Tempo Changes are Terrible

I know you want to add energy to your chorus. But don’t change the tempo.

I know you think the bridge drags a bit. But don’t change the tempo.

I know you think tempo changes in the middle of songs are common. Unless you listen to experimental rock, you’re wrong. Don’t change the tempo.

My absolute biggest regret with the first album I recorded was the tempo changes.

Gross.

Let’s go over some reasons why tempo changes in songs are terrible and you shouldn’t do them.

They are Jarring and Awkward

You notice when a song suddenly changes tempo. Because it’s awkward. You look at your friend quizzically like “What the heck just happened, did the track skip?”

That’s because tempo changes are jarring. And terrible. Don’t do them. Please.

We can hear when a song suddenly jumps to 144bpm after perusing around at 120bpm.

It sounds either amateur or pretentious. Neither of which is good. Honestly, it often sounds like both. 

So people will either think you’re not good at songwriting or they will think that you think you’re a brilliant songwriter, but aren’t. Take your pick.

But what if you have a very subtle tempo change? Let’s look at reason #2 tempo changes are terrible.

They are Completely Unnecessary

If your tempo change is subtle, why even have it?

If you find yourself slightly speeding up the chorus because it drags at the verse tempo, that probably means the right tempo for both sections is somewhere in between. 

Why even bother with a 120bpm to 124bpm change? If you used 122bpm for the whole song, is any section really going to drag or feel too fast due to a 2bpm change?

Probably not. 

If you aren’t convinced yet, let me give you one last reason tempo changes in songs are garbage.

They Make Playing with a Click Track Much Harder

Whether you want to perform your songs live or just record them, playing with a click will become much harder.

Think about it, if you have a song sitting at 120bpm the whole time, you can decide to talk about your song longer before you start playing. You can throw in an extra 16 bars of a solo because you’re feeling it. You can improvise and do another chorus at the end.

Basically, you’re totally free besides staying in time. 

If the tempo changes to 128bpm for the chorus, now you have to know exactly when to come in, and you need to play each section of the song over the exact same number of bars.

Why? Because if you come in too late, the last 4 bars of your verse will change tempo because you’re now playing over the chorus click. Which then means the last 4 bars of your chorus will now slow down to the verse pace.

Do I need to even tell you how terrible and messy this will sound?

What if you come in too early? You still have issues. This time, the beginning of your chorus will be at your verse tempo, and then the chorus will speed up in the middle! Oh, and the beginning of the second verse will be the speed of the chorus. 

Everything is terrible.

If only you had just picked a freaking tempo.

Don’t have tempo changes. Just pick a tempo.