In this article, I will show you how to structure your lofi music .
Get my Lofi Starter Pack 🔥
If you want to get hold of the FREE MIDI files of these progressions in this post download my FREE Lofi Essentials Starter Pack
How to Arrange Lofi Song
Lofi music structure is deceptively simple:
- Loop
- Loop with beat
- Loop without beat (and a slight change)
- Loop with beat
- Fade out
Some extra elements can be added, but it is essentially an ABABB structure, or even sometimes an A1A2A1A2A2 structure.
To help you understand lofi music structure, let's look at some examples.
Come Closer by Marsquake and Sátyr -
Track Analysis
Marsquake is one of my favourite lofi artists and this track, taken from the album Better Together, is a great example of why.
In this example, you can see that the initial guitar loop forms the basis for the entire piece of music. The simplified structure of this track is:
ABABB
The loop forms the intro, underpins the simple lofi beat in the chorus (and the fade out) and is played on a different instrument in the break.
Write a decent 4-8 bar loop and you have the foundations of an entire lofi track.
Pine Leaves by Jinsang - Track Analysis
Jinsang is one of the most influential Lofi artists and I think his track, Pine Leaves is an excellent example of why he has had such a big impact.
The thing I love about Jinsang's music is the use of jazzy lofi chord progressions which gives his tunes an authentic sound.
Again, we are dealing with a straightforward structure that relies on a loop as its foundation.
I know it looks complicated but if you look at the yellow boxes at the top of this image, you can see that it is three sections repeated:
AB-AB-ABC
Both sections A1 and A2 are based on the piano loop and section B is the second half of that loop, with section C being the final section of the loop.
Write a 3-part loop and using each part you can structure the track into ABABABC
m i s t by Eevee - Track Analysis
Eevee is one of those lofi artists that has carved a unique path for herself.
Her track m i s t samples a Japanese koto and a Japanese fue ( flute), which immediately gives it a unique sound.
This is perhaps the most simple structure of the tracks so far, essentially:
ABBABBA
As you can hear, the track is structured using the koto progression -intro/break/outro and when the melody is played using the flute (with the addition of the beat) it is the chorus.
I like how the chorus is repeated twice with a simple stopdown in the middle.
The use of a melody in the chorus gives the track a natural two-part structure and the use of less-obvious instruments gives your track a unique sound and character.
How Long should a lofi song be?
As you can see from this popular Lofi beats playlist, Lofi music is often shorter than "standard" song length, often clocking in at anywhere between 1:00 and 2:30 with around two minutes being the most common track length.
The nice thing about lofi is that once you have created/captured a loop, the rest of the track kind of falls into place.
If each section is 20-30 seconds long, you only need about 4-6 sections to make a complete track.
You're a legend!
GET THAT AUTHENTIC LOFI SOUND
Grab my Lofi Essentials Kit packed full of MIDI chord progressions, MIDI beats, and samples - Everything you need to get started making authentic Lofi Music
I WANT THIS STARTER PACK!!!
Member discussion