Music Theory Archives - Page 3 of 3

Creating Tension & Excitement in Electronic Dance Music

Imagine this: You look out over the dance floor, the crowd is loving the tune, you’re loving the tune and everyone’s on the same level. This is bliss, and the tension & energy are building. They know it’s coming; you know it’s coming, you wait…wait…wait…then POW! The drop comes in and the room goes crazy.

That is the best feeling in the world, and it’s what I love so much about Electronic Dance Music (and DJing); the excitement, the energy and the insane goosebumps. So, what is it that causes those peaks of excitement, and keeps our interest engaged?

EDM Chord Progressions (…and how to make them)

This week is a video (rather than a post) about EDM chord progressions, how they work, and how you can use them in your tracks.

You can check out the video here, and download the chord progression cheat sheet (that compliments the video) below. If you want more info on how to make chords, check out this post, this post, and this post:

The Circle of Fifths (and how to use it…)

It might sound like an ancient brotherhood of knights, but the “Circle of Fifths” is actually a really useful tool in music composition. If you want to quickly find which chords work together, or which notes to use, this little circular diagram can be your best friend…

How to Write a Melody in Your DAW

What makes a great track stand out? Well, it’s a combination of many different elements, but one of the most important is the melody. Why? Because this is what people remember, hum, or sing.

It doesn’t matter whether there is a vocal or not….a decent melody will bring your song to life. In this post we’ll look at what makes a good melody, and how to write one in your DAW…

Make Better EDM Using Keys And Scales

Imagine you could take any melody in your head, quickly translate it into your D.A.W (Digital Audio Workstation), then work out which chords, harmonies and bass notes will work with it and sound great. Having a basic knowledge of keys and scales (and how to use them) will allow you do to this.

If you know in which key you’re producing a song, you can use the notes you KNOW will sound good – without having to hit-and-miss it in the piano roll editor.

How To Make Chords

Learning how to make chords will help you QUICKLY take your compositions to the next level.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often struggled to come up with original and soul-grabbing chords in my tracks. Sure, you can use ready-made loops and stick them together, or listen to (and copy) existing tracks you love, but having a basic grasp of how to put your OWN chords together from scratch opens up a whole new world of original possibilities…

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