How to Write Better Snare Rhythms. Download PDF Tutorial includes 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 interest…

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

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

How to Write Locrian BASS Lines Step 1. Basic Set up four bars with an 1/8 note grid, and your tempo at 97 BPM. You’re gonna start by writing a basic bass line that plays every 1/8 note. This creates momentum. We’re in B Locrian here, which is just all the white notes from B to B. The Locrian mode is exceptionally dark, and what makes it so dark is…

How to Write a Beautiful CHORD Progression Step 1. Beauty Set your grid to 1/16 notes and your tempo to 113 BPM. We’re in the key of A minor here, which is just all the white notes from A to A. Right, so the first step to writing a beautiful chord progression is finding a beautiful chord. There are many beautiful chords, but a good guideline is to …

How to Write a BASS Line with Harmony Step 1. Low Harmony is when two or more notes are played together. And sadly, it’s rare to hear harmony in a bass line. The word “line” is actually used to convey the fact that it’s a melody, not a harmony. That’s how rare harmony is on the bass! You see, most producers think the bass frequencies are too low to…

How to Write a Standout MELODY Step 1. First Impressions There are many ways to write a standout melody, but it’s difficult to improve on the method PJ Harvey uses in her new single “A Child’s Question, August”. That’s because nothing grabs our attention like a bold first impression. And by first impression, I literally mean the first note of the m…

How to Write a Locrian RIFF FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF Includes multitrack MIDI example Step 1. Octaves Set your grid to 1/16 notes and your tempo to 97 BPM. You’re gonna start by writing a creative pattern using only octaves. If you’re writing this on guitar, use your low open E string and the E one octave higher. And be sure to play ever…

How to Write a Catchy MELODY FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF Includes multitrack MIDI example Step 1. Scale There are two types of catchy melodies: annoyingly repetitive ones you can’t stop singing but actually hate, and awesome ones that are memorable cos they’re unique. So, to write a catchy melody that isn’t annoying, you need to make it uni…

How to Write Energetic BASS Lines Step 1. Rhythmic Energy There’s a super energetic bass line in the new single “No Reason” by The Chemical Brothers. To write a bass line like this, you need a lot of movement. Not just rhythmic movement, but melodic movement too. So, start by writing an energetic 2-bar rhythm for your bass line. Just use one pitch …

How to Write a Lydian MELODY FREE: Download This Tutorial as PDF Includes multitrack MIDI example Simple music can be great music. Depeche Mode’s lead single “Ghosts Again” from their new album “Memento Mori” is proof. It has a well-written and creative vocal melody in the verses, but it’s really simple. So, here’s a method for writing melodies fro…

How to Write Polymeter DRUMS Step 1. Kick in 7 The new Periphery single “Atropos” (from the album Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre) opens with a classic djent polymeter, which we love! Staying true to Meshuggah’s original polymeter recipe, the kick is in odd time while the snare and cymbals are in 4|4. So, start by programming a one-bar kick rhyth…

How to Write a Layered Guitar RIFF Step 1. Bass The first thing you notice in the opening riff of “Ego Death” by Polyphia is that there are two layers. There’s a bass line and a lead melody all in one riff, played by one guitar. By adding bass notes below the melody they’re implying chords and creating harmony. This adds a beautiful depth to the ri…

Drum Secrets of Hip-Hop Legends DOWNLOAD This Tutorial as PDF Includes Bonus Hack, MIDI & WAV file examples Could you hear the missing ingredient in our drum beat? (click play above). If not, don’t worry, that’s because the beat is actually pretty good the way it is. The kick pattern is a two-bar rhythm, which gives the drum beat variety. There’s a…

Why You Struggle to Make Music Do you sometimes find yourself staring at a blank screen, with absolutely no ideas? Then we have the solution for preventing that from ever happening again. How can we be so confident that this solution will eliminate writer’s block? Because I’ve been writing music for over 30 years, and I’ve never had writer’s block.…

