We all dream of a career in which:
✅ Songwriting is effortless.
✅ There's no guesswork to using samples.
✅ Writing melodies, chord progressions or drum patterns feels like second nature.
We want writing music to feel natural and intuitive - not calculated and mathematical. As a result, many of us tend to underestimate the importance of music theory in our songwriting process.
But the reality is this:
Not everybody needs to be an expert in complex jazz harmony, but everybody needs the fundamentals. When music producers like us lack fundamental music theory knowledge we tend to over-compensate by:
❌ Downloading every shiny, new plug-in
❌ Collecting three lifetimes worth of samples (at least)
❌ Wasting too much money on gear
Does this sound a bit too familiar to you? If so, then you know that the worst part of all is how your lack of music theory knowledge makes you feel. You feel creatively unsatisfied and limited in your ability to express yourself. You feel like the songs that you do manage to finish sound cookie cutter at best because they're filled to the brim with the same top Splice samples that everybody else is using. You feel like you're going crazy because you've convinced yourself that the problem is "the mix." Overall, you just feel as if you're falling short of being the songwriter and producer you know you could be.
But that struggle often starts first with how it's taught.
Unfortunately, almost all of those options fall far short of meeting your needs.
Have any of these left you unsatisfied?
The Offer: Anything and everything you could ever want to know about music theory is right there, available to you for free on YouTube...
The Problem: ...if you can find it. For every thoughtful, well-explained music theory video on YouTube, there are countless videos that explain things poorly, incorrectly, or immediately jump into far too advanced of concepts. In the end, your music theory knowledge is a block of Swiss cheese and you are left with more questions than answers.
The Offer: The "right way:" a serious and rigorous music theory education delivered through an accredited higher education institution.
The Problem: These programs are not made for producers. Unless you play a traditional instrument, you likely won't get accepted. But if you do, the problems add up quickly. Most will only teach you classical music, not the pop, EDM, or hip hop that you want to produce. You'll learn via sheet music instead of the DAW and piano roll. Finally, they rarely teach songwriting. Thanks, that'll be $60,000.
The Offer: A how-to course on creating a track in your favorite genre. Follow along with the instructor as they produce a track on screen.
The Problem: A Produce-By-Numbers course won't teach you music theory just like a Paint-By-Numbers book won't teach you the principles of art. You many end up with a nice sounding track at the end (the same exact one as everybody else who took the course) but you are still missing the foundational concepts and principles you need to write your own songs.
And the solution certainly isn't more of the same.
My name's ZW Buckley.
Despite being a great student and having some great teachers, I always struggled as an outsider trying to break in. Like so many music producers, I was never interested in the "traditional" route and, because of that too many doors were closed to me. As a result, it made music theory feel complicated and overwhelming.
Now, I'm a working music producer, composer, and educator. I get to do amazing things, like:
✅ Producing the music for the first Barbie VR game
✅ Composing a chamber opera that premiered at the Seattle Opera
✅ Teaching over 300 producers like yourself how to write their best music.
Now, music theory is simple.
Now, I never think about music theory at all.
I want you to know one thing:
Music theory - at its core - is a system for understanding the relationship between the different elements in your songs.
✅ For producers, those relationships play out in the environment of the DAW.
✅ For producers, the main tool for implementing these relationships is the piano roll.
When you learn it in the right environment and apply it with the right tools, music theory becomes so much simpler.
For producers like you and me, our practice is songwriting. Once you have the fundamentals down, getting better at music theory and getting better at songwriting are one and the same.
✅ Practicing music theory means practicing songwriting.
✅ Practicing songwriting means practicing music theory.
When you practice the fundamentals through songwriting, music theory becomes second nature.
This approach to learning music theory is what I call The LAP Method:
Learn the foundational concepts behind music theory.
Apply these concepts in the DAW via the piano roll.
Practice these concepts through a step-by-step songwriting process.
✅ Focuses on techniques relevant to writing music today
❌ Does not focus on music written 300 years ago
✅ Gets you writing your own songs immediately
❌ Will not force you to reproduce somebody else's track
✅ Teaches you the fundamentals of music theory in a step-by-step manner
❌ Is not so shallow that it wastes your time or too deep to ever finish
Through The LAP Method, this course will teach you how to recognize the relationships between the different musical elements in your production.
✅ You'll never have to guess when writing great chord progressions for your melodies.
✅ You'll learn everything you need to program a great drum groove and pair it with an even better bass line.
✅ You'll have a roadmap for taking that eight bar loop all the way to a finished song.
You'll learn all of this and more by doing the one thing you love to do most: write and produce songs.
Learn the fundamentals of music theory in six weeks. You'll start at the concept of rhythm and finish with song form. Together, each week outlines a step-by-step process for learning, applying, and practicing every concept covered.
Week 1:
Includes lessons on subdivisions, drum parts, and more.
Week 2:
Includes lessons on intervals, scales, motifs and more.
Week 3:
Includes lessons on chord types, progressions and more.
Week 4:
Includes lessons on passing tones, motion, and more.
Week 5 and 6:
Includes lessons on arrangement, breaking out of eight bar loops, and more.
See what you'll learn each week of the course
You can also watch sample lessons below.
Much like how they function in a song, this course intro will help prep you for what's ahead.
In this module, you'll begin to build the foundations of your music theory knowledge by learning about the concept of rhythm and how it's used to create drum grooves. Select Lesson 1 below to begin.
In this module, you'll continue to grow your music theory knowledge by learning about scales and how they are used to create the melodies in our songs. Select Lesson 1 below to begin.
In this module, you'll continue to grow your music theory knowledge by learning about key signatures and how they are used to help you organize and write the chord progressions in your songs. Select Lesson 1 below to begin.
