I can’t express how important it is to learn how to play the piano, or rather have some knowledge of music theory in general when attempting to make hip hop instrumental beats; without either of those skills you just might continually hit bricks with your beats! So in effort to help you keep your beats sounding fresh and not as if someone was banging on the trash can when they were being created; I would like to lay down a lil beat making knowledge to help you make your hip hop instrumental beats shine like Paul Wall's gold teeth.

It Begins With Your Software

While you can use pretty much any keyboard and MPC combination or any of the current software music production applications out there, it definitely helps your efforts if the beat making application you choose was created with producers who make hip hop instrumental beats in mind.

From the sounds, to the samples, to the way the sequencer allows you to manipulate your recorded audio and MIDI data, all of these elements so be geared towards creating hip hop instrumental beats. You don’t want orchestral symphonic notation software to make beats with now do you? So choose a beat maker with the end goal of making hip hop or rap beats in mind.

Learn Them Keys

You will be able to express any musical idea that comes to your mind, if you understand some music theory and learn how to play the piano. Now I’m not talking about becoming Beethoven here, I’m only saying that you should practice and learn all twelve musical scales and their corresponding chords, so that you can better make beats that sound harmonically correct.

A good place for you to start with learning some music theory is to practice and learn the circle of fifths. In music theory, the circle of fifths (or circle of fourths) shows the relationship among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, and their corresponding chordal tones. For example, from C to F is a fifth, because the note C is the fifth tone in the key of F.

If I start explaining the difference between the circle of fifths and how it is taught to pop musicians (you) and how it is taught in the classical sense of learning to play piano, I’m sure you’ll get confused. So I’ll save that for you to explore on your own, and recommend Mark Harrison’s books entitled “Pop Piano Book” and “All About Music Theory” for your studying purposes. Mark Harrison is the MAN when it comes to learning how to play the piano in current contemporary styles, so check those books out.

So, in keeping it 100, I know that you will get down and dirty with a little studying, and get to it with making those hip hop instrumental beats. Knowledge is power, and knowing is half the battle. G.I. Joooeeeeee!!!! Better beats ahead.