Beat Making is an art form that has become so popular in this day and age due to the emergence of new beat makers that are having their fair share of the spotlight thanks to the internet.
One of the reoccurring question that comes up in most music production forums is:
“Is Beat Making A Talent or a Skill?”
This post will discuss and provide insight into answering this question the right way, so lets get into it.
The fact is that, no one is born with the talent of beat making, it is learnt through hard-work and lots of practice. Other people are able to learn quicker than others and this why it can often be mistaken for talent.
Beat Making is a combination of skill through practice, passion and dedication to become good at it. Anyone can become a beat maker but what will differentiate the successful from the failures is the work that is put in, the passion and the drive to want to make beats.
Why Beat Making is more skill than Talent
Beat making may be thought of as a talent,but in my opinion its really not because what differentiates the successful from the non successful is how much skill is able to exhibited.
A talent is having some natural inclination that you’re born with and are able to wield at your convenience.
Beat making is learnt through years of trial and error, which is basically a struggle to have a better understanding of music and the relationship between composing and producing.
Some of the world class beat makers attribute their success to being in studios for long hours and practicing as much as they could until their beats were actually commercially acceptable.
No one is born with the natural inclination to pick up a DAW and start making good solid beats. You only thrive at beat making when you continuously work to improve your craft.
You don’t need to Play an instrument
Another reason why beat making is not really a talent is because you dont really need to know how to play instruments to be a beat maker.
You can simply have basic knowledge that can help you while you make beats.
Perseverance is the deciding factor of someone’s success or failure in this industry so don’t be discouraged to start making beats because you think you don’t have the talent.
My advice is: put the work in relentlessly and give yourself time to learn. In a matter of year you could become very good at it.
Anyone can become a Beatmaker
This point is pretty much a continuation from my previous point.
You don’t not to be special to become a beat maker. ANYONE can become a beat maker and even be able to compete with the world class “talented” producers.
This further emphasizes my point.
Beatmaking is a skill that is learnt just as reading would.
You don’t need an extra edge, but there could be factors in your environment that could influence how much of a skilled beat maker you become.
Some of these influences could be growing up around a guardian that was a musician. You could easily be inspired and work with the impression that music “runs” in the family.
This impression could be reason why you do better than others because you would have natural interest in music.
Beat making is more decision making
Beat making is more about technical decision making than anything else.
You need to have an understanding of music and how it basically operates so you can have more precise approach with your beats.
This can be learnt and put into practice and the deciding factor will be how much effort is put in.
You don’t need to know music theory
To become a beat maker you don’t need to be a music theory expert or a musical composition expert.
The basics can pretty much get you into the door and allow you to make great beats.
I made and sold beats successfully in my early beat making years when I didn’t even possess music theory knowledge. All I had was a basic understanding of chords and I experimented long enough to know the basic creation of some chords.
This pretty much goes to show that anyone can become a beat maker and you don’t need to be musically inclined per say.
With enough persistence you can develop naturally as a beat maker.
Hard workers become the successful
This has been a reoccurring theme through out this post and I think it should be properly expressed as a point on it’s own.
With basically most skills (even the most technical) the will to practice it and sharpen it, is what determines whether one will succeed in it or not.
The will to keep going is what we is commonly known as passion and once its cultivated, the sky really is the limit because there isn’t any height that is unreachable.
Most beat makers that become successful are the ones that keep at it, despite being disadvantaged with equipment or anything else.
Exposure
The final point is basically exposure and it is a very important nuance that has to be discussed in this post.
Most people that do well or learn and adapt quickly in beat making are basically people that have a fair amount of exposure to music.
Growing up being exposed to various music can be one of the reasons why most people develop a passion for it and seem to exhibit a quick adaptation to the creation of music.
Even with this amount of exposure, skill still has to be learnt which can only be done through practice and putting in the work.
