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Here’s a question. I tend to play solo acoustic guitar, finger picking, usually with a blues influence. Often I learn the parts and patterns to fit behind the vocals but often I would like to throw in a brief instrumental bit, just to add a bit if interest and also to show off my ability. This often involves just playing the verse or chorus bit as an instrumental, maybe an octave above or below using verse chord inversions. But, maybe I’m missing a trick. I often hear song where the middle 8 seems to change key, or maybe move from a major to minor. Does anyone have any hints or tips on how to construct stuff like this that I can throw into my tunes? And, most importantly, get back to the original key.
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From what I understand, a “middle 8” is supposed to add contrast and interest to an otherwise fairly simple song. Usually it is a departure from the song’s main theme. That may mean another melody, another arrangement, a modulation, a mode change, … or all that together!
We are talking composition here, and that makes it hard to be specific.
I personally don’t have any hints or tips. Maybe get inspiration from songs containing a “middle 8” you like? -
Building on Jean-Michel’s comment, I’ve used the approach of getting inspiration from songs containing a middle 8 I like, and find it can work really well. Some suggestions include:
1. Study the song you like & map the middle 8 chords & structure (relative)
2. Transplant this same middle 8 into your new song (adjust key if needed)
3. Play it and identify ideas to make it fit your song and style
4. Adapt the segment to achieve the contrast and feel you want.The first time I tried this a songwriting friend asked if I could create a bridge for a song he had written. After looking to The Beatles for inspiration I chose We Can Work It Out as Lennon & McCartney reportedly collaborated on that part, and it’s both a great and simple bridge. After following the steps above (with new lyrics) everyone was happy with it. And an amazing thing is that, after including it in your song, it sounds fresh and new vs a rip off, i.e., you end up borrowing the strategy and making it your own. A modification of the approach would be to take time to study a range of “bridge composition strategies” so you could pick from a (short) menu of proven ideas for best fit.
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To be a little more specific, maybe you could explore the various “melodic alteration” techniques; that would be one way to write your middle 8 section.
For example, starting from the melody of the chorus you could use inversion and/or augmentation/diminution to compose the melody of the middle 8.
Just food for thought!
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