Beginner's Guide to EDM Genres and Subgenres (with Examples) 

"Not everything is house, not everything is hard style, not everything is techno" Old people: " its all Dubstep"

House - boots&cats&boots&cats Dub - wobbles and screeches Trance - chords and harmony Hardstyle - Dongs

I’m so dead when she says “ lemme show you some example of electro” then RU-vid decides it’s a great time to show me the Ed Sheeran Shivers ad.

Growing up with Techno and Trance music, I realised how much it helps you mentally. I was very exhausted emotionally and this music lifted me up and energized me!

When i have to explain my dad that i'm making dubstep not Techno, he says it's all the same and two days later he blames me for not knowing the diffrence between country and western

great work making this video. here are the timestamps, you can use: 0:00 Intro 1:05 House 3:46 Big Room 4:26 Electro 5:18 Trance 7:45 Dubstep 9:55 Drum n Bass 12:17 Trap 13:54 Future Bass 15:17 Hardstyle 17:55 Techno 19:20 Outro

The spectrum can also tell you a lot about the music just visually. Check how cool the house music looks 1:45 like a wave flowing from side to side with the rhythm, in trance you can see the beat tries to remain in the same place 5:42, in dubstep you see that the beat tends to spread to different places 8:08, in future bass you see the obvious persistent bass signal dominating the whole thing 14:37. For me the house one was the most interesting to watch with the wavy effect in the music.

I think this video does an excellent job overviewing the genres and it’s obviously difficult to fit in all the nuances of each one. My only note, for people getting into EDM, is that these examples are all very big room/rave-focused. A lot of edm is more lowkey, melodic, dark, or atmospheric.

As a metal head I feel really at home in with EDM.

I'm 50 and I recently got interested in EDM. I would have to say my favorite artists are Daft Punk, Armin Van Buuren, Pegboard Nerds, and Glitch Mob

The songs that she picks to showcase each genre really goes to show that people who are primarily into festivals are listening to such a small homogenous slice of what all these genres have to offer…festivals have really blurred the lines between these subgenres for better or for worse

I am 62 years old and I have to admit that after watching this video I understand the EDM just as well as before, ie. not at all. However, I must also admit that it made a very good impression on me. The explanations, while covering a wide range, are short, clear and to the point. Although I'm not a professional, the transitions between the separate examples make me think you could be a good DJ :)

Its like hip hip and EDM got married and then made a Trap baby

Shes like "Forget that mainstream crap" no demonetization for me :) Love you Kandi

I never realized just how much House was a part of my 90’s childhood. I love the genre and even more so it has led me to explore different genres of House to where I have discovered Deep House music. It’s my favorite genre and I love it

Thanks so much for this. I'm 53 and I started with Jean-Michel Jarre and Vangelis in the 80's. In the 90's I listened to The Orb and Orbital. Now I'm into Above and Beyond and Chicane. For several years though I've been confused as to what all these sub-genres are and your video really makes things clearer.Seems that I am a Trance fan.

Kandi: there are different types of edm music Olds: dubstep is a dubstep

I love mostly House Music, specially Progressive House and Big Room House. I also love Techno.

Drum and bass is the best of them all the energy that comes off that music hits perfectly, and brings everyone together ❤

Im so happy this video exists, no one could explain it to me until now THANKYOU!

I've been a metalhead my whole life and a metal drummer for 13 years but I do like electronic music as well, this is a great guide to learn some differences in the style, thanks a lot

I would like to mention synthwave. 1980's inspired EDM is the best way to describe it. Artists like F.M. attack, and Miami night's 1984

As soon as I heard the trance examples I knew they fit me the most (even added some of them to my playlist). Been a huge trance fan since I was a kid, I even remember children from Robert miles being my favourite song as a 7 year old. I’ve also been blessed enough to see some of my favourite djs in ASOT and ABGT. But lately I’ve grown to like progressive house too, but EDM is such a broad music genre. It has been a blast being a part of this community, I’ve met the loveliest people because of it! 🥰

My first rave was 1997, and I am amazed and thrilled by the way the various genres have evolved, spawning new and weirder babies… as the tech evolves, the sound does as well, and these artists give us new ways to cut shapes on the dancefloor and express all those feels… thank you CK for putting this together 💗⚡️🌈🙏

