Can somebody explain a bridge????

Not the ones that go across rivers, but in musical terms. thanx

A bridge is the part of a song that connects two other, usually more prominant parts of a song. ie Verse - Bridge - Chorus

Usually it has some kinda uplifting, pick-up qualities.

Without it, the verse to chorus change might feel forced in some way. They add a third structural element and so help the repetetive nature of simple verse-chorus arrangements.

Does this help? or did you want specifics on how to write one?

listen to some james brown tunes (superbad, soul power, etc). he will state when he is going to the bridge. examples are the best way to learn and no one goes to the bridge like james.

Arctec and Mwalker hit the nail dead on the head.
James is the king of bridge.

Also there is usually a change in the music, this is to keep the song from being too boring.

Yes that makes sense, especially on james brown type stuff "take it to the bridge" so it's like playing your normal verse then adding something else just to take it to the chorus? Sounds good in theory I will have to practice that next session.

Thanx for your help

Roundy

yup i must be the 100th person to suggest ask james brown..he knwos about those bridges he does...

greg

i ve writing songs a long time now, and i just utilized a bridge on one of my songs. i most definitly gotta use then again

Just for example where you wanted your bridge, maybe later on in the song would you cut the length of one of your verses from 16 to say 8 and have an 8 bar bridge or 16 bar verse 8 bar bridge?

its up to you...whatever sounds best...some dudes have songs which move all over the place incorporating pre-chrouses and maybe changing the sequnce/chord prog for soling etc...all sorts of stuff like that so experiment...theres no rules which say bridges can only last 8 bars- they generally dont last longer than the verse or chorus but if an extended bridge sounds good...do it

greg

sometimes i might mute the snare and maybe the bass to kinda let the artists lyrics shine then around the 8th bar drop the snare back in to kinda back the flow up and jump back into the verse after that.

not sure if that made any sense but thats sometimes how i do it.

I tend to use bridges as breakdowns, to make the part after 'em lift even more.

bridge is also a piece above a mixing board with extra meters

Thanx everyone some nice tips there.

I am really interested in getting to know the terminology and theory behind creating a song and all this helps alot. As at the moment I am just using verses and chorus's. It is useful if I can call a bridge a bridge, understand what it means then use it in the correct context within my productions instead of getting lost in piles of sequences!!! e.g intro,verse,chorus,verse,bridge etc..kool!

Also at the moment I will have say a 1 or 2 bar beat + a 4 bar looped hook that fits nice and say another 1 or 2 one shot hits, though when they are all together they sound nice but it becomes to monotonous with all elements together.

So now I will be able to utalise these extra parts in the bridge leading to a chorus/break whatever you may call it. I'm just going to start experimenting!!! starting tonite!

Thanx again for taking the time.

Roundy

sure. i know what you mean. its always good to read up on your terms and vocabulary. play like you back in school man. your whole journey is a learning process. read as much as you can man. it'll benefit you lots