pianomankris
New member
OK folks - leave your taste in music at the door here, as we'll be listening to everything in this thread, from screamo metal to hip-hop to dance to pop, and everything else in between 
First things first - try to identify the structure of a pop song.
Here is a general guide of the common structure of pop pieces (note that music in different styles is usually commercially successful not because of instrumentation, but because they follow pop structure i.e. successful dance tunes are usually so because they follow pop structure, as with metal (think Metallica. Half the time they write 'by the book' when it comes to pop structure).
So, as a general rule, follow the structure below when writing a song, and there's more chance of the song being commercially successful, as this is the structuring that the non-musician subconsciously 'knows' when they listen to a piece. Familiarity isn't always a bad thing. If you want to do something a little different, throw the following out the window, and go 'free' when writing. But it's always nice to know how to do something according to a particular manner.
OK here's the 'standard' structure of a pop song. I've used dotted lines to divide it into a clearly seeable structure (more on this later):
Intro
----------------------------------
Verse 1
Verse 2
Chorus
-----------------------------------
Verse 3
Verse 4
Chorus 2
------------------------------------
Bridge/Solo/Instrumental
-------------------------------------
two or three choruses
Outro
And here's a short and very basic description of each section:
Intro - the beginning of the piece. Most often instrumental (as an aside, Rock music has a specific sectional structure to an introduction, usually in two or three parts. We'll go into that later. Just remember that an intro is an instrumental section to begin the piece.).
N.B some songs begin instantly with the verse. This makes you remember the song quicker, but conversely, you'll get tired of the song quicker. Keep this in mind when writing. If you are beginnning to write, have a few songs that begin on the verse, as these will catch people's attention. Use these as the first and last pieces of a set - doing this at the start will put people straight into the piece, rather than having an indulgent alt rock 5 minute intro lol (that's OK once you're established haha), and have a similar piece at the end. As is said - it's how you enter and exit that people remember - what you do in the middle matters less. Think of any good solo (whether it be guitar, sax, or whatever) - you'll probably remember how it begins and how it ends, but not as much what hapens in the middle. This is by design, and not by chance.
Verse - this is the 'story' of the song i.e. when the lyricist 'tells the tale'. Verses usually have four distinct vocal 'phrases' (think of a new phrase occurring when you would take a breath). There is usually a specific bar structure for verses, but, for the moment, go with the vocals as a guide.
Chorus - the 'memorable' part of the song. the part you would sing when people ask you what the song goes like. The chorus lyrics will contain the title of the song. There's a lot in how to make a chorus memorable. Once again, we'll go into that in later threads.
Bridge/Solo/Instrumental - always occurs after the second chorus. At this point in the song, the listener is familiar with the piece, both verse and chorus, and a change is needed. Hence a new section. A bridge is almost a complete new section of the song - if listened to on its' own, it could, in theory, be a different song. This is primarily to keep the listener interested. This is also usually the point on radio where the DJ fdes the song out, as the listener has heard enough of the song to 'knot' it by this point.
A solo is purely what it says - when an instrumentalist in the band gets to 'do their thing'. In rock music, this is traditionally when the guitar solo would be (i.e. after the second chorus) (unless you're in Dragonforce lol, in which case your structure is intro/solo/verse/solo/verse/solo/chorus/solo etc lol. Hence they are known as a 'guitar band' - they have more solos in the structure)
An instrumental is a musical section where no one instrument dominates i.e. there is no solo instrument. This is more common in mellower music.
An outro is as it says - an ending section. Some outros can be 'developed' - others are a few chords (usually held) with the singer resolving the melody (the melody usually descends, in order to 'bring it to rest').
First things first - try to identify the structure of a pop song.
Here is a general guide of the common structure of pop pieces (note that music in different styles is usually commercially successful not because of instrumentation, but because they follow pop structure i.e. successful dance tunes are usually so because they follow pop structure, as with metal (think Metallica. Half the time they write 'by the book' when it comes to pop structure).
So, as a general rule, follow the structure below when writing a song, and there's more chance of the song being commercially successful, as this is the structuring that the non-musician subconsciously 'knows' when they listen to a piece. Familiarity isn't always a bad thing. If you want to do something a little different, throw the following out the window, and go 'free' when writing. But it's always nice to know how to do something according to a particular manner.
OK here's the 'standard' structure of a pop song. I've used dotted lines to divide it into a clearly seeable structure (more on this later):
Intro
----------------------------------
Verse 1
Verse 2
Chorus
-----------------------------------
Verse 3
Verse 4
Chorus 2
------------------------------------
Bridge/Solo/Instrumental
-------------------------------------
two or three choruses
Outro
And here's a short and very basic description of each section:
Intro - the beginning of the piece. Most often instrumental (as an aside, Rock music has a specific sectional structure to an introduction, usually in two or three parts. We'll go into that later. Just remember that an intro is an instrumental section to begin the piece.).
N.B some songs begin instantly with the verse. This makes you remember the song quicker, but conversely, you'll get tired of the song quicker. Keep this in mind when writing. If you are beginnning to write, have a few songs that begin on the verse, as these will catch people's attention. Use these as the first and last pieces of a set - doing this at the start will put people straight into the piece, rather than having an indulgent alt rock 5 minute intro lol (that's OK once you're established haha), and have a similar piece at the end. As is said - it's how you enter and exit that people remember - what you do in the middle matters less. Think of any good solo (whether it be guitar, sax, or whatever) - you'll probably remember how it begins and how it ends, but not as much what hapens in the middle. This is by design, and not by chance.
Verse - this is the 'story' of the song i.e. when the lyricist 'tells the tale'. Verses usually have four distinct vocal 'phrases' (think of a new phrase occurring when you would take a breath). There is usually a specific bar structure for verses, but, for the moment, go with the vocals as a guide.
Chorus - the 'memorable' part of the song. the part you would sing when people ask you what the song goes like. The chorus lyrics will contain the title of the song. There's a lot in how to make a chorus memorable. Once again, we'll go into that in later threads.
Bridge/Solo/Instrumental - always occurs after the second chorus. At this point in the song, the listener is familiar with the piece, both verse and chorus, and a change is needed. Hence a new section. A bridge is almost a complete new section of the song - if listened to on its' own, it could, in theory, be a different song. This is primarily to keep the listener interested. This is also usually the point on radio where the DJ fdes the song out, as the listener has heard enough of the song to 'knot' it by this point.
A solo is purely what it says - when an instrumentalist in the band gets to 'do their thing'. In rock music, this is traditionally when the guitar solo would be (i.e. after the second chorus) (unless you're in Dragonforce lol, in which case your structure is intro/solo/verse/solo/verse/solo/chorus/solo etc lol. Hence they are known as a 'guitar band' - they have more solos in the structure)
An instrumental is a musical section where no one instrument dominates i.e. there is no solo instrument. This is more common in mellower music.
An outro is as it says - an ending section. Some outros can be 'developed' - others are a few chords (usually held) with the singer resolving the melody (the melody usually descends, in order to 'bring it to rest').
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