Sound Design Is Ruining Your Music Have you ever opened your digital audio workstation (DAW) because you’re in the mood to make some music, but then you end up spending hours searching for the right bass sound? Then, feeling frustrated because you’ve wasted hours and didn’t even find the right sound, you close your DAW and open Instagram instead. I…

Stop Looping Melodies This Way DOWNLOAD This Tutorial as PDF (includes MIDI file) When you loop a melody, do you just copy and paste it? If so, that way of looping could be ruining your melodies! But the good news is that in this lesson you’ll learn a creative way of looping, which will actually make your melodies better than they were before you l…

Wrong Notes for Better Chord Progressions DOWNLOAD This Tutorial as PDF (includes MIDI file) Can you hear the weakness in this chord progression? It’s a common weakness that you hear in most songs. Did you spot it? If not, here’s the answer: all the chords are in the key! Wait, what?! Isn’t that a good thing? Well, not always… You see, there are on…

How to Write a Bass Line like Gorillaz "New Gold" In the new Gorillaz single “New Gold”, there’s a music theory secret that makes their song feel totally different to the other new releases out this week. That’s what you’ll learn in this lesson, as well as how to use it to write a Gorillaz-style bass line. But first... Tea! INTRO Hello revolutionar…

How to Write a Bass Line like Red Hot Chili Peppers "Tippa My Tongue" In the new Red Hot Chili Peppers single “Tippa My Tongue”, there’s a ridiculously funky variation of the blues scale, which we’re calling the RHCP scale. And that’s what you’re about to learn, as well as how to write a bass line or guitar riff using it. But first... Tea! INTRO He…

Steven Wilson: See Sound, Hear Images "You imagine something as a guitar part, but then you transpose it to the bass, and it just seems somehow more exotic because of that." –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree songwriter-producer) WELCOME Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Th…

Steven Wilson: Change Your Workflow "I’m not thinking like a bass player would. It gives you all of these possibilities as a bass player to play melodies, riffs, chords." –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree songwriter-producer) WELCOME Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theor…

Steven Wilson: Biggest Metal Guitar Mistake "It's all played on telecaster with an almost clean tone, and to me, it sounds heavier than if I'd played it with a whole bunch of overdrive." –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) WELCOME Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, t…

Steven Wilson: How to Be Creative "An amateur is someone who does something because they love to do it. So, professionalism is sometimes not a good thing." –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) WELCOME Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to ma…

Steven Wilson: Song Structure SECRET "I love that idea of the callback to the intro. Making sense of the fact there is this intro, by using it as the basis not for the main song (not for the verse, not for the chorus), but going back to the intro in the bridge. You don't hear a lot of songs that do that!" –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) WELCOME Hel…

Steven Wilson: Common Songwriting Mistake “Nowadays, with so much music being written on the computer, we’ve lost that natural push and pull that an ensemble and a band will have if they’re playing outside of a tempo map. A lot of modern music tends to get stuck in that single tempo across the duration of a piece of music.” –Steven Wilson (Porcupin…

Steven Wilson: The Songwriting Process "For me, writing music is like standing in front of a brick wall. You go to that brick wall, and you start to hit your head against the wall. And after about an hour, you stand back from the wall and you see if you've made any dent at all in the wall. And sometimes you haven't, and it's very frustrating!" –Ste…

Steven Wilson on SHRED GUITAR "I'm not a fan of the whole 'guitar shredder' phenomenon. I love that people can play like that, but the fact is they feel the need to remind everyone they can play like that constantly. To me that's not music, that's sport. That's like an Olympic sport." –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) WELCOME Hello revolutionary musi…

Steven Wilson: Don't Structure Songs Like This "One of the hallmarks of so-called progressive rock is that it doesn't conform to the conventional way that tracks normally would unfold. A piece of progressive rock can go in very unpredictable directions, in terms of song structure. It doesn't just have to be: verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, ch…

