# AI Wiki - Music - Arranging Songs ## Overview An arrangement is an adaptation of an existing song: the same melody and chords, but decided anew for a specific set of instruments, a key, a length and a mood. Wikipedia separates arranging from orchestration: orchestration only assigns notes to instruments, while arranging also adds material, such as new introductions, transitions, modulations and endings, and may reharmonize the melody. For a guitarist and pianist playing at home, arranging answers practical questions: How do I play this song alone on guitar? On piano? With a friend on the other instrument? How do I start it, end it, and keep it interesting for four minutes? Every cover you play is an arrangement, even if you never wrote it down. In [[AI Wiki - Music - Jazz Music|jazz]], an arrangement worked out by ear and never written is a "head arrangement"; Count Basie's early band was known for them. ## Step 1: map the song Before choosing anything, know what you're arranging: - **The form**: intro, verses, choruses, bridge, outro, and their lengths in bars ([[AI Wiki - Music - Song Form and Structure]]). - **The melody**: the one thing that must survive any arrangement. Sing it; if you can't, learn it first. - **The harmony**: the chords per bar, ideally as Roman numerals so they transpose ([[AI Wiki - Music - Diatonic Chords and Roman Numerals]]). - **The hook and signature parts**: the riff or piano figure everyone recognises. Keep it, or replace it deliberately. A lead sheet (melody, chords and lyrics on one page) is the ideal starting document; [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing from Lead Sheets]] covers reading one on piano. ## Step 2: choose the key The key decides playability and sound: - **For a singer**, the key is set by the voice's range: the melody's highest and lowest notes must be comfortable. - **For solo guitar**, choose keys where the bass notes are open strings: E, A, D, G and their [[AI Wiki - Music - Relative and Parallel Keys|relative minors]] (Em, Am, Dm) let the low strings ring while the fingers carry the melody. - **For piano**, C, G, F and D are easy to read and finger; flat keys are fine once the [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Keyboard Layout|black keys]] feel familiar. - **The capo** decouples the two: keep the friendly G or C shapes and move the sounding key wherever the voice needs it ([[AI Wiki - Music - Capo and Transposition]]). ## Step 3: give every part a job Any arrangement fills four jobs: **melody**, **bass**, **harmony** (the [[AI Wiki - Music - Chord Tones and Improvisation|chord tones]] in between) and **rhythm** (the groove). A full band splits them across players. With fewer players, each instrument does several at once, and some jobs are only implied. ### Solo guitar Two main approaches: - **Accompaniment**: chords and rhythm only, with the voice (or a listener's memory) carrying the melody. Strumming ([[AI Wiki - Music - Strumming Patterns]]) or a fingerpicking pattern ([[AI Wiki - Music - Fingerpicking Patterns]], [[AI Wiki - Music - Travis Picking]]). - **Solo fingerstyle or chord melody**: the melody on the top strings, the bass on the low strings with the thumb, harmony in between when there's room. Andrew DuBrock's five-step method in *Acoustic Guitar* is a good model for the second: know where the melody lies on the fretboard, harmonize it, add a bass line (start with the chord's lowest note, then connect), fill out the arrangement with a consistent feel, then play it through and fix what doesn't sound right. The full process, with worked examples, is in [[AI Wiki - Music - Fingerstyle Arranging]]. The same song can be arranged plainly or richly. Lyle Brewer's two "Amazing Grace" arrangements in C for *Premier Guitar* show the range: the first keeps the melody on top with a thumb bass moving stepwise through inversions and a diminished passing chord; the second adds chromatic bass lines, tritone substitutions and a false ending on IV. ### Solo piano The default split: **left hand = bass and harmony, right hand = melody** (with chord tones added under it). The left hand picks one of the patterns of [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]]: block chords, root–fifth, broken chords or Alberti bass. For a sung song, the right hand can play chords instead and leave the melody to the voice. ```chord instrument: piano --- title: Solo piano: LH root-5th, RH triad pitches: G2 D3 B3 D4 G4 --- title: With a guitar: RH only, higher pitches: B4 D5 G5 ``` ### Guitar and piano together Two chordal instruments in the same register blur into one muddy chord. Split the space: - **Register**: the piano takes the bass and low-mid range; the guitar plays higher, with a capo (capo 5 with D shapes for a song in G) or with small triads on the top three strings ([[AI Wiki - Music - Triads on the Fretboard]]). Or the reverse: guitar on open chords, piano right hand only, an octave up. - **Bass**: only one instrument plays the bass note. Two different bass lines clash; two identical ones thicken the low end. - **Rhythm**: one instrument sustains (piano pads, whole-note chords), the other drives (strumming, picking). Or they alternate: guitar on the verses, piano entering on the chorus. - **Voicings**: avoid doubling the same notes in the same octave; on piano, spread or open voicings sit better around a guitar ([[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings]]). G triads on the top strings, out of the piano's way: ```chord G xxx433 xxx211 --- G xxx787 xxx121 --- G x-x-x-12-12-10 x-x-x-3-4-1 ``` ## Step 4: shape the dynamics across the song A song played at one level for four minutes sounds flat. Plan an energy curve, section by section, and change at least one parameter at each boundary: volume, density (number of notes and instruments), register, rhythmic activity or articulation (palm muting, see [[AI Wiki - Music - Muting Techniques]]). A typical curve for a verse–chorus song: ```chords {title: Energy map for a verse–chorus song} {key: G} {c: Intro: hook riff, solo guitar, soft} {c: Verse 1: picked arpeggios, piano silent or one note per bar} {c: Chorus 1: strummed, piano chords enter, louder} {c: Verse 2: a little fuller than verse 1 (keep the piano)} {c: Chorus 2: full} {c: Bridge: drop down: half-time, muted strings or piano alone} {c: