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A standout drum beat can make or break a song. Want proof? Listen to the new Aphex Twin single “Blackbox Life Recorder 21f”.

He’s actually reversed the roles of the instruments in this song, as the melody, chords and bass step into the background while the drums take centre stage. In other words, if this song was played by a live band, the spotlight would be exclusively on the drummer. Drummers rejoice!

So, what makes the drums deserving of the spotlight? Well, compared to the “regular” beats you hear in most songs nowadays, Aphex Twin has added a whopping 5 standout features to his drum beat.

Each standout feature elevates Aphex Twin's drums to the next level, and in this tutorial you’ll learn all 5 levels of that standout-ness. But, these levels are totally independent (they’re not accumulative), so you can use only the levels that your song requires.

And remember, if you use all 5 levels, your drums will demand the spotlight too, so your other instruments will have to step back. If they don’t, you’ll have a fight on your hands, and no producer wants an instrument fight, not in your DAW at least.

Right, click the link below and subscribe to learn how to make your drums worthy of the spotlight. But first… Tea!

Before we can elevate a regular drum beat, we need that regular beat to start from. So, create a 4-bar loop on your drum track, with the grid on 1/8 notes and your tempo at 134 BPM.

Now, throw in a kick on beat 1 in every bar. Then, draw in a standard 1/8 note pattern on the closed hi-hats, and lower the velocity of every off-beat hit, so it doesn’t sound rigid. Lastly, add a regular backbeat snare to each bar, which is on beat 2 and beat 4.

Right, so arguably the easiest way to make your drums stand out, is by disrupting that regular backbeat snare. This is because snare hits punch through your music (and the mix), so to the average listener, the snare is the most noticeable element of the drums. Mess with the backbeat snare, and you’ll instantly get people’s attention!

So, move one of your backbeat snare hits on beat 4 over to beat 4+. This accenting of the off-beat is called syncopation.

Drum beat with one syncopated snare hit (highlighted)

We’re still on the snare for level 2, but instead of moving hits, we’re adding hits. And not just more snare hits, we’re gonna add cross-stick (or side-stick) snare hits.

What on earth is a cross-stick snare hit? It’s when the drummer lays the drumstick on the snare drum with the end of the stick going over the side of the drum (i.e. the rim). The drummer then plays the snare by lifting that end of the stick up like a lever and hitting it back down on the rim, all while the other end of the stick stays on the head of the drum. This cross-stick snare technique creates a sound that’s similar to hitting a wood block (but with a little rattle added, from the snares), and while it may be common in genres like jazz, it’s rare in most popular music genres.

What makes this even more unique is the fact that Aphex Twin uses both regular snare hits and cross-stick snare hits in the same beat. Usually when you hear a cross-stick snare in a beat, you won’t also hear a regular snare. The reason for that is because the drummer has to change their grip to play these two techniques.

Aphex Twin plays the cross-stick snare on every beat 2+. You can play it wherever you want though, as long as it’s syncopated, otherwise it won’t stand out.

Drum beat with syncopated cross-stick snare hits (highlighted)

Now, change your grid to 1/16 notes, as things are about to get even spicier. Level 3 is not just about adding 1/16 note syncopation (which stands out even more than 1/8 note syncopation), it’s also about adding more drums. Yes, it’s time for toms!

Toms are usually only used in drum fills*. It’s exceptionally rare to hear any toms in a drum beat, but that’s exactly where you’re about to put them.

So, at the end of bar 2 and bar 4, add a few syncopated toms. You don’t want too many, otherwise you’ll end up making it sound like a fill. And be sure to play at least one tom on a syncopated 1/16 note, like beat 4a (see last note in bar 2 below).

Drum beat with syncopated toms (highlighted)

*Visit Drums if you want to learn about the function of each element of a drum kit, as well as getting your hands on all our essential hacks for better beats and fills.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more syncopated…

Change your grid to 1/16 triplets. Spicy!!

Aphex Twin uses maximum level syncopation here, by adding a couple 1/16 triplet kicks. These kicks will make it sound like your drummer is a bit drunk though, so don’t add any more than two of them.

