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Writer's pictureZen World

The Secret To Dark EDM Melodies



Hey Ninjas!

Today I'm going to teach you guys how to create dark melodies for EDM like Martin Garrix, Loopers , Rezz and various other artist.

Below is an example of a dark melody on the drop ;).

Martin Garrix & Loopers - Game Over


Creating this type of melodies isn't hard but there are a few rules we can follow to achieve a similar vibe to this that I will be explaining in this tutorial.

These 2 tips are super helpful at creating dark melodies and have helped me make them these past few years. Other things I've noted too is how common they are and how many variations you can use them in to get that dark vibe.

So if you are ready to create dark melodies lets get started with this quick tutorial.

Semitone Up For That Bad Ass Vibe


When we look at the F Minor Scale these are the notes we are allowed to play to remain in KEY


In order to achieve an instant bad ass vibe we need to break the rule of staying in scale and we need to go up a Semitone from the root note (The Note of F).

This change will create a dark/bad ass vibe. that will give your melody a sick edge.

You can add this change from F to F# anywhere in your melody to instantly give it that dark vibe that you hear in a lot of Rezz tracks as well.

This trip also works well in G-HOUSE or any genre where you want to have a full out bass drop and not have it sound corny.

I've made a video below showing you guys how to use this trick with a pluck.


The Fifth Note In The Scale


The fifth note in the scale of F Minor is the C note. If you study a lot of EDM music you will notice it's a note that is heavily used as it works really well in giving an epic vibe.

We can use this note to make dark melodies as well when we pair it up with the Semitone Up trick or just repeat it constantly.

We can also pair it up with the first tip i gave you about going up a semitone to create a similar melody like the Loopers Track Game Over.

Don't be afraid to use it in an arp as well ;).


There are countless tricks we can use to create dark melodies and a lot of it has to do with the chords as well. I will save that for another post however.

I hope that these 2 tips help you create dark melodies and I hope the video examples explain properly for you guys to use in upcoming tracks.

I'm sure there are dozens of other ways of achieving dark melodies but these are the only tips that have helped me. I have yet to find content online that teaches other methods.

Cheers

Zen World

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