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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!

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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/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

If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:
https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2568001/octatonic-riff

Almost all popular music (in every genre and subgenre) is made using the major scale or the natural minor scale. That’s a vast ocean of music from only two scales! And yes, some of the more creative producers will use the modes. That’s great. But, the modes are also 7-note scales (just like the major and natural minor scales).

And, like those two scales, they also contain a major 3rd or a minor 3rd. In other words, each one of the five rarer modes sound either like a variation of the major scale, or a variation of the natural minor scale. So yes, the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian and Locian modes open a lot more doors, however, they all lead into the same 7-note house.

For the record, Mozart had no problems writing genius-level music using only the major and minor scales, so there’s obviously nothing wrong with using those scales. But, as a counter argument, there was significantly less music when Mozart was alive. Nowadays, it can easily feel like all the possibilities that those two scales offer have been thoroughly explored already. I don’t believe that’s true, though it’s undeniable that it is significantly harder to create something new with those scales.

So, if you’re looking to explore some new musical territory, one of the best ways to get there is with 8-note scales. These are called octatonic scales. They were relatively common in the “modern” classical music of the early 20th century, but you hardly ever hear them in popular music. One of our favourite examples of an octatonic scale in popular music is in the song “I Am That Thirst” by Meshuggah. And another song we recently heard that features an octatonic scale is “Goddamn White Trash” by Ministry. They use it in a heavy breakdown riff (starts at 2:03).

So, if you’re ready to try the exciting world of 8-note scales, then in this tutorial you’re gonna learn our 5-step method for writing octatonic riffs. But first… Tea!

When it comes to unorthodox scales, there isn’t a tradition of hundreds of years of theory and practice. Most of these outside-the-box scales only came into use just over a hundred years ago. So, compared to the major and minor scales, they’re still infants. As a result, there isn’t a consensus around their theory and terminology.

Here at Hack Music Theory, we’re all about the creative and practical application of theory, so we don’t care too much about what terms are used to explain it. The scale we’re using in this tutorial has been called the half-whole diminished scale, the half-whole step scale, the dominant diminished scale, or sometimes it’s simply referred to as the octatonic scale. As you can see, it’s got many names. So, you could even call it the Uncle Bob Scale if you prefer. The name is not important, the notes are! And in terms of its spelling, that’s also a mess. We believe the spelling below is the one that makes the most sense (for numerous reasons, but they aren’t relevant here), so in this PDF we’ll be referring to the notes in this way:

Half-Whole Diminished Scale

1

♭2

♯2

3

♯4

5

6

♭7

C

D♭

D♯

E

F♯

G

A

B♭

Repeating the pattern of a semitone followed by a tone, produces the half-whole diminished scale

You’ll notice that the scale spelling above has two 2s: the ♭2 and the ♯2. The ♯2 is the enharmonic* equivalent of the ♭3. But, if we spelled the ♯2 as ♭3, then the scale would have both the minor 3rd (♭3) and the major 3rd (3). That’s confusing! Despite this being an 8-note scale, it’s still good theory to only have one 3rd note. This is helpful in categorising the scale, and it’s also helpful with building chords.

As you can see in the MIDI screenshot above, this scale is created by repeating the pattern of a semitone followed by a tone. So, you may now be wondering: What if we reverse that pattern and start with a tone instead, then follow with a semitone?

Great question! And the answer is: you get the Aunt Betty Scale. Well, once again you can pretty much call it whatever you want, because everyone else seems to. But, one of the most “official” names it goes by, is the whole-half diminished scale. However, it’s also sometimes called the diminished scale. Or simply the octatonic scale, though that’s rather offensive to the Uncle Bob Scale, who’s also octatonic. Or, it’s also sometimes referred to as the whole-half step scale, or apparently even the auxiliary diminished scale, though I’ve never heard it being called that. And regarding the spelling. Same thing. There’s many different ways that people spell this scale, but here’s the version we believe makes the most sense:

Whole-Half Diminished Scale

1

2

♭3

4

♭5

♭6

♭♭7

7

C

D

E♭

F

G♭

A♭

B♭♭

B

Don’t be scared by that B♭♭. The double-flat just means that the note is two semitones below B (i.e. each flat is the symbol for “one semitone down”). And yes, B♭♭ is the enharmonic equivalent of A. Same note, different name.

