Song structures

[JTM45]

What’s the perfect song structure? I listen to maiden and they go off on wild tangents where a bridge is 20 measures, priest is the typical intro verse verse chorus, the dead is like a bowl of spaghetti,

is there really a right or wrong way to do it?

 

[MikeyTheCat]

Nope.

 

[SteveC]

John & Paul kinda figured it out... over & over & over and....

Most of their stuff was perfect.

 

[LP121]

Don't get you started on Rush, right?

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

Depends what you consider a song. Theory teaches a lot of the a/b/a/b formats that are historically used. But there's no real "rule" you can do however you like.

Pop and rock tend to have a simpler format. Some metal and other genres can have songs with 50 parts.

Most of the worlds most popular songs are not incredibly complex; there's probably a lesson there.

 

[Leumas]

James Brown. One chord. Funky beat. Syncopation. Repeat.

 

[MikeyTheCat]

Song structure?

 

[sonar1]

AABA repeat as necessary, kinda like NASCAR

 

[TheX]

John & Paul kinda figured it out... over & over & over and....

Most of their stuff was perfect.

Simple truth.

 

[Nard]

Don’t forget the key change on the last choru.

 

[Leumas]

 

[Roberteaux]

What’s the perfect song structure? I listen to maiden and they go off on wild tangents where a bridge is 20 measures, priest is the typical intro verse verse chorus, the dead is like a bowl of spaghetti,

is there really a right or wrong way to do it?

If it works, it works... and if it sounds good, it probably is good.

I was thinking about this last night: how the "guitar solo" in the Steely Dan song "Don't Take Me Alive" is actually the introduction. Carlton added a bunch of lead fills in various places in the song, yes, but the moment in that song for the real focus to be on the guitar was the first forty-four seconds of it.

After that, the guitar never did really get the spotlight again.

--R

 

[PapaSquash]

James Brown. One chord. Funky beat. Syncopation. Repeat.

I played "Chain of Fools" at a gig this evening.

C minor, let the drummer have the backbeat, don't overpower the vocal, that's it.

 

[CB91710]