Garage music became popular in the early 1980s. What started as mostly extended remixes of disco records eventually developed into a style of its own under the “house” umbrella.

There’s a bit of an overlap between Garage music and early house music, which makes it hard to tell the two apart. But Garage is described as a more soulful R&B-derived sound and is relatively closer to disco than other dance styles.

This EDM sub-genre started at Paradise Garage nightclub in New York City due to DJ Larry Levan’s taste for deep, soulful tracks. This eventually caught the attention of local music producers and inspired them to make tracks just for Paradise Garage, giving birth to the classic garage sound. Over the decades, this sub-genre evolved in surprising ways. The speed of the records continued to increase until they went over 135bpm. At this tempo, the 4-to-the-floor beat became too hard to dance to, so they started dropping every other beat.

Garage continued to develop, and crossed over into the UK where it began being played at raves, and is still present today.

In comparison to other forms of house music, garage includes more gospel-influenced piano riffs and female vocals. It also uses electronic instruments such as synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines.

Part of creating any genre of music is learning how to create drum patterns, bass lines, chord progressions, and melodies. Building Blocks is an online music production and composition training course that will teach you how to write music in a DAW.