You can add them wherever you want, but definitely play the 1/16 triplet just before beat 4. This specific kick was pioneered by the OG hip-hop producers back in the day, and it’s ridiculously tasty!

Aphex Twin adds his 1/16 triplet kicks in bar 3, but you can put them in any bar.

Final drum beat with 1/16 triplet kicks (highlighted)

As the melody, chords and bass are acting as a mere backdrop to the drums, Aphex Twin doesn’t rely on them to create the song’s musical journey. Instead, he uses different degrees of energy to design a captivating adventure from start to finish. And, most impressively, he builds this energetic journey using mainly the drums.

To increase and decrease the energy of his drums (which in turn differentiates the sections in his song), he re-visits the 4 levels above, but adds more to some levels. For example, to maximise the intensity, he adds more and more syncopated snares. The result is a drum frenzy of energy, which elevates the journey to its climax.

On the opposite extreme, you could stop the drums somewhere, like Aphex Twin does about halfway through his song. This brings the energy all the way down.

At this point you may be feeling like you’re on a roll, and hey, why not make the hi-hats standout too, as they’re still playing boring 1/8 notes! This is where my chocolate rule comes in. If you haven’t heard me teaching my chocolate rule before, here’s the concept in a nutshell: too much of a good thing can be a bad thing!

After adding a whopping 5 standout features to your beat, that regular 1/8 note pattern on your hats is literally the only thing that isn’t unusual. As a result, it acts as an anchor for your listeners to hold on to. So, think twice before messing with it.

Having said that, in typical Aphex Twin fashion, he does briefly feed us a little too much chocolate (by adding complexity to his cymbal pattern), but it’s so brief that we digest it quickly and recover. Other than that though, he keeps the cymbal patterns simple throughout the song. And while those patterns do change in different sections (as part of the energetic journey), they remain the beat’s anchor.

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:
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I remember the first time I heard “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails in a club back in the ‘90s. I’d never before seen people literally running to the dance floor. Running!

My fellow Gen Xers will remember this, but by the time the bass line starts after about 20 seconds of drums, the dance floor would be completely packed. And this phenomenon happened in every club! The power of a great bass line to move people (even over a simple four-on-the-floor beat, like in “Closer”) still amazes me.

Ever since then, I’ve felt that the ability to get people physically moving is probably the most fun aspect of making music.

So, here’s a step-by-step method inspired by “Closer” for writing bass lines with the power to move bodies, minds, and hearts! But first… Tea!

Set your tempo to 90 BPM, then throw in a simple four-on-the-floor beat on your drum track. If you don’t know what that is, no problem, it’s just a kick on every 1/4 note and a snare on beats 2 and 4 (see MIDI below).

Right, now set up two bars on your bass track, with your grid on 1/16 notes. You’re gonna start by making a dancy rhythm on only one note, C, which is our root note. Keep in mind that your rhythm needs to be good enough to move bodies all on its own. Adding the melodic element later isn’t going to make your bass line any dancier, so this is the time to maximise its danceability.

Four-on-the-floor drum beat (one bar)

So, what makes a rhythm dancy? Well, arguably the most dancy element is syncopation, which is when you accent an off-beat. However, if you only play off-beats, then your rhythm is gonna sound like a cat walking on your keyboard. So, be sure to play at least one of the main beats. In our example, we played beat 3.

Also, you want a ton of space in your bass line, as that gives way more impact to the few notes that you do play. So, limit yourself to only six notes in this step, and make all of them 1/16 notes. And yes, keep all of them on C. Don’t worry though, we’ll add a couple more notes in step 3. On that note, leave beat 4 open, as that’s where those extra notes will go (see MIDI below).

Repetition also plays a huge part in making a rhythm dancy. You wanna give your listeners an almost hypnotic rhythm that moves their bodies and releases their minds from thought. So, you’re only gonna write a one-bar rhythm. Then, when you’re happy with it, copy and paste it into your second bar.

One-bar rhythm on root note (C) copied and pasted into bar 2 (highlighted)

Now that you’ve got the body moving with your rhythm, it’s time to move the mind. You’re gonna do this by spreading your rhythm out over two full octaves. Yeah I know, that’s a massive range! But, with that range you can play three versions of the root note: C2, C3, and C4 (see MIDI below).

