Hack Music Theory

• How to Write a Catchy Melody • Music Theory from Glass Animals "Creatures in Heaven"

    How to Write aCatchy Melody.     Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file   If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2877864/catchy-melody        Intro.  British band Glass Animals are absolutely massive! At the time of writing this, they’re ranked #257 in the world on Spotify. Most artists as famous as them have achieved their success as a result of an obsessive striving for celebrity. However, Glass Animals seem to be obsessed with making catchy music instead. And not only that, their music is surprisingly creative for a band as successful as them. If you’ve been doing our Hack Music Theory tutorials for a few years, you’ll know that we don’t usually cover “celebrity artists”. The reason for that is because (nowadays) there’s an inverse correlation between the success of an artist and the creativity of their music. For an artist to achieve a fanbase of tens of millions, their music needs to appeal to the masses. And most people (nowadays) want “sugary” ear-candy music that’s pleasantly predictable, i.e. boring, bland background music. So why are we doing a tutorial on such a huge band? Well, Glass Animals’ new single “Creatures in Heaven” is a masterclass in catchy melody writing. The lead melody in their chorus has a whole bunch of creative hacks, as well as a very clever twist in its tale. So, inspired by “Creatures in Heaven”, here’s our 6-step method for writing a great melody that’s catchy enough for the masses. But first… Tea!     Step 1. The Chords  Open your DAW, leave the time signature on 4|4, but change your tempo to 80 BPM. Next, create a four-bar loop on your melody track, with a 1/16 grid. Okay so you may be wondering why the first step in a melody tutorial is… the chords?! Well, all great melodies are written over chords, or implied chords (chords are “implied” when they’re not played separately but their notes are incorporated into the melody instead). The reason it’s best to write a melody over chords is because it gives the melody a harmonic progression. Without this progression, the melody will sound mind-numbingly boring, as it won’t go anywhere harmonically. The difference is night and day. It’s like walking through a beautiful forest along the ocean compared to walking on a treadmill in a stinky gym. There’s no comparison! So let’s get our chord progression written, that way we’ve set ourselves up to write a great melody. Glass Animals are in the key of D major for their chorus (so we’ll use it too), and they use four chords in their progression (so we’ll do that too). D Major (notes) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 D E F♯ G A B C♯  D Major (chords)* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Dmaj Em F♯m Gmaj Amaj Bm C♯dim   As you probably know (or as you’ll hear if you play it), the diminished chord is crazy dissonant. It’s safe to say that using C♯dim ain’t gonna appeal to the masses, so take that off your menu. But other than that, you can use whatever you want. Glass Animals use all three major chords, and only one minor. Playing three major chords in a major key gives their chorus a wonderfully uplifting vibe. So, think about your balance between major (happy) and minor (sad) chords. Also, think about the order of your chords. Glass Animals play the root chord (Dmaj) second. This detracts attention from it and creates a more fluid atmosphere. We played Dmaj last, though, which creates a more final ending. You can play Dmaj wherever you want, but consider where you want to draw people to the “home” chord. Here’s our progression: Gmaj → Bm → Amaj → Dmaj *If you need help working out the chords in a key, read Hack 10 in our Free Book.  Once you’ve chosen your four chords, draw in the root note of each chord for a full bar (in a low octave). These roots will provide harmonic reference for your melody, which you’re gonna write above. This way you’ll be able to hear the relationship between each note in your melody and its accompanying chord. When you’ve finished writing your melody, mute these low roots. Then, create another track specifically for your progression, and draw in each full chord (i.e. 1, 3, 5). Root note of each chord in progression (key note, D, highlighted)     Step 2. The Drama  Great melodies contain drama, and there’s no better way to bring the drama than by using a big interval.* You see, larger intervals create intensity, while smaller intervals create continuity. You need both. In fact, you need a lot more smaller intervals than bigger intervals. However, if your melody contains only small intervals, it’ll be awfully boring. On the other hand, if your melody contains only big intervals, people will presume you were thoroughly drunk when you wrote it. *New to writing melodies? Use the Melody Checklist in our Songwriting & Producing PDF.  