Basic Music Theory Concepts for Beginner Electronic Music Producers

[@nathanbell6962]

I would recommend putting stickers on your keyboard after you have settled on a scale. You can learn them and play them fast then.

[@Linokai1]

An easier way to learn the structures of the scales (at least for the modes of the Major scale) is to use the white notes for all of them. If you play all the white notes starting at C, you get the Major scale. Play all the white notes starting at D, you get the Dorian scale. Start at E, you get the Phrygian scale. F = Lydian. G = Mixolydian. A = Minor. B = Locrian. (:

[@t.magotchi3071]

wow, thankyou!

[@dubraja6469]

never stop uploading these videos man. I love this channel way too much :)

[@DaddaPsy]

In Ableton, you can chuck a Scale midi effect and it will quantize it to the scale of your choosing. You can then record the output to a new midi channel to get your melody printed correctly.

[@agreen9903]

make a video about it dude

[@filipeventura2729]

Can do that with any arp, set it to a specific Scale, but then you are missing the point of learning to navigate them and understanding how they work. The best way is always to learn imo

[@john-nolan-t2y]

the scale plugin works a treat in Able.. and biwig has the diatonic transposer which can also work quite well..

[@BappinProductions]

@@filipeventura2729 I disagree, as a producer you expected to wear many different "hats" and it's not worth it to try to become well versed in all areas. Personally, I think it's better to get a good understanding on how to "drive" specific tools, to yield interesting, usable results, than it is to understanding the music theory behind them. A little bit of theory is useful, no doubt, like intervals, inversions, what chord voicing is and how to use it for a better flow etc, but really that's it.

[@filipeventura2729]

@@BappinProductions May be a producer, but you are still creating music, so music maker is the hat you put on. and knowing your way around basic music theory even if by hear should be the minimum. Maybe one of the reason music sounds less human and more preset based is exactly because people assemble puzzles and dont actually focus on the process of creating music. So many musicians know diferent instruments, its not because we have to know processing etc that we should not learn the basis to music making

[@מיכאלב-ה5מ]

One of the best channels. Thanks for the sharing.

[@dox1755]

I recommend you to get a soft light then turn off the room light and just keep the leds on and your face with soft light, that would give 100x better look for your videos !

[@thomasnikzakrzewski4477]

OK, that was an heroic effort and much appreciated. One confusing thing: at 10:30 you say that the G Major scale has a "minor" key in it, but I think what you're trying to point out is that G Major scale has a black key in it (compared to C Major). Black keys aren't really "minor" keys, as they are found in both major and minor scales. Plus, the A Natural Minor scale doesn't even have any black keys. I'm new to music and music theory, so if I'm in error, I apologize. UPDATE: Just saw MrXav360's earlier post addressing this. See Dash Glitch's reply there.

[@nermalcat2085]

this can be seen like a another music theory tutorial, but it's not because we're talking about psychedelic music, at first as you say the main used scales are phygrian and minor scale, the we have to learn how to handle that scale in terms of psychedelic music design I love what you're doing here, very useful to me, tips like that one when u say you like to keep only the root chord when the drops in, sounds simple but whey you don't still figured out it's very helpful, I want one of this talking about the drums pitching, I have to make all my cymbals and hats to hit the exact frecuency of the key of my track or how we have to understand "pitching drums* btw I love ur videos thank you!

[@michaelknight141]

Actually there is a video about how to pitch drums i think

[@BappinProductions]

I recommend Scaler 2 by Plugin Boutique, if you want to make interesting melodic/harmonic dance music. It has scales up the wazoo and lots of really handy tools/workflows for putting together progressions that you can user to build up your idea/track. Once you have settled on your base chords for the track, you can feed them into arpeggiators and depending on your DAW, you can modulate the arp settings in realtime to switch up the play direction and step length etc. to create nice patterns or least something full and rich to tweak. When you have the base MIDI down, you can manually adjust note lengths, create overlaps for portamento, overdub with vibrato expression via modwheel etc. and so on. From the arp sequence and or chord progressions, you can pick out other patterns to use for pads etc, by choosing the top line of the progression for example. This way your ideas remain consistent and can be easily layered with one another. This is computer music, use the tools provided to you in this environment to your advantage, that's my 2p anyway.

