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Song structure

Song structure is the order of the sections in a track: an intro, verses, choruses or drops, maybe a bridge or a breakdown, and an outro. Each section is a loop that runs for a set number of bars, usually 4, 8 or 16, and what changes from one to the next is energy: which parts play, and how busy they are. Press play to hear a 32-bar track built from Swung’s patterns; each section lights up as it plays, and you can tap any section to jump there.

One track, six sections

The 32-bar track6 sections · 124 BPM

Am, F, C, G at 124 BPM, the house way. Each row is a part; where it is coloured, that part plays.

Turn a loop into a song

Unit 1 of the course is free with a Google sign-in: the loop, the beat and your first beat on the grid. Song structure is Unit 7, Form and energy.

Pick up where you left off

Carry on with Unit 1; song structure is Unit 7.

Start Lesson 1 free Continue learning

What each section does

  1. IntroBars 1–4

    Sets the tempo and the mood with only a few parts: a kick, hats and a quiet pad, with a clap joining for the last two bars. In club music the intro also gives a DJ a steady beat to mix in on.

    More about the intro

  2. VerseBars 5–12

    The groove settles in: an off-beat bass and piano stabs join the kick and clap. A verse moves, but it leaves room: for a voice in a song, and for the bigger sections still to come.

    More about the verse

  3. Build-upBars 13–16

    Tension on purpose. A snare roll speeds up, a filter opens so the sound gets brighter, a riser climbs, the kick and bass drop out for the last bar and the last beat is silent.

    More about the build-up

  4. DropBars 17–24

    Everything lands on the first beat: the kick, the bass, wide supersaw chords, the hook and the sidechain pump. In dance music the drop does the job a chorus does in a song.

    More about the drop

  5. BreakdownBars 25–28

    The drums stop. The hook plays on a soft bell over held chords, so the track can breathe and the hook is heard on its own.

    More about the breakdown

  6. OutroBars 29–32

    The parts leave one by one and the chords turn for home: G, then a held A minor and one last kick.

    More about the outro

This track is a short one. A full club track repeats the middle: a second verse or breakdown, a second build-up and a second drop, often with something added the second time. A song with words swaps the build and drop for a chorus, and often has a bridge before the last one.

The same chords as a song

Most songs with words use verse–chorus form. The verses carry the story, with new words each time; the chorus comes back with the same words and the hook; a bridge breaks the pattern once, before the last chorus. Here are the same four chords at 100 BPM, arranged that way.

The verse–chorus song6 sections · 100 BPM

Listen to what changes between the verse and the chorus: not the chords, which stay the same, but the energy. The bass goes from long notes to driving eighths, the piano rhythm gets busier, a clap doubles the snare and the hook takes over from the verse’s quiet riff. The bridge is the only place with new chords.

Common song structures

  • Verse–chorus

    1. Intro
    2. Verse
    3. Chorus
    4. Verse
    5. Chorus
    6. Bridge
    7. Chorus
    8. Outro

    Pop, rock, R&B, country and most hip hop with a hook.

  • Verse, pre-chorus, chorus

    1. Verse
    2. Pre-chorus
    3. Chorus
    4. Verse
    5. Pre-chorus
    6. Chorus

    The same, with a short lift before each chorus. The pre-chorus is a song’s build-up.

  • Build and drop

    1. Intro
    2. Build-up
    3. Drop
    4. Breakdown
    5. Build-up
    6. Drop
    7. Outro

    House, techno, trance, dubstep and drum & bass. Sections run 8, 16 or 32 bars, so a DJ can count them.

  • AABA (32-bar form)

    1. A
    2. A
    3. B
    4. A

    Four 8-bar sections: a tune, the tune again, a contrasting bridge (B), the tune once more. Common in older pop songs and jazz standards.

  • One loop, parts in and out

    1. Loop, drums only
    2. Full loop
    3. Drums out
    4. Full loop
    5. Fade

    Lo-fi and a lot of hip hop: the loop hardly changes, and the structure is which parts play when.

Bars and phrases

Sections are counted in bars, and almost always in fours: 4, 8, 16 or 32. Music moves in phrases of four and eight bars, and listeners expect changes at those points even when they aren’t counting. A change on bar 9 sounds planned; a change on bar 7 sounds like a mistake, unless it is meant to surprise.

That is why every section in the track above is 4 or 8 bars long, and why the drop lands on bar 17, the first bar of the second half. Unit 7 of the course starts with eight-bar phrases for exactly this reason.

Structure is energy

Order is only half of it. Each section sets an energy level, mostly through which parts play (count the coloured rows: the drop has all five, the breakdown three), how busy they are, how bright they sound and how loud. A good structure takes the listener up and down rather than holding one level, and that is what makes a drop or a last chorus feel like a payoff. The course’s Energy lesson turns those dials one at a time.

How to turn a loop into a song

  1. Make the fullest loop first. The drop or chorus, with every part you want in the track.
  2. Copy it across the whole length, 32 or 64 bars.
  3. Take parts away to make the other sections. Drums only for the intro, no drums for the breakdown, no hook in the verse. That is the course’s Less lesson: remove parts until it falls apart, then put the last one back.
  4. Put a build-up before each drop, or a pre-chorus before each chorus, so the big section has something to land after.
  5. Change something every 8 bars, even if it is small: a part in or out, a fill, a filter.

You can try it on the Playground, where sections choose which tracks play.