Career Songwriter

I remember a time when I’d scrub the shower rather than try to write a bridge for a song. Bridges are those pesky sections so late in the game we can avoid writing them for months at a time, and sometimes avoid them altogether with a cleverly placed instrumental. But, in many situations they are a wonderful way to harness a final transformation for the tune, and so to avoid them forever would be a missed opportunity.

So, what is a bridge? How do we figure out what to write after it seems like everything’s been said?

A bridge is the section that follows the second chorus in this common song structure:

Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus

It is also the section that follows the second verse-refrain in a verse-refrain structure, or AABA structure:

Verse/refrain
Verse/refrain
Bridge
Verse/refrain

If we define the verse as the section that sets up the story (the what, when, who, and where), and the chorus as the section that delivers the main message (the why), then we might say that the bridge delivers the (what now?). Musically and lyrically speaking, the bridge is a section that provides stark contrast to the rest of the song. We might hear chords not yet played in the tune so far, melodic pitches higher than any other in the song, new rhythms, and a lyric that takes our story one large leap forward. Sometimes I like to look at the bridge as the place where our character undergoes that final transformation. The guy who realizes he misses his old girlfriend vows to get her back. The woman working a dead-end job decides she can and will do better. The alcoholic recognizes that getting sober will be a challenge, but to not try is to lose the battle before it’s even waged. In these scenarios, the bridge makes that final statement of why the story matters at all.

Another handy technique is to look at the bridge in terms of the future. Think about your characters and that main message. What will the future look like? What kinds of struggles must the characters overcome to step into that future? Is it all worth it? Why?

These are just a few of the questions you might ask yourself to conjure up some good bridge material. Don’t hesitate to listen to many of your favorite tunes and summarize the content of those bridges. Listen to the harmonic movement as well, and transcribe the chords you hear – especially the first chord of the bridge that is pivotal in moving our ears away from that familiar chorus sound. Take note of the melody and where it launches and lands at the end of the bridge. The key is contrast, and a bridge that can give our ears several seconds of fresh chords, pitches and rhythms allows the last chorus to shine even more brightly.

For more in-depth study and practice writing bridges, I recommend the berkleemusic.com songwriting course ‘Commercial Songwriting Techniques’ and companion book Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling.

Happy writing,
Andrea Stolpe

I remember a time when I’d scrub the shower rather than try to write a bridge for a song. Bridges are those pesky sections so late in the game we can avoid writing them for months at a time, and sometimes avoid them altogether with a cleverly placed instrumental. But, in many situations they are a wonderful way to harness a final transformation for the tune, and so to avoid them forever would be a missed opportunity.

So, what is a bridge? How do we figure out what to write after it seems like everything’s been said?

A bridge is the section that follows the second chorus in this common song structure:

Verse
Chorus
Verse
Chorus
Bridge
Chorus

It is also the section that follows the second verse-refrain in a verse-refrain structure, or AABA structure:

Verse/refrain
Verse/refrain
Bridge
Verse/refrain

If we define the verse as the section that sets up the story (the what, when, who, and where), and the chorus as the section that delivers the main message (the why), then we might say that the bridge delivers the (what now?). Musically and lyrically speaking, the bridge is a section that provides stark contrast to the rest of the song. We might hear chords not yet played in the tune so far, melodic pitches higher than any other in the song, new rhythms, and a lyric that takes our story one large leap forward. Sometimes I like to look at the bridge as the place where our character undergoes that final transformation. The guy who realizes he misses his old girlfriend vows to get her back. The woman working a dead-end job decides she can and will do better. The alcoholic recognizes that getting sober will be a challenge, but to not try is to lose the battle before it’s even waged. In these scenarios, the bridge makes that final statement of why the story matters at all.

Another handy technique is to look at the bridge in terms of the future. Think about your characters and that main message. What will the future look like? What kinds of struggles must the characters overcome to step into that future? Is it all worth it? Why?

These are just a few of the questions you might ask yourself to conjure up some good bridge material. Don’t hesitate to listen to many of your favorite tunes and summarize the content of those bridges. Listen to the harmonic movement as well, and transcribe the chords you hear – especially the first chord of the bridge that is pivotal in moving our ears away from that familiar chorus sound. Take note of the melody and where it launches and lands at the end of the bridge. The key is contrast, and a bridge that can give our ears several seconds of fresh chords, pitches and rhythms allows the last chorus to shine even more brightly.

For more in-depth study and practice writing bridges, I recommend the berkleemusic.com songwriting course ‘Commercial Songwriting Techniques’ and companion book Popular Lyric Writing: 10 Steps to Effective Storytelling.

Happy writing,
Andrea Stolpe