Final chorus: biggest: higher voicings, key change optional} {c: Outro: tag the last line, slow down, end on the tonic} ``` The bridge drop is the most underused trick: going quieter before the last chorus makes the last chorus feel bigger than it really is. ## Intros and outros **Intros** borrow from the song: the chorus progression, the last line of the chorus, the hook riff, or a vamp on the first chord. Four or eight bars is plenty. A solo instrument intro that sets the tempo also gives other players and the singer the key. **Outros** close the story: - **Tag**: repeat the last line of the chorus two or three times, then end. - **Ritardando**: slow down over the last bar or two and land on the tonic, often held (a fermata). - **Cadence ending**: add IV–I or ♭VII–I after the last chorus ([[AI Wiki - Music - Cadences]]). - **Cold ending**: stop dead on beat 1 together. Needs a clear signal to the band. - **Fade**: works on records, rarely live. ```chords {title: Intro and tag ending in G} {key: G} {time: 4/4} {start_of_verse: Intro (chorus chords)} [C]1 2 3 4 [G]1 2 3 4 [D]1 2 3 4 [G]1 2 3 4 {end_of_verse} {start_of_verse: Tag ending} [C]Play it a[G]gain, [D]till it's [Em]mine [C]Play it a[G]gain, [D]till it's [G]mine {c: hold the last G, let it ring} {end_of_verse} ``` The tag's first ending goes to Em (a deceptive move) before the real ending lands on G: the oldest way to make a final line sound final. ## Simplifying versus embellishing **Simplify** when the original is beyond your hands, or when a sparse version suits the mood: - Keep the melody and the bass note on beat 1; drop everything else first. - Reduce chords to triads or power chords; drop passing chords. - Replace a hard barre chord with a capo key or a smaller voicing ([[AI Wiki - Music - Barre Chords]]). - Halve the rhythm: strum on 1 and 3 instead of every eighth. **Embellish** when the song needs more interest: - Colour chords: sus2, sus4, add9 on held chords ([[AI Wiki - Music - Suspended and Added-Tone Chords]]). - Fills between vocal lines: hammer-ons, a bass walk to the next chord, a pentatonic lick. - New chords under the same melody ([[AI Wiki - Music - Reharmonization]]), saved for one section. - A key change for the last chorus, usually up a half step or a whole step. The rule for both: the melody stays recognisable. Simplified arrangements that keep the melody and groove sound like the song; elaborate ones that lose the melody sound like a different song. ## How to practise - **Arrange one song three ways**: strummed accompaniment, fingerpicked, and solo piano. Same song, same key. - **Write the arrangement down**: a chart in a note with the form, the energy map and the intro/outro; record a take and listen back ([[AI Wiki - Music - Recording Yourself]]). - **Copy arrangers**: compare two covers of the same song and list what changed: key, tempo, instruments, intro, dynamics ([[AI Wiki - Music - Transcription and Playing by Ear]]). - **Track arrangements as pieces**: each arrangement is a piece note with its own mastery level in the Music Practice plugin; the hard spots (a fill, a voicing change) become separate items to drill. ## Common mistakes - Arranging before knowing the melody. - Every section at the same volume and density. - Both instruments playing the same chords in the same register. - Over-embellishing: fills everywhere, no space for the voice ([[AI Wiki - Music - Playing with Others and Jamming]]). - No planned ending, so the song dribbles out. ## Key Points - Arranging adapts a song to instruments, key, length and mood; it adds intros, transitions and endings and may reharmonize. - Map the form, melody, harmony and hook first; the melody must survive. - Pick the key for the voice and the instrument; use a capo to decouple them. - Four jobs: melody, bass, harmony, rhythm. Solo players combine them; duos split them by register and rhythm. - Guitar with piano: one bass, separate registers, one sustains while the other drives. - Plan an energy curve; the bridge drop makes the last chorus bigger. - Intros borrow from the song; endings need a tag, a cadence or a clear cut. - Simplify by keeping melody and bass; embellish with colour chords, fills and reharmonization, sparingly. ## Open Questions - How do arrangers decide when a key change helps a final chorus and when it sounds cheesy? - What are the standard guitar–piano duo textures in folk and pop recordings worth transcribing? - How much of a fingerstyle arrangement should be fixed versus improvised from performance to performance? ## References - Wikipedia: Arrangement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrangement - Andrew DuBrock and Doug Young, "How to build your own fingerstyle arrangements", *Acoustic Guitar* (from *Acoustic Guitar Solo Fingerstyle Basics*). https://acousticguitar.com/how-to-build-your-own-fingerstyle-arrangements/ - Lyle Brewer, "Arranging 'Amazing Grace' for solo guitar", *Premier Guitar*. https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/30401-arranging-amazing-grace-for-solo-guitar - Wikipedia: Lead sheet. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_sheet - Wikipedia: Reharmonization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reharmonization ## Related - [[AI Wiki - Music - Fingerstyle Arranging]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Song Form and Structure]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Capo and Transposition]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Left-Hand Accompaniment Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing from Lead Sheets]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Piano Voicings]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Triads on the Fretboard]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Fingerpicking Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Travis Picking]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Strumming Patterns]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Suspended and Added-Tone Chords]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Reharmonization]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Cadences]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Songwriting]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Home Recording Basics]] - [[AI Wiki - Music - Playing with Others and Jamming]]