SONG STRUCTURE 101 (Pt. 1-A) - THE BASICS: Verse, Chorus, & Bridge

Song structure is one of the most important, yet most overlooked, aspects of #songwriting. If you can master the most effective ways of putting together the various "puzzle pieces" (song sections) used in all subgenres of popular music, then you will take a giant leap toward greatness as a songwriter! And in this video series - Song Structure 101 - I will teach you everything I personally know about the secrets of good song structure. We'll start in this video by covering the 3 most basic and important song segments: the Verse, the Chorus, and the Bridge. I'll explain what their functions and roles are in a song, what they (should) do for the listener, how they typically connect to each other, and why organizing those song sections in particular "tried and true" ways makes sense to our ears, brains, and hearts. In 2 more videos to follow I will delve into transitional song segments, as well as optional song segments that you can throw into the mix, if you like, to add even more interest, variety, and spice to your songwriting. So, please stay tuned, and I hope this series on one of songwriting's foundational topics will help you take your songs to a new level! Thanks for watching, and please LEAVE A COMMENT letting me know anything else you would like to learn about songwriting here on The Ghost Mall's channel. Keep rocking!

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Thanks for watching, retro-lover!!

[SwiftDreamer]

Thank you for this video man! Has anyone ever told you that you sound like kermit the frog?

[karstux]

You know it's a good video when you have a notebook open and pause to take notes, skipping back to make sure I have it all. All info, no fluff. Perfect!

[connor]

The intro took 3 minutes my guy.

But the content was worth it. Thank you

[louiseakhtar]

I came here looking for tips then quickly realised song writing is an art. You can't express yourself following a formula. Some of my songs don't even have a chorus - it's not for everybody and I don't expect many people to like my music but that make's it even better when somebody does feel what I'm trying to get across.

[PerfectViolation]

This series is seriously better than 90% of the information out there. If you have come here looking for detailed and insightful look at how various song sections stack together this is the series.

[DimiKaye]

Yes! Arrangement done right! It is very useful that you explain the "why" behind each element, makes what we know from experience more clear. Very well done Ethan, can't wait for the rest of the videos.

[DrPepper]

just leaving this comment here in case i become relatively successful I can look back and thank this video in part to that hypothetical success.

[ZiggyBoyz]

I'm not a songwriter or composer but you made this video very informative and could help me edit music for my video effectively knowing the structure. Thanks Ethan! Keep it flowing bro 👊😎

[WhereisNimbus]

My hats off to you man! Hands down, to you teaching style. The way you broke down the lesson really helped my understanding. 🤯👏👏👏

[smaina]

Here to learn more about music and song structure and I love how you explain concepts so simply. Thank you!!

[PabloDeModeOfficial]

Really interesting video series! I’ve listened to a lot of sings from the 80s and I noticed that some of Madonna’s biggest hits at that time have the following structure: Intro/Theme, Chorus, Verse, Prechorus, Chorus, Verse 2, Prechorus, Chorus, Bridge, Instrumental section, Prechorus, Bridge and Chorus/Ad lib. I took this structure from “Into the groove” which is disco-pop oriented. A lot of her hits have this patterns or a a little variation (Causing a Commotion, Like a Prayer, Deeper and Deeper, etc.). I guess this is more a loop-oriented way of the pop style rather than the linnear way which is more rock oriented, IMHO.

[obenohnebohne]

Exactly what I need right now. Clear and simple. Many things I already knew, but the little additions made it very valuable.

[HYPRdream]

I needed it broken down like this . Really helpful, look forward to watching more of this series. Thank you !!!

[tysoflowin]

This is a really helpful video series, I'm trying to learn how to write songs and I figured this was a good place to start. After listening to some songs a really good example of this basic song structure I found was Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs. Thanks for making these videos, they're very helpful.

[I.need.anewsong]

You have knack for explaining things clearly. You should consider doing more such videos.

[jaygravitygames]

I love retrowave!!!! I plan to write acoustic folk though! I love the intro, i was like “hell yeaaaa retrowave” 😇 future cop is so dope

[itsanthony]

This is brilliant. Thank you. No one explains why we have these elements in a song. I'm mostly into heavy metal and can see some of the elements here in songs already. Interestingly the songs Holy Wars and Tornado of Souls by Megadeath use a different guitar solo or instrumentation as each chorus (or massive bridge elements depending how you look at it!). I implore anyone to listen to it as a really good way to see how song structure is broken and twisted. Once the basics are learnt of course.

[TheCraftyCrafter]

thank you lol finally a songwriting structure video that makes sense to me and is well organized 🙏💗

[felixthefool]

Love this. Straight to the point and explained simply. Very good my friend 🤌

[chasing_buttrflies]

4:20 oh my goodness my mom loves Billy Joel! Thanks for mentioning him :D