What's The Point Of A Prechorus?

Some additional thoughts/corrections:
1) Scarborough Fair is an interesting example of a 2-part section because those two parts don't really mirror each other. That's somewhat unusual, but not unheard of or anything.
2) In Everett's conception, the R in SRDC stands for "restatement", not "response", but outside the corpus he was looking at, the second part isn't always similar to the first, so Summach proposed "response" as a more general descriptor.
3) I'm reading Big Iron in C# minor, but it could also be read in E major I guess. In that case, the development phrase _does_ include the IV chord, and it doesn't withhold the I chord. But with the intro having a big V-I in C# minor, every main-statement melody ending on C#, and those extra breath-bars on C#mi at the end of the first two statements, both featuring a prominent bass voice on C#, hearing it in E major just doesn't feel right to my ears. Yes, I know the tag at the end is on E, but that doesn't sound like the root to me. Your mileage may vary, though.
4) You can read Dr. Summach's paper here: mtosmt.org/issues/mto.11.17.3/mto.11.17.3.summach.html Also check out this other paper on prechoruses that didn't wind up making it into the final script but I did read it during the research process and it probably shaped my thought processes to some extent: mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.3/mto.22.28.3.nobile.html

The prechorus is the hype man for the chorus

What about the post-chorus? That's also a very nice tool in songwriting

I often find the pre-chorus more fun and catchy than the chorus itself.

It’s crazy how much mileage you can get from just one chord progression in a verse- pre-chorus - chorus - bridge format. This is essentially what differentiates beat makers from elite level pop producers- their ability to flesh one chord progression (or idea) into a song with various sections that combine to tell a cohesive story.

I write pre-pre-choruses to make my pre-choruses even more pre-.

God I love the pre-chorus it's so fun

STP's Plush (and almost every song on Core) uses the prechorus so very well. The feel, chord progression, melody, lyrics, harmony, all seem to do what you are describing here, and bring us to a chorus that hearkens back to the verse sonically without replicating it.

The pre-chorus approach reached its ultimate expression with Ballroom Blitz (1973) where they gave the pre-chorus its own pre-pre chorus

I always imagined the prechorus as an "escalator" between a low verse and a high chorus. It's a point where energy or tension is built up ahead of the chorus so that it can be released over the chorus.
A lot of alternative rock and grunge songs from the '90s used the prechorus to great effect. One of my favorite examples is in "Anyone Can Play Guitar" by Radiohead ("Here we are with our runnin' and confusion/And I don't see no confusion anywhere").

Also, what’s the point of a post-chorus. I’d love to hear your discourse on the validity or reasoning behind the drum break in Sting’s “Englishman in New York” which is an otherwise amazing song.

Has anyone made a Spotify playlist of the song examples? Would love to hear a progression of these concepts developing!

“They’re kind of everywhere” *draws a Zubat*😂

Just in terms of feel, the earliest formal component that reads as "prechorus-y" to my brain is the fugal bridge. I know the fugal bridge is, well, a bridge, but I don't think a typical Bach fugue sounds much like how it's described on paper. The first subject and answer are the piece slowly building in, and it's the return to the subject that really feels like the first "drop" in a fugue to me. And because, when it exists, the bridge goes between the first answer and the return to the subject, it feels somewhat like a prechorus.

Somewhat relevant note
12tone I feel like with your vocal background you would really enjoy the "cover" of Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Tyler Christian. Tyler is a student at Berklee and for some class or club they did a complete rearrangement of that song into a rock tune and it's absolutely incredible. (Somewhat relevant because it's got a fantastic prechorus)

Great explanation and video. Thank you.
I would like to say the most important part of creating music is there are no rules when it comes to structure. Nothing more than a modern day music myth.
Write with your soul not instructional videos or because some so called music scholar tells you to. If you are are already thinking Intro/Verse/Pre-Chorus/Chorus/Verse/Pre-Chorus/Chorus/Bridge/Outro when you start writing you have already forcing something unnatural. Let your creativity flow before limiting its potential ✨️
Don't just add a Pre-Chorus or Bridge etc... because that's now industry standard.
"Use your ears and feel it in your soul"
Happy Creating Superstars
🙏

Tux being the picture for “another option” is wonderful

Listening to Yellowcard made me realize how good and catchy pre-choruses can be. It always has me singing along and getting hyped right before the chorus! A good pre-chorus is a must for a lot of that early 2000's rock sound

Duran Duran in the 1980's... especially songs like "The Reflex".. the song sections always seemed to build after the verse and that's exactly whst the prechorus was for. There was no way to jump to that level of payoff without them. Nick Rhodes is a master class in pop composition.

