Guitar 101: The Bridge to Somewhere

It’s been a cold 2010 so far in Nashville, and I hope to have thawed out by the time you read this. By the way, we need a famous bridge around here like the Golden Gate, which reminds me that I’ve decided to write about bridges. The kind you put (or don’t put) in a song. Many times, people stop me on the street and ask, “What is a bridge?” or “Do I need a bridge?” or “How do you write a bridge?” I have no idea why they come up to me and ask this. To get these people to leave me alone, I humbly submit this column.

Let’s tackle the first question, “What is a bridge?” There seems to be no agreed-upon definition, but I can give you a general one.

A bridge is a distinct section of a song, which offers contrast to and relief from the other sections (verses and choruses).

A common song structure would be intro, verse, chorus, turn-around, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus. Some (lyricists) call that an ABABCB structure. The intro and turn-around aren’t important enough to get a letter. If you’re writing a chart for a musician, you must put those sections in, though. Songs without choruses (where the “hook” is in the verse) often contain bridges, too. The song form would be called AB or AABAAB. “Yesterday” is AABAABA—it doesn’t have a chorus. The term “sing-along” chorus is often used around here. So if you’ve been singing along with a verse, not the chorus, stop it right now! Anyone listening to the song should be able to recognize that a different section has begun, whether or not they could identify it as a bridge. The same thing can be said for choruses. Something needs to change! It should have a different melody and lyrics at the very least, but even more change is better. The chord progression, phrasing of the lyrics, and the rhythm section “feel” usually change in a bridge. It’s the most different part of a song. That’s not to say it should sound totally unrelated to the rest of the song, of course. By the time you’ve heard two verses and two choruses, your ears are ready for something new. A common arrangement change would be that the rhythm section goes to a “half-time feel.” So if you’re playing eighth notes on your guitar, you could switch to quarter notes or half notes. This doesn’t mean the tempo changes! A beginning-songwriter “mistake” is to say, “OK, it really slows down a lot here and then speeds up again.” That’s not what needs to happen. By going to a half-time feel, you get the illusion of slowing down because there’s more space between the notes.

So if you need a bridge, how do you write one? The Beatles, and Brits in general, used the term “middle eight” instead of “bridge.” That tells you the typical length of a bridge: eight bars. Guitar-wise and compositionally speaking, you must first decide what chords to use in the bridge. Here’s where it helps to know some more chords. Let’s say you’re in the most guitar-friendly key of G. You know about the C, C, D and D7, but don’t forget, there are three minor chords in every key: The 2m, 3m and 6m. In the key of G that would be Am, Bm and Em. You could start the bridge with one of them. An engineer I work with a lot sings “Desperado” every time the bridge starts on a 6m…a common chord for starting a bridge. If your song is in the key of G and the verse starts on a G (1), and the chorus starts on a C (4), the bridge could start on D (5), F (b7) or one of your minors in the key of G: Am (2m) Bm (3m) or Em (6m). You could even go to Gm! You’d be changing keys if you did, but if you’re going to be so bold as to change keys, the bridge is the best place to do it. That could make it tricky getting back into the same key for the last chorus, so be careful. The different sections of a song do not have to start on different chords. It’s the sequence of the chords and the melody that really need to change.

A really cool song I like to use as a bridge example is “Strawberry Wine,” written by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison. Put the capo on the first fret and play in C (it’s in C#), and download the Deana Carter version of the song. The bridge works in Dm6, Dm7, Dm6, Dm7, Am9, C, G/B and G. It does not change keys! Incidentally, I downloaded the song and wrote out the chords. Out of curiosity, I Googled “Strawberry Wine chords” and went to more than 10 different sites. Not one of them had the right chords! This is not unusual. Remember, these online chord sites are done by amateurs. You will not find the correct chords to a song for free online! I have seen this over and over again. Be forewarned.

Do you really need a bridge? My publisher once told me that “unless you have something new to say,” you do not need a bridge. He was speaking mostly in terms of lyrics. You don’t want to repeat the same thoughts with different music. Sometimes, the bridge is used as sort of a “summary” of the previous lyrics. It may show insight or a deeper level of meaning than the verse and chorus. Most up-tempo songs do not have bridges, interestingly enough. As an example of a well-known song, let’s use “Yesterday” again. The “Why she had to go…” part is the bridge. The verses tell how the writer feels and the bridge asks why it happened. Imagine this song without the bridge. It’s quite different. Let’s go back again to “Strawberry Wine.” Do the bridge lyrics say anything new? Yes. It brings you back to the present, “The fields have grown over now.” It’s very effective and makes it an even better song. Gotta go. I’m freezin’.