section_path: Artistry/Compositional style
section_name: Compositional style
paragraph_text: Compositional style
  
  Wilson's writing process, as he described in 1966, started with finding a basic chord pattern and rhythm that he termed "feels", or "brief note sequences, fragments of ideas". He explained, "Once they're out of my head and into the open air, I can see them and touch them firmly." He wrote later that he aspired to write songs that appear "simple, no matter how complex it really is".
  
  Common devices in Wilson's musical structures include jazz chords, such as sevenths and ninths. Wilson attributed his use of minor seventh chords to his affinity for the music of Bacharach. Chord inversions, particularly those featuring a tonic with a fifth in the bass, are also prevalent in his work, again influenced by Bacharach. The flattened subtonic, which is common in the music of the Four Freshmen and popular music in general, is the nondiatonic chord that appears the most in Wilson's compositions. Sudden breaks into a cappella segments, again borrowed from the Four Freshmen, are another feature of his music, having been employed in " Salt Lake City " (1965) and " Sloop John B " (1966).
  
  Many of Wilson's compositions are marked by destabilized tonal centers. He frequently used key changes within verses and choruses, including " truck driver's modulations ", to create dynamic shifts. Tertian movement is another recurring technique.
  
  Wilson's bass parts are often melodic and given prominent focus in his arrangements. He also applied chromaticism in his musical structures. His use of chromatic bass descents are most notably displayed in " Our Prayer " (1969). Other songs are characterized by " syncopated exercises and counterpoints piled on top of jittery eighth-note clusters and loping shuffle grooves ", features that producer Alan Boyd said took "an almost manic edge" in Wilson's work during the 1970s.
  
  Some of Wilson's songs incorporate a I – IV – I – V pattern, a formula derived from " Da Doo Ron Ron ", as well as a circle of fifths sequence that begins with the mediant (iii), inspired by " Be My Baby ". He frequently uses stepwise-falling melodic lines, stepwise diatonic rises, and whole-step root movements. Numerous songs alternate between supertonic and dominant chords or tonic and flattened subtonic chords, the latter featuring in the verses of "Guess I'm Dumb" and the intro to "California Girls".
  
  Wilson's writing process, as he described in 1966, started with finding a basic chord pattern and rhythm that he termed "feels", or "brief note sequences, fragments of ideas". He explained, "Once they're out of my head and into the open air, I can see them and touch them firmly." He wrote later that he aspired to write songs that appear "simple, no matter how complex it really is".
  
  Common devices in Wilson's musical structures include jazz chords, such as sevenths and ninths. Wilson attributed his use of minor seventh chords to his affinity for the music of Bacharach. Chord inversions, particularly those featuring a tonic with a fifth in the bass, are also prevalent in his work, again influenced by Bacharach. The flattened subtonic, which is common in the music of the Four Freshmen and popular music in general, is the nondiatonic chord that appears the most in Wilson's compositions. Sudden breaks into a cappella segments, again borrowed from the Four Freshmen, are another feature of his music, having been employed in " Salt Lake City " (1965) and " Sloop John B " (1966).
  
  Many of Wilson's compositions are marked by destabilized tonal centers. He frequently used key changes within verses and choruses, including " truck driver's modulations ", to create dynamic shifts. Tertian movement is another recurring technique.
  
  Wilson's bass parts are often melodic and given prominent focus in his arrangements. He also applied chromaticism in his musical structures. His use of chromatic bass descents are most notably displayed in " Our Prayer " (1969). Other songs are characterized by " syncopated exercises and counterpoints piled on top of jittery eighth-note clusters and loping shuffle grooves ", features that producer Alan Boyd said took "an almost manic edge" in Wilson's work during the 1970s.
  
  Some of Wilson's songs incorporate a I – IV – I – V pattern, a formula derived from " Da Doo Ron Ron ", as well as a circle of fifths sequence that begins with the mediant (iii), inspired by " Be My Baby ". He frequently uses stepwise-falling melodic lines, stepwise diatonic rises, and whole-step root movements. Numerous songs alternate between supertonic and dominant chords or tonic and flattened subtonic chords, the latter featuring in the verses of "Guess I'm Dumb" and the intro to "California Girls".