Oh oh. I know. Well, at least for "Living on a Prayer." The chorus is an thing intended to be anticipated and pops in and out pretty much uniformly. On "Living on a Prayer," the pre-chorus is anticipated but alarmingly replaced with the guitar talk-box monkey sounds giving it an extra amount of impact.

I've almost always written a pre-chorus. I usually think of it as a transition from the "details" of the verse to the "thesis" of the chorus.

A great tutorial. Analysis of song structure is seldom discussed. Thank you for a boat load of information

Nearly spit coffee all over my keyboard when you made a reference to The Prisoner!

Why do you write with your right hand in the title segment (0:52) but your left hand in your videos?
BTW another great video. Damn fine work, as always.

"Kinda everywhere" = zubat.
Brilliant. 🤣

From my perspective as an (amateur) composer the most important function of the pre-chorus is destabilizing the loop. Since you did a lot of writing about chord loops, you know that a good chord loop can feel great, groovy and super comfortable to sit in, but of course can eventually feel stale. But breaking out of such a loop into another loop in a satisfying manner is hard - there is this effect of "why the hell did you move me here, that previous loop sounded so good!?". So that's why you throw in a transitional section, that is very clearly directional and not a loop, less comfortable, but the feeling of discomfort is suspended, because there is this excitement of "we are going somewhere". Then you drop the listener into a new looped section and they feel like "oh, this one's comfortable too" without comparing it to the first loop. I know you have suggested this a few times in your video, but I felt it was lacking the direct connection to the chord loop topic.
My song "Moon and Mist" (you can check it out on my channel) started out as a very strong chord progression, which I could improvise over for ages, but couldn't turn it into a song, because I didn't know how to write a new section that didn't feel bad compared to it. I spent several months trying to come up with "where do we go now". I even remember bothering you during one of your's Twitter Q&A about how would you continue that particular chord progression. But eventually, the answer I looked for was to write a pre-chorus - a through composed section, that does not feel as good and it doesn't try to. I even ended up dropping the listener back into the original loop without ever writing a proper chorus or B-section, because after recording solos on top the song felt good and varied enough without it.

I enjoy going and listening to the song from the video after. There is always something there I did not realize said what it said or hit the nerve it hit. Great video.

I wrote a song recently that includes a pre-chorus that is as long as the verses. The reason is to heighten the meaning the lyrics in the verses and prepare the listener for a pretty drastic change in tempo and melody

omg the kid cosmic drawing... love the references you pull for your illustrations

“They’re kinda everywhere”
*draws Zubat*
It’s the small things

Prechorus is always my favorite part of the song to write. Usually people say those are the best parts of my songs too

Okay, it turns out everything I improvise is an SRDC sentence.
Even though I never heard that term, I’m sure I picked it up from being “classically trained” in big band sax. Where improvisation and composition isn’t the focus, but playing with a large group many times over and over is.
I often got frustrated at my “failure” to come up with a compelling chorus I felt okay repeating over and over… but I think this has helped me just accept that it’s okay to switch up the “development” part every time and that’s totally musically valid too.
Maybe I’ll even finish a track instead of starting half a dozen new ones…!

Interesting! Could you make a video about the post-chorus as well? That one always confuses me functionally. In September, it has noticeably less energy than the chorus, while in Chelsea Dagger it has so much energy that it could be considered a second even bigger chorus. Neither seem transitional, nor do they feel like a bridge.

Interesting points! Thanks for sharing🎶☺️

It seems clear from this history that prechoruses have been a thing since the 80s and probably much earlier, but I was wondering: when did the term itself come into common use? I remember reading about song structure in the 80s, and it’s possible that the sources I was reading were out of date, but I remember verse, chorus, intro, outro and bridge being discussed, but don’t remember hearing the term “prechorus” until well into the 2000s.

Don’t Look Back In Anger has the best prechorus ever written

@12tone just want to say you rock !

I was thinking as I listened that sacred music often (like *almost* always) comes in "verse/chorus/repeat as necessary" form. This was such a big part of my musical formation growing up, I thought it was weird when popular music would do the verse twice and then go to the Chorus (like in "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel). I don't know if this would change the conclusions you get tackling it from the direction you did, but I would be interested to see what happens when you come at it from that direction.

I know you probably won't read this, but I'd be interested to see your take of Scaramouche's theme from Genshin Impact. There's a lot going on in the various phases that I think might interest you

The prechorus is like showing the listener a photo of sugar before shovelling a spoonful of it into his ears.