Over your first chord, write a handful of notes that end with a big interval around beat 3. And that big melodic jump should go up, not down (a large descending interval contains only a fraction of the drama of that same interval ascending). Be sure to begin your melody on beat 1, as this will make the most impact, and as this section is the chorus, first impressions matter even more than usual. Use a combination of note values for interest. And remember, if you wanna emphasize a chord’s major (happy) or minor (sad) vibe, then play its 3rd in your melody above. Melody’s opening segment with large interval (highlighted) for drama     Step 3. The Fall  You’re now gonna finish your melody’s first phrase with “the fall”. This is an utterly brilliant technique that Glass Animals use in their melody. And, it makes for a deeply pleasing balance between the drama and the gentle ride down afterwards. Your last note is currently that high note around beat 3, so now you’re gonna write a smooth contour that flows back down to somewhere around where you began. All good melodies have phrasing (i.e. where the melody rests), regardless of whether they’re sung or played on an instrument. This is because the melody itself needs to breathe, not just the singer. These rests also break-up a melody into digestible bits (i.e. phrases), which makes it easier to remember. So, end your first phrase on a longer note, and have at least a 1/16 rest at the end of your first bar (i.e. beat 4a). You can have an 1/8 rest if you prefer, but nothing longer than that, otherwise you’ll lose the momentum. First bar completed with “the fall” (highlighted)  Notice how we didn’t play the chord’s root (G) in our melody. That root will be played in the chords below, so you don’t need to play it unless you actually want to.     Step 4. Rhythmic Variation  Copy and paste your first phrase into bar two, and make sure to also start it on beat 1. Glass Animals use a great hack in their second phrase, which makes it familiar to the listeners while simultaneously freshening it up so it’s not boring. They achieve this by using rhythmic variation. Simple, but massively effective. By only changing a few note values, the phrase is both predictable and unpredictable. First phrase copied and pasted into bar two (highlighted)  Repetition is vital if you wanna appeal to the masses. People love a melody they know. But, too much repetition will make a melody predictable. And as soon as it’s predictable, their attention will move to some other novelty in their environment; probably their phone (it’s a sad reality that music is competing with phones for people’s attention). So it’s essential to repeat your melody for it to get stuck in their heads, and rhythmic variation will prevent it from losing its novelty and appeal. Glass Animals change almost all their note values, but only slightly. Let your ear guide you into the Goldilocks Zone in this step, as too much change will make the phrase sound unfamiliar, while not enough change will make it sound predictable. Lastly, Glass Animals add one new note at the end of their phrase, so it actually finishes on the last beat of the bar. This new note is a 1/16, which is completely unexpected, so it adds to the novelty. We did this too, but you don’t have to. If you don’t, though, then extend your last note so it also finishes at the end of the bar. Second phrase with rhythmic variations (highlighted)     Step 5. The Climb  We’re halfway through our melody now. And after two phrases that “fall”, Glass Animals counters that with a phrase that “climbs”. In the same way that the notes in our “falling” phrase aren’t all descending, the notes in our “climbing” phrase don’t all have to be ascending either. But, there needs to be an overall climbing contour and feel to it. So, you’ll wanna start this phrase slightly lower than your “falling” phrases, and then play around with writing a generally ascending contour. Also, Glass Animals start this phrase on beat 1+, which is another way of adding novelty and interest. We did the same. You don’t have to start there but you do have to start on an off-beat, as your previous phrase ends right at beat 1. And your melody needs a breath there, so your only other options are beat 1e or beat 1a. Before you jump in and begin writing this phrase, there’s one more guideline. After their climb, Glass Animals actually take their melody down a big interval. In fact, it’s the exact same big interval they use in their first phrase, but this time it jumps down instead of up. This provides a clever mirror image, which is utterly brilliant, but most people won’t notice that. What is noticeable, though, is how this low note extends the range (i.e. distance from lowest to highest note) of their