For aspiring music producers, foundational knowledge of music theory gives you access to an amazing road map that enables you to write inspiring and relatable music. But how you learn music theory is incredibly important, and there’s no better place for a DAW-based musician to learn music theory than directly in the DAW.

In this digital age, studying music theory without enrolling in a university is possible for everyone. Thanks to the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), anyone who has the ears and passion can now create their own exciting sound.

With DAW-based courses, you can expedite the process of creating music by building your tracks while you train your ears and learn music theory all at the same time. Compared with traditional music theory learning environments like sheet music, DAWs allow you to focus on creating your sound instead of spending time learning the music staff and its many ornaments. Handwriting on manuscript paper or using notation software allows for a traditional approach to learning traditional theory. But what you really need is a trained set of ears and a deeper and more practical understanding of music theory.

Sure, there is beauty in traditional notation, and it has been around for centuries. But for computer-based musicians, there is a better way. DAWs will give you first-hand experience with music theory and train your ears, all inside a relevant music production environment that you will use to create your actual music. Going digital will make your music creation process more efficient and allow you to focus more on experimenting and exploring until you achieve your desired sound.

The foundation of music is always the same, but as music evolves, how we learn music theory should evolve too.

To see DAW-based music theory in action check out Building Blocks. Building Blocks is an online music production and composition training course that will teach you how to write music in a DAW.