My 13 year old daughter: you wouldn't like this much less understand anything about it. It's about the beat and the energy. Me: ...wondering should I tell her about me from 1995-2000 at the State Palace Theatre in New Orleans at raves (wish I would have kept all my flyers from back then)

Back in the 90s/00s I used to stay up until 2am when the indie radio station would suddenly play euro and progressive trance. I would try to stay up so late to hear the whole thing and record it on my cassettes. It was never enough, all of my friends liked happy hardcore or techno but didn't know progressive anything lol I was on my own So nice having everything on RU-vid now!

Hey for anyone else who loves the generalised EDM umbrella genre, another notable mention for a podcast is Monstercat's instinct podcast. Monstercat is a record label that bring attention to old and new upcoming EDM producers they include 99% of the genres explained here (all except techno I believe, but I may be wrong) and they always bring a good vibe.

When I was still learning about EDM, I had to know what each of them were, and I found this. This explained everything.

So glad you included DNB in this ❤️

Oh man I remember a time when all electronic music was called techno, we wore these things called trap pants and went to raves in Sketchy abandoned warehouses, good times makes me feel old though. Thanks for video I’ve been curious about this for a while.

Thanks for putting this together. It is crazy hearing just how much the brostep sound has bled into all the other non-bassmusic genres now. Will be interesting to see in 10-20 more years, if this was evolution or a fad. (Thanks again for such a kick-ass vid!)

Dude! This video was so informative and transparent! I love how honest you are regarding your knowledge and intentions yet you opened me up to an understanding of EDM styles that I never had. Thank you!

Just happy to see drum and bass get a mention! Never understood why it hasn't taken off massively in America.

It's really nice to be open to all genres of dance music. I love them all with no criticism and hate. I dig with every styles and the atmosphere and it's better than being someone who compares each genre to its preference just because it doesn't line up with the personal taste.

As a massive psytrance and goatrance junky, I am surprised by the sounds of the other sub-genres of trance 🤩 thnks for the very informative video

I'm not regretting being a true fan of EDMs. Thank you for explaining it well.

I've been a professional musician for many years but I'm just now trying out my first Traktor console and I'm just getting into EDM for fun. This was so helpful and I love how you're giving examples of stuff you love and have invested time into and even footage you caught live! As a musician, I so appreciate people with this kind of passion, thanks for being in the world and helping people like me make.a living. I couldn't have asked for a better intro video, thank you!

Infected mushrooms has really good Trance Dj S3RL has good happy hardcore

love the way you really love edm and introduced the basic genres : it was easy to understand for beginners like me.

Watched this video when I was getting into EDM a year ago. Huge fan of many of these genres now, thanks for introducing me to them!

You are literally so sweet for making these genres of videos!!! You're the best :) so excited to see you at Beyond Wonderland :)

Dubstep is my fav. Spag Heddy, Wooli, Excision are my faves. House is pretty great, and HAPPY HARDCORE is so underrated. I love happy hardcore. Darren styles and Gammer for the win.

I feel the same way with people confusing EDM with just being dubstep. There's sooo much more. Nice video btw! Edit: for hardstyle I for one love the Organ Donors. They're from the UK and their new album 'ultrasound' is great

THANK YOU!!! I've been trying to find some of these genres for ages

This was awesome! I grew up loving all EDM, and this started back in the 90's as a kid! Literally all of the genres you listed (and beyond) I have been through, understood and loved. Then, around 2007-2008, I discovered Hardstyle with Moon Boy (If you know, you know,) and from there my preference in EDM changed forever. Hardstyle was my life, and continues to be so, although I still heavily rotate my EDM playlists. Unfortunately, living in the east coast, I had ZERO friends who were into Hard Dance. Even now that's the case, but thankfully more and more people are into it! To be completely honest, I'm really glad to know there are other people who love Hard Dance, but who also thoroughly enjoy all genres, like yourself! Thanks again for spreading correct information within this amazing scene! (Side note: One thing I have noticed is, the longer you listen to Hardstyle, the more you "crave." Years go by and even though you love the classics, you eventually want harder kicks, faster tempo, etc. Euphoric, then Raw slowly appears, then you get a taste of Hardcore, oops, here comes Frenchie who destroys your speakers. Is this just me?)

