Song structure

[BiggRedd]

I was curious if you follow a standard pattern of your songs? We are getting our songs ready to do our first show and I keep telling everyone we need more parts, I don't want a 3 riff song all the time. We do hard rock/metal. We do have a lot of variety but it seems a couple people want to stick with boring patterns.

 

Like:

Intro>verse>chorus>verse 2>chorus>change>chorus>outro

 

or

 

Intro 1>Intro 2>verse>pre chorus>chorus>bridge>verse 2>pre chorus>chorus>solo>chorus>verse>outro?

 

Any particular standard you try and follow? I realize there are no rules but you wouldn't just go verse chorus verse chorus would you? Just trying to get a better understanding of what parts are the norm.

[seahorse]

I stick with the usual patterns for blues type stuff , but on other songs anything could happen.

I have one that is : verse- verse- chorus- solo- chorus-verse.

[daddymack]

I usually let the song dictate its own pattern. Some start with the chorus, if that is where the hook is. Some start with a riff/hook, that gets reintroduced at the front end of the instrumental solos. Some go 3 verses before the chorus. Some have a bridgem, some don't...

[axe2 2001]

when i'm writing, i'll determine what kind of song it's gonna be right from the start. If your gonna stay away from a pattern on every song, having no pattern will get to be a pattern. I find that if what i'm writing is strong and gets the emotion I want , it can be a simple , basic song. I write the music and words so you have alot of places to express the song. Some might not be as strong word wise so the music should be alittle more intense. Or if you have real strong lyrics, it could be the simplest thing ever written. And you gotta try and figure out who is gonna listen to your stuff. Dream Theatre is an incredible band to me but alot of people I know (non-musicians) don't get it. It's too intense. That leads to , are you writing for a mainstream crowd or an underground following? Seems to me the mainsteam likes it's songs in neet little preshaped pakages. So if thats what your trying to be, go for it. I've purposly written songs that are simple and basic. I mean boringly basic but when we do it live mixed in with covers, the dance floor is packed and people are jamming so I consider it a good song.