“On a bridge, if you can surprise the listener it’s going to stay with him longer and it won’t just be a point in the song when the listener’s ear is vamping waiting to get back to the song’s main melody”
—Roger Nichols
Some writers make the mistake of treating the bridge as a throwaway section that is simply there to give listeners a brief release from the verses and the chorus. In fact, a good bridge has a number of very important functions.
An effective bridge can add extra impact and sustain the listener’s interest by building on the energy and drama created in the verse and chorus.
The bridge can surprise the listener by taking the song in a completely different direction both melodically and lyrically. In effect, it’s a mini-song within the main song. It should use a four or eight bar melody and chord progression that is not heard anywhere else in the song, and it must add new information to the song’s story line (perhaps an unexpected twist).
Many successful writers give their songs a lift, and achieve an element of surprise, by starting their bridge section on a minor chord when writing in a major key (for example, starting the bridge on A minor if the song is in the key of C).
If it is constructed correctly, the bridge melody should then lead the listener back to the all-important chorus and hook. When you analyze current hit songs that have a bridge, you’ll find that, in many cases, the bridge ends on the dominant chord (e.g. G in the key of C) which paves the way for an emotional return to the ‘home’ chord (C) at the start of the chorus repeats.
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