Using the Minor Scale - bass/melody in A Minor

Today we're going to see how knowing the Minor Scale actually helps us in making our own music.

We're going to be working with a file that I created for you to work with. It has two things on it already: drums and some strings.

Your job today is to add two more elements to this song:
1) a bass line
2) a melody

Now before we even start to do anything, I'm going to tell you an important piece of information...this song is in the key of A Minor.

Now all that really means is that we are using a Minor Scale that starts on the key of A. So, if we figure out what notes are in A Minor, then we will already have a pretty good idea of what notes will sound good in this song.

How do we know what keys are in A Minor? I'm so glad you asked! Put your finger on A on your keyboard and follow the formula I gave you last time:

W-H-W-W-H-W-W

Now I'm going to give you the key information for completing the assignment below...

The notes you will be working with are the 1st, 4th and 5th keys of the A Minor scale. 

What notes are they?

Your Assignment:

1. Go to the Pickupdropoff folder and copy the file called "Minor Bass.rns" to your folder.
2. Open the file and let the beat play.
3. To hear the strings, look on the Mixer and raise the fader next to where it says Orchestra. Raise it up to a level that you think sounds good with the drums.
4. Now you're going to add a bassline. Create either a Subtractor or an NN19 and find a Bass sound that goes well with the strings.
5. Practice playing the bass with the strings. The easiest thing to do is to just play the 1st, 4th and 5th notes in time with the strings. If you want to get fancier, then come up with your own rhythm for playing. When you are ready, hit Record and record your part.
6. When you feel good about the bass line, move on to making a making a melody: create another Subtractor or NN19 and find a instrument sound that goes good with the other sounds. Mess around with playing different notes from the A Minor scale that work well with the music. Record your part.
7. When you have both a bass line and a melody, start copying and pasting the parts to make a longer song.
8. If you have a solid song structure completed, make another drum part to switch things up, especially at the parts where the beat drops out.
9. Save the beat as "(your name)_Minor Bass.rns"