The Musical Theory of Trap

[Hinojosa]

I've been trying to nail this down for some time but i just can't seem to fully understand. I know the elements to trap, dirty snares, 808s, hi hats, orchestral hits, brass and some sort of melody. I've been playing piano since i was 5, im 18 now, and the more trap beat videos i watch i see that most people dont even stick to scales and stuff and just play minor chords and then transpose them down. When i made trap beats i played in Cminor, played C5 and then just raised the G to G# and got a trapish effect, but i see that there is way more to this, generally, how many steps should i tranpose down, or up?

Please no "dont do trap" answers, i play lots of stuff, i just want to master this.

[DjPolair]

i can do without that, thank you

[901_Rice_Street]

Trap music is more of a feel than theory. 98% of people doing it couldn't tell you what scale or key to what they have created.

Want to make a better trap beat? Unplug the midi keyboard....use the keyboard on your laptop or desktop.....erase all theory...go by ear. Don't even try to figure out what the notes are that you are playing. If what you are doing makes sense.......the rest is easy.

[Hinojosa]

there still has to be some sort of chord progression and transpose up/down, all trap sounds the same, there most be a basic pattern that i am not seeing

[xSentry]

Most people usually transpose up or down two keys.

[YOUNG TEX]

Just listen and study and not every trap beat transposes its a feeling

All 3 trap beats

Transposing



No Transposing crazy dark vibe tho



No Transposing 808 mafia vibe

[901_Rice_Street]

Sound selection is also the key. The thing that fools a lot of people is thinking they are going to get what they want with ONLY brass and orch sounds. Layer those brass and orch sounds with a synth......or two.....or three.......watch what happens.

[Desire Inspires]

Just learn how to play chords and then transpose the keys. If you learn music theory, you can learn how to play chords and then transpose them. You should think about getting music lessons.

Also, you need to learn how to play drums to get the rhythm and percussion correct.

[Hinojosa]

I spent a couple hours studying it music wise. You can grab any minor chord and then step the 3rd note a step up, and thats it, the melody has to be in the same scale of the root of the chord, you can transpose whatever direction you want, i got it, and whoever said to unplug my keyboard and stop thinking theoretically, imo youre wrong, i had an easy tiem figuring all this out thinking theorically

[901_Rice_Street]

I was messing around with this google chrome app. I learn a lot in 2 minutes just from playing with it.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...kkeojchjhhphnh

Make beats with google chrome


https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...faclppgbmoobnk