melody. Climbing segment of third phrase (highlighted)   Good melodies usually have a range of about an octave. This ending note is the last opportunity to extend your melody’s range to somewhere around an octave. Final note (highlighted) of third phrase, extending melody’s range     Step 6. Melodic Structure  This final step is a game-changer! You see, when we hear Glass Animals’ third phrase (i.e. the “climbing” phrase in Step 5), we obviously perceive it as a new phrase because it’s totally different. This is a common structure used for melodies. It’s known as AABA, where A is the first phrase and B is the second phrase. So in other words, the first phrase is played twice, then there’s a new phrase, and then the first phrase is played again (for the third time). By the way, it’s equally common to hear AAAB, where the first phrase is played three times in a row, followed by the second phrase. Okay, this Glass Animals melody seems normal so far, right? Yes. But (and it’s a BIG “but”), in this fourth bar where everyone will be expecting the return of their first phrase, Glass Animals repeat their second phrase instead. By doing this, they actually transform their second phrase from being a “variation” to being an equally-important main phrase. So, this melody now consists of two main phrases: the first one that’s repeated in bars one and two, and the second phrase that’s repeated in bars three and four. This is known as an AABB structure. This structure is surprisingly rare compared to the far more common AABA or AAAB. When it’s done well, the AABB melodic structure can take the catchiness of a melody to a whole new level. When done wrong, though, it can make a bad melody even worse. That’s because if you want your B phrase to be equal in importance to your A phrase, then it has to be equally well-written. However, most songwriters/producers approach their variations as nothing more than a variation. In other words, they feed you catchy stuff in their A phrase, then give you bland filler junk in their B phrase, and then they quickly bring back their catchy A phrase. You’ve probably noticed this already, but what’s so clever about Glass Animals’ melody is that they balance two “falling” phrases (AA) with two “climbing” phrases (BB). This symmetry is beyond pleasing to our ears. Almost nobody will notice this, but everybody will notice how perfect their melody sounds and feels! Right, let’s get your melody finished. So, copy and paste your B phrase (bar three) into bar four, starting on the same off-beat. This step is the same as Step 4. You’re gonna use rhythmic variation to create a freshened-up version of your B phrase. B phrase copied and pasted into bar four (highlighted)   At the end of bar four, Glass Animals add another note, just like they did at the end of bar two. We actually added two notes (see MIDI below), but do whatever works for your melody, to create a smooth flow when it loops back to bar one. B phrase with rhythmic variations (highlighted) and two new notes at the end (highlighted)   With that, you’re done. Thanks for reading, we appreciate you and hope you had fun. Are you ready to sing along to your mass-appealing melody? Hit play & enjoy! Final melody (highlighted) in AABB structure   Did you enjoy this tutorial? Do you want more “musical recipes” like this one? If so, we can keep you cooking up new music with our library of PDF Tutorials.      Free PDF Tutorial     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    

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• How to Write a Better Snare Rhythm • Music Theory from Matt Sassari & Tony Romera "Snare Thing"

    How to Write aBetter Snare Rhythm.     Free PDF Tutorialincludes MIDI + WAV file examples   If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2806684/snare-rhythms        Intro.  While it’s normal to hear at least a few different kick patterns and hi-hat patterns in music nowadays, it’s rare to hear an interesting snare pattern. The rhythm assigned to this neglected element of the drumkit is almost always an afterthought. In 4|4 (which most music is in), the snare is usually one of these three rhythms:  Regular backbeat (beats 2 and 4): used in most songs Half-time backbeat (beat 3): used for a slower vibe Double-time backbeat (beats 1+, 2+, 3+, 4+): used for a faster vibe  So, when listening through to the new releases on Spotify, it was rather shocking (pleasantly so) to hear something completely unusual. The collaborative single “Snare Thing” by French producers Matt Sassari & Tony Romera is a refreshing celebration of the drum that almost always plays the most boring rhythm! With these PDF tutorials, we usually have to make an educated guess as to what the creator’s intention and process was behind the song. But, based on the less-than-subtle title of their track, it’s safe to say that the duo were intentionally showcasing the snare drum’s creative potential. So, inspired by “Snare Thing”, here’s our 4-step method for writing creative snare patterns. But first… Tea!     