How To Create a Musical Bridge – By Linking the Parallel Minor of a Scale to the Major 6th

How To Create a Musical Bridge – By Linking the Parallel Minor of a Scale to the Major 6th

Simple song structure includes; verse, chorus, and a bridge.  The bridge is explained by Wikipedia as, “In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section.”

So in essence the bridge is a different sounding part that resolves back to the regular sounding part of the song.  How do you create a “different sounding” part of the song?  What I have found is there is a specific, almost mathematically way to create a bridge.

If you reference our previous tutorial on the I – IV – V chord progression – you will see that within any scale you have the root of the scale as the ( I ) and then have a II – III – IV – V – VI – VII  (1-2-3-4-5-6-7).  Within this tutorial we will be focusing on the VI (6th) of the scale.

Every Major scale has a “parallel minor” – meaning there is a minor scale that shares the same sharps and flats as the correlating Major scale – except in the minor key.  Here is an example using the C Major Scale – and it’s parallel  minor of a minor:

 

C D E F G A B

a b  c d  e f  g

 

What you will notice is that the 6th note in the major scale is the same as the 1st note in the parallel minor scale.

By working your way up the Major scale the 6th – you can the transition to the parallel minor – and then back to the Major scale. That transition then becomes the bridge – which still sounds correct musically utilizing the same sharps or flats (in this case we have no sharps or flats in the key of C Major).

So by going to the minor we create that contrasting section by changing the Major sound to a minor sound during the bridge then transition back to the original Major.

 

Here is a very simplified example:

Verse

C – F – C – G

Chorus

G – C – G – C

Transition to Bridge

C – D – E – F – G – a

Bridge

a – d – a – e

Transition back to Verse

d – e – f – g – C

 

Put them all together and you get this: (keep in mind everything is simplified)

Verse                             Chorus                                 Transition

C – F – C -G  –> G – C – F -C  –> C- D – E – F – G – a  —>

Bridge                           Transition

a – d – a – e  –> d – e – f – g – C  —>

Verse

C – F – C -G

 

Here are the Major C and Major Sharp scales with the parallel minor below the respective Major scale:

 

C D E F G A B

a b c  d  e f  g

 

G A B C D E F#

e f# g a  b c  d

 

D E F# G A B C#

b c# d  e  f# g a

 

A B C# D E F# G#

f# g# a b c# d  e

 

E F# G# A B C# D#

c# d# e f# g# a  b

 

B C# D# E F# G# A#

g# a# b c# d# e  f#

 

F# G# A# B C# D# E#

d# e# f# g# a# b   c#

 

Here are the Major Flat scales with the parallel minor below the respective Major scale: (major flats are marked with a “b” and the minor flats are marked with a “>”)

 

F G A Bb C D E

d e  f g  a b> c

 

Bb C D Eb F G A

g a  b> c d e> f

 

Eb F G Ab Bb C D

c d  e> f   g a> b>

 

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G

f g  a> b>  c d> e>

 

Db Eb F Gb Ab Bb C

b> c   d> e> f g> a>

 

Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F

e> f   g> a>  b> c> d>

 

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This is a basic Tutorial on Linking the Parallel Minor of a

scale to the Major 6th – to create a musical bridge.

If you would like further information email:

music@lovehaightrecords.com

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Keep a look out for more Tutorials expanding upon the I-IV-V progression including; Blues and Jazz variations.

 

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