Editing Brian Wilson (section)

===Compositional style===
{{Listen
|pos=right
|filename=Don't Talk piano demo.ogg
|title=Wilson's early piano sketch of "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"
|description=Home recording of Wilson performing the basic chord patterns of "[[Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)]]".
}}

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."{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=73}}{{sfn|White|1996|p=251}} He wrote later that he aspired to write songs that appear "simple, no matter how complex it really is."<ref>{{cite AV media notes| title = Friends / 20/20 | others= [[The Beach Boys]]| year = 1990| first = David| last = Leaf|author-link=David Leaf|publisher=[[Capitol Records]]|type=CD Liner|url=http://albumlinernotes.com/Friends___20_20.html}}</ref>

Common devices in Wilson's musical structures include [[jazz chord]]s, such as [[seventh chord|sevenths]] and [[ninth chord|ninths]].{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=68}} Wilson attributed his use of [[minor seventh chord]]s to his affinity for the music of Bacharach.<ref name="Caroline">{{cite AV media notes|title=Caroline Now!|chapter=Brian Wilson&nbsp;— Caroline Now! Interview|chapter-url=http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm|publisher=Marina Records|type=CD Liner|date=April 21, 2000|access-date=August 30, 2021|archive-date=December 28, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228001005/http://www.marinarecords.com/brian.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Inversion (music)|Chord inversions]], particularly those featuring a tonic with a fifth in the bass, are also prevalent in his work,{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=80}} again influenced by Bacharach.<ref name="Sharp09"/> 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.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=84}} 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 (song)|Salt Lake City]]" (1965) and "[[Sloop John B]]" (1966).{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=89}}

[[File:God Only Knows diagram.png|thumb|upright=1.35|left|A visual representation of the functionally ambiguous harmonic structure of "[[God Only Knows]]".]]

Many of Wilson's compositions are marked by destabilized tonal centers.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=82}} He frequently uses key changes within verses and choruses, including "[[modulation (music)|truck driver's modulations]]", to create dynamic shifts.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=68–69}} [[Tertian]] movement is another recurring technique.{{sfn|Granata|2003|p=66}}

Wilson's [[bassline|bass parts]] are often melodic and given prominent focus in his arrangements.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=80}} He also applied [[chromaticism]] in his musical structures.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=83–84}} His use of chromatic bass descents are most notably displayed in "[[Our Prayer]]" (1969).{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=90}} Other songs are characterized by "[[syncopation|syncopated exercises]] and [[counterpoint]]s piled on top of jittery eighth-note clusters and loping [[Swing (jazz performance style)|shuffle grooves]]", features that producer [[Alan Boyd]] said took "an almost manic edge" in Wilson's work during the 1970s.<ref name=Bedroom2014/>

Some of Wilson's songs incorporate a I – IV – I – V pattern, a formula derived from "Da Doo Ron Ron",{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=71}} as well as a [[circle of fifths]] sequence that begins with the mediant (iii), inspired by "Be My Baby".{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=77–79}} He frequently uses stepwise-falling melodic lines,{{sfn|Perone|2012|pp=28, 30}} stepwise diatonic rises,{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=79–80}} and whole-step root movements.{{sfn|Lambert|2016|p=86}} 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".{{sfn|Lambert|2016|pp=74–76, 84}}