We encourage you to play around with this scale too, as it’s surprising how different it sounds to its spouse scale. And the chords are very different too. The most obvious being the root triad, which is diminished here, but in the half-whole diminished scale it’s major.

*To learn all about enharmonics, read Hack 7 in our book: Hack Music Theory, Part 1.

Repeating the pattern of a tone followed by a semitone, produces the whole-half diminished scale

Okay that’s enough theory, let’s get to the practical! Where shall we begin? What better place than beat 1, right? A punchy beat 1 is gonna make your riff heavy!

So, create a two-bar loop on your guitar (or synth) track, with the time signature set to 4|4 and the grid on 1/16 notes. The tempo in this example is 95 BPM, but feel free to make that faster or slower depending on how energetic you’re feeling.

We’re gonna start by writing the first 1/4 note. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s actually four notes. Ministry only plays the first three 1/16 notes of beat 1, but we’re playing all four. You can do either, or you can even play only the first two 1/16 notes. As always, do whatever you want, because it’s your music, but we have four suggestions for this example. Firstly, be sure to play the first 1/16 note, otherwise your riff will lack impact. Secondly, play at least two 1/16 notes, otherwise your riff won’t make a very big first impression. Thirdly, whether you play two, three or four 1/16 notes here, play them all in a row, otherwise your riff won’t have that Ministry momentum. And lastly, keep the range small, as you don’t want to give too much away. Our range is a mere 3 semitones, from C up to D♯.

The first note of your riff doesn’t need to be the root. We start on the root, but the Ministry riff starts on the ♭2, followed by the 1 (which they play twice). The first 1/4 note of our riff goes like this: 1 → ♯2 → ♭2 → 1.

The first 1/4 note creates the riff’s “punch”

Next, copy and paste your notes into the first 1/4 note of your second bar.

First 1/4 note of first bar copied and pasted into first 1/4 note of second bar (highlighted)

This step is a bonus, as Ministry doesn’t actually do this in their riff, but we added it just for fun. So, if you want some extra groove, extend the last note in your second bar. You can also play that note another time, or even twice (like we did).

The only caveat in this step is that you need to stop around beat 3, or just after beat 3. This is because you’ll be writing a 1/16 note run (in the next step) to end your riff, so you need to leave space for that.

Last note in second bar extended and repeated (highlighted)

Making music is a creative process, and creative processes are usually not linear. For example, sometimes we’ll begin the writing process by making the end. Or sometimes we’ll end the writing process by making the beginning. Yet other times we’ll make the end somewhere in the middle of the writing process, which is what this method calls for.

So, just like you began your riff with a “punch”, you’re gonna end it the same way. The only difference is that you want your 1/16 note run at the end to be longer.

Also, you want your ending to have a much larger range. That will create an expansive feeling at the end, which will loop back into that tight opening punch. We reached all the way up to the scale’s highest note, the ♭7 (B♭), but you obviously don’t need to have such a big range in the run at the end of your riff.

Ministry exclusively uses 1/16 notes in their riff, and as a result, it sounds super punchy and energetic. So, other than the note you extended for more groove in Step 3, we definitely recommend sticking with 1/16 notes for your whole riff.

Ending 1/16 note run (highlighted)

And now we come to the end of the writing process, which means it’s time to make the middle of your riff. This is gonna be the climax, so we’ve saved the best till last! What makes a melodic climax is usually twofold: height, and duration.

And seeing as you can’t take advantage of the duration element (i.e. holding the note for a long time), it’s all up to the height element. This means you gotta reach way up, as far as your riff will allow you! What do we mean by “allow”? Well, you don’t wanna lose your riff’s flow by randomly jumping up to a high note. You need to write a captivating contour that lifts it up. But, you don’t have much space to do this. That’s why your riff will only allow you to go to a certain height.

You can think of it like an airplane taking off. It needs a long runway to pick up speed. But, your riff only has a short runway to reach its climax, so don’t overdo it. Having said that, though, you can get plenty high with the space you have. We wrote a smooth contour that peaked at the D♭ just over an octave above our root.

