How can you tell the differences in song forms and structure?

the notes make the difference. you have to listen.

symphonies have these forms and they have no words.

@jazmina88 what do you mean by the notes?

the melodies intent…...same…..chorus…..bridge

the forms are building blocks…..of music.
verse 1…A

then same or different for A B C
if there are bridge chorus, they are used instead of letters

Listen for changes in the melody.
An example of AAA would be something like any traditional nursery song that has several verses with the same melody, such as Mary Had a Little Lamb.

An AABA is a little more complex, but it is very common in popular music.
A good example of this form is Back in the USSR, by Paul McCartney of the Beatles. The first “A” section ( is the first verse starts with “Flew in from Miami Beach…”). It runs al the way through the end of the first chorus (“Back in the USSR”). The second “A” section starts with the second verse (“Been away so long…”) and continues through to the end of the second chorus.
The “B” section is the part that goes “Ukraine girls really knock me out…”. You will notice that the melody is completely different from the “A” section, which is repeated immediately following the “B” section. Although there is a lot of improvised guitar, you can still recognize the “A” melody from the chords.

This song is also an example of the “Verse/Chorus/Bridge form”. Each “A” section consists of one verse and one chorus. the “B” section in this case is the chorus.

think of it as patterns, and each section is a part of the pattern. so think of an ‘A’ or ‘B’ or ‘C’ section as each an sections of the pattern. and each section is going to be a combination of lyrics / melody / harmony / rhythm… each section is going to have a pattern within the overall pattern, or form, of the song.

A VERSE / CHORUS / BRIDGE song is most likely going to be in an ABABCB form, that is VERSE / CHORUS / VERSE / CHORUS / BRIDGE / CHORUS form, for example.

it might help to define the sections of music for yourself. do you know what a verse is? a chorus? a bridge?

another example, an AAA song is likely going to be either CHORUS / CHORUS / CHORUS or VERSE (with a hook) / VERSE (with a hook) / VERSE (with a hook).

and to tell what part is what in a song you just have to listen. Most songs start with a VERSE, which is the telling the story part of the song, then they move into a CHORUS which is basically a summary of the message the story of the VERSE is telling, then the BRIDGE is a unique, climatic section that usually provides a ‘twist’ in the story that gives a new light to the story told in the VERSE as well to the message in the CHORUS.

the best advice is indeed to listen for the changes, each section will have a ‘feel’ to it- it’s own parttern of lyrics / melody / harmony / rhythm. so you have to recognize when you move from one section to another, then also when a section repeats again.

this is good practice, you’ll get a lot more out of the music you love listening to it more deeply like this!

You listen for when the tune stops repeating, and then you know you’ve moved on to section B. If it goes back to the original melody, you’ve reverted back to A. If it changes to yet another tune, you’ve got C. Any given song may switch between these parts as often as they like. I hope I helped :D

Hey thanks for your help guys it really helps

@nimarka1, Glad you found it helpful. I think that reading a lecture about music without any examples to listening to is like hearing a lecture on painting without any visual references.