Analysing songs is the fastest way to learn composition. Every record you love is a lesson in how somebody solved a problem you will face. This chapter sits outside the taught sequence: use it whenever you want to take a track apart.
What to listen for
Work through a song in layers:
- Structure - mark every section and count the bars. Map the energy.
- Key and tempo - find home, and tap the tempo.
- Chords - work out the progression for each section, and write it in Roman numerals so you can compare it with other songs.
- Bassline - roots, inversions, pedals, movement.
- Melody - range, contour, motifs, where the hook is.
- Rhythm - groove, swing, syncopation, where the space is.
- Arrangement - what enters and leaves in each section, and why.
Tools
- Hooktheory (hooktheory.com, including its Trends page) has a large database of songs analysed in Roman numerals, and lets you search for which songs use a progression. It is a fast way to see how common - or unusual - a chord move is.
- muted.io has free interactive references: the chords in every key, scales, the circle of fifths, and more.
- Your DAW - drag in the song, set the tempo, mark the sections, and play along with a piano patch to find the notes.
- Stem separation, now built into several DAWs, isolates bass, drums and vocals so you can hear each part clearly.
Songs worth taking apart
- Fleetwood Mac - "Dreams". Almost the entire song sits on two chords, alternating. A masterclass in how much a melody, a groove and an arrangement can do over minimal harmony.
- Henry Mancini - "Moon River". The opposite: a melody with wide leaps and a rich, moving harmony under nearly every note. Listen to how the chords change under long melody notes, recolouring them.
- The Police - "King of Pain". Listen for how the arrangement and harmony create a sense of unease under a pop structure.
- The 1975 - "Somebody Else". A modern pop production built from a small set of chords and textures; listen for how the arrangement changes while the harmony stays close to home.
- Carly Rae Jepsen - "Call Me Maybe". A near-perfect modern pop structure. Map the pre-chorus and notice how it sets up the chorus.
- Radiohead - "Everything in Its Right Place". A study in rhythmic and harmonic ambiguity: where is beat one, and where is home?
Simple songs, minor keys
Not every great song is complicated. Plenty of hits use three chords - Am, G, F, for example - played over and over. That progression lives in C major but never lands on C, so the song feels minor - and in the right production, more sexy than sad. The lesson: the chords matter less than what you do with them.
Do this now
- Choose one song from the list and analyse it through all seven layers. Write the chords in Roman numerals.
- Look up the progression on Hooktheory's Trends page. How many other songs use it?
- Write a new song using the same progression and structure, but a completely different groove, sound and melody.