Épisodes

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

    How to Write a Catchy Melody • Music Theory from Glass Animals "Creatures in Heaven"
    May 8 2024
    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)1234567DEF♯GABC♯ D Major (chords)*1234567DmajEmF♯mGmajAmajBmC♯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. ...
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    1 min
  • How to Write a Better Snare Rhythm • Music Theory from Matt Sassari & Tony Romera "Snare Thing"

    How to Write a Better Snare Rhythm • Music Theory from Matt Sassari & Tony Romera "Snare Thing"
    Mar 18 2024
    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 songsHalf-time backbeat (beat 3): used for a slower vibeDouble-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...
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    1 min
  • How to Write Sweeping Arpeggios • Music Theory from Daft Punk "Motherboard"

    How to Write Sweeping Arpeggios • Music Theory from Daft Punk "Motherboard"
    Nov 17 2023
    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 minor12♭345♭6♭7EmF♯dimGmajAmBmCmajDmaj 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 ...
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    1 min
  • How to Write Suspenseful Soundtrack Music • Music Theory from Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" The Exorcist (1973) theme

    How to Write Suspenseful Soundtrack Music • Music Theory from Mike Oldfield "Tubular Bells" The Exorcist (1973) theme
    Oct 13 2023
    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 scale12♭345♭6♭7EF♯GABCD 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 ...
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    1 min
  • How to Write a Technical Drum Beat • Music Theory from TesseracT "Natural Disaster"

    How to Write a Technical Drum Beat • Music Theory from TesseracT "Natural Disaster"
    Sep 29 2023
    How to Write aTechnical Drum Beat. Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2579130/tech-drums Intro. 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. Step 1. The Even 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) Step 2. The Odd 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 Step 3. The Extra 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 ...
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    1 min
  • How to Write a Beautiful Melody • Music Theory from Swedish House Mafia "Ray Of Solar"

    How to Write a Beautiful Melody • Music Theory from Swedish House Mafia "Ray Of Solar"
    Sep 7 2023
    How to Write aBeautiful Melody. There are 7 elements that create a beautiful melody.In this PDF tutorial you'll learn what they are, and how to use them! Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2554562/beautiful-melody Intro. 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! Step 1. Chords 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: 12♭345♭6♭7AmBdimCmajDmEmFmajGmaj 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 → EmDm → 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 Step 2. Rhythm 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’...
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    1 min
  • How to Write Beautiful Arpeggios • Music Theory from Swedish House Mafia "Ray Of Solar"

    How to Write Beautiful Arpeggios • Music Theory from Swedish House Mafia "Ray Of Solar"
    Aug 25 2023
    How to WriteBeautiful Arpeggios. Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2551818/beautiful-arpeggios Intro. 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! Step 1. Chords 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: 12♭345♭6♭7AmBdimCmajDmEmFmajGmaj 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) Step 2. Changes 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 barsCmaj - one and a half barsDm - two and a half barsEm - 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) Step 3. Foundation 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 ...
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    1 min
  • How to Write a Calming Chord Progression • Music Theory from Portishead "Roads"

    How to Write a Calming Chord Progression • Music Theory from Portishead "Roads"
    Jul 14 2023
    How to Write aCalming Chord Progression. Free PDF Tutorialincludes multitrack MIDI file If the link above does not work, paste this into your browser:https://hackmusictheory.com/album/2520762/calming-chords Intro. Within seconds of hearing the opening chords in Portishead “Roads”, you can feel your cortisol levels dropping and your body’s tension releasing. This intro has to be one of the most calming moments in the entire popular music catalogue. Unlike the mad rush that songs are in nowadays to grab your attention with a catchy hook (in order to avoid the dreaded skip!), the “Roads” intro unfolds at a pace so leisurely that it feels delightfully pre-internet. Aaah… Remember those days? Back when humans had attention spans longer than goldfish! On that note. According to Spotify data, about 25% of listeners skip a song within five seconds. If those people skipped “Roads” a mere five seconds in, they wouldn’t even get halfway through the chord progression. Oh well, their loss. In this dizzyingly fast-paced world, if you want to cater to the distracted listener, then it’s impossible to create a calming atmosphere, as that takes time. For almost the whole first minute of “Roads”, all your hear is the legendary sound of a Fender Rhodes organ. Rumour has it that the song is actually named after the Rhodes. The vintage sound of a Rhodes organ obviously adds to the atmosphere, but in terms of music theory, what makes these chords so relaxing? Well, it’s not just one thing, it’s many! And in this tutorial you’ll learn them all, as well as our 5-step method for making your own calming chord progression. But first… Tea! Step 0. Relax Before we get to Step 1, we need to set the scene. To ensure that our blank canvas is calm to begin with, we need to find a relaxing tempo. Breathe in, breathe out… When we’re relaxed, our heart rate is usually between 60 and 100 beats per minute (BPM). As the BPM of music unconsciously affects our heart rates, the slower your song’s BPM, the more relaxed your listeners (and you) will feel, and vice versa. Portishead chose 76 BPM for “Roads”, so we went with 76 too. But, feel free to choose a slower tempo if you want to relax your listeners (and yourself) even more. Step 1. Roots If you have a slow tempo but your chords are changing every couple of beats, then your progression isn’t going to feel very calming. So, in the “Roads” intro, each chord is played for an entire bar! This slow harmonic rhythm creates an illusion of the tempo being slower than it is. And by the way, harmonic rhythm is how long you play each chord for. In other words, where the chords change. The longer you spend on each chord, the slower the harmonic rhythm, and the more relaxed your chord progression will feel. Another issue to consider is that if you play an uneven amount of chords (e.g. three or five), your listeners could unconsciously feel some tension. It’s the same with time signatures. If you write a progression in 3|4 or 5|4, you could unintentionally make your listeners feel uneasy, as they will be expecting the familiar 4|4. Symmetry tends to calm us, so choose four chords for your progression. “Roads” is in the key of A minor, so we used it too. Our chords are: Am, Dm, Cmaj, Em. If you’ve done my Online Apprenticeship, you’ll be wondering about the perfect 4th from A up to D, as well as E up to A. As you know, perfect intervals lack the emotional charge of other intervals. This actually makes them remarkably calming, so that’s why we’ve used them here. Right, once you’ve chosen your four chords, draw in their root notes. And if you want a fuller sound, you can add the octave of each root note. Root note (and its octave) of each chord in progression: Am, Dm, Cmaj, Em Step 2. Unify If you play what you have so far, you’ll notice that the progression currently sounds disjointed, and separation certainly doesn’t feel calming. So, the next step is to create a unifying connection throughout your progression, which will make it flow beautifully. Unification feels comforting, and therefore calming. The best way to connect your root notes is by adding a common note above them. A common note is just a note that’s the same between two chords. In other words, when you change chords, their common note doesn’t change. The ultimate common note is one that you can stay on throughout your chord progression. That’s obviously not something you want to achieve in every progression, but to create a common thread that remains all the way through this chord progression will be deeply comforting, and therefore deeply calming. The 5 is a great common note. In A minor, that’s E. The 5 of your key will work well over most chords in that key due to its strong relationship to the key-note (i.e. the first note of your scale). Feel free to use a different common note, though. ...
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    1 min