I can't wait for the 2 minute video explaining a post-chorus as the same thing only it ramps down back to the verse

Oh wow, this obviates my struggle with simple musics that are so popular. My first training in music when I was a young musician was in the songs of the 80's, when the 50's were quoted in many a beat and swing, but these narrative developments hadn't yet penetrated the lyrics of popular music. It makes plain also the way albums like Tales From Topographic Oceans are so widely dissed by people who can only digest candy, songs that exhibit all their chords and key ideas in the first 4 bars or less. My musical beginning was progressive metal like Iron Maiden and Metallica, and then Rush, Yes, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles. 12 bar blues is cool for one or two songs, but my musical native habitat has pre chorus already normalized, I mean how to you elevate the chorus to cosmic height without it? Jimi Hendrix, blasting so loud, and what a divinely detailed touch he had, worthy of that amplification was already old news when I started listening in. I had no idea. I read The Hobbit when I was 10. Queensryche Operation Mindcrime, Pink Floyd The Wall, Iron Maiden Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son, Fates Warning No Exit; narrative concept album was introduced to me in my neophyte phase of musicianship, so I had no idea how unpopular it was when I started digging it. West Coast, especially Portland and suburbs is so Punk it hurts. Punk is less than Strophic. 12 bars? They can only deal with one bar.

I’d argue Del Shannons Runaway has no pre-chorus but instead a Post-chorus. A pre-chorus typically adds tension. But in Runaway, that 2nd section couldn’t possibly lift any more. I love how that tune toggles between minor/major key.

“Why can’t the story ever be simple?”
That’s history for you: all of the details must be acquired for one to fully understand how the concept is presently constructed. :-)

I love that the symbol for change is the fire nation.

All the talk of "transition" and you play Big Iron
This is pandering and i love it

You should make a video about paranoid android

I LOVE a good prechorus!!!!!! I'm a big rap fan and it's used rarely but when it's used its SO GOOD

the scribbles are a great visualization of vivid association thinking ... or how it is diagnosed I the contemporary environment .. "ADHD".
I am really glad to see someone do the ideas left and right of the main train of thought some justice finally! :) thank you

(I'm aware this was a year ago, but...)
I find it a little odd that you listed the three song forms as entirely disparate from each other. I was just thinking about what structure would Johnny B. Goode be, from 1958, and...
Johnny B Goode uses strophic, AABA, and verse-chorus forms all combined together for one masterpiece!
The entire song is a committed twelve-bar blues, not breaking away from this same underlying structure at any point, even when the harmony instruments duck out of the way.
The song has a very obvious and iconic verse-chorus alternation:
_start of verse #1:_
Deep down in Louisiana and close to New Orleans,
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens;
There stood a log cabin made of earth and wood,
Where lived a country boy named a Johnny B Goode;
He never ever learned to read or write so well,
But he could play a guitar just like a-ringing a bell.
_chorus, interspersed with guitar responses to the vocal calls:_
Go, go! Go, Johnny, go, go! _x3_
Johnny B Goode!
And, the verse-chorus pairing is actually an A part, first done twice, then there's an equal-length guitar solo providing contrast as a B part, and finally another verse-chorus pair. AABA.
Anyway, I'm just sharing some thoughts. You probably did not imply these as mutually exclusive, but it's interesting to think about the interplay of the different structures on different levels.
Great and informative video, anyway ^^

So here's a structure y don't talk about enough:
Buildup-brakedown-buildup
Two really good examples would by Prodigy -Firestarter and sorcerer's apprentice.

Pre chorus to a breakdown to another prechorus to a melodic clean chorus followed by a breakdown. The prechorus really helps as a build up.

Great video, thank you! Can you recommend a book that also deals with this topic?

you should make a video on a wallows song !! i find their music so interesting and itd be so cool to see your opinions

"... the 12-bar Blues pattern..."
proceeds to draw a crossroads...
Deep.

This channel is like Vihart explaining music theory.

Interesting so far. I think I'd love to see an analysis of anything by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

have you done a video on bridge sections?

Video idea: most common chord progressions, and why every chord progression goes down, then up.

The way you hold your pen makes me physically anxious 😂 I have problems.....

Pain of Salvation - Rope Ends
One of the greatest pre-choruses in music history.

I tend to think of rock or pop songs as (classical) sonate forms compressed to 3 minutes. Basically all the sections are there already.

Love that you draw a zubat for something that “appears all the time” 😂

For a great pre-chorus check out Can't Stand Me Now by The Libertines

If a bridge is a part that just bridges two parts; maybe the prechorus could be called a staircase; since it takes you from the verse up to the chorus?

