Finally, Some Song Structure Advice!
Jared reappears!
Jared gave me some great advice on Instant Messenger. We talked about song structure, Alameda, and lyrics. All of which I’ll be applying to my strategy…
Stephen (05:09 pm): hey man
Jared (05:09 pm): sup
Stephen (05:10 pm): i love that elliot smith album you told me about
Stephen (05:10 pm): i didnt get it til last week but its freckin tight
Jared (05:11 pm): =) its one of my favorites
Jared (05:11 pm): well they all are
Jared (05:11 pm): which one did i make you get
Stephen (05:11 pm): either/or
Jared (05:12 pm): good good, its very inspiring for people who play acoustic
Stephen (05:12 pm): yeah it’s been making me think a lot about songwriting
Stephen (05:12 pm): did you get my message about song structure
Jared (05:12 pm): no
Stephen (05:13 pm): i was wondering if i should get either of these books to learn more about it… http://missionrockstar.com/?p=38
Jared (05:14 pm): ive never read a book
Stephen (05:14 pm): or, just how do i learn more about song structure in general
Stephen (05:14 pm): yeah but i dont have a lot of friends to teach me, i just moved to bellingham too
Jared (05:14 pm): eeep
Jared (05:15 pm): well the thing about song structure is that it that there’s no cookie cutter for it. its art, art can be made how you want it to be made
Jared (05:15 pm): listen to your favorite artists and figure out what it is that you like about their structure
Stephen (05:16 pm): so i just take my building blocks and figure out a cool way to put em together
Stephen (05:16 pm): is AABA describing song structure?
Jared (05:16 pm): verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus, thats as basic as it gets
Jared (05:17 pm): aaba is yeah, thats verse verse chorus verse
Stephen (05:17 pm): that’s aaba right? or no
Stephen (05:17 pm): cool
Jared (05:17 pm): no, thats ababcb
Stephen (05:17 pm): oh
Stephen (05:17 pm): ok
Jared (05:17 pm): but only use that as very basic building blocks
Stephen (05:17 pm): so that alameda song, does that have a chorus
Jared (05:17 pm): ummm, i cant remember let me listen
Stephen (05:18 pm): here’s the lyrics http://missionrockstar.com/?p=39
Jared (05:18 pm): chorus isnt necessarily a repeat in lyrics
Jared (05:19 pm): thats a refrain
Jared (05:19 pm): chorus is usually a change from the verse in a song that is repeated. it can have different lyrics if you want
Jared (05:19 pm): but yes, this one does
Jared (05:19 pm): nobody broke your heart you broke your own because you can’t finish what you start
Jared (05:20 pm): its short, but sweet
Jared (05:20 pm): elliott doesnt necessarily follow traditional song structure
Jared (05:21 pm): he has verse, chorus and bridge in his songs, but he puts them where he wants
Stephen (05:21 pm): cool
Jared (05:21 pm): and makes them longer/shorter depending on the emphesis he wants on that part of the song
Stephen (05:21 pm): Nate Holstrom told me to listen to him, the Beatles and solo John Lennon for awesome song structure
Stephen (05:22 pm): so i’ve been listening, but am kind of just trying to guess what to listen for
Jared (05:22 pm): elliott got a lot of his stuff from the beatles
Stephen (05:22 pm): yeah he reminds me of them a bit
Jared (05:22 pm): beatles have a lot that are generic structures, elliot is something more to aim for
Jared (05:23 pm): you should get the album “XO” by elliott
Stephen (05:23 pm): cool i will
