Building up to the Chorus
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24 lessons (1h 31m) · 1 free
Lesson transcript
Understanding the Pre-Chorus
And then we have what's called the pre-chorus. It gives you a minute to set up what your chorus is about, allowing people to feel a bit of extra emotion regarding what the chorus will convey.
Basic Chords
- So yeah, we've got these basic chords:
- D major
- A minor
Play it in a more interesting way. And then I'm like, where do I want to go? Let's go to F, E, then to the D major.
I love that it sort of grabs you; it's like an interruption of that trancy-ness of the verse.
Adding Complexity
"Well, I should hold myself better, folded out just like a map of the mountains."
It's not simple. I'm adding quite a lot of chords to that section, and I'm just being bold with it.
The chorus, especially when I play the song with a band, absolutely slams in full-on through the electric amp distortion, with a big drum fill.
So, it's interesting how to create that feeling when you're just playing acoustically as well.
"I should hold myself better, folded out just like a map of the mountains."
Building the Energy
- Be the upsetter
- And then we've got a ramp-up
- "Watch these bridges burn."
Don't you just love a full guitar neck slide? So rocking!
The volume totally ramps up for the chorus. You know, it's the chorus, which is great, but also, I'm taking my voice right up to the edge of my open voice before I go into falsetto.
Voice and Key Considerations
So where you're singing is really an important point in songwriting.
- Key Matters: Make sure that you're in the right key, as your voice will break at different parts and sound more emotional in different places.
- Play with it: If you've got a good idea, play around with what key you're singing in because it can really change things.
Capo for Sound Variation
You can use a capo, so you're playing the same chords, but the frequencies will emote differently if you're playing in different keys.
For me, the chorus is in E minor, which feels right at the top of my range.
Influences
"Tell you what: Brandi Carlile. Holy moly. That girl can do open voice all the way to heaven, man."
I cannot say that I lack in anything.
Strumming Dynamics
- Then you come in with stronger strumming and much more open playing:
- "Mappa, be the upsetter and let these bridges burn."
- "Take it back, but I'm lacking anything."
Saying it might make it easier, but it's just black gash and vinegar.
Guiding the Listener
You're really guiding the people listening to you through the sections of the song and making it clear what's going on. You're letting them know that there's a chorus coming.
Creative Lyrics
I always like trying to play with using unexpected and descriptive words, not necessarily traditional songwriting words.
The chorus says,
"Take it back that I'm lacking anything. Saying it might make it easier, but it's just black gash and vinegar."
And then the next rhyming couplet that I was terribly smug about was:
"I'm just a being being wondering if that's even feasible."
Feasible. Definitely the first time I've used the word feasible in a song.
"And if it's unreasonable to feel so..."
Playful Use of Language
That's also the term for when you're saying the same letter again and again: alliteration.
- So it was "F, f, f, f."
- "Wondering if that's even feasible or if it's unreasonable to feel so..."
Using that kind of repetitive sound to play with the words is really good fun too.
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Photo credit: Tom Oxley
Since scoring a worldwide smash with her debut album 'Eye To The Telescope' in 2004, which went on to sell over 5 million copies, KT Tunstall has remained at the forefront of UK singer-songwriter talent.
KT followed up that early success with the albums 'Drastic Fantastic', 'Tiger Suit' and 'Invisible Empire // Crescent Moon' in 2007, 2010 and 2013 respectively, keeping the platinum sales rolling and cementing the Scottish singer-songwriter's reputation as a major recording talent, as well as a mesmerising live artist.
2012 and the years that followed saw a seismic shift in outlook - the loss of her father, a divorce, and a relocation to Venice Beach, California.
After a period of healing, soul-searching, and a change of scenery, 2016 hailed the arrival of the first of a trilogy of KT Tunstall's albums, the critically acclaimed UK top 10 album 'KIN'. The trilogy evokes, separately and in sequence, spirit, body and mind. With 'KIN' being her phoenix-from-the-ashes 'spirit' album, 2018 marked the second offering of that trilogy, the 'body' album 'WAX'.
KT Tunstall has toured the world many times over. She outsold every other female artist in the UK in 2005, won the 2006 Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist, won the Ivor Novello Best Song award for her huge, self-penned hit 'Suddenly I See', and a Q award for Track of the Year.
She also landed a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with 'Black Horse and the Cherry Tree' and lent her tunes to a host of movies and TV shows ('Suddenly I See' being used in the iconic opening scene of the modern classic Meryl Streep film 'The Devil Wears Prada').
The first single from her latest release, 'The River', was named one of Rolling Stone's 'Songs You Need To Know'.
The last few years have seen something of a creative rebirth for KT Tunstall. Upon relocating to the west coast of the USA, she was accepted as one of six annual fellows for the Sundance Film Institute's Composers Lab (hosted by George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch in Northern California) and has since scored music for short and feature films.
She has also been awarded the Inspirational Artist gong at the Women In Music Awards and was chosen as the first ever female Grand Marshal (following the likes of Sir Sean Connery) to lead April 2018's annual New York Tartan Week parade. In May 2018 she and Mike McCready, of legendary multi-million selling Pearl Jam, released a cover of Tom Petty's huge hit single 'I Won't Back Down' with proceeds going to Pearl Jam's Vitalogy Foundation.
In 2018, KT performed sold-out intimate headline shows across the UK and US and toured worldwide supporting acclaimed artists including Simple Minds, The Pretenders, and Barenaked Ladies.
2019 saw KT perform a large headline tour across the UK and Europe with her all-female band, playing festivals all over the UK (including a headline set at Glastonbury Festival). She toured the US & Canada, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Mexico and Brazil, as well as supporting Hall & Oates on their UK arena tour.
Touring continued for KT in early 2020 with headline shows in the US, performing with Jools Holland across Europe, and playing New York's legendary Madison Square Garden, supporting Hall & Oates.
In her Song Studies course, KT pulls back the curtain on the guitar parts and songwriting craft behind her biggest hits - a rare chance to learn how a Brit Award-winning, Grammy-nominated songwriter actually builds a song.
