In this tutorial, Point Blank’s Course Content Developer, Chris Martin, demonstrates how you can use broken chords and arpeggios to write catchy hooks and basslines.
This technique can be used across a range of genres from trap to techno when writing catchy melodic hooks or basslines. Taking inspiration from Maya Jane Coles’ 2011 track, ‘What They Say‘, Chris shows how you can create great loops in no time. This video was taken from one of our Music Production and Sound Engineering Intro to Production (Ableton) modules. To find out more about our music production and sound engineering courses, head here.
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During the video, Chris cites Maya Jane Cole’s infectious track, ‘What They Say’, showing how to create your own hooky melodies using broken chords. He fires up Ableton Live and creates a basic idea using a TR-909 plugin and a Roland Cloud Juno 106. To build a bassline, he uses a C Minor chord progression and punches in some corresponding bass notes with an ascending and descending pattern. He then repeats the process using more complex chords to show how you can further this technique.
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