Also, as you’ll notice in the MIDI screenshot below, the second 1/4 note in our first bar is empty. That space is vital, because the contrast between “running” and “resting” is one of the main features that make Ministry’s riff so heavy. And on that note, it’s time to sit back… No wait, forget that! Get up, make some space in your studio for a circle pit of one, put your tea safely out of the way, and hit play!

Final riff, with the climax run highlighted

PS: For the theory nerds, Ministry doesn’t use all 8 notes of the half-whole diminished scale. Therefore, it could be argued that their riff is actually in the altered scale. That’s also a 7-note scale, though, and we felt that a tutorial on an 8-note scale would be far more interesting :)

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


 

“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/2546081/melodic-bass-drop

EDM producers didn’t invent the bass drop, but it’s easy to argue they perfected it!

Having said that, though, the bass drop has long since gone stale. After becoming so popular, it was sadly turned into a formulaic cliché. However, every now and then a creative producer comes along with a fresh angle. The recent single “Hero” by Grabbitz (who’s probably my favourite EDM producer), contains an exciting example of this. At 57 seconds into the track, he drops an absolute beauty!

So, inspired by Grabbitz, here’s our 5-step method for making melodic bass drops. But first… Tea!

To write a great bass line, you need to think about the accompanying chords. It doesn’t matter whether or not you have chords accompanying your bass line. In fact, in this example there are no actual chords, only implied chords. There are two ways to imply chords, without actually playing chords. You can either outline the chords in your melody, by incorporating the notes from each chord into the melody. This way is slightly more limiting, and if you’re not careful, it can result in melodies that sound more like arpeggios. So, we’ll rely on the second way of implying chords in our example, which is also the way Grabbitz implies them here.

In this way, there’s a completely separate bass track that only plays each chord’s root note. Some kind of sub bass sound works well for this, as you don’t want it interfering with your bass synth that’s gonna be in the spotlight for this drop. And to be clear, this track is not a bass line. Merely playing the root of each chord does not make a melody. And a bass line is a melody, hence why this is not a bass line.

The role of these root notes is to lay the harmonic foundation, which frees us up to do whatever we want in our actual bass line. Every note in our bass line will be heard in relation to the root being played on the sub bass track at that time, so it’s also a way to guarantee our listeners hear the implied chord we intend them to hear (the first way can easily result in ambiguity over what chord is being implied).

So, before you write your bass line, you need a chord progression. Set up four bars of 4|4 with an 1/8 note grid, and your tempo at 100 BPM. Grabbitz is in the key of E minor in this song, so we’ll use it too. The chords in this key are:

1

2

♭3

4

5

♭6

♭7

Em

F♯dim

Gmaj

Am

Bm

Cmaj

Dmaj

Now, spend a little time picking four chords that you like for your progression. Once you’ve decided, then play each chord’s root note for a whole bar. And be sure to play every 1/8 note, as you want these root notes to blend into the background, i.e. you don’t want a rhythm that’s going to bring attention to this sub bass track.

Our chords are: Em → Gmaj → Dmaj → Am

Root note of each chord in progression played on sub bass track

Yeehaw… it’s synth time! So, load up a suitably massive bass synth (with bite!) on a new track, then make another four-bar loop, and set your grid to 1/16 notes. Grabbitz starts his bass drop like most bass drops start, with a long root note! This gives us all the satisfaction that a bass drop can deliver, but then he swiftly turns into new territory, with a series of melodic 1/16 notes. The long root on beat 1 brings the familiarity, but then his 1/16 note run brings the freshness. It’s brilliant!

So, start your first bar with the root (E) for one 1/4 note beat. Then, write a 1/16 pattern that jumps back and forth between that low E and the E an octave higher. Those high E’s will stand out, so focus especially on creating a lively syncopated rhythm for them. Your 1/16 note rhythm should go to the end of your first bar.

Long root note followed by 1/16 note octaves

Next, we’re gonna spice up those low Es. You can do whatever you want here, but the ♭7 (D) is a super funky note, which is why Grabbitz uses it here (and we used it too). If that’s not what you’re after, though, then you could try the ♭3 (G), which is another funky note that’s great for big bass drops.

Low root spiced up with ♭7 (highlighted)

Next, it’s time to spice up those high Es. Once again, you can use any note from the E natural minor scale, but the ♭3 (G) and ♭7 (D) are bass drop classics!

