for building a house, it sure is a fun way to be more creative with arpeggios!

The hard work is already done, so this step is pretty easy. Simply play around with the notes of each triad. And remember, you don’t need to play the 5 of any chord. The root is essential, because it’s the foundation. The 3 is essential, because it determines the major/minor quality of the chord. But the 5 merely thickens the texture, which is nice, but not necessary. Also, if you don’t play the 5, that frees you up to play something else instead, like we did with our Cmaj, where we played two roots (see MIDI below).

What’s cool here, is that your “roof” note can result in a triad ending up as an extended chord. For example, in our progression, the “roof” note (D) turned our Cmaj into a Cmaj(add9) - for more on add chords, read Rhythmic Chords PDF.

Chords filled in (highlighted) between root notes below and common note above

Here’s a bonus Swedish House Mafia hack, which is totally optional. Where you’ve got a chord that’s longer than two bars, it may get boring. So, by playing the notes of that chord in two different positions (i.e. inverting it), you freshen up the chord.

If you’re new to inversions, it’s just playing the same notes but in a different order. If you want to use this hack, cut your long chord, then rearrange the notes in one.

We played two different positions of Dm7 - for more on 7th chords, read Rhythmic Chords PDF. We did this by cutting it and moving the A (5) down to D (1). This hack creates an illusion of changing chords due to the movement of notes, which is so clever, because the ear is tricked into thinking it’s a new chord, but it’s not.

Chord played for the longest duration is cut (highlighted) to rearrange notes

In the cut Dm7 chord, A (5) is moved down to D (1) [highlighted]

Now that you’ve finished the chords in the first half of your progression, copy and paste them into the second half. But, don’t copy your first chord, as that’s a different chord in the second half.

Chords copied and pasted into bars eleven to sixteen (highlighted)

And now you can fill in that gap with the “surprise” chord you chose in Step 3.

“Surprise” chord in bars nine and ten filled in (highlighted)

And if you want to spice up this surprise even more, you can use an inversion in this chord too. Use the same method as above. The chord is Dm7 in our progression, so we repeated the earlier Dm7 positions, which will give the listeners something familiar while also being surprised by a chord they weren’t expecting.

Chord in bars nine and ten cut (highlighted) to rearrange notes

The A (5) in our cut Dm7 chord is moved down to D (1) [highlighted]

Alright, this is the step you’ve been waiting for! So, sharpen your MIDI scissors, as they’re about to embark on a massive cutting job. First things first, though, change your grid to 1/8 notes. That’s the note value we’ll be using for our arpeggios.

Now (and this is super important), duplicate this track. Then on the duplicated track, delete the chords and keep only the root notes below. You can revisit this track later and add notes to it in order to turn this into your bass line. Next, on the original track, delete the root notes below and keep only the chords above them.

Root notes below are deleted, chords above remain (original track)

Also, feel free to duplicate your original track and play it the way it is (alongside your arpeggios). A warm pad sound on this track will provide a lovely harmonic backdrop for your arpeggios. This is what we did in our example.

Right, so there are numerous ways to slice up your chords into arpeggios. You can choose any of the options below and you’ll end up with beautiful arpeggios.

As there are four notes in each chord, to create pleasing arpeggios that are even in rhythm and duration (i.e. half a bar), you can start on the lowest note and ascend to the highest note - this is what Swedish House Mafia do in “Ray Of Solar”. Or, you can do the opposite. Start on the highest note and descend to the lowest note.

Those are the most common ways to play arpeggios. But, there are many other options too, like the arpeggio pattern we use. We start on our highest note, descend to our second highest note, then descend all the way to our lowest note, and then ascend to our second lowest note (see MIDI below).

You could also start on one of the middle notes. It’s totally up to you, so have fun playing around with the different options. The only caveat, though, is that whatever arpeggio pattern you choose, continue that pattern throughout your sixteen bars. This pattern will become familiar to your listeners, which will increase their enjoyment. The repetition is comforting, the chord changes are captivating.

And finally, change the sound on this track to a solo cello (if you want). Then sit back, click play, close your eyes, and enjoy your beautiful four-note arpeggios!

Final arpeggios, played on solo cello

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2536029/peaceful-piano

I’m just old enough that I got in my Grade 1 to 12 school years before computers and the internet took over. If you’re a Gen X like me, and there wasn’t a computer in your school building either, then our schooling experience was pretty much the same as our grandfathers’ schooling experiences in their youth. How crazy is that?!

