composing a bridge

A

alrightythen

New member
hey guys just like some ideas on composing the bridge part of a song, do you change key or just the chords used in ur progression or rhythm or change whole progresssion all together and melody? anyways some help in transfering to the bridge and back would be great thanks
 
remote modulations are one way

taking the existing progression and starting half way through it is another

the trick is to provide something that contrasts yet moves back to some form of resolution within the original key

a remote modulation might be to go to Ab if you are in C and then work your way back using the cycle of 5ths e.g. Ab-Db-Gb-B-F-Dm7-F/G-G7sus4-G7 (and yes I do mean 9 bars or maybe even 10 if you make the G7sus4 last 2 bars)

taking an existing progression like C-G-Am-F and working from Am-F-C-G is a cool way of breaking up the existing stuff

you might also consider reworking the progression like so

Am-G-F-C or F-G-C-Am or F-C-Am-G or other variations

also try a search here at fp for bandcoach and bridge for some older thoughts on the subject
 
thanks for the ideas i will try them out. im doing more pop compositions so is this what they normally do? and as for the modulation do you mean going through the circle of fifths changing key until u get back to original key of the song?
 
If it's a relatively simple tune, sometimes just going to the IV chord can be a good starting point for the bridge.

GJ
 
alrightythen said:
thanks for the ideas i will try them out. im doing more pop compositions so is this what they normally do? and as for the modulation do you mean going through the circle of fifths changing key until u get back to original key of the song?
Click to expand...

no I meant cycle there is a clear difference

- the circle is about key relationships and the construction of major scales in particular - see this circle of fifths tutorial

- the cycle is about moving by chords within the same key that are a 5th (some jazzers prefer 4th - it depends on if you go up or down with your bass movement is all the real difference is between these) away from the current chord

e.g.

in C major the cycle of 5ths runs C-F-Bmb5-Em-Am-Dm G-C or I-Iv-viib5-iii-vi-ii-V-I ad inifinitum or ad nauseam

in the initial example I gave of modulating to Ab, I used only major chords to give each movement a sense of push into the next chord - if we had made the last part of each of the first 3 bars so that it was a dominant 7th (1-3-5-b7) this would have enhanced this movement e.g. Ab//Ab7-Db//Db7-Gb//Gb7-B-F-Dm7-F/G-G7sus4-G7 - the last 5 bars a standard progression that sets up the dominant 7th of C major
 
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