Songs That CHANGE Time Signature In The Chorus

Songs That Change Time Signature In The Chorus

Tommaso Zillio

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In most songs the chorus is made by 4 or 8 bars with a meter of 4/4.

And herein lies the problem.

Because, as you know, the chorus is the part of the song that is supposed to draw the attention of the listener and the part of the song that is supposed to be the most special.

In this sense, the chorus is like the 'signature' of the song, and so it has to be as different as possible from the choruses of all the other songs...

...but how special and different can it be if the structure of every chorus of every song you hear is always the same?

As it happens, though, not all songs have such a simple and obvious structure in their chorus.

So in this video we see a few songs that take the road less traveled and changed the rhythmic structure of the chorus in more or less creative ways.

From simply skipping a bit to breaking all the rules, in this video we will see the 5 levels of changing time signature in the chorus.

Of course, there are other ways to make your chorus or your whole song more interesting rhythmically than 'just' changing time signature.

For instance, you can instead use one of the less common 'odd' time signatures. If you like that idea, here are two videos that may interest you

In the first one we explore the time signature of 5/4:

While in the second one we move to the even rarer, but just as groovy, time signatures of 7/8 and 7/4:

Of course, all the songs above have something in common beyond the interesting rhythm structure. Can you guess what is it?

Answer: all the songs above have great chord progressions that make the song move forward and keeps the 'movement' in the music going. To learn how to write great chord progressions that work in your music, have a look at the Complete Chord Mastery guitar course that will guide you through all the ins and outs of chords and harmony on guitar.


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