How to make music without knowing how to play an instrument

You can make music without any instrument. In PadLoop you start from a Ready beat: drums, bass and music already recorded, looping in time (loading one is part of the full version, included in the 7-day trial). You play on top with the pads, already in tune, or with the Keyboard locked to a scale, where wrong notes don't exist. What you record snaps into time by itself. And the Keyboard and the SEQ squares are already in the free version.

Transcript

1. 0:00 A Lo-fi beat on your phone
2. 0:02 Tap ⊞ and open Ready beats
3. 0:04 Pick Lo-fi: bank, tempo and swing load by themselves
4. 0:06 Press ►: drums, bass and chords are already recorded
5. 0:12 Play the other pads on top: they are tuned to the beat
6. 0:23 Like it? Tap REC on a free track and keep it

Your first track over a Ready beat

1. In the PAD tab tap ⊞ (the menu for banks and Ready beats), open Ready beats, listen to the styles with ► and tap the name of a classic beat (the 18 below the 6 complete ones).
2. Press ► at the top and play the pads over the beat: the ones with notes are already tuned to it.
3. Tap the piano button: the app asks which sound to use. Tap a piano, bass or chord pad and pick the Min. pentatonic scale: only notes that fit together stay on the 16 pads.
4. Now record: in the top bar tap number 3 (each number is a track, one layer of your song; the beat already uses 1 and 2), press REC and play after the count-in.
5. Don't like the layer? Tap the ↶ arrow: only the last one goes, and you try again.

No number 3? Add tracks at the top of the LOOP tab. Loading a Ready beat and track 3 both belong to the full version, and both are included in the 7-day trial; in the free version, start from bank A on tracks 1 and 2.

What's a Ready beat? A little band that plays for you

Ready beats are 24 little bands, already recorded: drums, bass and music going round in a loop. There's something for every taste, from slow Lo-fi to fast Drum and bass, with Hip hop, Funk, House, Trap and Disco along the way. One tap loads them and ► starts them, with their own sounds and their own speed.

Each loop starts over without stopping. In the 18 classic ones it lasts 2 bars (a bar is a group of four beats: 1, 2, 3, 4), with drums on track 1 and bass and chords on track 2: that's why you record from track 3 up. The 6 complete ones last 4 bars and give each instrument its own track, with plugin sounds.

The clever part: you don't have to hunt for the right notes. In the 18 classic ones, every pad with a note is tuned to the note the beat uses most for that sound, so whatever you tap over the loop fits. Styles and speeds are on the Ready beats page.

Don't know the notes? Pick a scale and you can't go wrong

On a piano, lots of keys pressed at random clash. Not on PadLoop's Keyboard. One sound is spread across all 16 pads, lowest at the bottom left, highest at the top right. Only the notes of your scale are left; the others simply aren't there.

When it asks Which sound do you want to play in scale?, Bass C in bank A works fine too (a bank is a page of 16 pads: the letters A to H). Then pick Min. pentatonic, the easiest scale. For chords switch to Major or Minor and press three pads at once, skipping one pad between each finger. With ⟳ (it repeats the hit in time) on and Arpeggio set to Up, hold three keys and the notes cycle by themselves.

Transcript

1. 0:00 Turn any sound into a Keyboard, in a scale
2. 0:02 Every key is in tune: chords with no music theory
3. 0:07 Back to the pads for the drums
4. 0:12 The bass on the Keyboard too
5. 0:17 And it is already a track

The Keyboard works in the free version too, with the sounds of banks A and B. The full guide is on the play in key page.

No sense of rhythm? The grid has your back

Press REC and play: every hit moves by itself to the nearest point of an invisible grid that splits each beat into four. Play roughly in time and the loop comes out tight. Before recording you hear one bar of count-in and see GO 4, 3, 2, 1; nothing is recorded before GO.

• Sounds different from what you played? Choose a finer grid in MORE, or switch it off. You can do it after recording too: every hit remembers how it was played.
• Run Calibrate by tapping once in MORE, on the phone speaker: tap along with the click for a few seconds, and from then on your hits land where you played them.

Soft and loud with one finger: tap low on a pad for a full hit, higher up for a soft one. Mix the two and your rhythm stops sounding robotic.

Don't want to play at all? Switch on squares

In the SEQ tab each row is a sound and each column a moment in the loop. Tap a square and there's a hit; tap it again and it's gone. Add pad brings in a new sound: Kick, then Clap, then Hat. Press ► and you hear every change straight away.

Long-press a lit square to set how hard it hits: soft notes look dimmer. Accents and ghost notes, no steady hand required.

Transcript

1. 0:00 Program a beat, cell by cell
2. 0:02 SEQ tab: add a pad, for example the Kick
3. 0:05 Tap the cells: here each cell is an eighth note
4. 0:07 Add the Clap on beats 2 and 4
5. 0:11 Press play: the loop starts
6. 0:14 Add hi-hats while it plays: you hear every change at once
7. 0:20 The bass follows the kick: a complete beat

Made a mistake? It costs nothing

• The ↶ arrow removes the last layer of the selected track, even while the loop plays. The rest stays.
• Messed up the sounds in bank A? Factory A in Ready banks resets it.
• On first launch, Guide me lights up the pads in time and you tap Kick, Snare and Hat as they glow. Reopen it from the ? with Replay the intro.

Want to start from scratch, with no Ready beat? Follow the first beat in 5 minutes guide.

What stays free after the trial?

For 7 days you get everything. After that, PadLoop stays free with banks A and B, 2 looper tracks (mic included) and one project: the Keyboard, the SEQ squares and the ↶ arrow keep working there forever. You can still preview the Ready beats. To load them, get more tracks and export your first song as an MP3, one purchase does it: €9.99 in Europe.

Making music without an instrument: questions

Can you make music without instruments?

Yes. With an app like PadLoop you start from a ready-made beat, add notes on a keyboard locked to a scale where there are no wrong notes, and let the app put your hits in time. You can even build a rhythm by switching on squares, without playing at all.

Can I make music without knowing music theory?

Yes. On the Keyboard you pick a scale from a list and only that scale's notes stay on the pads. If you don't know which one to choose, start with the minor pentatonic: almost any combination sounds good.

What if I have no sense of rhythm?

Recorded hits move to the nearest right spot on their own, so playing roughly in time is enough. “Calibrate by tapping” makes them land where you played them, and in the SEQ tab you can move them by hand, square by square.

What's the easiest way to start?

Load a classic Ready beat and play the pads over it: they're already tuned to the beat. On first launch there's also Guide me: the pads light up in time and you tap them as they glow.

What happens if I make a mistake?

The ↶ arrow removes the last layer of the track and keeps the rest. If you've messed up the sounds in bank A, Factory A in Ready banks resets it.

Is there a free app to make music without instruments?

You get all of PadLoop free for 7 days. After that, banks A and B, 2 looper tracks and one project stay free forever, along with the Keyboard, the grid and SEQ. A single purchase, no subscription, adds loading Ready beats, more tracks and export: a full groove in one tap and your first song as an MP3.

Do I need a computer or the internet?

Your phone is enough: you play, record and export everything there, offline too. Internet is only needed to download the optional plugins.

Last updated: 21 October 2026