How to start a making a beat. Not just with Fruity Loops either!

A lot of people email me and want to know how they should begin making a beat and the truth is there is no perfect answer.

For me it starts with a bit of inspiration. It could be the sounds of a drum, a looped sample, a chord progression, a specific sound from a Fruity Loops generator or a million other things.

One thing I learned a while back is that the inspiration is the hard part, making the beat is easy after that.

How many times have you made a drum pattern and then tried to fit in a bassline or melody but nothing ever sounded as good as you would like. It's happened to me more times than I can count. It's like I'm searching for that next high of making a dope beat.

See if you really wanted, you could make beats all day every day. They would all sound bad, but they would classify as a beat.

Never try to make a beat. Let the beat come to you.

Sure you need to seek sounds and musical parts to use, but as soon as it becomes a labor it's time to move on. For example, you might have a drum pattern and bassline that you are grooving with. You think that a piano part might go well but for some reason the piano you pick or the melody just does not fit right. Move on. Think about how a different sound, say a synth part might sound and try that. Get crazy if you have to, just try to hang on to that inspiration as long as you can.

Your goal as an artist is to capture that inspiration and use it as fuel. If your creative motor begins stalling out, try something else. Don't Rush things, but don't waste all day trying to EQ that kick either.

This is the number one reason to learn how to use your tools. You should not be wasting time trying to figure out how to load and chop a sample or where to find that perfect clap when you're inspired to create a new track! This is why I share some of my own techniques in my Fruity Loops based videos. For me learning to use Fruity Loops has allowed my creative workflow to expand leaps and bounds.

Get as many parts together as you can until you think it's enough or you run out of gas.

Once you have the parts or as I call them - ingredients - you can arrange them and tweak them. Then your creative inspiration takes on a different form as you focus on the new task.

After your arrangement is done, then you get a creative opportunity from another angle, the mixing process.

If you ever get a creative block and just can't finish the beat, don't feel bad, it happens to everyone. Just save your work and move on. Maybe even just go do something different for a while. Shoot some hoops, play some video games, spend time with your significant other, etc.

The minute you start to get pre-occupied over the fact you cant seem to make a beat, you start to hate it and it will only snowball into more hate.

Never stress. Learn to walk away. Keep things fun and you will perform at your peak level and your growth as an artist will also grow at maximum speed.

Share some of your techniques for capturing inspiration with others.