Learning about Arrangements

The best way of learning to arrange/composing/song-writing is by listening to your favourite

songs and seeing how they do it by listening to every element and how they change through
the structure of the song. THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO DO IS JUST TRACK EVERY CHANGE
DURING EVERY PART. What is added? What is subtracted? What changes? This list was made
mainly by listening to easy-listening songs (easy rock, pop, etc). Other genres will have
different styles of arranging. Also remember, THERE ARE NO RULES, DO WHATEVER YOU THINK
SOUNDS COOL.
And of course, I didn’t read any books on song structure or am I an expert so this is not an
exhaustive list of every way of arranging! I recommend adding anything that I may have missed
or correcting anything that could be said more accurately!!

So as you listen to your favourite songs, ask yourself about each section of the song. See
Following:

Intro

For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to define an intro as anything played at the
beginning of a song that does not include the melody from the verse or chorus. If the song
starts off with the verse or starts off with the chorus, then it can be said the song does not have
an intro.
Intros are harder than they should be to write. It’s hard to make the pacing feel right,
coming in with the groove or chords, it can make the listener bored if the tempo is too slow and
not enough is happening (Stevie Nicks/Lindsay Buckingham combat this in Dreams by singing a
little humming part and playing a guitar counter-melody; likewise, Billie Eilish does this
humming/ad-libs in Bad Guy/my boy [Billie Eilish does this a lot]).
A way to combat this boredom of chords is to only play a section of the chord
progression (Adele’s Rolling in the Deep starts off with a one-note guitar line that is the first
chord. Instead of playing all the roots in the chord progression, they only play the first chord
until the vocals come (because waiting for guitar to play all the chords would be BORING). The
logical song by Supertramp does something similar to avoid playing the entire chord
progression, but they also add other instruments to spice it up and then drop them once the
verse begins.).
However, often instrument parts can be interesting enough (it helps when they’re quite
rhythmic or enough going on) that they can start off the song (Never going back again/the chain
by Fleetwood Mac, the bass line in jealously jealousy by Olivia Rodrigo, Here Comes the Sun by
the Beatles (though in this case, they also add a synth(?) to add texture the first repeat)).
This goes with band grooves as well (Daft Punk – Instant Crush; Fooled around and fell in
love – Elvin Bishop). Commonly, music before 1980 start songs just with the band groove
(either the verse groove or the chorus groove, or a common “riff”/tag in the song.
Oftentimes, if the entire band comes in, they will play very similar rhythms parts (shots
can fall into this category), due to the listener needing to be able to process less this way. Too
much happening all at the same time can be jarring, but having all the instruments play the
same thing is easier to process. Notice how in Working for the weekend – Loverboy, the band is
all playing with the synth riff after the cowbell opening. However, a caveat to this is you CAN
have the band playing different rhythms/parts during the opening, but they each have to have
their moment to shine. The listener has to hear one AND THEN the other, rather than BOTH at
the same time. For example, Biggest Part of Me – Ambrosia NAILS this. The listener hears the
Key part, and then the keys hold back to let the bass part shine. Brnt by Magic City Hippies is on
the verge of being too much to process (and it probably is for the average listener) with the
bass part and the guitar part, but they have each instrument shine just enough.

Commonly in pop/rap/hip-hop, they’ll have an intro that will immediately lead into the
chorus rather than the verse. Often this intro will be ad-lib talking
- Hips don’t lie – Shakira
- Till I Collapse – Eminem
- It wasn’t me – Shaggy

Other possibilities are an instrumental chorus (Fooled around and fell in love), or a
fragmented instrumental chorus (Beautiful Stranger by Madonna, only one small section of the
chorus is played instrumentally at the beginning).

Some songs start with a “Tag”, that isn’t from the chorus or the verse and can be
thought of as its own section. Usually a tag is a short little phrase that repeats throughout the
song. There might be a more appropriate name for this.
- Come Together – The Beatles.
- Don’t Phunk with my heart does this well with the “No-no-no don’t phunk with my
heart” line.
- Likewise, with Toxic by Britney Spears with the string melody (which comes again in
the chorus, this can perhaps be thought of as a counter-melody during the chorus,
but is probably a tag in the intro/before the chorus).
- Bellyache – Billy Eilish (the “where’s my mind” part

This tag often gets its own intro

- Rocky Mountain Way – starts with guitar line that builds to the band coming in for
the tag (aka the “riff”).
- Same with Don’t Phunk with my Heart

Other times they will start immediately into the chorus

- Love the way you lie – Eminem/Rihanna (quiet chorus).

I think what is important is setting the stage for what the tone of the song will be like:
- Boogie Wonderland is upbeat and groovy – starts with shots
- NDA has some tension and anxiety too it – a distorted, dissonant build up
 - Born to be wild is rockin’ – hence the drum flam and immediately into the guitar riff
with the entire band).
- Green River by CCR starts with a twangy guitar that makes you immediately feel like
you’re in the Southern U.S..

