The Songwriter's Workshop: Hit Song Forms

Berklee's Songwriter's Workshop series of books has been used at the heart of the Berklee songwriting curriculum for decades, studied by thousands of emerging songwriters who have gone on to have their songs performed by artists such as Adele, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Alison Krauss, Gwen Stefani, ZZ Top, Sam Smith, Faith Hill, Imagine Dragons, the Jonas Brothers, and countless other chart-topping acts, as well as placed in award-winning TV shows and movies.

 

With Hit Song Forms, you'll write more compelling songs! Song form, or the way a song's ideas are structured, is one of the most powerful dimesnions of songwriting. These practical, hands-on lessons teach you to structure song's lyrics, melodies, and harmonies in ways that will give you maximum expressive impact. You will learn the types of verses, prechoruses, choruses, and bridges used in contemporary hits. Through careful selection of various tools, you can create momentum to highlight your most important ideas in your chorus or refrain. These essential forms are used in contemporary music of all styles: rock, country, RB, hip-hop, and more. Online audio tracks illustrate the songwriting concepts and help you to practice the techniques with your own songs. Designed for all level songwriters, from the beginner to the advanced, it utilizes easy-to-follow exercises and audio examples to get you using the tools of the masters immediately. You will learn to:

 

• Create the most common forms for today's hits, from the simple to the most complex, including: verse-chorus songs, prechorus songs, songs with bridges, verse/refrains, and emerging new forms.

 

• Create dramatic choruses that emphasize the title and get the audience to sing along.

 

• Connect and contrast all the sections of your songs smoothly.

 

• Learn the Seven Standard Chorus Types and the dozens of variations on each.

 

• Align all songwriting elements (lyrics, harmony, and melody) within every song section to create expressive momentum.

 

• Incorporate harmonic motion into every form, from the simplest loop song to the most complex modulating prechorus.

 

• Connect all your musical moves to the overall lyric emotion, conveying all your thoughts and feelings directly to your audience.