Usage coupon code BENNETT to get 10% off Mixed In Key's Captain plugin collection:
The majority of tunes naturally breakdown into sets of either 16, 8 or 4 bars. However music definitely does not need to do this and lots of songs instead feature expressions and sections of irregular varieties of bars.
And, an additional special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Yu Kyung Chung, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel's Patreon saints!.
ASSISTANCE ME ON PATREON:.
Songs that don't use 4 bar phrases
Click Here To Learn Piano or Keyboard
One of the best Music Channels! Keep it up with the good content 👏
Yes! Sorry for pestering you about this for so long 😅
First time I counted out Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” I’ve been obsessed ever since.
Foo Fighters are really good at implementing this in their songs. Time like These, as David mentioned, uses 3 bar phrases in both the riff and the chorus. Everlong uses 7 bar phrases in the verses and 3 bar phrases in the prechorus, which sounds awesome. And All My Life uses 7 bar phrases in the chorus.
I was today years old when I realised that Yesterday has a 7 bar phrase. And I’ve been playing it over and over again in my head, counting in double-time, and half-time, trying to find out where it feels like it’s been ‘cut’. And I can’t. That’s crazy. And genius.
Yeah you don’t really feel it when listening to it, but when I learnt to play it on the piano the abnormal structure was more noticeable.
Me too!
And usually, phrases like that throw me totally off, I usually feel like I skipped or added some beats by failure when playing them.
But with Beatles, nah!
Haven’t even noticed!
That gave me an interesting theory, I’ve been listening to Beatles since I was 7, and was a hardcore fan right from the start. Which means now, at 42, I’ve heard all their songs so many times it just feels natural. It’s supposed to be that way. Because I ve got used to it, of course, but can it also be, that, like with many other things, we are more open for it when we’re kids? I had already started playing instruments at that age, but I just didn’t care about how many bars a phrase held.
Now, having played music all my life, irregular phrases (and bars) throw me off guard straight away.
But Beatles still sounds fine. 😁🤣
Isn’t that weird?
@Dana Yang Same here at 44 and as a drummer I throw some Ringo’isms in songs we write that my younger bandmates and not so hardcore Beatlemaniacs just don’t catch on the first throw!!
One issue with this kind of music theory is that it’s usually presented without explaining HOW these ideas manage it. For example, Yesterday is in 2 bar phrases, not 4 bar: it actually gets 7 bars by halving the length of the first phrase, helped out by the fact that it’s the only bar which is exclusively the tonic. The melodies of the first three phrases all resolve: the first from G to the tonic, the second from A to D, the third from D to G. Then the last phrase ends on a plagal cadence to prevent it from sounding like the end of the song.
Of course, Paul didn’t approach it by thinking “how can I write a 7-bar phrase”, or any of the above, but that’s what he wound up with. The idea of “tagging on” a bar (or cutting a bar from an 8-bar phrase) will have never even been considered.
@IncredibleGoliath Excellently put. And, thank you. You’ve discovered where it has been ‘cut’. You’re damn right. It’s only the first phrase, the titular refrain, that is one bar long. The rest are two bars. That’s what I was looking for, and couldn’t spot, because of how expertly crafted and well-hidden the ‘anomaly’ is.
Of course, as you say, Paul wasn’t thinking in terms of uneven bars of phrasing when conjuring this magic. But he ‘fooled’ the theory nerd in me, and I can only give him (and you for not being ‘fooled’) immense credit!
I always found that 3 or 5 bar loops have a very cyclical feeling as opposed to 4 bar loops, which, to me, doesn’t feel like it “loops” so much as it tells a linear story through musical notes. 4 bars feels like there is a beginning and end to the melody; 3 bars feels like it keeps swirling over itself, and beginning and end overlap. 5 bars feels like I got to hear a little more of the melody than I was meant to, only to start it again.
