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How to Write a song: Contrasting the verse & the chorus

Man playing a digital piano in a professional setting.

Writing a song? Want your chorus to have a strong impact? Jimmy Kachulis of Berkleemusic gives songwriting tips on how to make the chorus stand out from the verses even when you use the same chord progressions.

You can take the basic chord progression of your verses and vary the pitch or the rhythm in the chorus or switch up the order of the chords a bit.

Vary your lyrical phrasing between the verses and chorus. If there are 4 phrases in the verses only use 2 in your chorus.

Infusing melodic tonality or repetition into your chorus can highlight it as well.

Another trick is to infuse some emotion into the chorus with a bit of a certain style of music,i.e., blues to emphasize an "emotional roller coaster."

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