[@shen6232]

Thank you dashie. YOU CUTIE

[@ramnaroth]

Using simpler streamlined approaches is not lazy, especially if you are a beginner. Know the rules before you break them, and all.

[@DjClimamusic]

Thanks a lot Dash Glitch! 😊👍

[@outdatedgear5036]

Some of the best advice I’ve heard in a long time. I know theory and this still helped! Not making things overly complex, very true. I feel like that’s what I try to do because I understand theory lol.

[@MrXav360]

I really like it when people want to make music more accessible, but it can lead to more confusion in the long-run. For instance, when you say, @10:25, that the G major scale contains a '' minor '' key (F#) it's the wrong term and can lead to more confusion. For instance, if I use your terminology, the scale of A minor (natural), which consists of the notes A B C D E F G, is a minor scale without '' minor '' (black) keys. Which I think could leave beginners scratching their heads. This same set of notes is also said to be part of the key of A minor, which would add even more confusion. I think you should have said either "black key" or "F sharp". There is probably a more precise term, but I learned music theory in French so I don't know all the vocabulary in English (in French I would have used a word that translates to "altered note"). By the way, just trying to bring a bit more precision so you can decide if you want to add a note to your video :) . It's just a MINOR detail I noticed and I am pretty sure beginners got your point and learned a great deal from the video :) ! Thanks for opening the way for them!

[@DashGlitch]

Yes, it was a slip of the tongue.

[@MrXav360]

@@DashGlitch I see! Sorry, I hope I didn't sound like a bigot 😅. Love your content man!

[@thomasnikzakrzewski4477]

Oops. Just posted the same observation before I spotted this one.

[@struspedziwiatr]

Dude your accent is sick, I could listen to you for days lol

[@yourunemployedfriendat2pm]

Australian accent i think

[@lostsynapse]

@@yourunemployedfriendat2pm he is South African

[@Extis]

Awesome! Thanks 😊

[@BappinProductions]

Also if you're a Live user and can afford it, Push is amazing for writing melodies and chord progressions with it's (switchable) scale locking feature for the grid. You can write your chords while locked in, for a strong diatonic base and then switch to chromatic to jam over the top with well placed incidentals (notes outside of scale) for a little spice. Notes in the scale are lit up and those outside are greyed out but still playable. If the V2 is out of your price range, keep an eye out for a second hand V1. It's missing some of the fancier features from the V2 but it has scale locking for the pads still and the knobs are good for mapping to Rack macros.

[@Fauna_ofc]

Great content , they say that if you can explain something to someone else you truly understand it. Your a great producer & teacher thanks for sharing your knowledge

[@spiritualtheory4042]

Also resonant filters creates different frequensies, so actually you could work in one or two chords in a mode/scale but still make alot of melodic stuff just by filtering...

[@djkaya9558]

nice explained !

[@KingCosmoTheGreat]

It's the same on Ableton to go up and down an octave (shift + up or down)

[@rrrobart9]

GOLD. This kind of content is so good. I’d really like to know how you make that 2nd bass sound that’s an octave higher (in the beginning). You said it’s getting random filter parameters. Would love to see how it’s done, no matter how simple. Thanks for your channel. I love it.

[@mrunnalls22]

Very helpful thanks Dash

[@OscarGonzalez-ls1gf]

Sounds amazing ❤️

[@thomashopkins2211]

@3:37 how do you edit one midi cell that edits all the others, is it a cubase 10 or 11 thing? I have cubase 9.5 and can't seem to do it

[@Violentic81]

Sound on 13min would be a great theme for some dreamy psychill 😳 if I wanna some real nice melodies, I press dem button on Riffer until it’s fits🙈

[@_Garm_]

just what i needed thank you ! :D

[@loki-oq1lj]

You ar doing nice job sir thank you a kind being.