You should do a whole video dedicated to Tame Impala. He’s such a talented composer, and uses “tricks” as one of his main techniques. Tons of interesting stuff to cover in almost every song, and such a diverse sound across his albums.
Thank you for making this video. I never thought there would be a difference between irregular phrases and uncommon time signatures. I always put them hand in hand
The outro music you started doing in these videos is always a treat, but I especially loved today’s. Could hear the principles you discussed in the video clearly, and the radiohead style perfectly compliments that kind of uneasy feeling that can come from the subversion of how you expect the piece to play out. Phenomenal!
Beautiful outro song indeed!
Speaking of Queen, Don’t Stop Me Now is another one that uses 5 bar phrases, but for most of the song. It’s impressive how smoothly integrated it is that it doesn’t sound jarring or feel like it’s stretching.
That’s the first example I thought of. Maybe it’s the combination of an extra bar and the fast tempo? Or just Queen making anything sound natural XD
@xenontesla122 I personally think it’s in the chord progression that makes the odd length phrase sound smooth. That, and how well-structured the composition is to go along with each chord.
@SantorioMaker how it’s arranged and performed is most of the structure for how it sounds smooth for sure
Amazing how David manages to always be so clear, engaging and always providing great examples to supplement his points. Just love this channel
These Beatles and Radiohead people make good music. You should feature them in more videos.
Thumbs up. Love this. Exploring what I don’t know but love. Music’s language. Laid out in visual form with concise explanations.
I especially like Bjork’s Hyperballad… firstly the bass enters seemingly playing 3 bars, but when Bjork starts singing we realise the three notes of the bass are actually one 3/4 (3/2?) bar. But then if you count her lines… she sings 10 bars before she starts the chorus!
I love it!
Strange Overtones by David Byrne & Brian Eno is a great example. It’s built on a ten-bar progression.
Last Nite by The Strokes is another example of a 5-bar phrase
Babooshka by Kate Bush is another example for 6-bar phrase
Ban All The Music by Nothing But Thieves is a good example of mixing it up within the chorus section of the song
The piano at the end is stunning. I would have listened for at least another four or five minutes. Probably more.
I always loved that the shortness of bars in the beginning Yesterday is then followed by Paul singing the word ‘suddenly’. Clever songwriting. I think you did another video touching on artists who use words in this way in songs (the obvious being when a singer says ‘stop’ and the music stops e.g uptown funk)
Isn’t that painting with words?
@maetzchenmusik isn’t that what I said?
Maybe this instance of word-painting is an accident. David has a full video about “How much theory did the Beatles know?”
@scartissue121 Surely you did so. I just wanted to make sure that lyrics aren’t usually set to music in pop. Rather, one thinks about words to musical ideas.
@maetzchenmusik huh. I’m still not really following what you mean
Important note to add about Yesterday: The first word of the second verse is “Suddenly.” It’s more genius. Paul knows that that verse is starting a bar earlier than the normal convention of pop music would dictate and that it therefore begins suddenly. So the listener experiences a little jolt that parallels the narrator’s sudden loss of his relationship.
Excellent point. A perfect pairing of lyric and music.
Maybe it was actually accidental word-painting!
@Wyatt Stevens Well, in the B 2s’ mid period you may find quite a lot of analogies between lyrics and music, especially in A Day In A Life. Even if the four guys weren’t conscious of what they were doing in those cases, it was at least well-felt … and don’t underestimate George Martin’s influence on them, as he was classically trained in musicology as well as on the oboe.
The first bar of the verse is missing and so is the I-narrator’s yesterday. It’s gone, he cannot fix it anymore. And it’s not just an affair amongst others. He really detects for the first time that a dimension called yesterday definitely exists, this really begins to dawn on him (Oh, Yesterday came suddenly – a statement that otherwise would not make much sense). Jumping from childhood to adulthood. It’s an existential discovery.
The intro to Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” uses a looping three-bar phrase before switching to four bars for the verse.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears is in 3 bar phrases. Same with the chorus section the The Police’s Roxanne.