Ableton has quietly been making a slew of resources to help develop music producers. Whether you’re just getting started and want to learn how to produce music, or you’re trying to refine your skills, there’s a lot of great resources at your disposal. The best part about it? It’s absolutely free for everyone.
When you land on learningmusic.ableton.com it starts out with the basics. They bring you through the foundations of music creation starting with literal building blocks of a song. You’re given a grid that houses a few drum patterns, bass patterns, chords, and melodies which you are encouraged to mix and match. While super simple – it’s a great way to comprehend music structure for beginners.
As you progress through, they translate these basic concepts into real production application. It’s a very clean and simple approach to music theory and production. As you flow through the sections, they even help you relate the basics to current/modern songs (they help you re-creating Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ beat… hey we aren’t judging…). Musical tastes aside, it’s a great way to put what you’ve learned into practice and feel like you’re making some progress on your journey to becoming a great producer.
So, this sounds pretty amazing right? You get to learn a little about the production process, and you have a chance to play around with the tools. The best part about all of this? You can even export your work! If we look at the bigger picture here — Ableton built a basic DAW platform online (so no need to secretly install on a work computer….) for the simple idea of helping people develop their passion. That means you can build some beats anywhere you go (as long as you have a basic internet connection) and then download it right to your main production computer when you get back home and really blow it out. If you’re like me, great ideas always come when you’re away from your main setup. Now you can quickly find ANY computer (or phone!) and put your ideas down in the moment.
Seriously, go check it out.
If you’re already familiar with the production, go directly to The Playground
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