This is a game-changer, as you can maintain that simplicity you created in step 1, but instead of playing your rhythm on one pitch, you’re now playing it on three different pitches. Technically your bass line is still only on one note, C, but sonically it’s now on three different pitches. This illusion of variation will feed your listeners’ minds with its interest, while not stimulating their brains to start thinking.

Bass line playing root note, C, on three different pitches (C2, C3, C4)

Right, now that you’ve got the body and mind moving, it’s time to move the heart. So, this is where you’re gonna add a couple of other notes, in order to infuse your bass line with emotion.

Nine Inch Nails uses the super dissonant ♭5 (which is G♭ in this example), and the funky ♭7 (which is B♭). We used those notes in our example too, but they obviously make the bass line sound dissonant and heavy. So, if you’re wanting to make a more uplifting song, then use more consonant notes. By the way, if you need help with choosing which scale/notes to use, please read our Free Book.

Once you’ve decided on your two notes, add them into beat 4 of both bars. But, play them differently in each bar, i.e. play them in a different order and/or using a different rhythm. This variation will keep your bass line from getting too repetitive.

Bass line with ♭5 (G♭) and ♭7 (B♭) highlighted

Lastly, add another root note into beat 4 in both bars, but use a different octave for each (highlighted below). This will make it flow more, and also add momentum.

Final bass line

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
 

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

Set up one bar of 4|4 with your grid on 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 110 BPM. You’re gonna start by using only one note, and the octave of that note. We’re using A in our example. So, draw in every 1/16 note on the low A. Now, play around with moving a handful of them one octave up.

These high notes will make accents in your bass line, so you want them to create a cool rhythm all on their own. And one of the best ways to do that is to syncopate most of them. In other words, most of them will not be on the main beats. All that syncopation adds tons of energy!

Your bass line actually consists of two lines now: a high line, and a low line. So in this step you’re gonna add a melodic element to your high line. A great note to start on is the ♭3 (which is C in our example), as it’s super strong and moody! And by the way, if these flats and numbers confuse you, no problem, just read hack 8 in our free book (link below).

Right, so what other notes should you use in your high line? Well, as we’re writing a heavy bass line, you wanna crank up the dissonance, so throw in a ♭2 somewhere (which is B♭ in our example). And if you use the ♭3 and the ♭2, then you could also use the 2, which is the note in between. And feel free to repeat notes. In our example, we played the ♭3 twice, the 2 twice, and the ♭2 once. And a shoutout to local Vancouver BC legends Front Line Assembly, as this lesson is based on the song “Purge” from their 2021 album “Mechanical Soul”.

Also, 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.

So as you could hear, the bass line is already sounding good. And to be honest, most producers would think it’s now complete, but not Front Line Assembly! No, they’ve got one more trick up their sleeves, and that’s the dissonance they add to their low line.

Most of their low line remains on the root note, however, they’ve moved a few notes down one semitone to the 7 (which is G♯ in our example). Also, at the very end, you could throw in a ♭3 for a little variation. This makes the bass line loop more smoothly as well.

Adding this dissonance to your low line is a game-changer, as it’s super subtle (seriously, most people won’t even notice it), but it adds a feeling of heaviness that you simply can’t achieve without it!

Listen below, or on any podcast app.

Set up two bars of 4|4 with your grid set to 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 136 BPM. Now, instead of starting to make your drum beat with the usual kick on beat 1 and snare on the backbeats (like everyone else does!), you’re gonna start by writing your kick and snare pattern on the hi-hats.

Wait, what?! I know that seems like a really odd thing to do, but this method is gonna result in a far more creative (and therefore “advanced”) drum beat. Okay, so there are many ways to write a creative pattern, but here’s an easy method. Start by playing every 1/8 note. Then, delete a couple of those. This creates variation. And then, move one or two hits over to the next 1/16 note. This creates surprise.

