How to Transcribe: Structure

So far in our series on “How to Transcribe” (or “how to tab stuff out by ear”), we’ve looked at the song from the top down. Imagine the song you’re trying to transcribe as a building:

• on the third floor we have the melody (lead guitar or vocals)
• underneath that (the first floor) we have the chords (rhythm guitar, keyboard, bass)
• and then on the ground floor we get the rhythm section (drums, bass etc…)

So we’ve looked at everything stacked up on top of each other, but there is also another dimension to consider- time. What is the structure of the song as it goes along?

I’m talking about: verses, choruses, solo’s etc…and when do they happen? How can you figure out where they are and when they happen?

Well, you can figure this out before, after or while you’re figuring out the other stuff. Anyway, that’s what this post is going to be about- song structure.

Identifying the Themes

How can you tell where the different parts of a song are?

Actually, I’ll give you a clue: nobody really knows.

Yep, that’s right! You might decide something is a “bridge”, whereas I might call it an “instrumental break” or “middle 8″. So the only person who really knows what that section of the song is trying to be is the person who wrote it.

…so do you have to contact the person who wrote the song to get it right? Absolutely not!

It really doesn’t matter what you call it, as long as you realise that it is a different section. I’m sure you can probably already tell where the guitar solo is in a song (if there is one)? It’s easy to make out because the lead guitar(s) plays the melody (or tune) to that part of the song.

What about other sections? You’ve got two main parts of a song where there’ll definitely be singing: the verse and the chorus. Those two parts are pretty easy to tell apart too- the chorus is usually more catchy, or anthemic and probably has the same lyrics every time; whereas the verse will normally be less energetic and have different lyrics each time it’s sung.

What if you have a separate bit of singing in between the verse and the chorus? That’s probably a bridge- but then it doesn’t have to have singing in to be a bridge…

Repetition

You don’t even have to figure out whether that’s a verse or a chorus you’re listening to. I mean, you could easily get away with just calling the sections “A, B and C”! The real thing you’re looking for here is what we call “melodic themes”- which is kind of a technical way of saying “tunes” for each section.

So, the tune for the verse will probably be different to the tune for the chorus. It doesn’t matter if you call it “A, B and C” or “Fred, Donald and Jeremy”, the point is that those are all different sections*.

_{*OK, maybe it’s not technically correct to call them “Fred, Donald and Jeremy”, I was only trying to make a point!}

Song Structure

Ok, here’s the tricky part…you have to get good at, not only listening to “Theme A”, but remembering it- so that next time you hear it you’ll go “Oh, that’s theme A again”.

With this way of looking at things, you should quickly notice that a lot of songs tend to go like this:

Theme A – Theme A – Theme B – Theme A

…or “verse – verse – chorus – verse”…for example.

Now when you’re writing this down (or playing along), you can hear theme A, and remember it, so that when it’s repeated you already know how it goes. I.e. once you’ve worked out the verse, you already know 3 quarters of the whole song (three out of the four sections).

Of course, this can really speed up how long it takes to tab out (or even learn to play) a song!

So, next time you hear a song, try and group the themes (or tunes) into different sections as you listen- it’ll really help you to follow the song more easily!
Rob.

July 7, 2011 at 2:00 pm | How to | No comments