Steven Wilson: Make Music Like This "Accentuate the things in what you do that are unusual, and that a big record company guy would probably tell you you shouldn’t be doing!" –Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) WELCOME Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, eas…

Orchestrate Drum Patterns for Better Beats Beginner beats usually use only three elements of the drum kit. So, in this lesson you'll learn how to make pro beats by voicing them over the whole kit. But first... Tea! INTRO Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fas…

How to Make Polymetric Beats DOWNLOAD This Tutorial as PDF (includes MIDI file) In this tutorial you’ll learn a 3-step hack for making polymetric drum beats. We invite you to work along with us through the following steps, so by the end of this lesson, you’ll also have a finished drum beat. But first... Tea! INTRO Hello revolutionary music makers, …

Odd-Time Hack for Better Beats In this lesson you'll learn how to use odd time signatures, but without them sounding odd. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a r…

Bass Contour Rule Learn how to write better bass lines by creating melodic contours with 3rds and non-harmonic notes. But first… Tea! INTRO Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a…

Melody Interval Rule In this lesson you’ll learn a common fault that many songwriters and producers make when writing melodies. More importantly, though, you’ll learn our theory hack for quickly and easily fixing this fault. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack M…

Frustrated Music Producer? This Is For You! Music is an art, so technically there can’t be any mistakes. But, and it’s a big but, there can definitely be faults, as faults are weaknesses. And unfortunately, when songwriters and producers compose by ear, their music ends up with many faults! For the record, though, it’s not their fault. It’s the fau…

Wrong Notes for Better Bass Lines In this lesson you'll learn how to spice up your bass using non-diatonic notes (AKA chromatic notes). But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you…

Better Beats in 1 Second. Seriously! In this lesson you'll learn how to improve your drum beats in one second. Seriously. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a r…

Meshuggah Hack for Better Djent Riffs In this lesson you'll learn how to improve your Djent riffs using a hack from Meshuggah "I Am That Thirst", which is off their new album "Immutable". But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun w…

How to Add Energy to Bass Lines In this lesson you'll learn how to write better bass lines, by using 1/16 rests. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a refresher,…

Harmonic Rhythm for Better Bass Learn how to write better bass lines by improving your harmonic rhythm! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a refresher, then read our free book …

How to Make Better Dance Beats In this lesson you'll learn how to improve your four-on-the-floor drum beats. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a refresher, the…

Chord Flow Rule DOWNLOAD This Tutorial as PDF (includes MIDI file) In this lesson you’ll learn a common fault that many songwriters and producers make when writing chord progressions. More importantly, though, you’ll learn our theory hack for quickly and easily fixing this fault. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray…

Melody Range Rule In this lesson you’ll learn a common fault that many songwriters and producers make when writing melodies. More importantly, though, you’ll learn our theory hack for quickly and easily fixing this fault. But first… Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Musi…

Drum Fills in 4 Steps In this lesson you’ll learn our 4-step method for making better drum fills. We invite you to work along with us through these steps, so by the end of this lesson, you’ll also have a super tasty drum fill. Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, t…

3 Types of Drum Fills In this lesson you’ll learn the three types of drum fills, where to use them, and how to make them. But first... Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a…

4-Step Hack for Dark Bass Lines In this lesson you’ll learn a simple 4-step hack for writing dark and dissonant bass lines. We invite you to work along with us through the following steps, so by the end of this lesson, you’ll also have a finished bass line. But first... Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolut…

#1 Melody Hack Learn how to make better melodies with this game-changing hack! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a refresher, then read our free book "12 Music Theory Hacks to…

Counter Melody Rule Learn how to avoid this common fault many songwriters & producers make in their backing melodies! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a refresher, then read …

Melody Rhythm Rule Learn how to avoid this rhythmic fault that many songwriters and producers make in their melodies. But first... Tea! Hello revolutionary music makers, we are Kate and Ray Harmony (AKA Revolution Harmony), and welcome to Hack Music Theory, the fast, easy and fun way to make music! If you’re new to theory, or if you just want a ref…