What the pros know about songwriting that you can use to your advantage...
May 01 '02 (Updated Jun 14 '04)
The Bottom Line There are a handful of tricks you can use to get that TOP 40 sound in your compositions. They aren't rocket science, and anybody can master them.
This is my second songwriting post, and I wanted to provide some examples of things that have worked for me in the past.
For this epinion, I've got a song that I will refer to:
http://guitarcosmos.com/pages/music.html
The song is an original composition of mine called "Beefcake Poster". It only has a scratch vocal on the MP3 you can get from this site, but it will serve to illustrate some basics in pop song composition and arrangement.
It was written in one day, for an upcoming recording project.
The first epinion I wrote on this topic basically told about the structure of a pop song.
This one is pretty standard:
Verse
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
A pop song is built around the "chorus". In the industry, this is called "the hook". It's called that because it hooks the listener into wanting to listen to the song again.
In this example, the hook starts with "I know that I can never..."
You want the hook to be easily differentiated from the verse. In this song, the chord progression is the same in both the verse and chorus, but the chorus is distinct. It was set apart by several things:
It is the same lyrics repeated each time.
It is sung in a higher register than the verse.
There are additional instrumental lines that only come in during the hook.
There are harmony vocals on the hook.
It is important to notice the use of the drums in this song. In fact, they aren't drums at all. It's one drum loop, one measure long, repeated over and over throughout the song.
Real drums were overdubbed in parts, but the bulk of the work here is done by the loop.
The only variation comes right BEFORE a change in the song. For instance, right before a chorus or hook, there will be a small drum break to let the listener know that something is changing. That's something to make note of if you're having trouble getting folks to follow your songs.
How do you compose a catchy hook? Most are about 4 lines long. Most incorporate the use of some vocal harmony. Other than that, you'll have to roll your own.
The verses in this song have the same chord progression as the chorus. It tells the story of the song. Choruses aren't generally that useful for conveying information. That's what the verse is for.
You want your verse to be relatively understated compared to the chorus. It's like cooking: you want just enough spice, but not too much. On this song, my goal was to have a verse that was just strong enough to hold the song together, without taking over the song.
If you have to chose where to put the most interesting LYRICAL idea in the song, chances are you want it to go in the verse. People who listen to words (and there aren't many of them) are listening for the story in the verse.
In this song, the lyrics are pretty standard pop fare, with the exception of the lead-off lyrics in the song, "I know that I could never give you all you deserve..."
Probably the only heartfelt and poignant lyrics in there. They started off in a collection of orphan lyrics and they open this song.
(Orphan lyrics were discussed in the other writeup, but basically, they're lyrics that are partial lyrics, or interesting ideas, but which haven't found their way to a song, yet. Some folks use a bulletin board. I use a Word document with stray lyrics here and there.)
If you have an interesting MELODIC idea, it belongs in the hook. You will notice that the melody of the hook is a lot more compelling than the melody of the verse in this song. The HOOK is the part that appeals to the part of folks who just want to sing along and party.
In pop music, the hook is almost everything. A song can survive bad lyrics, boring verses, stupid bridges or no bridge at all... but without a hook, it goes nowhere.
The purpose of a bridge (the part in this song where it says, "I know you're sayin' this boy just ain't right...") is to break up the monotony of the verse-chorus-verse-chorus. Even an imaginative chorus and verse will get old if that's all there is in a song.
In this case, I got away with the same chord progression for all the song, but had to break it up with the bridge. There's also an instrumental breakdown. The guitar is soloing, but the bass leaves the pocket and solos as well. It's a big departure from the rest of the song that lands with one last repetition of the chorus.
So, simply:
1. Put interesting lyrical ideas in the verses.
2. Put interesting melodic ideas in the hook.
3. Break it up with a bridge before the final hook and/or before the final hook and verse.
4. Use drum and instrumental breaks right before transitions from verse to hook, hook to bridge and bridge to hook or verse. They can also go after the hook, but that's not as critical.
5. If you don't have a hook, you don't have a pop tune. You may have a great song, but to get that top 40 vibe, you need a hook.
6. Differentiate the chorus with harmony vocals, additional instruments and other things to make sure there is no doubt that it is different from the verse.
And last but not least: WRITE and PLAY!
Good luck and feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.
e-mail: jimmy@guitarcosmos.com
http://geocities.com/jystrebler
The first songwriting article:
http://www.epinions.com/content_2483855492
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jystrebler
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Location: Toledo, OH, Northcoast of America
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About Me:
Father of one squirmy child, Sometimes listenable Musician.
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