Step 1. Motif  Set up two bars of 4|4 with your grid on 1/16 notes, and your tempo at 126 BPM. The first thing we need to do is write a motif, which is a short idea that’s repeated to give the music structure and make it more memorable. As we’re writing for the drums, our motif will obviously be a rhythmic motif (when using pitched instruments, you can also write melodic and harmonic motifs). The motif that Matt and Tony use is a couple of 1/16 notes followed by a 1/16 rest. They then repeat this motif to create their snare rhythm. Motif repeated to create snare rhythm   As you can see, their motif is three 1/16 notes long. Having a motif that’s an odd duration (like three, five, seven, etc.) will make it far more interesting, because each time the motif is repeated it’ll start on a different 1/16 note beat (e.g. 1a, 2+, 3e). A motif lasting four (or eight) 1/16 notes will repeat on the same beat, so it’ll get repetitive and boring extremely quickly. Therefore, avoid using an even-number motif here. For the record, though, they can sound great when played on melodic instruments, because you can repeat the same rhythm while changing the pitches. Right, when you’re happy with your motif, copy and paste it into the first three 1/4 note beats of bar one. You wanna leave beat 4 open for now, as that’s where you’re gonna write a variation. Next, copy and paste your rhythm into bar two. Snare rhythm copied and pasted into bar two (highlighted)   Now it’s time to write your variation in beat 4 of bar two. This variation will prevent the snare rhythm from getting boring, by turning it into a two-bar rhythm: Two-bar snare rhythm created by adding variation (highlighted)     Step 2. Swing  With such an unusual snare rhythm, it would be completely acceptable to move on and write the kick drum pattern now. But, Matt and Tony have one more brilliant snare trick up their sleeves. Instead of using the regular straight grid that you hear in almost every song, they use a swing grid. This is a game-changer! If you’re new to the swing grid, you’re in for a treat. An easy way to think of the swing grid is that it’s a long note followed by a short note, and that occurs in each beat. But to be precise, the swing feel is what you get when you repeatedly play a triplet’s first and third notes. And that’s one way you can program swing rhythms. DAWs allow us to use a swing grid, though, which gives us way more control over the feel (that’s actually the way drummers play swing rhythms, too). If you ask a drummer to play a swung beat for you, they’ll ask how strong you want the swing. The stronger the swing (i.e. the later that second note is), the more “lazy” the rhythm feels. And the weaker the swing (i.e. the earlier that second note is, and therefore the closer it’ll be to a straight grid), the more rigid the rhythm feels. The three MIDI screenshots below show the difference between using a triplet grid, a swing grid at 50% strength (usually the default in DAWs), and a swing grid at 66% strength. Notice how the triplet and 66% swing grids are pretty much identical, but the 50% swing is slightly closer to a straight grid (we’ve left that second snare hit in the same place in all three MIDI screenshots, so you can see the grids’ differences). Now, loop it up (or put the metronome on), and decide how much swing you like. We chose 65% strength, as we wanted it to have that stronger swing feel. While the swing strength you use is obviously up to you, we recommend going with something over 60%, otherwise your drums won’t have that super cool “lazy” vibe. Grid set to 1/16 triplets   Grid set to 1/16 swing, at 50% strength   Grid set to 1/16 swing, at 66% strength   Right, now that you’ve chosen your swing strength, simply quantize your snare. If you’re new to quantizing, you can either try to find that function in your DAW, or you can just move your snare hits onto the new grid (that’s all quantizing is). Snare rhythm quantized to 1/16 swing grid (swung notes highlighted)   A quick bonus hack before we move on. In “Snare Thing”, Matt and Tony mute the last three snare hits in every other loop. So, when you’re totally finished with your two-bar drum beat, copy and paste it, then mute those last few snares in bar four. This is an easy yet effective way to create variation. Remember, variation is not always about adding, the same effect can often be achieved by subtracting. Last three snare hits muted (for variation) in every other loop, i.e. bar four     Step 3. Dance  Now that your snare rhythm is swinging, literally, it’s time to add the dancey element. And when it comes to enticing people off their comfortable chairs, there’s