The Anatomy Of A Song

What's a verse? Ok, it's a silly question, but... well, is it, though? As theorists, it's important to understand not just the form of something, but also its function, and that goes for song structure too. Why do we use verses? What's the point of a chorus? When should we use a bridge? What roles do they serve, and how do they help us make better art? It's a surprisingly difficult question to answer, but hey, we're gonna try.

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[pineappleman]

I know this video is 8 years old, but I love how quickly you speak.
It's refreshing to not have to put every instruction video on 2x speed.

[oravlaful]

best thing i've done in the last week was finding your channel

[educostanzo]

It would be very interesting to see a deeper analysis of the other elements you've mentioned, intros, outros, breakdowns, interludes and so. It's those things you kinda know what they are but definitions sometimes give you a wider perspective. Thanks for this one!

[LimeGreenTeknii]

My favorite way of shaking up a verse is making it sound like a bridge at the very beginning of it.

For example, in Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much, " the verse that starts out with "You're one of those guys who likes to shine his machine..." begins with a different melody and chord structure, and if you didn't listen to the next bar or so, you could've easily mislabeled the section as a bridge.

[ikemarkle]

Also, to make the final chorus more interesting is to start off slow then start it back up again with all the elements it had before or even add to it with backup voice overs. An example of this kind of structure is What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction.

[breadmoneymusic]

You should make a video on writing chord progressions for jazz and pop music. Maybe make a follow up video on writing chord progressions for classical music.

[AniyaWolfe-fpns]

your page is exactly what my journal looks like - every page

[ruvimusics]

dude-YOUR A LIFE SAVIOR!!! like i searched millions of videos only to know about this lil things u jus explained, LITERALLY, every single videos ar like "okay so..write ur chorus and stuffs and blablabla..." for this video. im 12, and im trying to write a song.i did it tho, but idk how to make it AN ACTUALLY ACTUAL SONG with instrumentals an stuffs

[Wyattporter]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about if there’s other, undiscovered song structure techniques I could play with. I think what we have encompasses all the possibilities.

[timgaul]

More deep dives on song structure would be great! I didn’t see that in 12 Tone on YT or Nebula. A few ideas: What a bridge does and how it evolved; the history and function of key changes in pop music and which key changes work. Keep’em comin’!

[andrewtatesbugatti]

I thought I was the only person who needed to learn this and I was super embarrassed because literally every one I know, knows every single part of a song
It's refreshing to know I'm not alone

[splatink]

Finally someone who’s left handed so it doesn’t look completely wrong when they’re writing.

Even if you hold the marker in the stupidest way possible.

[TheBoglodite]

Did he ever make a second one? This is super interesting.

[simplecliche]

If anyone is having trouble following what he saying you can reduce the speed of the playback to 0.75 to follow a bit easier

[bashfullfill]

I appreciate your way of using your words in your video to describe your own informative video is indeed a bridge to yet another video.

[mimidhof]

Waouw man so cool to find such an interesting and complete content about song structure. Thank you mate.

[JosephBanks]

Wow I've never thought too deep into the roles the different parts of a song play. This video is so informative, i'm really glad I found it!

[IRY]

Thank you this video taught me about stuff I didn't even know of, only problem is it flies by like a jet on cocaine I have to keep scrolling back to catch what hes saying

[dejesusrussell]

More about song structure, please! Also, could you break down some theory behind Radiohead?

[QuikVidGuy]

When I get some cash I'm gonna drop some in your patreon so I can request a video on "what is progressive rock?" and I'm kinda hoping I can hear about the basic overall nature or one single detail or a song (the most obvious one I can think of being 2112, though i don't know what would be best for a lesson)