February
has dawned, and with it that most artificial and Hallmark of holidays
– Valentine's Day. Now, rather than get into a rant about how this
day has been co-opted by greetings cards firms and marketing
departments and turned into a stress-filled, chocolate covered
rose-tinted nightmare, I thought I'd try and provide something useful
and interesting for my readers (Hello, Dave. Hello, Keith.)
If
you're reading my blog, chances are you're a guitar player or at the
very least a musician of some sort. And if you're a musician, chances
are you're probably skint.
So,
what to do when Valentine's Day comes a-calling and you can't afford
fancy restaurants or jewellery? Well, you justify all that expensive
equipment you blew all your money on by writing your significant
other a love song, of course!
Now,
in an earlier blog post I tok a brief look at some of the common
elements that make Christmas songs sound the way they do
(http://www.jmguitartuition.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/what-makes-christmas-song.html)
– so let's see if we can't examine one or two classic love songs to
learn a trick or two.
Firstly,
let's look at some rhythmic elements. Most love songs/ ballads tend
to be slow and mellow in tempo, to induce a relaxed feeling in the
listener and put them in a more receptive frame of mind. In terms of
time signatures, good old 4/4 is of course the favourite, but don't
overlook compound time signatures like 12/8 or 6/8 (think REM's
classic “Everybody Hurts” - not exactly a love song, but a
classic ballad nonetheless). There does seem to be something about
the gently rocking triplet feel of these time signatures that we find
soothing at a very fundamental level – perhaps recalling the motion
of being rocked to sleep in a cradle as a baby.
Moving
to look at harmony, most love songs revolve around standard diatonic
progressions, particularly favouring the I, IV, V and vi chords.
Think “You're Beautiful” by James Blunt, or “No One” by
Alicia Keys – both standard I-V-vi-IV sequences, with the
“thoughtful” nature of these sequences accentuated by a relaxed
tempo and the use of a 1st inversion in the V chord to
create a descending motion (C-G/B-Am). For a dramatic middle 8 or
bridge, a common device is using a major III chord (think of the F#
in the bridge of Everybody Hurts”) to create a sense of tension and
often implying a key change. Many classic ballads (think “Parisienne
Walkways” or “Still Got The Blues”) also use the cycle of
fourths chord sequence.
In
terms of melody, a great way to bring out the emotional centre of a
chord is to target it's third with the melody. This accentuates the
major or minor nature of the chord, and melodies that leap in thirds
and fifths tend to be very pleasing to the ear. The old trick of
jumping registers to really push the dramatic big chorus is very
prevalent in this style of music - think of the huge note that
starts the chorus of “I Will Always Love You”.
Dynamically,
most love songs tend to follow the quiet verse/ big chorus template,
but many continue to build throughout the song. It's also interesting
to look at some of the textures and instruments that are favoured –
guitar tones tend to be clean (Strat in between pickup positions,
maybe a little chorus and delay) or often acoustic. Nylon strings are
popular in this style, giving an air of sophistication (“I bring
thees geetar all the way from Spain because I luff you so”).
Piano
is a popular texture too, it's resonance and depth fitting this style
perfectly – certainly balladeers such as Lionel Richie and modern
day equivalents by musicians like Bruno Mars make much of the piano's
full sound. Strings in pad form and as countermelodies, motifs and
hooks are all hallmarks of the classic love songs too, building to an
impassioned conclusion as the torured songwriter bares his/ her soul
to the listener and leaving not a dry eye in the house.
So
– out of cash this Valentine's? Boot up GarageBand and get
cracking!