TRANCE FAMILY ♥️

not a "EDM beginner" but that Video showed me that i love EDM in genrell. Every Genres has its cool sides, i just love some Genres as Techno even more.

I remember as a kid seeing the Mortal Kombat movie and the music changing my life. The main theme and Orbital - Halcyon On and On, with the eurodance hits at the time, really shaped my music taste growing up. Looking back I can see why my favorite genre of electronic music is trance.

Trance my fav 😫❤

Welcome to Hardstyle = we have full diversity of hard music, euphoric melodies, fast beats, raw and xtra raw, uptempo and other fast tempo sub-genres of hardstyle. We have kicks and not drops. We do kick rolls, we don't put our hands up. Oh right, one more thing... We also have Greazy Puzzy Fuckerz. Welcome, first drink is on us, second one is on us as well because we love everyone with basic respect. Lekker

I'm a huge trance fan and just wanted to mention a few more artists like Solarstone Pure Trance Radio show, Ori Uplift show, Aly and Fila Future State of Egypt and Nora En Pure. Incredible artists!

You ma'am have just changed my perspective on edm. Time to gain an obsession with this genre 😍

Techno. 🌌

My favourite genres : 1980's - some early Techno, early House, Acid House, Hip House, Italo House, Happy House, Balearic House 1990's - House, Techno, Bleep Techno, Acid Techno, Rave, Trance, Hard Trance, Ambient, Progressive House, Deep House, Dub House, Breakbeat, UK Hardcore, Jungle, early Drum n Bass, Jazz Step, Tech Step, Hardcore, Happy Hardcore, Euro House, New Disco, Nu-NRG, Hard House, Goa Trance, Psy Trance, Progressive Trance 2000's - Progressive Trance, Hardstyle, Hardcore, Trance & Progressive, Ambient 2010's - Progressive House, Progressive Electro, EDM (some tunes), Hardstyle, Hardcore, Trance, Uplifting Trance, Psy Trance

Thank you! I was not clear about the differences, and now I know that my favourite of these is dubstep! Thanks for the suggestions of who to listen to!

Don't forget Nero. One of the very few EDM... bands with a singer. That adds so much to the music. Same with the mentioned band Pendulum. They play actual instruments live (including a drum as named in the genre). Both are so unique. I love EDM. Would be nice to see more like Pendulum and Nero, though.

I live for a Hardstyle baby ! I grew up listening to a lot of happy hardcore, then it slowly went to all the genres of hard dance music !!! 😁

Great video!! I love all EDM and awesome to learn more about what separates the different genres 🥰

Thanks for this! I've been listening to "electronic music" for years but never knew what the genre I enjoy was called (but now I know it's Future Bass)! I love the emotion and the builds in it!

Short, simple & to the point! 🍻💥🤘🏼❤️‍🔥🍻

I❤Hardstyle

The Harder Styles, best shit out there. #hardarmy love from swiss

Thank you so much for this!! I know some, but not all lol It is crazy how much variety there is in EDM. Every artist has such unique types

Subscribed!!! This was super helpful! Ive been in the mood for songs just with good vibes and I know I like a few, "techno songs" but never knew what styles really pulled me in! Now I go back to spotify and look for some Hard Dance Music!! Many thanks!

This was very helpful. I’ve only been listening to EDM for about a year but I haven’t really dug deep into the different genres. ILLENIUM is what made me start to like EDM (specifically future bass) but I think that I’m going to start listening to other genres.

As soon as I heard you say "hardstyle is my sh*t" I instantly liked this vid!

This video really did need to be made, so glad you did it! Such a great one to

Waiting for the snobs in 3..2..1 ❤️😂 Keep up the badass content 👌🔥

OMG it made me so happy that you used "Lil Texas" as an example! Much potential in his fresh style!

With all due respect to your EDM knowledge and award-winning video production skills....you have textbook perfect teeth.

This video is incredible; thank you.