[@seamusoduigneain9800]

Hi Glitch, been watching your channel as a cubase user for a while. I usually do guitar based indie-electro stuff but was inspired by your videos to give psytrance a go for the fun of it. I was wondering when it comes to mixing do you automate the volume of tracks at the end of the process, or "ride the faders" in other words? Or is this not a necessary step in EDM...(sorry this is not a theory question but I'll ask it here since it's your latest video.)

[@WorksopGimp]

Would you recommend setting the Root in Cubase? Any pros or cons to doing this?

[@nathanbell6962]

Goa trance scales info would be a good video!

[@diegodurdon]

Melodic minor is a really nice one, and double harmonic major is also good

[@HMzTheGreatest]

Are u South Africa?

[@DashGlitch]

yea :)

[@rendermanpro]

Looks like music theory is rudimental from hardware limitation of the last centuries. Someone need to rework that, like Chemical Periodic Elements Table. Kind of Linnstrument attempt (grid versus one row of keys).... Thanks for the video (while we are living in the flat keyboard world :) )

[@hazelbenton9634]

If you wanna see the linstrumment attempt (and other attempts) put into practice, check out dolamuse here on youtube I feel like what she does is just the beginning, but geez what a cool beginning

[@damjanstojanovski3144]

Heyy Where can i grab your presets vor vital ? :D

[@DashGlitch]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fZuaiIaiqN2Xp8k

[@TheFujac]

copyright strike for 16ths G1 bassline!!!

[@nathanbell6962]

Haha

[@krytenfivetwothreep2485]

Hey. Do you have any plans to sell your presets seperately? I can't really afford to commit to monthly payments through Patreon, but I'd still like to throw a little support your way, maybe by buying a preset pack as and when I can afford it, and it seems a little crappy to sign up to your patreon, give you one payment and then bounce after getting the packs

[@DashGlitch]

Yep, check the description, I sell packs as well

[@ozd1803]

🔥🔥🔥

[@diegodurdon]

Hey dash, im a musician and i really like your videos. I wanted to ask you if ur interested in learning some more music theory, in which case i would happily teach you some stuff. Ive learned a lot watching your videos and i'd like to thank you some way :)

[@loki-oq1lj]

I want to learn how to sound design in my synth fastest way complete guide to all knobs and terms for free where to stair.please help

[@lilDaveist]

*Insert random comment mentioning something vaguely related to the video*

[@tackn3490]

10:15 I like to stop here once

[@3styleat]

nice vid :)

[@מיכאלב-ה5מ]

Maybe the chords just for a break it could be more happier

[@loki-oq1lj]

J

[@leaveyourcomfortzone]

boom

[@ccuny1]

I invented music theory. I'm making a copywrong claim.

[@michaelknight141]

By that you are copying ingroove‘s business model and therefore violating copyrights 🤪

[@ccuny1]

@@michaelknight141 By that you have used the word "copyright(s") which I copyrighted 256 years ago. Btw, I copyrighted the words "Michael" and" Knight" so you cannot use your name ever again (unless you pay me).

[@shen6232]

to the rescue KITT

[@keithlane4705]

music theory is a bit like lawyer double speech.... poorly written dribble to explain something simple .. i.e math

[@krytenfivetwothreep2485]

Except both those things, maths and music theory, are actually infinitely more complex once you get past the surface level. But, like maths, most people don't ever need/want to go past the basics

[@keithlane4705]

@@krytenfivetwothreep2485 even a simpsons episode could go that way if you study the complexities long enough :p My analogy is here to encourage, please don't discourage people.

[@krytenfivetwothreep2485]

@@keithlane4705 I'm sorry that you interpreted my comment as discouragement, but that wasn't my intention at all. In fact, I edited out a sentence in my original comment about how it's not that hard to make something that sounds good even with zero music theory knowledge. Hell, I've been playing bass guitar for 5 years, and it's only in the last 6 months or so, since I started getting into synths and music production, that I've learned any theory at all, outside of a few scales. And it's given me quite a lot of insight into my style and tastes, for example, I tend to default to minor or phrygian when I'm just noodling on the bass, and that's something I couldn't have told you two weeks ago lol