In this module, you'll continue to grow your music theory knowledge by learning about bass lines and the important role they play in supporting all the other elements within your songs. Select Lesson 1 below to begin.
You're so close to the finish line! In this final module, you'll spend the next two weeks solidifying your understanding of music theory fundamentals by finishing your song. As you go through each lesson, you'll have the opportunity to practice all that you've learned before by creating new sections. Select Lesson 1 below to begin.
Cue the fade out.
Each week, you'll learn how to apply the concepts you've learned by completing a different songwriting assignment. By the end of the course, you'll have finished a brand new song using the music theory fundamentals you just learned.
Watch as I use these concepts in my own songwriting practice. I'll explain my process every step of the way as I build this track from the ground up week by week.
Hear how this course changed their songwriting:
Gordon
Jeff
Step-by-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers is divided into five modules, each with lessons and exercises built from the ground up with music producers like you in mind. Quickly learn music theory concepts that you can rely on for the rest of your life.
The course material can be digested quickly, but all of it takes practice to master. Content will be released weekly but there's never pressure to match that pace if you need more time with a module. With this self-paced course, you never have to worry about falling behind.
Never worry about losing access to the course material. You purchased it, so it's yours. Step-by-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers is a lifetime investment, not something you have to worry about losing access to after six months or a year.
Step-by-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers will be continuously updated to ensure that it always reflects the needs of music producers. Any time the course modules get updated or expanded, then you can rest assured that you'll have access to those updates at no additional cost.
Learn these music theory concepts in the environment of an industry standard DAW. Every lesson video and demonstration has been recorded in Ableton Live Suite, version 12. This course will also feature a resources section on how to use the music theory knowledge you've gained to make the most out of Live's built-in MIDI tools.
While the course is running, you can send me any exercises, assignments, and songs you complete and get feedback from me for six weeks.
While the course is running, I'll host a weekly group Zoom call where everybody in the course will have the opportunity to discuss the week's module and ask me questions directly.
These calls will be hosted on Saturdays at 10 am Pacific time.
✅ Beginner to intermediate music producers who want to learn the fundamentals of music theory and improve on their songwriting
✅ Producers who want to rely less on fancy tools like plug-ins and sound design to make their songs sound compelling
✅ Producers who are sick of endless tips and tricks instead that don't add up to an actual framework
✅ Producers who are ready to put in the time and effort to learn music theory once and for all
❌ Advanced music producers looking for advanced music theory techniques
❌ Producers who are looking for a production course that teaches them them audio effects, mixing, or synthesis (that's not this course)
❌ Producers who can't or don't want to invest the time needed to learn the fundamentals
❌ Producers looking to learn how to write lyrics or record vocals (that's beyond the scope of this course - for now!)
So long as you know the absolute basics of your DAW, you'll be able to follow along. Just to be safe, make sure you know where to find your DAW's piano roll and you feel confident in your ability to input MIDI and add tracks.
If you've got a songwriting workflow that's working great for you and you can write your melodies, chord progressions, and every other component effortlessly every single time then you're probably advanced. If you feel like any of the things I listed above are big gaps in your production process, then this course might be right for you.
This course contains ~10 hours of video content spread out over the entire six weeks. It's designed to be comprehensive but never overwhelming. This course is for producer's who are ready to invest in learning the fundamentals of music theory.
You'll need:
a computer with a strong enough internet connection to stream the lesson videos
a DAW that you're comfortable completing each exercise and assignment in
No, not at all. I'll be teaching this course using Ableton Live 12 but the course content is applicable in any DAW. For example, in an early lesson I point out where Live's transport controls are. Transport controls are a feature of every DAW, you'll just have to find where those features are on your DAW.
Upon the conclusion of the course, I will share a resources page about how to take advantage of Ableton Live's built-in MIDI tools. Many of the tools that will be discussed (Arpeggiators, chord generators, etc) are found in many other DAWs/plug-ins as well.
This course consists entirely of self-paced video lessons. The only timed factor of this course is the release of content. Module's will be released each week for the duration of the six weeks, with the exception of Module 5, which will occupy week's five and six. When a new module is released, you will still have access to all previous modules (for life!).
You will have lifetime access to this course and you'll always have the most up to date version of it as well. While the course is running, you'll also have access to me for direct feedback on your exercises, assignments, and songs for six weeks.
While there are many music theory tutorials online, most just teach you one thing instead of the core fundamentals. This course will teach you the fundamentals while also giving you a songwriting framework that you can continue to rely on for life.
The average weekly commitment for this course is ~3 hours a week, which shakes out to not even 30 minutes a day. So, if you have 30 minutes a day to spare, then you have time for this course.
The course consisting of 10+ hours of lessons, weekly songwriting exercises, quizzes, six group calls, and direct feedback on all songs, exercises, and assignments from me will be $497 for 2025. (Prices will increase when I run it again next year. The July 2025 cohort is the only cohort I'm running this year.)
Soon! If you want to be the first to know, sign up for the waitlist. People who sign up for the waitlist will get enrollment access a full 24 hours ahead of the general public. As a result, I'm anticipating the course to sell out from the waitlist alone so sign up today!
Enrollment will close after seven days or when all 25 slots sell out, which ever comes first.
Enrollment will re-open in 2026 at the earliest and at a higher price.
The course includes six weeks of direct feedback from me on your songwriting exercises and assignments.
✅ 5 modules w/ over 10 hours of video lessons
✅ Weekly songwriting assignments and exercises
✅ Six group calls and direct feedback from me
✅ Lifetime access, with all future updates included