High root spiced up with ♭3 and ♭7 (highlighted)

Now that your first bar is pumping, we’re ready to move through the chord progression. So, spend some time writing a cool 1/16 note rhythm played between the root note of your second chord (Gmaj in our example) and the high E, which is going to be the common note throughout your chord progression. A common note is a note that stays the same when the chords change. There are many ways to use common notes, and Grabbitz goes with a type of drone here, where the high E keeps repeating throughout, while the root note of each chord changes below.

Root note of second chord (Gmaj) played low, with high E as common note (highlighted)

Next, we’re going to spice up those high E’s, by moving some of them up and some of them down. We re-used the D and G from our first bar, which turns them into common notes too. If you do this, though, be sure to change the contour, as re-using the same contour from your first bar will make your second bar boring.

Also, Grabbitz doesn’t play beat 1 in his second bar. Instead, his bass comes in on beat 1e (i.e. the second 1/16 note). This is super syncopated, which is super funky!

High E’s spiced up by moving a couple notes up to G, and a couple notes down to D (highlighted)

Now that your second bar is pumping too, copy and paste it into your third and fourth bars. Then, delete beat 4 in your fourth bar. That 1/4 note rest will make the next beat 1 drop even harder. It’s a classic bass drop hack!

Second bar copied and pasted into third and fourth bars (highlighted)

Right, here comes the easy part. Simply move the low notes in the third bar to your third chord’s root note (Dmaj in our example). Then move the low notes in the fourth bar to your fourth chord’s root note (Am in our example).

Third chord’s root in third bar (highlighted), fourth chord’s root in fourth bar (highlighted)

As you can see and hear now, those three high notes (D, E, G) create the common thread that ties the whole bass line together, while the low notes change below. But, if we just leave those high notes as they are, it’s too repetitive, which is boring.

So, we’re gonna spice them up by moving a couple to fresh notes in your third and fourth bars. Our third chord is Dmaj, so we moved two of the high G’s down to F♯, which is the happy major 3rd. The 3 gives our bass an uplifting feel in that bar.

Our fourth chord is Am, so we moved the first high G in our fourth bar up to A. This is the chord’s root, which is a great climax because this is the highest note in our bass line, and roots are the strongest notes too. We actually left that last high G where it was, as it’s been almost two bars since the listener last heard that note, so it now sounds fresh again.

High notes spiced up in third and fourth bars by introducing new notes (highlighted)

You’re actually done, and your bass drop will be sounding awesome now. But, builds and drops are all about playing with expectations, and this is where Grabbitz takes it to a whole nother level!

He actually moves this version of his bass drop to the second cycle. He then teases the listener by using a simpler version the first time. This idea is so simple, but so effective! He just moves the roots of his second and third chords (in the second and third bars) down to the key’s root note (E). In other words, the listeners get the root chord (Em) for a full three bars, then the fourth chord for one bar.

Listeners will like the first cycle, but when the second cycle plays, they’ll LOVE it! That’s because they’re expecting the root chord to play for three bars again, but this time it moves to a new chord in the second bar, and then another new chord in the third bar. It’s goosebump good! So, if you wanna tease your listeners like Grabbitz, move the low notes in your second and third bars to the key note (E). And if you want, you can spice up that extended key note with a few D’s (♭7).

Lastly, remember to also do this in your sub bass track, i.e. the bass track from Step 1 that only plays root notes.

Sub bass for first cycle, with root notes of second and third chords moved to key note (highlighted)

Congrats, you’ve now got an epic eight-bar melodic bass drop. Click play, and dance!

Bass synth for first cycle, with extended key note spiced up by ♭7 (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/2540881/rhythmic-chords

One of the most common mistakes producers make when writing chord progressions is focusing exclusively on the notes (i.e. the harmony). Now, it obviously goes without saying that the notes are a vital ingredient in chord progressions, however, another vital ingredient that is often ignored is rhythm.

As a result of this widespread oversight, it’s normal to hear chord progressions that are entirely lacking in vital energy. This lack is more obvious in certain genres than others, but the problem most certainly occurs in all genres.

British electronic duo Maribou State has a great example of what a lively chord progression sounds like. You can hear it in their song “Midas”. It’s a super chill track and the chords are not at all dominant, yet they’re full of vital energy. So regardless of whether you want to write something uptempo or something chill, the 3-step method in this tutorial will guide you through making a chord progression that’s full of life. But first… Tea!