no better remedy than a four-on-the-floor beat. If you’re new to that term, it’s simply a drum beat where the kick is on every 1/4 note beat. And usually the snare will be on beats 2 and 4 (i.e. a regular backbeat). While a four-on-the-floor drum beat is not very creative, it’s guaranteed to bring the dancey vibe to any song! Right about now you may be thinking: But wait, we’ve already got a snare rhythm?! Yep, and this is where the French duo take their drums to a whole new level… They have two snare drums playing simultaneously! And not only do the two snares have very different rhythms, but they also have very different sounds. FYI: this beat will make most drummers angry (i.e. “How many freakin’ arms do you think I have?!”), so if you have a drummer friend, please don’t ask them to play this. Four-on-the-Floor drum beat added (highlighted)     Step 4. Spice  Okay, so if you thought the previous step was a drummer provoker, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! We’re about to add hi-hats. But, one hi-hat isn’t enough for these ambitious Frenchmen. Yep, they also have two hi-hat rhythms playing. Madness! They actually start with only one, but then when they wanna build up the energy, they bring in their second hi-hat rhythm. So let’s get the first rhythm written now, which will be played on the closed hi-hats (see MIDI screenshot below). They have a relatively simple swung rhythm on the closed hats, with a couple rests. You can go for something with more variation if you want, but be careful not to have a closed hat rhythm that’s too complex, as that will fight for your listeners’ attention. Remember, there’s only enough space in the spotlight for one element! Also, be sure to have a slightly different closed hat rhythm in your second bar. Once again, though, don’t make the variation too noticeable. Simple is best here. Closed hi-hat rhythm added (highlighted)  What you have now is your main drum beat. However, as you build up the energy in your other instruments throughout the song, you’ll wanna ramp up your drums too. And that’s when Matt and Tony introduce their second hi-hat rhythm, which is played on the open hi-hats. That swoosh sound of open hats is great for energy! If you look at the MIDI screenshot below, you’ll see that we’re well into the realm of drummer impossibilities now. Not only are there moments where the closed and open hats are played together (which is impossible on most drumkits as they only have one set of hi-hats), but there are also moments where the drummer’s need for two hi-hats would be the least of their problems, as they’d also need three arms! A couple examples of this can be found on beats 2+ and 3+ in bar one. Okay, so now that we’ve thoroughly annoyed most drummers (which, I confess, is one of my hobbies because my big brother is a professional drummer), let’s write our second hi-hat rhythm. These Frenchmen may be wildly ambitious, but they certainly know when to balance complexity with simplicity. And that’s exactly what they do with their open hats, which plays a super simple off-beat rhythm on beats 1+, 2+, 3+, and 4+. Along with the flour-on-the-floor, this off-beat hat rhythm is another classic dance element. You can do something slightly more complex if you prefer, but once again, simple is best here. Too much variation in your open hat rhythm will result in it fighting for your listeners’ attention. And this beat is all about that Snare Thing! And with that, you’re done. So, clear some space, hit play, and get dancing. Enjoy :) Final beat (open hi-hats highlighted)   PS: Did you enjoy this tutorial? Do you want more “musical recipes” like this one? If so, we can keep you cooking up new music with our library of PDF Tutorials.      Make Music You LOVE.  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 HarmonyMulti 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)      Free PDF Tutorial     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    

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  0:54
• How to Write Sweeping Arpeggios • Music Theory from Daft Punk "Motherboard"

    How to WriteSweeping Arpeggios.     Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file  If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2639559/sweeping-arpeggios        Intro.  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!     Step 1. Chords  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     Step 2. Low  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     Step 3. Peak  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     Step 4. Middle  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)     Step 5. Link  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]     Make Music You LOVE.  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 HarmonyMulti 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)      Free PDF Tutorial    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    

