Learn Music Theory by Actually Composing – Not Watching Videos

Building Blocks is an interactive course that teaches music theory, ear training, and composition — all inside a piano roll, with video-game-style challenges. Try the full course free for 3 days.

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Learn by doing, not watching – Interactive ear training challenges replace passive video tutorials. You’ll recreate drum patterns, basslines, and melodies by ear.

Built for computer musicians – Everything happens in a piano roll: the same interface you use in Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, etc. No music staff, no classical theory bloat.

Create music as you learn – By the end, you’ll have 120+ original beats. Export them as MIDI to your favorite music software (DAW) and keep making music.

Develop Your Ear First – Every concept is paired with interactive ear training, allowing you to translate everything you learn into actual music easily.

Applicable to any music making software:

I’ve been a musician for about 25 years and this has changed how I listen, and it is giving me the tools and confidence I need to start actually writing my own music. I was worried BB1 would stick to 2 bar loops but it does reach 4 bars eventually once the ‘building blocks’ are really in place.

Dan d.

The ‘Duolingo for Composition’

Video Game Style.

Just like Duolingo drops you into a language from lesson one, Building Blocks drops you into a studio. You’re composing beats, not sitting through videos.

Bite-sized, gamified progression.

Building Blocks combines music theory, ear training, and DAW fundamentals into a fully seamless experience we call Beat Composition.

A structured path of interactive challenges that build on each other, so you always know what’s next. Mo more pinballing between random YouTube tutorials.

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“There are no other music learning materials of this self-directed type — it’s truly one of a kind. If possible, having multilingual translations would also be helpful.“

Syunya I.

What You Will Learn With Building Blocks

Beatmaking

Use velocity to make your drums bounce and come to life.

Create drum patterns with various feels and tempos, utilizing multiple types of drums.

Write Bass rhythms that feel great with the Drums, and set up a strong rhythmic foundation for your songs.

Chords

Create chord progressions of varying complexity and tonalities (moods).

Utilize voice leading to create more polished and less amateur-sounding chord progressions.

Arpeggiate chords for both linear harmonic movement and as a bridge to writing melodies that flow with your chord progressions.

Melody

Create expressive melodies that connect to your listeners by utilizing the phrasing of human speech.

Translate to real life the notes you hear in your head with your newly-trained ear.

Figure out the notes behind your favorite music.

Composition

Master the universal Piano Roll, the note-editing interface used in today’s most popular music software.

Build an intuitive understanding of core music theory elements like rhythm, pitch, scales, tonality, tempo, beat divisions, and more.

Turn your universal grid-based understanding of music theory into a jumping-off point to venture into non-software environments like instruments and voice.

Jordan R.

“This course has been a game changer for me. I’ve played music for years and have a very good understanding of theory, but this course has filled in the “hidden gaps” for me that I sometimes knew I had and sometimes didn’t even know existed.“

Try full access For 3 days

Watch This Quick Walkthrough Below To See Building Blocks In Action:

What’s included in the Building Blocks demo?

Get full, unlimited access to Building Blocks for 3 days. All Lessons. On the house.

Building Blocks 1

Learn how to write drum patterns, basslines, and chords in a software studio environment, using modernized music theory and ear training.

~30 hours of training

90 lessons

83 videos

81 challenges

9 quizzes

Create 54 original beats

All Course Details

Building Blocks 2

Continue from Building Blocks 1, and learn how to write melodies, dig deeper into chord progressions and inversions, expand the drums, and more.

~35 hours of training

107 lessons

99 videos

98 challenges

9 quizzes

Create 69 original beats

All Course Details

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Don’t Take Our Word For It, Here’s What Other Aspiring Musicians Are Saying…

1,000+ Ratings

“I played music when I was younger but I never understood much about theory. After trying a few different theory courses as an adult, Building Blocks is the first one to explain theory in an intuitive way with plenty of practice to make it second nature.”

Matt P

“I love Building Blocks 1. After the Logic Pro 10.5 update, the step sequencer and BB1’s UI looks similar, which makes it easy for me to sequence beats in the Step sequencer of my DAW. Thank you, Audible Genius for including the lifetime purchase bundle… ”

Tarun

“This is possibly the most engaging and fun way to learn music theory that I have been able to find on the internet. I have been struggling with ADHD since I was a teenager and I can confidently say that this program caters exactly to my learning style. I am currently a trial but I will definitely be buying this AND syntorial together as I believe they will be invaluable for my career as an amateur beatmaker.”

Alex R

All Testimonials

Most Frequent Questions

Yes. For 3 reasons:

Our users say so. Check out these testimonials.
With Building Blocks you’re not simply buying an app, you’re also buying a ton of content. You get 182 videos, 179 challenges, and ~50 hours worth of training. Not to mention an amazing interactive experience that takes all of that content and surgically weaves it into your hungry, music-addled brain.
With one Building Blocks level, you get about ~25 hours of training (depending on your pace). For 10% of the price of equivalent collective music classes!

We securely accept payments through all major credit cards and PayPal. Payment is securely processed by FastSpring. You can pay for Building Blocks with one single payment or a monthly subscription after you click the button below and go to the next page. Your information is safe and secure and we respect your privacy.

Building Blocks comes with a 30-Day, 100% Money Back Guarantee. That means if you change your mind about this decision at any point in the next month – all you need to do is contact us and we’ll refund your purchase. No questions asked. No weirdness. No hard feelings. Plus, you can keep all the exported sessions, midi and beats absolutely free. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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Instant Access | No credit card