And the deeper you go back into the past, the longer those stretches of time are where nothing changed. Fast forward to today, and robots are making music and cars are driving themselves! It’s not surprising that there’s a tidal wave of nostalgia sweeping industrialised countries. People are desperate to find anything that can lessen the unpredictable nature of this relentlessly-changing modern world.

For most people, an unpredictable world causes anxiety. And the opposite is true too: A predictable world causes calm. It’s totally understandable that this desperate desire to find some predictability in our world has resulted in “Peaceful Piano” being one of the most popular playlists on Spotify. Every track on this playlist creates a predictable musical environment, which counterbalances all the change.

If you’ve been in the Hack Music Theory family for a while, you’ll probably be amused right now, as I’ve spent decades teaching people how to make music that’s not predictable haha! Well, my views on music have evolved over the decades, and I now see (and hear) the benefit of well-written predictable music. For the record though, I don’t mean the manufactured “content” that makes up most of the new releases every week, I’m talking about artistic music that’s predictable, like Mozart.

One of the most popular composers in the Peaceful Piano “genre”, who’s been paving the minimal path since the mid-90s, is the Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi. So, inspired by “Experience”, one of Einaudi’s most popular songs, here’s our 5-step method for writing peaceful piano music. But first… Tea!

Set up four bars of 4|4 on your piano track, with the grid on 1/8 notes and the tempo at 80 BPM. If 80 isn’t peaceful enough for you though, go slower. Creating a peaceful atmosphere is all about slowing down from the fast-pace of modern life.

Bob Marley famously said: “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” That’s a great quote, and we love Bob, but we don’t want anything in our peaceful piano music to “hit” our listeners. And chords do exactly that, as the listeners hear all three (or more) notes together. Under regular listening circumstances, that’s a good thing, but not here. Our mission is to create a peaceful environment for listeners, and hitting them with three notes all at the same time is a lot of information and emotion to process, which is stimulating, not relaxing.

So, we’re going to be using arpeggios, which is just the fancy word for chords that are played one note at a time. Arpeggios allow us to convey the exact same emotion from the chord, but in slow motion. It’s like slowing down a fast-paced video on YouTube, you get the same thing, it’s just easier to digest and process.

There are numerous ways to play arpeggios. For example, you could simply play the 1, 3, 5 (e.g. C E G) in that order. That would work, but the notes are close together (i.e. close position), so that sounds more intense. Allowing space into the arpeggio by moving a note up an octave (i.e. open position) sounds more relaxed.

And that’s exactly what Einaudi does in the left-hand part of “Experience”: he plays the 1, then the 5, and then the 3 an octave higher. It’s a lovely voicing* for a triad, as the 3rd (the note that gives the chord its emotion) is the highest note, so it sings out above the others. That voicing would be a bit intense (for our purpose) if the notes were played together, but playing it as an arpeggio beautifully softens it.

*Voicing is the position of the notes in a chord. E.g. The voicing of a close position chord is 1, 3, 5. And to turn that into an open voicing, you could move the 3 an octave higher: 1, 5, 3 (8va). That 8va symbol is just the way of showing that the 3rd note is an octave higher.

Einaudi’s arpeggio voicing: 1, 5, ♭3 (8va)

We used the same open voicing for our arpeggio, except we play the ♭3 before the 5, so our arpeggio is 1, ♭3 (8va), 5. Playing the ♭3 right after the 1 brings the emotion into the chord sooner. There’s no right or wrong way, though, it’s up to you. You could even play the ♭3 or the 5 before the 1. That won’t have the same stability as playing the 1 first, but you could try it and see if you prefer that option.

Our arpeggio voicing: 1, ♭3 (8va), 5

By the way, our example is in the key of A minor, so that’s all the white from A to A. And like Einaudi, we’re also starting our progression on the root triad (in our example that’s A C E). Also, as this is the left-hand part, keep all the notes below C5, as you want to reserve the higher register for the right-hand melody (Step 4).

Right, now that you’ve got your arpeggio voicing, it’s time to infuse it with rhythm, which will bring it to life. Remember, the intention with this peaceful piano music is to create predictable order for our listeners, so they can let go of their anxiety.

With that in mind, we want to use a soothingly hypnotic 1/8 note rhythm, which is going to rock back and forth between the notes in our arpeggio.