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• How to Write a Memorable Bass Line • Music Theory from Röyksopp "So Easy"

    How to Write aMemorable Bass Line.     Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file  If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2620271/memorable-bass       Intro.  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!     Step 1. Half & Half  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)     Step 2. Anchors & Arcs  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)     Step 3. Arc & Arc  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)     Step 4. Mode & Mode  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      Make Music You LOVE.  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 HarmonyMulti 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)     Free PDF Tutorial     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   

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  0:53
• How to Write Suspenseful Soundtrack Music • Music Theory from Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" The Exorcist (1973) theme

    How to Write SuspensefulSoundtrack Music.   Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file  If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2591466/suspenseful-melody        Intro.  The dictionary definition of suspenseful is “causing a feeling of excitement or nervousness because you are waiting for something to happen”. That perfectly describes the intro of “Tubular Bells - Pt. I” by Mike Oldfield. It’s easy to hear why The Exorcist (1973) director William Friedkin chose this music for his film. Recall that classic scene where Chris starts walking home alone as the “Tubular Bells” intro begins. Eeek! Talk about “waiting for something to happen”. If you wanna make music that keeps people listening because they need to know what happens next, then knowing how to create suspense is essential. Mike Oldfield has given us a masterclass with this music. So, inspired by “Tubular Bells”, here’s our 4-step method for writing a suspenseful melody. But first… Tea!     Step 1. Odd  One of the first things we notice about the intro of “Tubular Bells - Pt. I” is that it’s in an odd time signature. If you count along with that piano part in the intro, you’ll count 15 beats. So, change your DAW’s time signature to 15|4 and set the tempo to 150 BPM. On closer analyses of the piano part (i.e. where its melody repeats), it becomes apparent that the time signature is actually one bar of 7|4 followed by two bars of 4|4. But as that adds up to 15|4, we’ll just go with that to keep things simpler. Next, create a one-bar loop of 15|4 on your piano track, with the grid on 1/8 notes. We’re gonna start by writing a rhythm on E (the root), using only 1/8 notes and 1/8 rests. You can do whatever you want, but don’t play more than two notes in a row. Also, only make your rhythm seven 1/4 notes long, i.e. one bar of 7|4. 7|4 rhythm (on E)     Step 2. Pitch  Now it’s time to turn this rhythm into a melody! Mike Oldfield uses the E natural minor scale for this piano part, so we’ll use it too. E natural minor scale 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 E F♯ G A B C D   You may be wondering why F♯ (2) is in red. That’s because it’s out-of-bounds! Yep, you can’t use that note in your melody. Why? Well, we’re gonna create some suspense all of our own here, as we’re not revealing the reason for this until Step 4. One more tiny guideline here. If you wanna use E, use the high octave (i.e. the 8). Without the F♯ (2) you still have six notes, which is plenty, so write your melody by using all the usual elements, like a big range and a smooth contour. Need help with this? Use the Melody Checklist in our Songwriting & Producing PDF. 7|4 rhythm turned into melody, by moving notes to different pitches of E minor   When you’re happy with your melody, then copy and paste it (starting at beat 8). 7|4 melody copied and pasted (highlighted)   That gives us 14|4, so extend your melody by one note to complete the 15|4 bar. Note added (highlighted) to end of melody, completing bar of 15|4   Now that you have the full melody, you can hear that it’s a 7|4 melody looping, except the loop has an extra beat that makes it eight 1/4 notes long (i.e. two bars of 4|4). That odd-time element from Step 1 has now become very noticeable! 7|4 melody looped, with looped version (highlighted) transformed into two bars of 4|4   The interesting takeaway here is that alternating between an odd time signature (7|4) and an even time signature (two bars of 4|4) makes the melody sound more odd. It seems counterintuitive, but the melody would actually sound more normal if it was exclusively in 7|4. The reason for that is because our pattern-loving brains will figure out an odd time signature after a few loops, and then get used to it. Therefore, alternating back and forth prevents us from adjusting to the odd time. So thanks to those 4|4 bars, the 7|4 continues to sound odd every time we hear it.     