As mentioned in the intro above, harmony (i.e. the notes) is obviously a vital ingredient in a chord progression, so we’ll start there.

Set up four bars of 4|4 with a 1/4 note grid, and your tempo at 115 BPM. We’re in the key of A minor for our example, which is all the white notes from A to A. We won’t be using the diminished chord in this example (as it’s too dissonant), so the chord menu to choose from is: Am, Cmaj, Dm, Em, Fmaj, Gmaj.

Start your progression on the root triad (Am), then choose three other chords. Play each chord for a whole bar. Maribou State plays their chord progression on a keyboard, so there is a left-hand and a right-hand part. We’ll do the same in our example. Your right-hand will play the chords, and your left-hand will play a simple bass line below. For now, just play the root note of each chord as your bass line, and if you want a thicker texture to this left-hand part, play octaves (like we did).

Our progression: Am → Em → Fmaj → Cmaj

Now you’ve got the “skeleton” of your chord progression. This is a great starting point, but it’s shocking how many producers consider this to be a finished chord progression. But not Maribou State, and not you either! That’s why you’re here :)

Right, so before we move on to adding the rhythmic ingredient, we’re first going to make the notes creative and interesting in their own right. Maribou State does something really cool here. In this one progression alone, they use three different types of chords: triad, add chord, and a 7th chord. We’ve already got triads, so that box is ticked, but let’s throw in those other two types as well.

Add chords are one of the most underused chord types, but they’re so easy to use, and sound amazing! Most procedures in popular music genres avoid more complex chords (sticking to triads instead), because they think they’ll make their music sound too complicated, too thick, or too jazzy. If you’re using five-note chords (like 9ths), that’s a real risk, but add chords beautifully solve this problem.

So what is an add chord? It’s a triad with the 2 or the 4 added. If you add the 2, it’s called an add9 chord, and if you add the 4 it’s called an add11 chord. The 9 is an octave of the 2, and the 11 is the octave of the 4, but you can add them into the triad wherever you want. And yes, you can add the 2 in between the 1 and 3, and you can add the 4 in between the 3 and 5. If that sounds too thick, though, you can actually leave out the 5 to thin the texture back to three notes. These are the easiest add chords to use, because they’re only three notes.

By the way, if you’re wondering what the difference is between add chords and sus chords. Great question! Add chords contain the 3, sus chords don’t contain the 3. In other words, sus chords don’t have a major or minor quality, but add chords do.

Now, somewhere in your progression, move the 5 of a chord to the 2 or 4. In our Em chord, we moved the 5 (B) down to the 4 (A). That chord is now Em(add11).

Em changed to Em(add11), by moving the 5 down to the 4 (highlighted)

Next, you’re going to turn one of your right-hand triads into a 7th chord, which you can do by simply moving its root (1) up seven notes. And to make this even easier, just move the root up an octave, and then down one note. We turned our Fmaj triad into a 7th chord, by moving the F (1) up to E (7). Playing only the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes in the right-hand is a cool technique that Maribou State uses, as the left-hand is playing the root note, so the right-hand doesn’t need to play it.

So this is our chord progression now: Am → Em(add11) → Fmaj7 → Cmaj

Fmaj changed to Fmaj7, by moving the 1 up to the 7 (highlighted)

Your chord progression will already be sounding pretty good now, thanks to that add chord and 7th chord. But, you’ll notice the left-hand part still sounds boring. And the better our chord progression sounds before we add the rhythmic ingredient, the better it will sound afterwards. You don’t want to use rhythm as a way of trying to make a boring progression sound better, you want to use rhythm as a way of making a good progressions sound great!

To make their left-hand part more interesting, Maribou State uses inversions. This allows them to create a simple bass line, instead of playing each chord’s root note.

So play your progression, and wherever the left-hand sounds like it could be smoothed out with a better contour, try inverting that chord. You can invert any of your chords, other than the 7th - if you move that left-hand note, you’ll lose the chord’s root note, so leave the 7th as it is. When inverting the other chords, your left-hand can play any of the notes that your right-hand is playing above it. We inverted our Em(add11) chord by moving the root note (E) down to the ♭3 (G).