To do this, go through your MIDI notes and cut them, so you end up with a pulsing 1/8 note rhythm. Be sure to only play one note on each 1/8 note beat (never two together, as that will be too intense), and don’t skip any 1/8 note beats.

Arpeggio with pulsing 1/8 note rhythm

Now that you’ve breathed life into this chord, you probably noticed one glaringly obvious problem: it sounds like a robot trying to lull a baby to sleep! Yep, there’s no dynamics*, which makes a peaceful piano arpeggio actually sound pretty awful.

So, to infuse it with a human touch, change the velocity of each MIDI note. We recommend starting by turning all the velocities down, as you don’t want any of your notes played at full volume. Then, keep the root note a little louder than the others. The fifth should be the softest note, and the 3rd is somewhere in between.

Also, if you want to move some of the notes slightly off the grid to give it a more human feel, that’s great, but do that at the very end, after you’ve finished writing.

Einaudi is a pianist, so he plays his own compositions. As a result, there are beautiful changes in dynamics (and tempo, too) in his recordings and performances. So, if you can play, or if you have a friend who can play, you could also give them the MIDI notation afterwards and record a real human playing it :)

Arpeggio with dynamics

*Dynamics are changes in volume between notes (and sections) that performers use for expression.

Alright, now we’re getting to the juicy bit: the chord progression. So, start by copying and pasting your root triad (Am) arpeggio into the remaining bars.

Am arpeggio copied and pasted (highlighted) into remaining bars

You’re going to choose three other triads from the key of A minor, though not the dissonant diminished triad. So here are your options: Cmaj, Dm, Em, Fmaj, Gmaj.

You can use whichever chords you like from that menu, and play them in whatever order you like. Simply move each arpeggio up or down to the root note you want. One small caveat, though. You copied and pasted a minor triad, so wherever you decide to play a major triad, you’ll need to move the ♭3 up one semitone to the 3.

Our progression is: Am, Fmaj, Gmaj, Em.

Chord progression: Am, Fmaj, Gmaj, Em

Right, now it’s time to write your right-hand part :)

This is where we’re veering off a little from Einaudi, as his melody mainly consists of two notes. There’s a fine line between a melody that relaxes, and a melody that bores. Each producer is different, and each listener is different. For us personally, we need more than two notes in a melody to keep us listening, but there are 363 million listeners to Einaudi’s song (on Spotify alone) who disagree with us.

Regardless of that mind-blowingly BIG number, we still invite you to use more than two notes in your melody, otherwise there’s a real risk of your peaceful music becoming background music. But (and it’s a big but!), we have to be extremely sparing with the amount of notes we use, otherwise we’ll end up stimulating our listeners’ brains, and that’s the exact opposite of what we’re trying to achieve.

Now, you’re going to write a one-bar melody over the Am in your first bar. The rhythm of your melody is going to be four 1/4 notes, which means you only have a couple of options for how many melodic notes to use. You can either use four notes, like we’ve done. Or you can use three notes, and repeat one of those notes.

Einaudi’s melody mainly consists of the 5 and ♭6, which is beautiful, as those notes are one semitone apart, so they create a lovely tension and release. We started our melody on the ♭6 (F), then we resolve that tension down to the 5 (E). We then mirrored than tension and release with the ♭7 (G) resolving up to the 1 (A).*

Right-hand melody (highlighted) over root triad in first bar

Once you’re happy with your one-bar melody, and you feel that you’ve found the sweet spot by relaxing and not boring your listeners, then copy and paste that melody into your second and third bars. Einaudi repeats the exact same one-bar melody while the chords change below it. This technique is deeply soothing, as the melodic repetition lessons anxiety, while the freshness of new chords engages us.

*Need more melody help? Use the Melody Checklist in our Songwriting & Producing PDF.

Melody in first bar copied and pasted into second and third bars (highlighted)

Lastly, it’s time to sprinkle in a few variations. Despite the freshness of new chords below our repeating one-bar melody, the listeners will still get bored if the melody doesn’t change somewhere. So, Einaudi creates a small variation in the fourth bar.

Once again, be extremely careful not to vary the melody too much. In our example, we’re right on that edge, as we changed the first two notes and also moved the third note (G) an octave higher, to create a climax for the overall four-bar melody. So, we only left the fourth note (A) in our main melody where it was previously. This is the maximum amount you’d want to vary your melody here.

We pulled off this amount of variation because the first two notes (C to B) mirror that beautiful one-semitone movement from F to E in our main melody.

