struggling to vary my beats

jimherb

Lord of the Grove
Usually I can create one or two melodies and have them alternate smoothly, but the transitions are boring and it's still not diverse enough for my liking... Advice would be much appreciated.
 
listening to a lot of new music is important. it sounds too simple but you'll be surprised how much other music can influence your own. if you ever hit a block, find some new music, you might get some new ideas from it.

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Usually I can create one or two melodies and have them alternate smoothly, but the transitions are boring and it's still not diverse enough for my liking... Advice would be much appreciated.

u should see what other people think to make sure u are not bein to hard on yourself also i have a track called daze below i didnt think was nothing special but people love that beat 4 some reason
 
u should see what other people think to make sure u are not bein to hard on yourself also i have a track called daze below i didnt think was nothing special but people love that beat 4 some reason
my soundcloud is /fieldofherb if you wanna offer feedback
 
Hi,

When I am not inspired on a beat, I do not insistate.
-Sometime I start a new one. Thus I have a lot of unfinished beats on my computer, and sometimes I listen to all of them and it may give me inspiration to continue one of them.
-Sometime I try to improve my overall "level" in music : learning new mixing techniques, using new VST's, watching videos of beatmakers or even learn to play better piano, and it can give me inspiration too.
-Sometime I just stop (could be for a long period)
 
Im the same way brother. Lots of unfinished beats. Make it your goal to finish them, but dont consider them done just because they are finished.
 
Find a song of the same genre you're trying to make and see how they do they're transitions and variations in their melodies. We as musicians tend to overcomplicate the process of making something sound good. Even if you use the same melody twice back to back, you can have that second melody be an octave higher, or layered with something else.
 
Think about making your base loop or chord progression longer. 4 bar chord progressions get old a lot faster than 8 or 16 bar chord progressions. Just double the length of all your chords and go from there.
 
Music theory or performance will really help you a lot if you're struggling with this. As a rule, I have at least four to six melodies going at any one time in a beat (most at very low levels) in order to make the sound of the beat complete and ring true to the listener as something that's complex and variform. This is what I mean when I say music theory or performance is important. Without developing your own style of playing and your own style of composition, you're going to struggle with composing melodies that go into the beat (unless, that is, you are a superb improviser).

It's important to take cues from the greats that have come before us, and depending on what your style is, you can go different places. If you like jazzy, groovier stuff, listen to jazz and listen to people that have been informed by jazz, like Quincy Jones' production. If you like what you hear that isn't jazz, listen to some more complex EDM and pop as well because a lot of the melodies you'll want to use can actually be inspired by what's going on there (as these forms have their basis in classical musical theory). Of course, listen to hip-hop as well, because that's the only way you'll know what's going on in your personal field.

Anyways, I hope this helped.
 
Try to produce all kinds of beats. Not just one style. If you're still making just one type of beats, try to make some other genre. Even if other genres don't click with you still do the "dirty" job and try to make some cool beats you've never made before.
 
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