Song arrangement and structure

ewal

How do people go about arrangement and structure when writing their stuff?

I've pretty much always gone with the flow and gone with what feels right - with varying degrees of success. However, I've also thought that a more studious approach might pay dividends and help me get more things finished - which of course is a big issue.

I write quite a lot of instrumental stuff, so thinking in verse, bridge, chorus, intro, outro, middle eight terms doesn't always work - although often times it does - it's just that there's something else in place of the vocal carrying the song.

Anyway, what I'm trying to do is come up with a way of mapping out an arrangement - firstly to analyse and learn from songs/ pieces of music I like, then use as a means of sketching out my own tunes, so that I'm actually planning for things like changes in dynamics, instrumentation, etc - for example, plan from the outset for the drums to drop out during an interlude etc.

I'll share an image of the song map I did yesterday evening to illustrate the idea when I have access to imgur. It's a lot of work, but potentially useful, especially if used to avoid falling in to the trap of doing the same thing every time.

LionAquaLooper

Good thread.  I'd be curious to hear other people's approaches as well and how they differ to my own - which is basically just as simple as possible:  A section to B, back to A etc with a middle breakdown/interlude at some point.  What I always struggle with are intros and endings.

ewal

So this is my most recent song mapping attempt. It's probably too detailed to be a sustainable activity. But I like being able to see the shape of the tune. I can also see me using this on the project I'm trying to get started with my daughter, where we'll be collaborating long distance. I could sketch out where I envisage her trumpet lines fitting in to the arrangement.

Danny1969

If you record in a Daw you can drop markers on the timeline that essentially do what you have done there. You can also give the parts different colours so the timeline literally looks like that. 
If you use Shuffle mode you can also literally move any part of the arrangement and the sequence will snap back into place with no gaps. Very useful for adding a double 2nd chorus for example or adding an extra bridge section.  
 
The actual arrangement for me depends on the song. Some songs have no bridge or chorus at all ... Take Folsom Prison Blues, it's just verses and 2 little guitar solos. 
Other songs just loop the same 4 chords and rely on building up and stripping down to maintain interest ... With or Without you by 

I generally write the song on acoustic and use my phones voice memo to record it, then keep changing and adding sections until it's interesting enough on just an acoustic. Then once I move onto a DAW I try and approach it like a band would, in as much as I work on the bassline, then the keys etc ...  one instrument at a time 

ewal

Yeah - the mapping idea very much emulates how things appear in a DAW. What I was trying to do is come up with a method of mapping things outside of a DAW, 1) so I can analyse and understand songs that I like, and 2) so I can discuss/ plan arrangements before I get to the tracking stage.

PolarityMan

I've been really appreciating nicking stuff from pop structures recently. So really digging starting with the chorus (sometimes instrumental), short verse, chorus, long verse chorus then usuaully at that point I like to do something a bit more spicy but for getting a hook embedded  that's a graet structure.