@3:08 is that a pre-chorus-saurus?

You've got to love that RUclips doesn't know what fair use is

FYI the aspect ratio in landscape on my iPhone is cutting off the top of the first row of drawings

What's the difference between a pre-chorus and the beginning of a long chorus?

Could you do 'Understanding Theme from New York, New York' next? I would absolutely love to hear you break down that song by Frank Sinatra. @12tone

Hey man, I wanna thank you for not putting in background music in between musical examples, that crap drives me nuts

I wouldn't worry too much about a Leaves That Are Green copyright claim, Billy Bragg got away with it 🤷

Totally unrelated, but could you do a video on "Bleed" by Meshuggah?

Enjoyed the doodles !

I have seen examples of a "Pre-Chorus" that doesn't really do it's job as a pre-chorus, Something distinct from the verse, And between it and the chorus, But which doesn't really provide any build-up for said chorus, Effectively making it just another type of verse, But as there's not really any way to notate distinct forms of verse it's called a pre-chorus as there's not really anything better to call it. Definitely not the most common thing but I have seen it. Perhaps this could've developed from the two- or three-part strophic form when combined with verse-chorus structure?
Not entirely related sidenote which I felt like mentioning, Recently I found a song containing a section I can only think to best describe as an "Inter-Chorus"; There's a set of three distinct (to my ears) sections between each verse, The first and last of which both feel like choruses, While different from eachother, Whereas the second one is kind of more calm, I suppose it does perform a similar function to a pre-chorus, But you can't exactly have a pre-chorus after a chorus, And it also performs somewhat of a post-chorus or bridge function as well.

He should play more music as example. Do videos get taken down or demonetized?

I always feel like these structures must come from limericks...2 matching parts, then a sections which moves faster and has a different rhyming pattern, then a conclusion. I'm not enough of a poet to back this up though...just a thought I always have! Lots of verses in modern songs follow "Limerick form" (almost)

Ha crazy, I was just analyzing "Living on a Prayer" last week with respect to its pre-chorus.

Can someone please explain the difference between a bridge and a prechorus? I've been using those two terms interchangeably for years and many other musicians I've worked with have too. Only just recently I have been called out for it.

I had to stop because I was laughing too hard at around 4:45. I forgot we were in the 50's yet, so it's gonna be Chuck Berry and not ELO. Did not sound like I expected 🤣🤣🤣

People no longer have stories to tell, they have albums to fill.

yo for april fools he should do thirteen tone and use the c clef (alto/tenor/whatever else)

"Strophe" is just german for verse - of a song. A poem verse is in fact a "Vers" in german (plural "Verse")

A 'transitional bridge' is like path that leads to a walkway.

A good example of prechorus in a song using a single chord loop, only changing texture and melody, is Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit "Hello, how low" section.

dont often ask for songs but, could you analyse Lateralis by Tool?

Spaceman from Babylon Zoo is a weird one. For one thing it has a rave intro and outro. In an indie rock song. The other weird thing is the TRIPLE prechorus. Come on, man, get to the good bit, don't tease me like that.

Could you please do Brothers in Arms by dire straits? It's hauntingly beautiful and ethereal in a way i can't explain

Do you think Marty Robbins or Johnny Cash really even thought about all this analysis? Or did they just write the song in the way they felt it and the way it sounded good to them??

your pen grip is melting my brain

How do you hold the pen and write like this

Man, I suck at pre choruses. And bridges. And I can barely fit together a verse and a chorus sometimes haha!

I’m confused, when he does Rollover Beethoven that’s not what I think of when I think 12 bar blues. To me it’s 1, 1,1,1,4,4,1,1,5,4,1,5. (Right?) Can someone please explain what I’m missing? I didn’t go to college for music and 12 tone did, so I trust him I just want to learn what I’m apparently not seeing. Thanks.
Edit. I think my mistake was not counting the rest bars. He puts a 1 chord there but I overlooked it because there was no lead. If I count that it’s 12 bars just a different but valid pattern.

Most delineated: draws ant. Genius.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer from the famous Abbey Road album (1969) seems to me to have a pre-chorus in it.

Why do you write from right to left?

but whats the difference between a prechorus and a bridge?

a-ha have written so many beautiful prechoruses.

Now talk about Don't Stop Believin' only using a single chorus and literally having the prechorus go back to the verse

I always heard that Bon Jovi example as the start of the chorus, not as a different section in and of itself. It's an interesting concept
.