Variation of melody in fourth bar (highlighted)

When you’re done with your fourth bar variation, copy and paste the whole four-bar loop. Then, somewhere in the second cycle (bars five to eight), cut a 1/4 note into an 1/8 note and two 1/16 notes. Then, move the 1/16 notes to create a little run. This will keep the listeners engaged through your second cycle. Also, for a more complete ending, change the last note (or two) of your melody in bar eight.

Variations in fifth and eighth bars (highlighted) of the second cycle

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

If the FREE BOOK link doesn't work, just visit our BOOKS page:
https://hackmusictheory.com/books

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2520762/calming-chords

Within seconds of hearing the opening chords in Portishead “Roads”, you can feel your cortisol levels dropping and your body’s tension releasing. This intro has to be one of the most calming moments in the entire popular music catalogue.

Unlike the mad rush that songs are in nowadays to grab your attention with a catchy hook (in order to avoid the dreaded skip!), the “Roads” intro unfolds at a pace so leisurely that it feels delightfully pre-internet. Aaah… Remember those days? Back when humans had attention spans longer than goldfish!

On that note. According to Spotify data, about 25% of listeners skip a song within five seconds. If those people skipped “Roads” a mere five seconds in, they wouldn’t even get halfway through the chord progression. Oh well, their loss.

In this dizzyingly fast-paced world, if you want to cater to the distracted listener, then it’s impossible to create a calming atmosphere, as that takes time. For almost the whole first minute of “Roads”, all your hear is the legendary sound of a Fender Rhodes organ. Rumour has it that the song is actually named after the Rhodes.

The vintage sound of a Rhodes organ obviously adds to the atmosphere, but in terms of music theory, what makes these chords so relaxing? Well, it’s not just one thing, it’s many! And in this tutorial you’ll learn them all, as well as our 5-step method for making your own calming chord progression. But first… Tea!

Before we get to Step 1, we need to set the scene. To ensure that our blank canvas is calm to begin with, we need to find a relaxing tempo. Breathe in, breathe out…

When we’re relaxed, our heart rate is usually between 60 and 100 beats per minute (BPM). As the BPM of music unconsciously affects our heart rates, the slower your song’s BPM, the more relaxed your listeners (and you) will feel, and vice versa.

Portishead chose 76 BPM for “Roads”, so we went with 76 too. But, feel free to choose a slower tempo if you want to relax your listeners (and yourself) even more.

If you have a slow tempo but your chords are changing every couple of beats, then your progression isn’t going to feel very calming. So, in the “Roads” intro, each chord is played for an entire bar!

This slow harmonic rhythm creates an illusion of the tempo being slower than it is. And by the way, harmonic rhythm is how long you play each chord for. In other words, where the chords change. The longer you spend on each chord, the slower the harmonic rhythm, and the more relaxed your chord progression will feel.

Another issue to consider is that if you play an uneven amount of chords (e.g. three or five), your listeners could unconsciously feel some tension. It’s the same with time signatures. If you write a progression in 3|4 or 5|4, you could unintentionally make your listeners feel uneasy, as they will be expecting the familiar 4|4.

Symmetry tends to calm us, so choose four chords for your progression. “Roads” is in the key of A minor, so we used it too. Our chords are: Am, Dm, Cmaj, Em.

If you’ve done my Online Apprenticeship, you’ll be wondering about the perfect 4th from A up to D, as well as E up to A. As you know, perfect intervals lack the emotional charge of other intervals. This actually makes them remarkably calming, so that’s why we’ve used them here.

Right, once you’ve chosen your four chords, draw in their root notes. And if you want a fuller sound, you can add the octave of each root note.

Root note (and its octave) of each chord in progression: Am, Dm, Cmaj, Em

If you play what you have so far, you’ll notice that the progression currently sounds disjointed, and separation certainly doesn’t feel calming. So, the next step is to create a unifying connection throughout your progression, which will make it flow beautifully. Unification feels comforting, and therefore calming.

The best way to connect your root notes is by adding a common note above them. A common note is just a note that’s the same between two chords. In other words, when you change chords, their common note doesn’t change.

The ultimate common note is one that you can stay on throughout your chord progression. That’s obviously not something you want to achieve in every progression, but to create a common thread that remains all the way through this chord progression will be deeply comforting, and therefore deeply calming.

