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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.

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