“Make your own song” - Dan Scott reveals just how easy it really is…

OK for today I am going to show you the basics for writing a song which are essentially the foundations for all good music and most hit records.

Just like you would build good foundations for a house you need to lay down the right foundations for a song if you want it to be as good as you know it can be.

In order to create the most powerful memorable songs that people will want to play over and over again you need to get the fundamentals of the song structure right.

“Learn the secret techniques that most people will never know!”

This is really not very hard when you follow the techniques I am about to reveal to you.

Getting this right will provide the perfect foundations for creating incredible songs again and again and again…

OK in order to make your own song you need these 4 main structural elements:

The Verse - In popular music a verse roughly corresponds with a poetic stanza. When two or more sections of the song have basically identical music and different lyrics each section is considered one verse.

The Pre-Chorus (sometimes called The Bridge) – An optional section that may occur after the verse is the “pre-chorus”. Also referred to as a “build”, “channel” or “transitional bridge”, the pre-chorus function is to connect the verse to the chorus with intermediary material.

The Chorus - The element of the song that repeats at least once both musically and lyrically. It is almost always of greater musical and emotional intensity than the verse. In terms of narrative, the chorus conveys the main message or theme of the song. Normally the most memorable element of the song for listeners, the chorus usually contains the hook.

Middle 8 - In music theory, middle 8 refers to the section of a song which has a significantly different melody from the rest of the song, usually after the second chorus in a song (typically, a song consists of first verse, bridge, chorus, second verse, bridge, chorus, middle eight, chorus). Such sections often consist of new chords, but also frequently just alternate between two chords. It is called a middle 8 because it happens in the middle of the song and the length is generally 8 bars.

Here is a Typical Song Structure for Hit Songs of Today:

Intro – Verse 1 – Chorus – Verse 2 – Chorus – Middle 8 – Chorus – Chorus – Outro

Tension & Release

“A song is all about ‘Tension and Release’. Set-up an expectation, build the tension and release at the right time.”

This is probably the most important part to get right in order to create that euphoric sensation in a song.

A successful song will always make strong use of what is called ‘Tension and Release’. The tension is where you build an expectation of something to come, making the listener wait for the release.

The release is normally the chorus, but not necessarily, it is the place in the song where the listener feels most at ease, enjoys the most and ideally wants to sing and dance.

The best example of this is if you listen to any Dance or Drum&Bass song you will notice the tension in the build up to what is known as “the drop”. (This tends to get used more dramatically in the setting of a club, where the DJs use their skills to make both the tension and the release more extreme.)

Examples of ‘Tension & Release’…

Listen to a few of these songs to get an idea of the concept:

“Sandstorm” by Darude

This song is a good example as it was a huge hit song and quite clearly shows the elements of tension and release very well.

The tension builds right from the start of the song and the first release comes around 30 seconds in to the song. Again at about 1 minutes 30 seconds the tension builds once more and a release comes again at around 2 minutes 30 seconds in.

“Little Lion Man” by Mumford and Sons

This is an example of a modern song that has done well in the charts, propelling Mumford and Sons to fame.

They build tension right from the start of the song, with a small release for the chorus at around 1 minute in, but you still feel the song building as it continues, even throughout the second chorus it still seems to be building tension.

It then builds tension further with the vocals “Ahh-ahh…etc”. Then around 3 minutes 30 there is finally a release for the last chorus, which is then repeated.

(If you can keep people listening on throughout the whole song through clever use of tension and release then that is half the battle won.)

“Hometown Glory (High Contrast Remix)” by Adele

Here is an example of a song that has been remixed in order to make the tension and release more intense, with the aim for it to be played in a club.

The tension build is much more extreme and clear, as is the release aka ‘the drop’. The tension builds right from the start of the song up until the initial release at around 1 minute 30 seconds in.

In songs like this there is normally another section almost identical to the first, building up to another drop. Here it begins building tension again at around 3 minutes 45 seconds with the release coming at around 4 minutes 50 seconds.

As you can tell, the tension and the release sections are made much more extreme compared to the original, as the intention for this song is for it to be played in a club setting and for people to dance to.

Now we are ready to look at the building blocks that enable you to make your own song i.e. The Song Structure…

In order to make your own song you need to fully understand the fundamentals of a song structure.

Unfortunately there is more to building the foundations of a song than I could possibly explain to you here so I have therefore devised a whole eBook which covers everything you need to know about how to effectively structure your song and build the foundations for the most powerful and memorable impact.

Simply Enter Your Name and Email in the form below and I will instantly send You my FREE eBook on Song Structure

You could be learning how to perfectly structure songs in minutes!