[habiTat]

Hi guys,

I've written and recorded my Pawprint song. The basic structure is...

intro
verse
verse
chorus
verse
verse
chorus
chorus
outro

I thought it, and my friend who is a bit of a muso said it, "it needs a bridge", ie. something to change it up a bit. It's crying out for one after the first chorus..

My question is... how do I compose one retrospectively?

I've written songs with them in before and they just kinda happen as it's being written but this one has me stumped. It's more the actual chords than the lyrics that are my problem. The whole song is based on these shapes...

X0203X /  X3003X /  X2003X (repeating/looped) (if read EADGBE) capo fr1 in 3/4 time fingerpicked (my usual )

so it's sort of Am/Em/C shape territory (not counting the capo)

Any ideas for some shapes/chords with might fit well as my bridge? I've used Dm/Am before for this type of sequence but it doesn't really fit this one. and I want my songs to sound a bit different from each other.

Thanks

hab..

[Michael]

Hm, this is always hard...

Not sure what exactly the X0203X is (sounds cool though), but with the X3003X and  X2003X it seems to me you have some variation of C and a G chord (not counting the capo).
Just playing those along on the guitar, I could imagine something like
X50750 (some sort of D) or
X79080 (Em) going with this... not sure if that's the direction you imagined for it.

I hate having to make up parts for an otherwise complete song. Most of the time I come up with sufficient chord progressions and riffs while writing to get all the parts of a song together, but sometimes I feel ther's something... different... missing, and that's often the hardest part.

Good luck with it

[Boydie]

This is a really tricky one to answer on without hearing the song - mainly to establish the current key

A quick look at the chord shapes (excluding capo) suggest:

A7sus4

Cadd9 (a particularly gorgeous chord on an acoustic)

Em7

These are very "Oasisy" type chords

Here is something that might sound nice...

A change to a D chord (perhaps leaving the top open E - x x 2 3 0) would provide a nice "lift" to the track

Slide this shape up to an F ( x x 0 5 6 0) to give a nice bit of angst/tension but keeping the open D and top open E as drone notes to tie it together

then slide the same shape up again by 2 frets to G ( x x 0 7 8 0) - to relieve the tension

Finally returning to the original D chord (x x 2 3 0)

You may need another chord to get you back to you verse/chorus sequence but without hearing the track it is impossible to imagine how it might work together

I would put the bridge after the 3rd or 4th verse so that establish the structure of the track before you go "off piste"


If you "story" is complete then a bridge is easy to fit in lyrically as you have a great opportunity to shake things up a bit with the story - e.g. change the time frame, point of view, look at the same situation from a different angle etc.

[habiTat]

Cheers Boydie I'll look at that, I'm really grateful

I wanted to resist posting the song yet cos it's not finished, paradoxically  

Plus I've already posted one this week.

hab..

Hm, this is always hard...

Not sure what exactly the X0203X is (sounds cool though), but with the X3003X and  X2003X it seems to me you have some variation of C and a G chord (not counting the capo).
Just playing those along on the guitar, I could imagine something like
X50750 (some sort of D) or
X79080 (Em) going with this... not sure if that's the direction you imagined for it.

I hate having to make up parts for an otherwise complete song. Most of the time I come up with sufficient chord progressions and riffs while writing to get all the parts of a song together, but sometimes I feel ther's something... different... missing, and that's often the hardest part.

Good luck with it

Cheers Michael, another angle, thankyou, I'll have a play

I agree with your last comment, it's a real pain because for a while it felt finished, now it doesn't and I am reluctantly going to butcher it, hopefully to improve it though

[habiTat]

I might, I stress 'might' have sorted it.

I tried all those shapes and I like the D shape concept Boydie suggested. I haven't climbed the fretboard as it didn't seem to fit the way I'd like but it sparked an idea so thanks

This is what I've come up with, the last three shapes help take me back to the original pattern

xx3230   /   xx2030    /     xx0230   repeated a bit, then   x3023x / x2003x / x0203x

It seems to fit nicely so fingers crossed xx

Thanks guys

hab..

*edit* just realised that's not actually a 'D' shape but it led to a thought processes which led to that solution.