What are your favorite genres of EDM? Drop some links to your favorite songs 👇🏼💯

THANK YOU SO MUCH - As a Hardstyle expert I really appreciate you separating the genre out and explaining why to the general public! Great insight into genres I am not too familiar with and I enjoyed your content - HOLY SHIT U EVEN SHOWED GPF XD

THIS is a perfect find....... thank you for putting this together! I was 12 years old in 1970....... I'd grown up in jazz and blues clubs from NYC to Baltimore and D.C. My father was a legendary jazz bassist with quite the purist inclinations. I'll never forget he called (my musical addictions at the time) Steppenwolf and Santana "noise" :) He actually warmed up to the latter over time, though...... about the time kind bud was invented :) The genres and sub-genres thing is pretty complex...... in the 70's there were 2-3 FM radio stations out of D.C. and Baltimore (WGTB, WTMD, WKTK) that played through the midnight--->dawn hours what you'd call "ambient trance". Tons of sequencing, pads, cinematic reverb and echo....... like Tangerine Dream's early stuff. While it wasn't necessarily intended for dancing, its trance-inducing effects were clear. All the rhythms of 'Western' music that cause a physical response are rooted in the ritual dance of West African cultures. A two-measure pattern of five beats drives nearly all Western music....... that repetitive pattern is absolutely trance-inducing, which really is the point of all Electronic DANCE Music. That single phenomenon was the ONE "good" thing that came from the transatlantic slave atrocity. This is curiously rarely known among those of African heritage. It is important to consider the effect of salsa, cumbia, merengue, son montuno, and other Afro-Latin styles. Nearly every of my compositions begins with the 5-beat pattern, upon which I write the percussion and bass for the foundation. All of those styles have a powerful trance-inducing energy; the Hispanic and indigenous cultures of South America and the Caribbean have embraced the African rhythms for that very reason. Sorry to be ramblin', but you're the one who sparked the cerebral activity. You should consider writing a book; you've presented this quite complex subject with clarity and credibility. Thanks again!

man. i'm 16 and i was actually introduced to electronic music through rhythm games like beat saber and electronic touhou covers. The first artist I actually liked was camellia, but i've been struggling so hard to find music like his for so sososo long. i've been listening to artists like nhato, camellia, alstroemeria records, akira complex, kurokotei, Hyun, etc for like 2 years now; it felt like I couldn't find anything similar though spotify. it wasn't until today I decided to figure out the exact genres that influence these artists and aaa you have some really good recs! i particularly like your trance, dubstep, DNB, and hardstyle recs! you're a life saver TT__TT

Hardstyle parties and festivals just hit different. Went X Years Gearbox last October and it was easily the best electronic party/show I’ve ever been to. Hopefully if travel opens up next summer I’ll be trying to hit up Defqon and Decibel 🤘🏼🔥

I'm mostly listening to pretty much all kind of Hard Dance Music, but occasionally some Deathstep as well :) I've spent a lot of time around EDM, and this Video is really accurate, love it!

THANK YOU!!!! I’ve been wanting to go to techno clubs in my city since there’s so many but I know NOTHING about it so this really helped!!!

Im so happy that i found your video, i was in lack pf music, didn't knew what to listen, and now o have some new tracks to dance to 🎉❤

I have been an active raver since the mid to late 90's and WOW how the whole EDM genre as a whole has evolved and expanded exponentially over these past 3 decades since it really started to become popular! It keeps getting more and more diverse and awesome all the time, IMO! I have followed the scene since it began here in the USA, and I love most all of the EDM styles out there... I really especially love the higher energy styles myself, the ones that give you a really great workout when dancing to them, and I especially love all of the styles that have euphoric, uplifting, happy feeling lyrics in them, especially female vocals! I just wish I had the money (and time) to be able to afford to go to all of the major music festivals there is now! WOW! Unfortunately I only have a part-time minimum wage job that barely pays my rent, (I have issues so I'm lucky to even have that!), but so being able to actually afford to go to any show that costs over like $50 is just a very distant "pipe dream" for me! :( So, that lack of money, plus me not having any "rave fam" to go anywhere with, I am usually just stuck with enjoying this type of music at home by myself... but it's still awesome, I will always love it throughout my life, as EDM in general is just so positive, uplifting, energizing, and inspiring, especially with good lyrics, as I mentioned above! PLUR2ALL! Peace (& Positivity), Love, Unity (& Understanding), and Respect to (& for) ALL Living Lifeforms! (People, Animals, Plants, Aliens, etc.)