Right, now that you’ve written a creative rhythm, it’s time to turn it into a drum beat. To do that, simply divide up your pattern between the kick and the snare. In other words, move some notes to the kick and others to the snare. But, instead of falling back into the conventional approach of kick on beat 1 and snare on the backbeats, purposefully avoid doing that in the first bar. This unusual approach in your first bar creates a huge amount of interest that grabs the listeners’ attention.

But, if you repeat this approach in your second bar, it won’t sound as interesting any more, as they’ll be expecting it. So, in your second bar, you’re purposefully going to switch to a conventional approach with the kick on beat 1 and snare on the backbeats (i.e. beats 2 and 4). This cycling back and forth between an unconventional bar and a conventional bar keeps your listeners constantly engaged.

And a shoutout to Royal Blood, and especially their drummer Ben Thatcher, as this lesson is based on his beat from their new single “Mountains at Midnight”. Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

This is the easy part. Just add an 1/8 note pulse on a cymbal. This simple rhythm glues the complex beat together. Ben actually switches the pulse between the hats for the verses, and the crash for the choruses. And if you need more help with your beats, download our Hack Drum Beats PDF (link opens in new tab). It contains everything you need to know for making great beats, all in one PDF.

Listen below, or on any podcast app.

Set up four bars with an 1/8 note grid, and your tempo at 97 BPM. You’re gonna start by writing a basic bass line that plays every 1/8 note. This creates momentum. We’re in B Locrian here, which is just all the white notes from B to B. The Locrian mode is exceptionally dark, and what makes it so dark is the ♭2 (which is C in this example) and the ♭5 (which is F in this example). Now, because those two notes are what make Locrian sound so dark, you wanna be sure to use both of them in your basic bass line. But, start by playing the root note (which is B in this example) for the whole of your first bar, as that anchors it into the key. And by the way, if you find modes confusing, just read the mode hack in our Songwriting & Producing PDF (link opens in new tab).

Next, change your grid to 1/16 notes. You’re gonna create some syncopation now, which is when you accent an off-beat. This will pump energy into your rigid sounding basic bass line and bring it to life. You can add syncopation however you want, but here’s an easy method: shorten an 1/8 note to a 1/16 note, then lengthen the note next to it to fill the gap. Add a couple of these to each of your four bars. And a shoutout to fellow Canadian producer Rezz, as this lesson is based on her recent single “Suffer in Silence”.

Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

By now your bass line will already be sounding good, but to take it to the next level, you’re gonna add some octaves. Rezz does something really cool here. She moves some of the notes that fall on the backbeat snare, up an octave. This accentuates those backbeats, and adds even more energy to the bass line. However, don’t do this on every backbeat snare, as that will actually lessen its impact. Also, somewhere in your bass line, move one syncopated note up an octave. This keeps your bass line fresh and unpredictable. Lastly, here’s a bonus step. Use a rest somewhere. This gives your bass line space to breathe. Rezz used a rest at the very end of her bass line, so we’ll do the same thing by deleting our last two notes.

Listen below, or on any podcast app.

Set your grid to 1/16 notes and your tempo to 113 BPM. We’re in the key of A minor here, which is just all the white notes from A to A.

Right, so the first step to writing a beautiful chord progression is finding a beautiful chord. There are many beautiful chords, but a good guideline is to leave space for the harmony to breathe. Think about walking into a beautiful cathedral. The space is as beautiful as the structure.

When applying this concept to chords, it’s as simple as not cramming too many notes in. Three notes is enough. But yes of course, you can use more notes if you want, it’s your music. In this example, the first chord contains the root, ♭ 3 and ♭7. And if all these flats and numbers are confusing, read hack 8 in our free book.

This is the fun part! You’re now gonna turn your chord into a drum beat. A “chord beat”, if you will. If you’re playing this on a keyboard, you’re gonna play the root note (A) in your left hand, and the other two notes (C and G) in your right hand. Now, pretend your left hand is the kick drum and your right hand is the snare drum, and come up with a cool beat. And if you don’t play the keyboard, no problem, just do this step right here on the MIDI grid.

Each hit is only going to be a 1/16 note, so the final result will sound really percussive, like a pitched drum beat. All those rests add rhythmic space to your harmonic space, creating a beautiful simplicity. And a shoutout to Sleep Token, as this lesson is based on their beautiful song “DYWTYLM” from the new album “Take Me Back to Eden”.

Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

Okay, so we’ve got one beautiful chord played over one bar. Now, let’s turn this into a four-bar chord progression. So, start by copying and pasting your first bar into the remaining three bars. You’re actually going to leave your right-hand notes the same throughout the four bars. This creates unity, which adds to the beauty.

Next, spend some time moving your bass note up and down in bar two. Once you’ve found a beautiful place for it, stay there for the whole bar. Then, do the same thing for bars three and four. Sleep Token stays on the same bass note here for the two bars. You can do that, or you can move it, like we did in our example.

Listen below, or on any podcast app.

Harmony is when two or more notes are played together. And sadly, it’s rare to hear harmony in a bass line. The word “line” is actually used to convey the fact that it’s a melody, not a harmony. That’s how rare harmony is on the bass!

You see, most producers think the bass frequencies are too low to play harmony. In other words, if you play two notes together, it’ll sound like a rumbling mess. But, that’s not true. That only happens when the two notes are close to each other. For example, if your root note is a low A, and you play a D above that. It doesn’t sound very nice if you play the D that’s five semitones above the A. But, if you play the D an octave higher, so it’s now 17 semitones above the A, it sounds absolutely beautiful!

Alright, so now we know how to successfully add harmony to a bass line, however, we don’t yet have a bass line to add it to. So, step 1 is to write a cool one-bar rhythm on the root note. And we’re using A natural minor. Then, copy and paste that rhythm to three other notes, so you’ve got a four-note bass line over four bars. And feel free to throw in some passing notes to smooth the line out.

And a shoutout to the British band GoGo Penguin, and especially their bassist Nick Blacka, as this lesson is based on the title track from their beautiful new album “Everything Is Going to Be OK”.

Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

Now it’s time for the fun part: writing another line over the top, so you’ve got two lines playing together. Start this step by choosing what note you want to use for the harmony over your root note. And this is where Nick Blacka was super creative, as he actually used one high note that sounds good over all four bars. You don’t have to do that, but it’s very cool, so we did something similar in our example. We used D as our high note for three bars, then we varied it in the fourth bar.

Once you’ve chosen your high note, write a cool rhythm for it over your root note in bar one. Then, copy and paste that rhythm into the remaining three bars. Once you’ve done that, feel free to add some rhythmic and melodic variations to keep things fresh. But you don’t have to do that, if you just wanna keep things simple.

Listen below, or on any podcast app.

There are many ways to write a standout melody, but it’s difficult to improve on the method PJ Harvey uses in her new single “A Child’s Question, August”. That’s because nothing grabs our attention like a bold first impression. And by first impression, I literally mean the first note of the melody.

You see, PJ Harvey starts her melody in the Dorian mode, and the very first note she sings is the major 6th. That’s the one-and-only note that makes Dorian different from the super common scale that we hear all the time: the natural minor. The vast majority of people are not used to hearing a major 6th over a minor chord, so when her melody begins with that unusual note, it instantly stands out.

So, in D Dorian, which is all the white notes from D to D, the major 6th is B. When we play B in our melody over a D minor chord, you can hear exactly how powerful that one note is at grabbing our attention. So step 1 in this method is to use that unusual note to begin your melody, then finish the phrase with usual notes.

Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

Your listeners are now familiar with that unusual note, which means that if you play it again, it won’t be unusual any more. In other words, your melody is now at risk of losing its initial impact and therefore losing your listener’s attention. The way PJ Harvey deals with this issue is brilliant!

In the second half of her melody, instead of singing the major 6th again, she sings the minor 6th. That’s the usual 6th note in a natural minor scale, which we’re used to hearing. But, after getting our ears used to that unusual note, the usual note now sounds unusual haha. What a brilliant trick!

So to maintain your listener’s attention, step 2 of this method is to create a powerful second impression by using the minor 6th (which is B♭) in the second half of your melody. In other words, you’re using the natural minor for this phrase.