Step 3. Drone  This is the final piece of the piano part, and it’s the easiest. Simply draw in the root note (E) in all the rests. This drone on E creates two layers in your piano part, which not only adds depth, it also adds tension between the melody and its root. Final piano part, with drone on root note (E) highlighted   Now that you’ve finished your piano part, you can have some fun with the orchestration by duplicating the track, then changing its sound (and octave). As this piano part is at a super high register, you can lower it by an octave on the duplicated track, then change the sound to a glockenspiel or anything suspenseful.     Step 4. Bass  That’s enough suspense! It’s finally time to reveal why you couldn’t play F♯ in your piano part, back in Step 2. This is gonna be pretty shocking! So, are you ready for a massive twist in the tale of this tutorial? Okay, here it is… You’re actually not in the key of E minor, you’re in A minor. WTF?! I know, right? That shocked us, too! This magic trick of Mike Oldfield’s is probably our favourite element of “Tubular Bells - Pt. I”. Let’s explore it in depth. After the piano part has been playing for 50 seconds and the key of E minor has been well and truly established by the piano’s drone on E, Mike Oldfield brings in the bass guitar. But, the bass plays a drone on A for almost five 1/4 notes. WTF?! Bass drone on A (highlighted) below piano part, which is muted and just there for reference   In building architecture, the lowest floor is the foundation. Same with music. The lowest instrument is the musical foundation. All the other instruments are like the floors built above. So, that A drone in the bass reframes the music around that keynote, which results in the listeners perception shifting as soon as the bass starts. However, Mr Oldfield has one more magic trick up his sleeve… A natural minor scale 1 2 ♭3 4 5 ♭6 ♭7 A B C D E F G   But first, you’re probably wondering why the F (♭6) is in red. And don’t worry, we won’t make you wait for the answer this time. The F is out-of-bounds, too. Why? Well, as you can see if you compare the A minor and E minor scales, they only have one note difference between them. A minor has F, and E minor has F♯. The two keys are very “close” to each other, because they have six notes in common. So by avoiding F♯ in the piano and F in the bass guitar, all the music consists of the six common notes. And as the piano part drones on E while the bass line drones on A, it actually sounds like the music is in both keys at the same time! You see, if the bass played F, it would make everything sound like it’s in the key of A minor, because the bass guitar is our foundation. So, as long as the piano avoids F♯ and the bass avoids F, the music sounds like it’s in both keys simultaneously. This causes a lot of tension, and therefore, suspense. What a brilliant magic trick! By the way, playing in two keys at the same time is called bitonality. Theoretically, it could be argued that “Tubular Bells - Pt. I” is not bitonal, because neither the piano nor the bass solidifies what key they’re in. But, the effect is certainly bitonal. Right, let’s finish up the bass line now. So, in your bass guitar track, draw another longer note under the beginning of your looped 4|4 melody (i.e. from beat 8 onwards). These longer notes function as root notes of the implied chords in your progression. In other words, while you don’t have an actual chord progression here, these longer notes in your bass line create the equivalent harmonic effect. To learn all about implied chords, read our Melodic Bass Drop PDF. Mike Oldfield’s implied progression consists of two chords, so feel free to keep it simple like that. We added a little more harmony, cos, well… we love harmony! Longer notes added to bass line (highlighted) to create implied chord progression   When you’re happy with your implied chord progression, simply link up the longer notes with a variety of shorter notes. But remember, avoid playing that F, and also, be sure to give your bass line a big range and a smooth melodic contour. And with that, you’re done. So click play, sit on the edge of your seat, and feel the suspense! Final bass line, with shorter “linking” notes highlighted     Make Music You LOVE.  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 HarmonyMulti 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)     Free PDF Download   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   

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