BACK TO BASICS PART 6: ADDING MELODY AND HARMONY IN ABLETON LIVE

Ableton Live is a fantastic beat-maker, especially when paired with Ableton’s Push instrument and Simpler sampler. But once you’ve created your ideal rhythmic components and laid down that just-so percussion line, what comes next? Do you bring in somebody else to write a melody and spin some chords? Do you dig in to a sample library? These are options, sure, but it’s nice to have some creative independence. Even if you’re a numbskull when it comes to musical theory (this writer admits as much), shaping parts that add depth and mood to your productions doesn’t have to be difficult.

Throughout this tutorial, we’ll adhere to Ableton’s definition of melody and harmony: melody is the tune, the lead, the hook, a one-note-at-a-time part that replaces or interacts with a vocal line; harmony refers to chords, made up of three or more notes played together. Between these, there’s a world of expressive journeys on which