Edited by Peter Muldoon – Original article appeared in Mouthzoff Magazine iss 9, 6 December 2013

Welcome to the third and final article on song forms. So far, we’ve looked at the first four of the six common forms found in popular music. Click here to go back to the beginning.

To recap; second, third and fourth forms use the familiar verse/chorus idea with either the simplest version of this, alternating the verse with the chorus, or with an added lift (pre-chorus), bridge or both. First form is the only other one we have covered that doesn’t use this concept with the simplest repetition of the same section throughout the whole song.

Now to look at Fifth form, First form was the same refrain (or A section) this one is a particular pattern of two section, AABA. This is a common form in musicals of the 20th Century and therefore a good chunk of the Jazz standard repertoire. Essentially, the majority of the song is made up of the A section with some relief in the form of the B section or Bridge. Usually each section is eight measures in length, making thirty two measures in total. The thing to keep in mind is that neither of these is a verse or a chorus, rather one or both usually contain the title. A common way of extending this form is to repeat the B and last A section, giving you AABABA, found a lot in Jazz ballads. In faster tempi, Jazz songs will usually repeat the AABA chord progression after the melody for solos before returning to the melody at the end.

Some instances where AABA is used to great effect – Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison and All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern.

Sixth form is a variation on the old verse/Chorus concept, yet is different because it hits you with the Chorus right from the start. It is interesting to note that this form can shoot up the charts very quickly but don’t sit up there as long as Third and Fourth forms. This is probably due to the catchy hook and title is right up front, but it can get worn out fairly quickly. There seems to be a lot more flexibility in this form, with some songs like Blake Shelton’s record of “Who Are You When I’m Not Looking” (chorus, verse, chorus, verse, verse, chorus) and Jason Aldean’s record of “Dirt Road Anthem” (chorus, four short verses, chorus, three short verses, chorus repeating) taking a few liberties. What ever works!

Steve Holy’s recording of “Good Morning Beautiful” and “Marry You” by Bruno Mars (Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine) are some popular songs that use Sixth form.

That’s it. I’ve given you an outline of the six commonly used forms: · First Form (AAA (repeat as you need)) · Second Form (Verse (Verse Optional), Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental, Chorus) · Third Form (Verse (Verse Optional), Chorus, Verse, Chorus, (Bridge) Chorus (with an instrumental before or after the chorus) · Fourth Form (Verse, Lift, Chorus, Verse, Lift, Chorus, (Bridge Optional) Lift, Chorus, Outro) · Fifth Form (AABA) · Sixth Form (Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental, Bridge, Chorus, Outro).

I hope this has shed some light on what is on the radio and given you some ideas for your own songs.

Missed something? Click here for all three articles in the series.

The Author

Sonic Edwards

Sonic is the author of two very dry books on Scale Fingerings for Bass Guitar.
He is also an in demand session musician and educator.

Edited by Peter Muldoon – Original article appeared in Mouthzoff Magazine iss 8, 2 November 2013

Last months issue saw us looking at First and Second forms, also referred to as AAA and VCVCVCC respectively. Two of the most popular forms, Third and Fourth forms both add sections to expand the story. Click here to go back to the beginning.

Third form, like second form, contains Verse and Chorus sections but what makes it different is the added part known as the Bridge also known as the Middle 8 (which refers to the position in the song and the typical length of the section – eight measures [bars]). The function of the bridge is to add a new perspective to the story and to add a new musical flavour. Lyrically, this might be asking ‘what if…?’, or giving new info that doesn’t fit into a verse structure. A bridge typically doesn’t repeat, but usually leads back into the repeated chorus to take us to the end. When writing a Bridge it needs to be seen as a musically new section, so you typically wouldn’t recycle chord progressions or melodies from verses or chorus but create a new sound. It may dynamically comedown to a quiet reflection of the rest of the song or build with even a key change (like in “Leave The Pieces” by The Wreckers, written by Billy Austin and Jennifer Hanson). Its strength isn’t in a soaring melody and catchiness like a chorus, but in the fact that it is different. In terms of the rhyming scheme, it should also change from what was used previously in the verses and choruses.

Some great examples of this form are; “My Life Would Suck Without You” by Kelly Clarkson (written by Max Martin, Lukasz Gottwald and Claude Kelly) or “Then” by Brad Paisley (written by Chris DuBois, Ashley Gorley and Brad Paisley).

Fourth form is also similar to second form but the new section is known as a Pre-Chorus or Lift. Yep, it’s the short section between the verse and the chorus that provides a ramped up section to prepare you for the gloriously soaring chorus. Usually the pre-chorus is repeated exactly the same each time and similar to the bridge, it should have a unique rhyming scheme. Pre-Choruses often use some literary tricks, like rapid fire internal rhymes (“I stole a whole fruit bowl”) or alliteration (“Lucky lizards lounged while leering at Lucy”). Also, musically it should build and lead into the chorus. It is these types of ideas that make the Chorus seem catchier.