I feel like this is a really good introduction to these particular genres because I am mainly someone who listens to metal and rock when it comes to music I also enjoy, blues, jazz, and orchestra (Classical) music, I clicked on this video cause whenever I'm talking to someone I know about music I usually have to explain the difference between genres and artist so maybe I'll be able to talk about a genre their familiar with instead of babbling on about something they have not heard of, now that I've bored you to tears I wanted to say thanks ever so much @Cotton Kandi Raves I'll look more into these DJ's and maybe find stuff I like, cheers.

You of course took on a beast of a "genre" but this was a good crash course. You are the first to mention my favorite producer djs A&B and just for that I have much respect. Because the "EDM" tag is all over the place I just say my favorite music is A&B or their record labels. Through the years they have been all over the spectrum on styles and it is an awesome journey. Great video. Stay safe out there

Hell yeah, really glad someone has something nice to say about hard dance music 🙂

This is epic!! Thank you for doing this!! 💜💜💜

What are YOUR favorite genres of EDM? 🤔 Follow me on Spotify for EDM playlists ⇨ spoti.fi/378hv97 **NEW EDM PLAYLIST (Updated Weekly)** ⇨ spoti.fi/3kPX7Pz

thanks for gathering all of these genres! helped me to connect to EDM again

Thank you so much, it helped me a lot to understand this whole EDM genre and sun genres

When you gave the examples of artists, you should include the subgenre on the screen. Dope vid!

Festival =/= Rave. The underground still exists....you just have to search harder to find it. Good luck.

Almost a infinite amount of electronic music to listen to these days.... From all around the world 😍

thank youuuu I’m going to edc with some friends and this made me feel a lot less clueless 😆 can’t wait to throw ass and feel the feels

...and all that time I thought edm was just 'noise' with no feel, emotion, melody, nor story, and outright refused to accept uplifting trance, progressive house were part edm. Sigh, miss the old Tiesto and his ISOS compilation series...Thanks for putting this together!

i started to liking Hardstyle last year, and now its my favorite type of music. i hate the fact that people hate arround that type without giving it a chance to listen to it a bit deaper. (even friend of me)^^

this helped me a LOT. finally. thank you!!

Awesome. Thanks for the explanations!

Good!! My favorite is Future Bass 🖤🔥

As an aspiring music producer, I love most genres of music and I do experiment with them in my own tracks, but I usually prefer Future House. I used to do Melodic Dubstep and Future Bass but I turned to Future House and Bounce after discovering Brooks. I love his basslines.

My God... Your examples are soooooooo Gooood

This vid is great. I love that other people appreciate the differences in different EDM music as well. I feel like either people love it or hate it and the people that hate it seem to group all electronic music into a one size fits all category and say they don’t like it. Realistically a lot of the mainstream music has integrated different EDM artists and people love it because it’s not categorized as EDM 😂 anyways. Thank you for the great vid. I subbed, if you don’t mind, I’m going to live vicariously through you and your rave/festival life XD I’m disabled and my dream is to be able to attend a rave or festival and see my my fav band live-but I’m not certain I’ll ever get to. The internet is a wonderful thing, I can experience the things I dream for in a different, more disability friendly way:)

This is a pretty decent guide into such a complex universe. I would also recommend DI FM radio, they have a large assortment of channels for a lot of these electronic music subgenres. You can also find most of the recommended podcasts there. I'm a personal fan of the "tradicional" genres such as House, Techno, Trance, D&B and Hard, not so much of the EDM wave which started around 2008-2010 specially Big Room house but the beauty of electronic music has always been its democratization and its inherit experimental nature. More genres will continue to emerge as people keep experimenting with sounds and new technologies and that's great considering that the founding genres were minimized (criminalized almost) but managed to thrive thanks to the underground scene.