Song forms – free music theory course

Songs — traditional, jazz or pop — rest on a few simple forms. Recognising them helps you memorise, accompany and improvise.

Strophic form

The same music repeats for every verse (strophe); only the words change: traditional songs, hymns (“Amazing Grace”), ballads. Form: A A A A…

AABA form (32 bars)

Four 8-bar phrases: A, A (repeated, sometimes with a different ending), B (the bridge, contrasting, often in another key), A. It's the form of Broadway and Tin Pan Alley songs of the 1920s–1950s, and so of most jazz standards. A French nursery song offers a perfect example: “Au clair de la lune”.

M:4/4
L:1/4
K:C
"^A""C"C C C D | "C"E2 "G"D2 | "C"C E "G7"D D | "C"C4 |
"^B""G"D D D D | "D7"A,2 A,2 | "G"D C "D7"B, A, | "G"G,4 |]

The first two phrases are identical: A A. The third contrasts: it moves to G major — that's the bridge, B. Then A returns.

Verse – chorus

The dominant form of popular song since the 1960s:

Section	Role
Intro	sets the mood, often on the verse or chorus chords
Verse	tells the story; the music repeats, the words change
Pre-chorus	builds tension (harmony moving away, melody rising)
Chorus	the peak, same melody and words each time: the “hook”
Bridge	once only, about two-thirds through: contrast, often on IV or vi
Outro	ending, often a repeated or faded chorus

The 12-bar blues

See the jazz chapter: three 4-bar phrases, lyrics in AAB.

Accompanying an unfamiliar song: first listen for the structure (how many sections, which ones return). Once you can play an A and a B, you can play the whole song.

Watch the vocabulary: in jazz, a “chorus” is one time through the whole form, whereas in pop “chorus” means the refrain.