Trends in songwriting in the last 10 or so years have lead to the expansion of this form to also contain a Bridge. Obviously writers only use this when they have a lot to say and it won’t just fit into a couple of verses, a lift (repeated) and a chorus (repeated). For example, “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams, written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance.

Some Fourth form examples are; “Roar” by Katy Perry (written by Katy Perry, Lukasz Gottwald, Max Martin, Bonnie McKee and Henry Walter) and Taylor Swift’s “Sparks Fly”.

Next month we will finish up this 3-part series on song forms with a look at the final two forms – Fifth and Sixth forms.

Missed something? Click here for all three articles in the series.

The Author

Sonic Edwards

Sonic is the author of two very dry books on Scale Fingerings for Bass Guitar.
He is also an in demand session musician and educator.

Edited by Peter Muldoon – Original article appeared in Mouthzoff Magazine iss 7, 1 April 2013

Hey, let’s chat about something you don’t often hear about in depth – musical structure.

Everybody is familiar with the terms verse and chorus, some of you will also know bridge and pre-chorus and some will even be familiar with assigning letters to each different section, such as A, B, C and so on, but their purpose and how best to string them together often seems to be a bit ‘hit and miss’. I suppose we had better start by saying that there are six commonly used forms in music.

I’m not dismissing all others, but simply giving a framework to base them on.

When we write a song we’re trying to communicate an idea – not just a lyric and a story, but also a feeling provided by the combination of music and words. If you were attempting to tell a story about a man who was frantically searching for his keys, you might try to reinforce the frustration (we’ve all experienced it) by singing fast and rapid-fire lines while musically switching to a new section at an odd time in the song, just as he would be changing direction after looking in the same places over and over again.

Another thing to keep in mind is the rhyming scheme. For example, if you rhyme the first two lines “I love my fat orange cat, sometimes he wears a purple hat”, then the first two lines of the next ‘A’ section need to follow the same type of rhyme, but not necessarily the same sound, “Breakfast was just toast and jam, for lunch I think I’ll have clam”.

So, to try and understand how the sections of a song can impact the way the story is told let’s look at First Form. At first glance this is the simplest from of all because it’s just the same section over and over. Same chord progression and melody (maybe some subtle changes for each time around); however this can make it difficult to pull off. Not only does the story need to be interesting and develop throughout the song, but the title still needs to be in the prime location so that it is remembered. Typically this is in the first or last line of a section and in this form has a name for the more common-place end line – refrain.

Another thing to keep in mind is the rhyming scheme. For example, if you rhyme the first two lines “I love my fat orange cat, sometimes he wears a purple hat”, then the first two lines of the next ‘A’ section need to follow the same type of rhyme, but not necessarily the same sound, “Breakfast was just toast and jam, for lunch I think I’ll have clam”. This form originates from the 1930s when songwriters were like factory workers and would sit in a small room, working nine to five, cranking out song idea after another and when they came up with a good one they would run next door to the publisher who would then tell them to finish it. The first part they came up with is the bit that would be repeated and played on radio. This became known as the chorus, whereas the ‘rest of the song’ was the verse or the set up to the story. This part usually wasn’t as catchy, memorable or even the same tempo, so was often dropped before it reached the general public.

Examples from that era are Cole Porter’s “I get a kick out of you” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust”.

Second Form uses the verse and chorus to drive the song. This is used a lot in rock (with catchy guitar riffs), urban and folk. The chorus is the section that repeats throughout the song and is the memorable ‘singalong’ part, typically with the title in the first or last line. It contains the main idea of the lyrics and the main hook or riff of the song. The chorus chords and melody would normally remain the same on each repetition as would the verse. The verse fleshes out the idea and explains a lot more detail and although the lyrics change for each verse, the rhyming scheme remains the same, again not the same rhymes but the same format. A typical layout for a song in second form is Verse (V), Chorus (C), V, C, Instrumental, C with the chorus repeated until the end. If the songwriter has more to say they usually wouldn’t add a verse after the instrumental, but rather add a second verse before the first chorus – V, V, C, V, C, Instrumental, C, C, C.

Examples of rock songs that use second form are Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and “Maybelline” by Chuck Berry.

When writing any form of song it is important to pace your lyrical ideas so that there is a sense of story with a number of stages. This doesn’t necessarily need to line up with different sections like the verse or chorus. A story that really pulls you in has detail and explains everything before the end of the song so that you’re not left wondering about what happened or why.

Next month we will look at two of the most popular forms, Third and Fourth, and how they add sections to expand the story.

Missed something? Click here for all three articles in the series.

The Author

Sonic Edwards

Sonic is the author of two very dry books on Scale Fingerings for Bass Guitar.
He is also an in demand session musician and educator.