This intro doesn’t even need to be an instrument:

- Money – Pink Floyd starts with the sound of money
- I didn’t change my number – Billie Eilish starts with the snarling of dogs. Maybe as a
metaphor for the animalistic behavior of men in her life?

I guess a way to decide what type of intro you want is to think what mood you want to set for
the song. What are you trying to say in your song? How can the intro reflect that?

Other things to ask yourself as you listen to your favourite songs’ intros:

i. Is there even an intro, or does the verse/chorus start immediately (ex: Xanny by Billie
Eilish or Hey Jude – The Beatles, the verse starts immediately and there is no intro). If
the verse comes in immediately, is it just the singer or do instruments come in as well?
(with instruments: Maxwell’s silver hammer – the Beatles; Greenlight – Lorde).

ii. Does the intro begin with one instrument, or do multiple come in at the same time?
Often times, an instrument will have a pick-up to start the song (Drum fill in Something-
the Beatles, Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf). Sometimes the instruments will layer on-
top of each other as the intro progresses (Billie Jean)

iii. What are the dynamics like compared to the verse? Is the intro louder than the verse or
is it equal dynamics?

iv. Is there any instrument parts/melody line that is in the intro that isn’t in the verse (AKA
do any instruments drop out? THIS IS VERY COMMON. For example, the guitar riff in
Don’t fear the reaper at the beginning drops out in the verse). Does this melody line
come back during a different part (perhaps the chorus, post-chorus or the bridge?). Or
does this melody line stay in the background the entire time?

v. Are there any instruments that are added during the verse that weren’t in the intro?
(Example, the acoustic guitar that starts with the singing in Go Your Own Way –
Fleetwood Mac).

vi. Is it just the chord progression or are there different shots/melody line that instruments
are playing? (see Boogie Wonderland – Earth, Wind, Fire; Give Life Back to Music – Daft
Punk; Good times bad times – led zeppelin)

vii. When does the singer come in? Do they sing anything (hums, ad-libs) before getting to
the verse melody?
viii. Does the intro build tension that is released when the verse comes? This tension doesnt
have to be harmonic, it can also be a dynamic build-up (Turn off the light – Nelly
Furtado; NDA – Billie Eilish; Brutal – Olivia Rodrigo).

ix. An intro can also juxtapose the rest of the song (Brutal – Olivia Rodrigo)

x. How long is the intro before the verse comes in? Does it differ for ballads? Mid-tempo
songs? Up-tempo? How do the artists keep things interesting (and avoid listener-
boredom)?

Verse

Things to ask yourself as you listen to your favourite songs’ verses:

i. How have the dynamics changed coming out of the intro? How did they achieve this
dynamic change (instruments played quieter or did certain instruments drop out?
Why did the artists choose to drop certain elements?).

ii. Is the listener’s focus only on the vocals, or is it split between multiple parts? (Ex:
Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton, in the spaces between the vocal melody, the
focus is more on acoustic guitar licks).

iii. How many phrases (melody line patterns) are there in the verse? How does the
melody change for each phrase? Does the melody have a pickup, start on the
downbeat (1) or does the melody start after the downbeat (say, 1&)? How does this
affect the feel of the song? Does it feel slower? More chill? More aggressive? More
up-tempo? Is the singer singing exactly on tempo? Or is he/she ahead of the
beat/behind the beat? Why did they make this choice?

iv. How many bars are there in the verse? How does this affect the pacing of the song?

v. Do any instruments drop out or are added during the verse? Why would the artists
choose to add or drop instruments during the verse?

vi. How do all the instruments flow together in the groove?

a. What is the bass doing when the kick drum is being hit? When does the bass play
with the kick drum and when does it NOT play with the kick drum? Why did they
make this choice?
b. If applicable: How are the bass and the mid-range rhythm instrument
(guitar/piano/synth/other) interacting with one another? When do their rhythms
 and notes line up, when do they not? What feel does the listener get when they
are off or on? How does the listener’s focus change when they’re on or off?

c. How does mid-range rhythm instrument and the snare drum interact? When
does the snare hit compared to the rhythm instrument? Do they hit
(emphasized) together or do they hit at separate times? Why did the artists
choose to do this? How does it add to the feel of the song? How does the
listener’s focus change when they’re on or off?

d. Is there another instrument that plays with the bass, drums/percussion, mid-
range instrument? Perhaps an instrument that plays when the vocals aren’t
singing during the verse? Maybe an instrument that interacts with the vocal
melody and plays with it? Maybe there is an instrument that accents shots (ex
Baby Let me take you (in my arms) – The Detroit Emeralds, the horn section
emphasizes on beat 2).

v. Describe the effects on the instruments or vocals.

a. How much reverb on each instrument? Is there an instrument that has a longer
reverb tail than others or has more noticeable reverb than the others? With
regards to the reverb, how does this create a 3D image to the verse? What is in
front of the mix, what is behind it? Why did they make this choice?