How to Write Songs With No Chorus

Songs without a chorus can be written using the 12-Bar Blues Verse/Refrain Structure. As Jimmi Kachulis, from Berklee College of Music explains, the 12-Bar Blues structure has three phrases -- each phrase is four bars long. The opening phrase starts on the I chord, the second phrase goes from the IV chord to the I chord and the last phrase is a distinctive blues cadence with a turnaround: refrain or title of the song is usually placed.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Notepad
• Pen or pencil
• Musical instrument (guitar, piano or other)
• Voice recorder (optional)

1. 
    
   12-Bar Blues Chord Progression

   Take your notepad and write 12 bars for your new song.

2. Choose the Key for your song. Adapt it to the roman numerals you see in the 12-Bar Blues chord progression. For example: If you choose the Key of 'C', the ''I'' chord will be 'C7,'
   the ''IV'' chord will be 'F7,' and the ''V'' chord will be 'G7.'

3. Choose a rhythm or style for your song. It could be some type of blues, rock, ballad or other.

4. Decide a theme to write about. Brainstorm on possible lyric ideas.

5. Grab your instrument. Play the 12-Bar Blues chord progression repeatedly. Come up with melodies for each phrase. Capture these melodies via a recording device, music notation or guitar tablature.

6. Choose a melody for Phrase 1 (Bars 1 to 4). Use the same melody or create a similar melody for Phrase 2 (Bars 5 to 8).

7. Choose a contrasting variation of the preceding melodies for the last Phrase (Bars 9 to 12).

8. Re-write your lyric ideas and match them to the melodies you chose. Pat Pattison, professor at Berklee College of Music, recommends: Try to express images with your words. For example, instead of saying: ''Your love has turned cold',' you could say: ''Your eyes are now two ice cubes that have frozen my soul''

9. Summarize the essence of your story/lyrics. Create a repeatable phrase that sums it all up. This will become your Refrain. The remaining lyrics can be material for the other phrases.

10. Decide the instrumentation you imagine for the piece. Write it down. Consider timbres, colors and textures for the concept.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep a bank of lyrics and melodic ideas, based on the harmonic progression of the 12-Bar Blues. Review them any time you feel stuck composing a song. When writing lyrics, talk about things you truly feel passionate about.

References

• Writing Better Lyrics; Pat Pattison; 1995
• Songwriter's Workshop; Jimmy Kachulis; 2003