Just to recap, we’re starting our melody in D Dorian, then switching to D natural minor. So use the major 6th (which is B) as the first note of your melody, then use the minor 6th (which is B♭) in the second half of your melody. And if you need more help writing melodies, just download our Songwriting & Producing PDF (link opens in new tab) and follow the seven guidelines in our Melody Checklist.

Listen below, or on any podcast app.

FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF
Includes multitrack MIDI example

Set your grid to 1/16 notes and your tempo to 97 BPM. You’re gonna start by writing a creative pattern using only octaves. If you’re writing this on guitar, use your low open E string and the E one octave higher. And be sure to play every 1/16 note, as that’s what gives the riff that heavy momentum. At the very end of the riff, though, play four 1/8 notes. That creates variation, and gives the circle pit a few seconds to breathe!

Quick shoutout to Metallica, as this lesson is based on their song “Too Far Gone?” from the new album “72 Seasons”.

Now that you’ve got an outline of your riff, it’s time to start thinking about the melodic element. For this, we’re gonna use the Locrian mode, like Metallica. So, to get the E Locrian mode, which is what they use, start with the E natural minor scale.

Now, flatten the 2nd and 5th notes. And “flattening” just means lowering the note by one semitone - or one fret, if you’re on the guitar. So the 2 (which is F♯), becomes a ♭2 (which is F). And the 5 (which is B), becomes a ♭5 (which is B♭). That’s E Locrian! And if all these numbers and flats are confusing, just read hack 8 in our free book.

Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

Finally it’s time to add the melodic element to your riff. Now, you’re not actually going to move any of your low E’s, they’re gonna chug away down there. You’re only gonna move the high E’s. So, have some fun playing around with where you can move those high E’s to.

However, be sure to play the notes that make the Locrian mode different to the natural minor scale, as those are the really dark heavy notes. In other words, play F and B♭. Also be sure to play G, as that’s the ♭3, which is a relatively dark note too.

Lastly, here’s a quick bonus for my fellow theory nerds. At the end of their riff, Metallica plays some 5ths, which guitarists call “power chords”. What’s interesting about this is that the 5th of the root note E, is B. But, in E Locrian there’s a B♭ not a B. So theoretically that B pushes the riff into Phrygian for a split second. However, because our ears only pay attention to the root note of each power chord, that end part of the riff still sounds like it’s in Locrian.

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There are two types of catchy melodies: annoyingly repetitive ones you can’t stop singing but actually hate, and awesome ones that are memorable cos they’re unique.

So, to write a catchy melody that isn’t annoying, you need to make it unique somehow. There are numerous ways to do that, and in this example we’ll be using two. The first way is to use an unusual scale. You see, our ears are so used to hearing melodies in the major and minor scales that they often fade into the background. By using a scale that’s more rare, your melody will instantly stand out.

In this example, we’re using the Blues scale. So, to get the Blues scale, you start with the natural minor scale. From the root of A, that’s simply all the white notes. Next, you delete the 2nd and 6th notes. This gives you a five-note scale called the minor pentatonic. Now, to turn the minor pentatonic into the Blues scale, you add what’s known as the “blue note”, which is the ♭5. So in the A Blues scale, that’s E♭.

And a quick shoutout to Beastie Boys, as this lesson is based on their song “Sure Shot”, which features that much-loved flute melody from Jeremy Steig.

Another great way of making your melody unique is to use an unusual rhythm. And one of the easiest ways to do that, is to use triplets. So, change your grid to 1/16 note triplets. Next, write a cool rhythm on your root note. And to create variety, be sure to use three different note values. Also, use a rest somewhere, which allows your melody to breathe. And by the way, our tempo is 98 BPM.

Just before we jump into the next step. If there’s an artist you want us to hack, drop us a comment on YouTube.

Also, 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.

Finally, it’s time to create a melodic contour. So, change the pitches now by moving your notes up and down on the grid. And most importantly, remember to play the “blue note” somewhere, which is E♭ in this example. If you don’t play that ♭5, your melody won’t actually be in the Blues scale, it’ll just be in the minor pentatonic. And that’s it!

If you need more help writing melodies, download our Songwriting & Producing PDF (link opens in new tab) and follow the seven guidelines in our Melody Checklist.

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