Music theory is something I notice a lot of lofi producers struggling with. Every other day I see questions on music theory popping up in Facebook Groups (or on Reddit) plus as a curator, I also often hear that struggle in the beats I am being sent, some of which feel more like random chunks of notes playing together (definitely not a good way to present yourself).

While it's true that you don't really need to know much about music theory in order to recognize if the sound of multiple notes (or samples) playing together is pleasing for the ear, it can help you a lot when you want to pull out something more complex out of the hat. And despite that lofi hip hop is heavily based on sampling, writing your own melodies and chord progression can give you a really nice sense of satisfaction, but most importantly, it will give you that warm feeling of knowing that you'll never ever run into somebody else who used exactly the same sample as you in their beat (unless they sample you directly).

The following video explains some solid basics you can further build your know-how on, and even though the title is rather clickbait-ey, as you'll need that 30 minutes to just check the video out and then probably some more time to actually absorb all that knowledge and get some grip on it, Andrew does a really good job explaining all that stuff in a way that's easy to understand with everything being beautifully visualized while he talks. (By the way, if you've never heard of Andrew Huang, be sure to check out his Youtube channel, as this guy is, simply put, inspirational as f*ck.