Em(add11) inverted by moving octave in left-hand from E down to G (highlighted)

Now that the left-hand sounds smoother (like an actual bass line), you can also invert a couple chords in your right-hand. Wherever you can, move the common notes* so they’re in the same place within the chords (i.e. bottom, middle, top) when they change. This will make the progression even smoother. We inverted our right-hand Em(add11) by moving the A down an octave, so it’s now in the same place as the A in the preceding Am chord (i.e. A is at the bottom in both chords).

*A common note is the same note in adjacent chords.

Em(add11) in right-hand inverted by moving A down an octave (highlighted)

We also cut a 1/4 note off the Fmaj7 chord in our right-hand and inverted that, to get the common notes (C and E) in the same place as they are in the next chord.

Fmaj7 in right-hand cut (highlighted) and inverted by moving A up an octave

Lastly, at the end, we cut a 1/4 note off Cmaj and inverted that, to get the common notes in the same place as they are in our first chord, so when the progression loops, it’s nice and smooth. Always remember this hidden chord change, as your last chord needs to sound good looping back into your first chord.

Cmaj in right-hand cut (highlighted) and inverted by moving G down an octave

And finally, now that all the notes are sounding as good as they can, it’s time to bring your chord progression to life by adding a lively rhythm!

So, set your grid to 1/16 notes. The first thing to change is the harmonic rhythm, which is just the fancy term for describing where your chords change. You want at least one chord change to bring an unexpected surprise into your progression. Maribou State do this by playing their chords a 1/16 note early. This syncopation (i.e. accenting an off-beat) is awesome, so we’ll use it too. But, we’re not going to play every chord early, as it’ll actually be a bigger surprise if some chords are played on the beat. So, we only played our third chord (Fmaj7) a 1/16 note early.

Fmaj7 (highlighted) played a 1/16 note early

Now it’s time to get serious about rhythm, so get out your MIDI scissors, as you’re gonna cut up all your chords! Go through each chord and cut off one or two bits. Short (1/16 note) chords will add lots of energy, but use some 1/8 note chords as well, for variety. Lastly, be sure to use some rests too, as they also add vitality.

Final chord progression with rhythm

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/2530724/2-mode-bass

Humans are walking paradoxes! You know those times when you’re feeling two contradicting emotions at the same time? Like when you’re in a difficult situation but you feel hopeful about the future, while simultaneously doubting your own optimism. How on earth would you reflect those contradicting feelings in music?

As we cover in our Songwriting & Producing PDF, each mode conveys a general emotion. Feeling optimistic in a difficult situation would be well represented by the Dorian mode, which is the natural minor scale* with a major 6th (i.e. the cloud’s silver lining). Cancelling out that optimism with doubt would revert back to the natural minor scale, where the cloud doesn’t have a silver lining.

So you may be thinking now that it can’t be too difficult to write something using the Dorian mode then switch to the Aeolian mode. And you’re right, that’s not difficult. However, using one mode first and then moving into the other one, does not reflect the paradox of feeling both of the contradicting emotions simultaneously.

But you can’t use two modes at the same time, can you? Yes my friend, yes you can!

This is where things get juicy. Are you ready? Right, so in the title-track of their album “Pain & Bliss”, The Brooks play in both the Dorian and Aeolian modes at the same time. The guitar plays in Dorian while the bass simultaneously plays in Aeolian. It’s awesome! So, inspired by this great song, here’s our 6-step method for writing music in two modes that will be played at the same time. But first… Tea!

*Natural minor scale is another name for the Aeolian mode.

Firstly, the title of this tutorial is technically a misnomer, as the bass doesn’t play in both modes, it sticks to one mode (Aeolian) while the guitar plays the other (Dorian). This is the only way for the listener to hear two modes at the same time!

If the bass played in both modes, it would have to switch back and forth between them. As mentioned above, this is easy to do: just write half the bass line in Dorian, and the other half in Aeolian. But, this results in a linear experience for the listener, as they feel one emotion first and then the other emotion afterwards. That does not create the contradiction of feeling different emotions at the same time. The only way to reflect this paradox in music is to use both modes simultaneously.

