Previously, I made a Intro to Music Software where I went through and broke down the most popular DAWs. I also went in and explained plugins, and audio effects.
Knowing that, I thought I’d get into how to set up a simple song. For this, it’s best to know some music theory (chords, notes, rhythm, etc).
Listen to any song. Let’s use “Hey Jude” by The Beatles for an example.
They start with piano playing quarter notes, along with Paul McCartney singing.
For the 2nd verse, the acoustic guitar and tambourine come in. The guitar is playing 1 & 2 & a 3 & 4 & a. While the tambourine is hitting beats 2 and 4.
When the 3rd verse comes in, the drums do a quick fill. Actually, the first bar of the 3rd verse is sort of a fill. The bass also comes in here playing quarter notes.
Hey Jude features different sections. The verses, chorus, and the “na na nana na na.”
Nearly every song follows an arrangement like;
Intro
Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus
Outro
I mean, it’s just practical at this point because so many songs that are made every day follow this. I even write songs like this.
But that’s not what I want to mainly focus on for this tutorial.
Each section has its own melody, sometimes drum beat, chord progression, and feeling. The chorus is usually happy and exciting. Meanwhile verses are mainly for getting the song’s message about.
The bridge is where everything sort of just, goes down a notch. Things cut out, and it’s softer than the verses.
Nearly every song in existence uses this arrangement. Just listen to a song if you disagree with me.
Pretty cool right?