So in this video you'll learn all that, plus you'll learn how to make your riffs

stand out by adding a second melody into the same riff. But first… tea!

Hello revolutionary music makers, I'm Kate Harmony, this is Ray Harmony, and welcome

to Hack Music Theory.

This channel helps you make great music that stands out, so you can move and grow your

audience.

And if you're new to our channel, we've got a free book for you “12 Music Theory

Hacks to Learn Scales & Chords”, which you can download at the link below.

Alright, it's time to open your DAW to hack music theory.

THE THEORY

Prog metal legends Periphery just dropped their new single “Garden in the Bones”,

and it's brilliant!

This song is overflowing with stunning melodies, mesmerizing riffs, captivating polymeters,

epic grooves, and the most massive chorus!

“Garden in the Bones” launches directly into the first verse, which contains a slower

polymetric riff with lots of rests.

But, instead of playing it on one note (like so many djent riffs), or using super dissonant

intervals (like so many other djent riffs), Periphery play a refreshingly consonant group

of notes, which would be right at home in any popular music genre.

Then, as if that's not enough, when the second verse comes around, it's not just

a copy and paste of the first verse. No, it's a continuation; the next chapter of an unfolding

story.

They achieve this by adding notes to the original riff, in place of the rests. This creates

a 2-in-1 riff consisting of the original riff as the bass voice, and the new notes as a

melody on top.

THE HACK

Alright, now you're gonna learn how to use this theory to make your own version, and

what you see on the screen right now is our version of the first verse (well, half of

it) that we made earlier.

So, start by setting up one bar of 15/4, with your grid set to 1/8 notes, and your tempo

set to 135 BPM. Periphery use F♯ Dorian for their verses, so we'll use it too.

Step 1. Verse 1

First things first, F♯ Dorian consists of the notes: F♯ G♯ A B C♯ D♯ E, so you

can use any of those notes in your riff.

Now, start on the root note (F♯), then skip two 1/8 notes, and then play a note. Next,

skip another two 1/8 notes, and then play two notes.

Then do that again: skip two 1/8 notes, and then play two notes. And lastly, skip another

two 1/8 notes, and then play one last note.

When you're choosing your notes, keep it simple (and keep it low), and think of them

as an implied chord progression.

Also, use a B somewhere, but more on that later. Right, now you have your 15/8 riff,

so repeat it once to complete the bar of 15/4.

Finally, add the root note (F♯) on beat 9. This is such a clever trick of Periphery's,

cos what that one extra note does, is ingeniously disguise the odd 15/8 time signature.

You see, the root note is the home of your scale, so it's the strongest note. And by

playing the strongest note on beat 9, it pulls the ear back to that 1/4 note pulse (cos in

4/4, beat 9 is actually beat 1 of bar 3).

Also, the drummer is playing 1/4 notes on his china cymbal, so that pulse is really

powerful.

And that pulse, along with the root note on beat 9, tricks the listener into feeling this

as 4/4, right until the end of the riff where it's finally revealed that there's a 1/4

note missing (cos in four bars of 4/4 there are sixteen 1/4 notes, but here there are

only fifteen).

This polymeter makes the riff sound far simpler (and therefore more accessible) than it actually

is. That's very clever!

So to sum up. The polymeter is occurring between the guitar and the drums. The guitar is playing

two bars of 15/8 over the drums that are playing three bars of 4/4 and one bar of 3/4. This

all adds up to one cycle of the polymeter, which is equal to one bar of 15/4.

Step 2. Verse 2

Right, this is where things get extra tasty. You're now gonna use the first verse riff

as a bass voice, and you're gonna add a new voice on top of it in place of all the

rests.

This creates a riff that can still be played on one guitar, but now it sounds like there's

two guitars playing, cos there are two melodies (one low, and one high).

Okay, so remember in Step 1 we mentioned that you should think of the notes in your bass

voice as an implied chord progression? Well now it's time to flesh out that harmony.

For example, Periphery's second verse riff implies some dreamy add9 harmonies, so if

you want that vibe as well, then be sure to play a 2 over a couple chords (e.g. over the

implied F♯m, the 2 is G♯).

And as you're writing the high melody in your riff, be sure to play a D♯ over the

B in your bass voice. Playing D♯ over B creates the unique Dorian sound, so without

that D♯, you won't get the sad-but-hopeful Dorian mood that we all love. And that's

why in Step 1, we said play a B.

And by the way, if you wanna know everything you need to know about Dorian and the other

modes, then download our Songwriting & Producing PDF (the link is below).

Okay, so now that you've got your first and second verses down, how do you write the

other sections? And then, how do you transition between all the sections (especially when

they're in different keys)? And then, how do you structure and arrange your song?

Well, these are issues that all songwriters and producers struggle with in the beginning,

and that's exactly why we made our online apprenticeship course. So, if you wanna overcome

these obstacles once and for all, then our course is definitely for you! Check it out

now at the link below.

Alright, now let's have a listen to our polymetric djenty goodness! But just before

the final playthrough, if there's an artist you'd like us to hack, let us know in the

comments below.

And remember, if you wanna get the multitrack MIDI file from this lesson, so you can check

out all the other tracks in our final example, which includes the drums, bass and background

synths, then download our lesson pack (the link is below).

You'll also get a PDF guide and a WAV mix of the final music.

In the meantime though, if you wanna keep learning how to make great music that stands

out, then we've got a video on metric modulation coming next, with a TesseracT song as the

example.

And then at the end of that video, we've got a video on the difference between polymeters

and polyrhythms, so just click that TesseracT video when it pops up in a few seconds, and

we'll meet you there!