By the way, regarding genre. The Brooks is a funk band, so this example is particularly funky. Get up! We’re big funk fans, but if you’re not, no problem. As with all our tutorials, this method will work in any genre. Just use different instruments, and depending on the genre, maybe less syncopation and fewer rests.

Right, we’re gonna start with the bass line (in Aeolian). Set your tempo to 90 BPM, then create a one-bar loop on your bass track, with the grid on 1/16 triplets – this is a funk fave! If you’re working in another genre, you can use straight 1/16 notes.

Next, write a cool rhythm on the root note (D in our example). As always, you can do whatever you want, but try to use mainly 1/16 note triplets. Also, start on a longer note, and play one other long note somewhere else. This second long note is where we’re going to create the climax of our two-mode paradox (in Step 5).

Lastly, be sure to use lots of rests in your rhythm. Space is a vital element in a great bass line, so don’t be stingy with rests (unless your genre tends to use fewer rests).

Bass: one-bar rhythm on root note (D)

Now it’s time to move that second long note in your bass line to the climax note. The Brooks bassist Alexandre Lapointe (who’s an incredible bassist, by the way) plays a ♭7 here, so let’s do that too – the ♭7 is C in our example. This lays the foundation for that paradoxical clash of the two modes, but more on that later.

As you know, the only difference between Aeolian and Dorian is their 6th note. So the minor 7th (♭7) in our bass line is actually a “neutral” note, as it’s in both modes.

Bass: root note and ♭7 (highlighted)

Now that you’ve got your two long notes in place, move your short notes around to create a pleasing contour up to the ♭7 and back down to the root. You can use any notes from D Aeolian (D E F G A B♭ C) when writing this contour, but be sure to play the ♭6 (B♭ in our example) at least twice. Why?

Well remember, Aeolian contains the ♭6 and Dorian contains the 6, that’s the only difference! So if you don’t play the ♭6 in your bass line, then it will end up sounding like Dorian, because that’s the mode the guitar riff will be in.

Bass: final line with “contour” notes (highlighted)

Alright, now that your bass line is done and you’ve established the Aeolian mode, it’s time for Dorian. Once again, The Brooks plays this Dorian riff on guitar, but if you’re working in a different genre, just use whatever instrument is appropriate.

Right, let’s start with the rhythm again. Same guidelines apply from Step 1, but try to write a rhythm that’s not exactly the same as your bass rhythm. They should be similar, however, you can use more notes here. Also, it’s important that the two long notes in your guitar rhythm align with the two long notes in your bass rhythm.

Guitar: one-bar rhythm on root note (D)

[ dark notes below are the bass line, which is muted and only there for reference ]

Now it’s time to move that second long note. This is where The Brooks guitarist plays the 6 (B in our example), so let’s do that too, as it’s this major 6th on the guitar that clashes with the minor 7th (C in our example) on the bass.

What’s so cool here, is that they could actually have played the two modes simultaneously without a big clash. But, the 6 (B) and ♭7 (C) are one semitone apart, and whenever you play adjacent notes like this together, they clash big time!

So, that’s why The Brooks are exceptionally creative here. Not only are the two melodies playing against each other by being in different modes, but then they also zoom in on these two long notes and create an additional clash. It’s brilliant!

Just to clarify. This note-against-note clash (6 against ♭7) could still have happened if the bass was playing in Dorian too, because both of those notes are in Dorian. But, as the bass plays the ♭6 from Aeolian in its line, there’s two levels of clashing!

Guitar: root note and major 6th (highlighted)

Finally, it’s time to move the short notes around to create a pleasing contour up to the 6 and back down to the root (if you started on the root). You can use any notes from D Dorian (which is all the white notes) when writing this contour.

But, if you play the 6 again somewhere else, check that your bass isn’t playing the ♭6 at that exact same moment. You definitely don’t want both 6ths played at the same time, as that will sound like one of your instruments hit a wrong note. Ouch!

Lastly, feel free to lengthen a note or two in the contour, if it helps your riff flow. We extended the 5, as it creates a nice smooth run up to the 6, which is the climax of our riff. And with that, you’re done!

Right, so now if you mute the bass and play only the guitar, you’ll hear that the riff sounds optimistic. But, mute the guitar and play only the bass, and that optimism is gone! Now sit back, play them together, and enjoy the musical paradox you’ve created.

Guitar: final riff with “contour” 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