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Dynamics

A very important tool in songwriting is the use of dynamics. Here you'll learn why this is such an important and strong tool.

Don’t Keep It Steady

Imagine an action film that for an hour and a half is full of incredible stunts and heart-stopping shootouts. While that may sound attractive at first, after watching it for a bit, you’ll find yourself bored.

It’ll be the same thing over and over and you won’t be impressed with a car chase through a crowded city halfway through the movie because there’s already been three of them in the film so far.

Now, let’s apply this to songs.
If you’re writing a ballad that will clock in at 5 minutes, you’re going to need variety in the song to keep the listener interested.

For an example, let’s take Guns N Roses’ “Sweet Child O Mine.” The song begins with a great guitar riff, goes into a chord progression for the first verse and then uses a redux of the intro riff for the first chorus.

Rather than just going into the second verse after that, there’s a mini guitar solo. After the next verse an chorus there’s a longer guitar solo, then there’s a breakdown section where the groove of the song changes before the final chorus goes all out. Also, note that the intro and the chorus are fairly loud and aggressive, while the musical accompaniment for the verses is fairly subdued.

This is a song that succeeded because of the incredible use of dynamics. If the whole song had just been Axl Rose and Slash going all out, then the average audience would have gotten bored after a minute or two and the song wouldn’t be the classic that it is today.

What To Do?

Now that we’ve demonstrated how dynamics can help a song, let’s talk about techniques that you can use to introduce dynamics to your own songs.

Chord Progressions
One of the most basic is to change chord progressions for different parts of the songs. This can mean either using an entirely new progression in the same key, a new progression in a different key, or an earlier progression from the song in a different key.

If you’ve written a song in E minor, try taking that progression and transposing it to A minor for the chorus. A simple technique, but it can really pay off.

The Groove
Changing the groove of the song can also work wonders. This can include changing the syncopation of the song for different sections.

For example, if you have a heavily syncopated verse section, try a straight 4 count(or 3 or 5 or whatever the time signature of your song) for the the chorus.

Speaking of time signatures, why not completely change it up for different song sections. This technique is heavily employed by a lot of metal bands and progressive rock bands. Try going from a straight 4/4 time in the verse to a 3/4 waltz time for the chorus.

Will it work? Maybe. Will it get the audience’s attention? Definitely. Just make sure that a time signature change works within the context of your song and you’re not doing it just for the sake of doing it.

Try writing a new melody for different sections of the song. The backing chords and tempo may stay the same, but if you write a melody that accentuates different parts of rhythm, it can sound brand new. An easy and useful method when using dynamics.

Lyric Changes

The above techniques are generally applied to the music side of things. Let’s talk now about what you can do with the lyrics to shake things up and ad some dynamics.

Density
One of the first things to do is change the lyric density. This is a term that denotes how many words and syllables are sung in a certain amount of time.

Listen to the song “Hook” by Blues Traveller. About three minutes into the song there is a big change in lyric density. The scale of change in this song may be a little extreme for your song, but the theory is sound.

Tempo
We talked above about tempo changes for the music. Well, why not tempo changes for your lyrics? Changing the tempo of a line(in lyrics speak this is called the “meter”) when compared to other lines before it makes it stick out. It may just be the addition of a syllable or making the first couple words a lot quicker than in previous lines.

Small changes add a more human feel to the lyrics. Imagine a drum machine that is consistently and monotonously repeating the same drum beat. Now imagine a person playing that same beat on a drum kit. The person’s playing will have subtle variations and accents that make it unique and more fun to listen to. The same thing applies to your lyrics.

Rhymes
One last thing for lyrics: the rhyme scheme. How many times have you been listening to a song you’ve never heard before and you are able to anticipate how a line is going to end because of the rhyme set up in the previous line? Probably a lot.

Rhyme schemes serve an important purpose in helping your audience connect to the content and flow of the lyrics. However, because of the immense amount of music people are exposed to today, your audience is more refined than in previous generations and you’re going to have to work harder to come up with unique songs.

A couple things to try to mix up your rhymes:
Vary the rhyming sounds between verses. For example, don’t use an “-ing” rhyme sound in more than one verse. Add an extra line to a verse or chorus. This works great at transition points in the song. For example, if you want to have a breakdown section after the second chorus, add a line to that chorus that will surprise the audience and give you a segue into the breakdown.

Start before or after the beat. If your first verse and chorus both start dead on the first beat of a line, try starting a little bit before or after for the next verse. Great examples of this technique can be found in blues music (check out B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, or any of the other blues greats to see for yourself how much power this can have).

Final Note:

Try combining these dynamics techniques and have fun with it. Once you write a song, try to listen to it from an objective point of view. If it keeps your interest, it’ll probably keep the interest of others.

Chorus Construction
The next article in the craft section is about the importance of a solid chorus construction. Click here to go directly to the article

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