I mostly enjoy writing songs on the basis of arrangement/sequence of the following elements.
- Verses
- Chorus
- Instrumental
A typical song structure might be
- Intro
- Verse 1
- Verse 2
- Chorus
- Verse 3
- Chorus
- Instrumental (perhaps over chorus chord sequence)
- Verse 4
A typical arrangement for the above structure might be
- Intro – just acoustic guitar and organ, panned right and left around 50%
- Verse 1 – vocal begins
- Verse 2 – bass guitar and minimal drums (perhaps just hihats and bass drum at this point) begin
- Chorus – introduce snare to drum part
- Verse 3 – change snare to side stick
- Chorus – return to snare, thicken snare sound with claps, add cymbals, introduce electric guitar
- Instrumental – bring in lead guitar to play melodic solo – perhaps a simple interpretation of the chorus vocal melody
- Verse 4 – strip back everything
Normally before I record anything I would have the whole song mapped out in terms of structure and how it builds. … read more