The 5 is a great common note. In A minor, that’s E. The 5 of your key will work well over most chords in that key due to its strong relationship to the key-note (i.e. the first note of your scale).

Feel free to use a different common note, though. Choose the common note that feels most calming over the root notes in your progression.

Common note (highlighted) added above root notes

As you can tell, we’re building up our chord progression one note at a time, instead of jumping in with full chords. If we had drawn in the full chords in Step 1, it would be sounding like every other progression. But, the method in this tutorial is a melodic approach to chords, which is sadly rather rare in popular music genres.

Writing a progression in this way (by adding melodies on top of each other), is one of the most fun ways to liberate yourself from the confines of block chords.

When using full chords, it can often feel like whatever progression you write, it sounds similar to something you’ve written before. With this melodic approach to chords, though, there are so many more options. It’s a game-changer!

Right, in this step you’re going to add the third melody to your progression. This is arguably the most important, because it has a double function. Not only will it complete your chords, but it will also act as the “lead melody” of your progression. So, take your time writing this melody, as it’s a make or break step.

Use a few more notes in this melody, to breathe some life into the progression. However, if you use too many notes, that will ruin the calming atmosphere you’ve worked so hard to create.

Also, if possible, use a melodic motif.* We created a motif by repeating the first three notes (B, C, A) of our bar 1 melody in bar 3. This repetition makes our chord progression’s “lead melody” more memorable, which is always a good thing!

“Lead melody” (highlighted) added above common note

*A motif is a short music idea. Repeating it gives your music structure and makes it memorable.

As you can hear, your chord progression is already sounding great, so feel free to stop here. However, if you want to take it to the next level, then it’s time to add some spice. This step is about making your progression’s “lead melody” a little more interesting. As it’s a super simple melody (because we don’t want too many notes in it), there’s a risk of it getting boring. A sprinkle of spice will fix that!

Portishead do something really cool here, as they switch from A natural minor to A harmonic minor over the E chord in their progression. In other words, instead of playing Em, which is what you get in A natural minor, they play Emaj. To make this switch into harmonic minor over the E chord, they simply move the G to G♯.

This is such a tasty way to spice up the “lead melody”, that we used it too.

G moved up to G♯ (highlighted), which turns Em into Emaj

As you can hear, your chord progression sounds awesome now! But, if you’re still hungry for more, then this step is the cherry on top.

Your progression is made up of three melodies already, so adding a fourth melody will create complexity, which will ruin your calming vibe. So, instead of adding another melody, you’re just going to add one note in bar 2, and another note in bar 4. Both of these notes should be above your “lead melody”.

Just as we add backing vocals to a lead vocal for extra emphasis, you can think of these notes as “backing” for your chord progression’s “lead melody”.

Right, and with that, you’re done! Sit back, hit play, and enjoy your calming chords.

Final chord progression with “backing” notes (highlighted)

I know you want to be a confident producer who finishes songs, and loves the results. In order to become a confident producer, though, you need decades of knowledge and experience. To gain that knowledge, you need a good teacher. To gain that experience, you need decades of practice. That’s overwhelming!

I understand that searching for a good teacher is frustrating. Most courses are taught by YouTubers who are not qualified in music, and are not qualified teachers either. The few who are qualified in both, have no industry experience. I feel your pain. Truly. Most of my music teachers were bad. That’s why I studied music and education in order to become a lecturer, and why I created Hack Music Theory.

Also, over my 30+ years of composing, I developed a unique method called Song-Whispering, which I’ve used to make music with multiplatinum Grammy winners. In my one-of-a-kind online apprenticeship, you’ll learn my method and turbocharge your music with my decades of knowledge and experience.

Enroll Now and stop wasting years of your life learning from bad teachers and trying to get better through trial-and-error. Transform into the confident producer you would be in 10+ years now, and start loving your music!

Ray Harmony
Multi award-winning college lecturer, teaching since 1995


 

“Song-Whispering may be the single greatest concept ever!”
–Glynne Owen (Japan)

“I followed their YouTube for a while before taking their course. I wish I'd taken it sooner!”
–Sagar Saluja (India)

“I wrote the first song in my life that I actually like!”
–Anastasia Lucas (USA)

Lastly, are you new to music theory? Or are you experienced, but you want a refresher? Then download our FREE BOOK (link opens in new tab). It only takes 30 minutes to read, then you’ll have a solid theory foundation that you can instantly apply to your songwriting and producing. Enjoy!

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