Musicality

What makes the difference between a simple beat maker and a world class producer? And more importantly, how can you become the latter one?

It is not only about the quality of the sounds you use, but how to use them with musicality also.

Become a musician

The first skill that I would advise you to focus on is musicality. Nowadays a lot of producers just work from behind their computer without being able to play any instrument or without any knowledge about musical theory. They simply download some free drum samples and click somewhere on the screen in the music production software. In one way, this is of course a great thing. Because of the modern-day technological possibilities, you don’t need to spend hours and hours on learning how to play multiple instruments to be able to create some decent music. In fact, basically anyone can creatively express themselves using just a simple DAW.

That being said, if you DO have solid, real musical skills, your music production level will go straight through the roof. And by solid, real musical skills I definitely don’t mean that they need to be on a professional musician level. Rather, just knowing how to play some chords and melodies on a piano or guitar can make a huge difference when you’re producing a track.

You will understand how music works and therefore it will be much easier to create high-quality beats when you sit behind your production set-up. In addition, you will also have a truly great source of inspiration within reach when you can play an instrument. By just jamming and trying out new stuff on any instrument, I often get super strong inspiration myself!

Your newly learned musician skills will also work very well if you have already created something in your DAW. For example, a drum pattern or a (chopped) sample pattern and you want to add something. No matter how basic it is that you have, just put it on repeat and sit behind any instrument on which you can play a few notes or chords. It can really help you to ‘discover’ what should be in the beat.

Also learning how to write melodies on a piano will boost your beat making skills immensely. 

Start with music lessons

The best way to learn an instrument is by taking lessons from someone who already knows how to. In case you don’t have the financial means or opportunities to take music lessons, don’t worry. There are lots of cheap ways to learn the basics of playing an instrument. Remember, you don’t need to become a pro musician to become a pro producer! Just use Google to look for cheap or even free music lessons. There are tons of people offering basic piano and guitar lessons online with the help of tutorial videos.

So start and keep developing yourself musically, it is an absolutely vital skill of every world class producer!

Continue to the next Quick Tip:
How to compress your drum sounds for maximum impact.