how long should each bar be for a song around 3 minutes

versuviusx · Post by **versuviusx** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:58 am

ok
so i've been doing arrangments lately. and i need some help.
i need to figure out how long should the main part be and then the chorus for it to be around 3 minutes. i'm not that guy who says the song should be as long as it wants or should be. i'm not that guy he needs a 20 minuts epic long "Yes" Song. i like em sweet and short. but not short like a 1 minute punk song. need some help. for example lately i've been making the songs a intro and then the main part like 3 phases and then the chorus 2 phases and then back to the 3 then back to the 2. and then a close. i know there is a recipie and i'd appreciate it if someone could help me figure it out. tons of songs have recipies and i'm totally fine with mine having one as well. please help.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:01 am

Do you have access to any Lemonheads albums? Just copy whatever's going on with those songs.

versuviusx · Post by **versuviusx** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:24 am

who are the lemonheads?

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:28 am

Ditto on the Lemonheads thing, they wrote a bunch of "standard" 3:00 pop songs. Smithereens as well. There's also this other band from the UK some years back who did a lot of this sort of stuff but their name escapes me right now.

One possible song "recipe" is ABABCAB, or Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge-Verse-Chorus. Working those 7 sections out over 3 minutes, each one would be approximately 25.7 seconds long. I've generally found pop chorses and verses to clock in around 30 seconds, so this seems consistent. If you want there to be an intro, or a repeated chorus at the end, some of those sections will be a little shorter. Bridges tend to be shorter than verses or choruses.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:29 am

versuviusx wrote:who are the lemonheads?

Pop/alternative group from the early 1990s, featuring Evan Dando on lead vocals, songwriting and pretty-boy image. Do a short search on Amazon.com or iTunes and you're sure to find them.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 11:36 am

dwlb wrote:Bridges tend to be shorter than verses or choruses.

they do?

*rewrites everything*

stevedood · Post by **stevedood** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 12:41 pm

Keeping your song length held at 3:00, you have some options depending on tempo...

120 bpm, 90 bars
110 bpm, 82.5 bars
100 bpm, 75 bars
90 bpm, 67.5

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:09 pm

RefD wrote:
dwlb wrote:Bridges tend to be shorter than verses or choruses.
they do?

*rewrites everything*

Thorry. Wasn't thinking; I had some other thing in mind. 8 bars for each of the above varieties is a good yardstick for, say, Beatle stuff. I'm also finding stuff with an 8-bar verse, then a 6-bar "pre-chorus" and a 6 or 8 bar chorus...then a bridge or "middle eight."

Don't rewrite nothin' Joe. It's all good.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:14 pm

dwlb wrote:
versuviusx wrote:who are the lemonheads?
Pop/alternative group from the early 1990s, featuring Evan Dando on lead vocals, songwriting and pretty-boy image. Do a short search on Amazon.com or iTunes and you're sure to find them.

i can't believe you answered that in non-snarky fashion. you are a better man than i dwulby.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:33 pm

dwlb wrote:
RefD wrote:
dwlb wrote:Bridges tend to be shorter than verses or choruses.
they do?

*rewrites everything*
Thorry. Wasn't thinking; I had some other thing in mind. 8 bars for each of the above varieties is a good yardstick for, say, Beatle stuff. I'm also finding stuff with an 8-bar verse, then a 6-bar "pre-chorus" and a 6 or 8 bar chorus...then a bridge or "middle eight."

Don't rewrite nothin' Joe. It's all good.

me wath jokink.

syrupcore · Post by **syrupcore** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:33 pm

dwlb wrote:There's also this other band from the UK some years back who did a lot of this sort of stuff but their name escapes me right now.

I dunno. I thought it was funny.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:40 pm

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:
dwlb wrote:
versuviusx wrote:who are the lemonheads?
Pop/alternative group from the early 1990s, featuring Evan Dando on lead vocals, songwriting and pretty-boy image. Do a short search on Amazon.com or iTunes and you're sure to find them.
i can't believe you answered that in non-snarky fashion. you are a better man than i dwulby.

*shrugs* I bordered on snark.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:41 pm

RefD wrote:
dwlb wrote:
RefD wrote:
dwlb wrote:Bridges tend to be shorter than verses or choruses.
they do?

*rewrites everything*
Thorry. Wasn't thinking; I had some other thing in mind. 8 bars for each of the above varieties is a good yardstick for, say, Beatle stuff. I'm also finding stuff with an 8-bar verse, then a 6-bar "pre-chorus" and a 6 or 8 bar chorus...then a bridge or "middle eight."

Don't rewrite nothin' Joe. It's all good.
me wath jokink.

sure, but in the service of the thread I felt I otter clarify.

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 1:43 pm

Just now I am seriously into bridges being like one third of the song. Man the tension really ratchets up. The song I'm working on now is about 60% verses, 30% bridge, 7% chorus, and 3% little random breaks filled with weird noises.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 2:03 pm

Isn't there a plug in for this?

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